Grassroots Liturgist

I have touched on this  before , but it is worth repeating: when you have a set up like ours - guitar(s) with flutes (and/or other such instruments) - it really is a waste to simply have the flautist belting out the melody.  Once the congregation know and are comfortable with something - be it a hymn or a mass setting - they will join in, especially if led by a cantor and/or singing group.  Instead, allow the flautist to play harmonies to enrich the music. For some time now I have been adding harmonies to music that we have been playing for the last four or five years, using the wonderful (and free) musical notation software MuseScore .  As the workshop at last year's Summer School made clear, anyone who is even remotely musical can develop their own, simple, one line harmony for any given melody; it just needs a little time and some trial and error.  But, if you have more than one 'solo' instrument, why stop at one harmony? When at full strength we present...

I have been very quiet lately for several reasons, one of which being that I have taken on the role of chaplain at a secondary school, specifically with responsibility for liturgy.  It is a lovely school and the pupils are generally very acquiescent indeed.  But there is still the issue of whole-school liturgies - especially whole-school Masses - when there are relatively few baptised Catholics and very few of those are regular Mass attenders. The Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life (Lumen Gentium No 11).  But this rather assumes that those who join together to celebrate the Mass are, on some level, consciously on a spiritual journey and have a desire to grow ever-closer to Christ.  Clearly, this is not the case with compulsory, all-school Masses.  But like any good teacher when planning a lesson, the school liturgist has to try and meet the pupils where they are and somehow make sure that there is 'something for everyone'.  In a genera...