A Processional Cross by Philippe Lefebvre

Here is a newly completed wood polychrome and gilded processional cross made by Frenchman Philippe Lefebvre. I love the balance of naturalism and subtle abstraction that he has incorporated into this. In Mediator Dei, Pius XII said, you may recall: 'Modern art should be given free scope in the due and reverent service of the church and the sacred rites, provided that they preserve a correct balance between styles tending neither to extreme realism nor to excessive "symbolism," and that the needs of the Christian community are taken into consideration rather than the particular taste or talent of the individual artist.'

He is telling us that the Christian artist must represent natural appearances and through the medium he chooses reveal also the invisible truths of the human person ('symbolism'). There is wide scope for individual interpretation of how this might be done, even when working within the forms of an established tradition. It is incumbent upon each artist to find the balance that appeals to people of his day. This may mean working precisely in the way of the past, or adapting and building on the past in order to achieve this end and create something new. In doing so he must avoid the errors of straying too far in either direction, towards extreme naturalism ('realism') or abstraction.

When I see this work by Philippe it strikes a chord with me - it is almost as though it is a three-dimensional Fra Angelico.

Beauty for Truth's Sake - A Book Linking Liturgy and Education by Stratford Caldecott

This book is recommended reading for all serious travelers on the via pulchritudinis. It is an argument for the inclusion of the ‘quadrivium’ in education as an important part of the antidote to modernism. I posted this review when the book first came out about three years ago. I re-post it now because my friend Strat is very ill and will most likely not live through the summer. It is by way of a tribute to him and that I would like to draw attention to his work. Here, Strat pulls together and builds with great insight on themes raised earlier and discussed in issues of the journal of faith and culture,  Second Spring, which he c0- edits. I was lucky to be able to contribute some of these articles to this journal myself. The articles of mine are the product of many enjoyable hours of conversation between Strat and myself over the years and I am flattered that he refers to our conversations in the forward to this book.

Stratford has been one of the main influences on my thinking over the years and one the people who first encouraged me to start writing about my ideas. To the degree that I have done so, I could not have written anything worthwhile without his help. I first went into his office in Oxford 15 years ago looking for help in establishing a new sort of Catholic art school. I had phoned him up out of the blue because someone had told me that he was interested in similar things. He instantly agreed to see me and I travelled up to Oxford from London a week later. In this meeting he patiently listened to me and said that he would like to help me. He then invited me up to Oxford and took me through a week of guided reading and helped me to write the first article I had ever written containing these ideas. This was published in Second Spring and was entitled the Way of Beauty (this is where the name for this blog came from!). I remember two things about this, first of all how slow and difficult writing was for me at that point (I hadn't written an essay for the consideration of others since I was sixteen years old!). Second was how patient he was in molding it, suggesting changes for reasons of both style and unorthodox content in such a way that the elegance and clarity of the prose were improved dramatically, but somehow he preserved the essential ideas in such a way that it was my voice that was talking. Several articles followed this, the next was connecting the patterns of the liturgy to the patterns and beauty of numerical description of the cosmos and was called the Art of the Spheres. It was these articles that caused me to be noticed by Catholic institutions such as my current employer, Thomas More College and by Shawn Tribe when he was looking for an art writer for the New Liturgical Movement website. He opened the door that led to what I do now.

The theme of liturgy and number is one that Strat picks up on in his book here, discussing them in the context of the formation of man in education.

Translated as the ‘four ways’, the quadrivium is the collective phrase for four of the seven liberal arts: number, geometry, harmony (music) and cosmology.

The quadrivium is concerned with the study of cosmic order as a principle of beauty. The patterns and rhythms of the liturgy of the Church reflect this order too. As it is all expressed mathematically it allows for the possibility of the liturgical ordering of all our work - the whole culture - to the divine. The patterns of our days, the dimensions of our buildings, the ordering of our institutions can all be in harmony with heaven, creation and the common good.

Interestingly, Pope Benedict XVI drew our attention to the quadrivium in a recent address about St Boethius, (a patron of this blog). He described Boethius's work in adapting this aspect of Greco-Roman culture into a Christian form of education. Boethius wrote manuals on each of these disciplines.

Stratford describes how at a medieval university, around say 1400AD, students received a Bachelor of Arts for the 'Trivium' or 'three ways' (rhetoric, logic, grammar - the other three liberal arts). After this they progressed onto a Master of Arts by studying the quadrivium. This prepared them for the final and longest stage of study, for a doctorate in for example Theology or Philosophy. For Caldecott does not wish to eliminate or undo progress, but rather to add a unifying principle to all that is good about the developments of the modern world and which binds it to its ultimate purpose, and ours.

