Yesterday was Day 1 of the National Convention of the National Asssociation of Pastoral Musicians. This organization has 7,500 members with 67 chapters and 2,000 parishes represented. The National Convention brings together over 2,000 members to learn, sing and pray.
The events started in the morning with various tours of local interest. I had not signed up for any so spent a quiet morning in my hotel. The first event I attended was a showcase by Tony Alonso and Marty Haugen about a new collection of psalms they had put together. Containing new and old music it sets psalms for the various Sundays of the year but also for the responsorial psalms for the solemnities and feasts. It includes psalms that are not set often so should be a good resource for use on those days, especially.
The keynote was by Fr. Ronald Raab who works in a parish in downtown Portland. The parish has a strong social justice outreach to respond to the needs of its community. Fr. Raab took each of the four parts of the Mass and reflected on our call to holiness as it is revealed in his community. It was very inspiring and moving. One moment that really caught my attention was his sharing about a litany that his community uses on the streets of the neighborhood when a murder takes place. It is a prayerful witness and as he says, "a prayer that we never have to use this litany again." What a different experience from my own.
In the afternoon I took part in a reflection on the new translation of the Roman Missal with Cardinal DiNardo, Msgr. Richard Hilgarten (ex. director of the Secretatiate for Divine Worship of the USCCB) and Fr. Robert Webster. It was designed for and primarily attended by clergy so offered a unique perspective. It was organized around the questions, "what went well?" "what surprised?" "what challenged?" Not the kind of presentation that looked for solutions so it is hard to summarize but it was interesting.
Today, we begin with Morning Prayer and then a keynote by Fr. Michael Joncas entitled: "Disciples at Worship: Connecting Liturgy and Life."
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