In his beautifully clear, penetrating prose he describes how each of these subjects is linked to the traditional idea of beauty. I found the chapter on music particularly interesting in this respect. He even speculates on how these areas could be developed in the light of modern scientific developments, for example in his chapter on the Golden Section.

Then in the final chapter he sets out his stall, explaining how he feels this will benefit modern society. He writes: ‘The modern era can be characterised by a certain outlook shaped in part by the overthrow or displacement of ancient metaphysics. We call this outlook 'secular,' and it may take the form of an extreme form of materialism, though it may also take religious forms...even the protection of religion often takes the form of privatization, with faith being exlcluded from any real influence over public life, morality and technology...The modern person feels himself to be disengaged from the world around him, rather than intrinsically related to it (by family, tribe, birthplace, vocation, and so forth)...'

'This all pervasive modern mentality is what we are up against, in education as everywhere else. So the question is now, what can be done about it, if anything? The Enlightenment is not something you can simply unthink. So how do we combat the negative effects of individualism, without losing the benefits of self-consciousness and rationality? The key lies, I believe in revelation and worship. What defines secularism more than anything is inability to pray, and he modern world in its worst aspects is a systematic attack on worship, an idea that begins with the acknowledgement of a Transcendent that reveals itself in the immanent. [Hans Urs von] Balthasar was right: once we lose the sense of objective beauty, of the Forms of the fabric of the world (confirmed and strengthened by revelation), then the ability to pray goes too. The fully ‘buffered’ self has no Forms to contemplate in the cosmos, no reality higher than itself, it has no God to turn to. Prayer is a vital dimension of fully human living. But while we can all pray on our own, it is always in some sense a community thing. It turns us away from ourselves toward God, and in so doing it turns us toward each other (or should do). In fact human civilization had always been build around an act of worship, a public liturgy. Liturgy (from the Greek leitourgia: public work or duty) technically means any kind of religious service done on behalf of a community. Liturgical prayer is a way of being in tune with our society, with other people. But if we are to renew our civilization by renewing our worship, we must understand also that liturgy is a way of being in tune with the motions of the stars, the dance of atomic particles, and the harmony of the heavens that resembles a great song. And Catholic liturgy takes us even deeper than that. It takes us to the source of the cosmos itself, into the sacred precincts of the Holy Trinity where all things begin and end (whether they know it or not), and to the source of all artistic and scientific inspiration, of all culture.’

These are words that even the colleges who think of themselves as faithfully Catholic should take to heart. How many I wonder, truly integrate the liturgical life with the academic life rather than viewing the liturgy as a supporting player that is practised peripherally, however beautifully, to the activities of the classroom?

Back issues  of Second Spring and subscriptions can be obtained online here.

To buy Beauty for Truth's Sake, go through to Amazon.com here.

Paintings of Popes and Saints John XXIII and John Paul II by Clemens Fuchs

Here are paintings of the recently canonized saints by Clemens Fuchs, who is an Austrian artist trained in the academic method. He was studying at the Charles H Cecil when I was there about 10 years ago and later taught there (along with another artist who has been featured on this site and some may remember, Matt Collins). You can read more about Clemens at his website http://www.clemensmariafuchs.com/. The church, incidentally is St Charles Church ( that's St Charles Borromeo), a splendid baroque church in Vienna.

How Liturgy, Prayer and Intuition Are Connected - Recognition of Pattern and Order

Modern research into how firefighters and nurses respond to a crisis supports the idea that a traditional education in beauty will develop our powers of intuitive decision making. In a great series of recorded lectures entitled The Art of Critical Decision Making, former Harvard business school professor and current Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University, Michael A Roberto discusses the importance of intuition in making decisions; and the factors that influence the reliability of our intuitive faculty. He illustrates his points with some striking real-life stories of people relying upon or ignoring intuition (sometimes with dire consequences); and backs up what he says with modern psychological research.

For example, he tells of a number of occasions when nurses in cardiac intensive care units predict that a patient is going to have a heart  attack. This is despite the fact that the specialist doctors could see no problem and the standard ways of monitoring the patients' condition indicated nothing wrong either. When such nurses are asked why they think the situation is bad, they cannot answer. As a result their predictions were disregarded. As it turned out, very often and sadly for the people involved, the nurses were right. In order to protect patients in future people started to ask questions and do research on why the nurses could tell there was a problem. What was it they were reacting to, even if they couldn't say initially?

The most dramatic tale he related was of a crack team of firefighters who were specialists in dealing with forest and brush fires and would be helicoptered into any location  within a large part of the West to deal with fires when they broke out. The leader of the group was respected firefighter who was a taciturn individual who lead by example. He was not a good natural communicator, but usually this did not matter. One day they responded to a call and went to a remote site in California. When they assessed the situation they discerned the pace of spread of the fire, the direction it was going and so worked out how to deal with it safely. These judgments were important because if they got it wrong the brush fire could move faster than any man could run and they would be in trouble. Initially things went as expected but then suddenly the leader stopped and told everybody to do as he was doing. He threw a match to the ground and burnt an area in the grass of several square yards and then put it out. He then lay down on the burnt patch and waited. When asked why, except to say that he thought they were in danger he was unable to answer - he couldn't articulate clearly the nature of the danger or why this would action help. As a result even though he was respected, his advice was ignored by the team. Suddenly the fire turned and ran straight at them, in the panic the reaction of even these firefighters, was to run. This was the wrong thing to do, as the fire caught them and tragically they died. The only survivor was the leader. He was lying in the already burnt patch that was surrounded by brush fire as it swept through the area, but was itself untouched by the advancing blaze as there was no grass to burn within it. He just waited until the surrounding area burnt itself out and then walked away.

In both cases, the practitioners were experienced people who got it right, but weren't believed by others because people were not inclined to listen to the intuition of others if it couldn't be supported by what they thought was a reasonable explanation.

Dr Roberto describes how research since suggests that it is the level of experience in situ that develops an intuitive sense that is accurate enough to be relied upon. What experience teaches is the ability to spot patterns of events. Through repeated observation they know that when certain events happen, they are usually related to others and in a particular way. Even in quite simple situations the different possible permutations of events would be quite complex to describe numerically and so scientific theorems may have difficulty predicting outcomes based upon them. However, the human mind is good at grasping the underlying pattern of any given situation at an intuitive level, and then can compare with what usually happens by consulting the storehouse of the memory of past events. In these situations described, of the fire and the cardiac unit, all the indicators usually referred to by the text books were within the range of what was considered safe. However, what the experienced nurse and firefighter spotted was a particular unusual combination that pointed to danger. This apprehension of truth was happening at some pre-conscious level and is not deduced step by step, hence their difficulties in articulating the detail of why they felt as they did.

While this ended in disaster at first, lessons were learnt. As a result of this, it was recognized that a good decision making processes ought to take into account at least, the intuition of experienced people. Prof Roberto described how hospitals and firefighters and others learning from them, have incorporated it into their critical decision making processes. This should be done with discernment - intuition is not infallible and the less experienced we are in a particular environment, the less reliable it is so this must be taken into account as well.

It also depends on the person. Some people develop that sense of intuition in particular situations faster than others because the intuitive faculty is more highly developed. This, in my opinion, is where the traditional education in beauty might help. In order to develop our sense of the beautiful, this education teaches us to recognize intuitively the natural patterns and interrelationships that exist in the cosmos. When we do so, we are more highly tuned to its beauty and if we were artists we could incorporate that into our work. For non-artistic pursuits we can still apply this principle of how things ought to be to make our activity beautiful and graceful. Also, we have a greater sense of the cause of lack of beauty, when something is missing and the pattern is incomplete or distorted. In these situations we can see how to rectify the situation. This is the part that would help the firefighter or nurse, I believe. The education I am describing will not replace the specialist experience that gave those nurses the edge, but by deeply impressing upon our souls the overall architecture of the natural order, it will develop the faculty to learn to spot the patterns in particular situations and allow them to develop their on-the-job intuition faster.

The greatest educator in beauty is the worship of God in the liturgy and especially when the liturgy of the hours harmonized with our worship of the Mass with the Eucharist at the center. When we pray well it should engage the whole person, body and soul, in such a way that we conform totally to that cosmic pattern. In our book, The Little Oratory, A Beginner's Guide to Prayer in the Home, I describe both the nature of that pattern and also how in the home we can even reinforce certain aspects of it in the formation of children. In God's plan that intuitive sense is developed to help us in ordering all our daily activities to his plan (which would include potentially firefighting and nursing and indeed most human activity). This development of intuition not only improves decisions made in a crisis, but also makes us more creative. I discuss the connection between intuition and creativity in a past article about creativity in science. Through this at work, in the home or in our worship, we can contribute to a more beautiful culture of living for everyone. This is the hoped for New Evangelization and John Paul II's 'new epiphany of beauty' that draws people to the Faith.

Re-forming the History of the Reformation to Reflect the Truth

...and here's the surprise, it's the mainstream media that is doing it. From the English national daily newspaper, the Daily Telegraph (h/t Catholicism.org) - this is a very unusual pro-Catholic feature. It explains amongst many other things the importance in English daily life (beyond the popular and thriving religious piety of the ordinary Englishman) of the guilds which sponsored festivals, revelry and mystery plays on about 50 holy days a year. This was the common culture that bound the society together. It is this England of St Thomas More that points the way to a vibrant Catholic culture of today, and much of what we do at Thomas More College is drawing on this to picture in consideration of how to re-establish a modern but truly vibrant Catholic culture today.

The article even draws parallels between the attitude of modern government in manipulating history to that of Henry VIII and Kruschev. This is not a hysterical rant but a serious article by a historian.

Dominic Selwood's excellent piece entitled How A Protestant Spin Machine Hid the Truth About the English Reformation is here

Can an Institution Such as a College (or a Family) Actually Pray? or Just the Individuals Within It?

Personal Thoughts on Thomas More College's Response to the Harvard Black 'mass'. And how it relates to prayer in the home and the family. We often hear that there is an over-emphasis on individualism in the West today. I many respects I agree with this. The Christian worldview sees man essentially as a person. A person, as distinct from an individual. A human person is always in relation with others, starting from birth. No one, by choice, disengages from society altogether (not even a hermit) and is happy. The relationships that exist between people are real entities that ensure that two people working together create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. The seemingly incongruous mathematics of this, one plus one equals three (two people and the relationship between them) reveals the principle of superabundance in which something is created out of nothing and is always invoked when love exists between two people.

From these differing anthropologies - emphasizing either the personal or individual - two differing views of what society is emerge. On the one hand the Christian worldview sees society more as the aggregate effect of the network of the personal interactions that exist between people; the other sees society as simply the vector sum of all individual actions. This is important, how you view this can govern your idea of good economics and good politics, for example.  

This attitude of individualism can creep into and affect all institutions and communities in the modern world, including the Church. It seems to me that even some genuinely pious and traditional Catholics seem to view the Church as a provider of services (sacraments) which are provided to them as consumers, so that they can do the things that set them right in God's eyes then go to heaven.

Where this attitude pervades there is a diminished understanding of the importance of the ideas of the service to God and others. In the practice of religion, the thought driven by individual is characterized by the phrase, what's in it for me? Now, I should say that I wouldn't do anything the Church asked me if I didn't think that I would get something good out of it. I am like all people and do what I believe will make me happy. But in this context, I believe, the rewards are indirect. The maxim I try to keep in mind is that it is in giving that we receive. The dynamic runs something like this: God has given Himself to us; through our worship we cooperate with Him, accept that gift and give ourselves back to Him; and then this opens the path to joy and holiness (to the degree that I fulfill the ideal).

So what's the answer to my opening question in the heading above? Can a college pray as a college? If we take an individualistic view of society, then the answer is no. Or at least, only to the degree that all of its members pray in harmony.

However, if we take the Catholic understanding of society, the answer is 'yes'. By virtue of the network of relationships that exist within  it and from which no one is excluded, even if only a few members of that society do actually pray, those who pray to God can do so as advocates for the community as a whole, thereby bringing everyone into the picture in some way. This advocacy is most powerful and effective in the context of the liturgy; and when that prayer is the public worship of that institution - a Mass or Vespers in the college chapel and devotions ordered to it - then it is most powerful. I thought about this recently when Harvard University announced that it would allow a Black Mass on its campus. In response the President of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Dr William Fahey, wrote a public letter to the president of Harvard University asking for a change of heart. His open letter was well written and had great effect judged simply, by the degree to which it was noticed and reported on nationally. But more interesting, and I think even more powerful in effect, was what he encouraged us to do.

He asked us to attend Mass on that day. The Mass was offered for this cause we heard prayers a brilliant homily from one of the Benedictines from Still River directed to this end. He asked us also to attend the recitation of the Divine Mercy chaplet in the afternoon in chapel, which he lead; and then to attend a sung Vespers in the evening. Vespers was the the eve of Our Lady of Fatima, accordingly we invoked prayers to Our Lady, especially invoking the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to whom the college is dedicated and the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the USA (as well as Our Lady of Walsingham, patroness of England; and the Virgin of Coromoto, the patroness of Venezuela - two other countries in need of prayer at the moment). We asked also for the prayers of St Thomas More as patron of the college and closed with a threefold repetition of prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom the college is dedicated. As we invoked these saints we turned and faced their icons in the chapel. For example here is the Sacred Heart:

And Our Lady of Merrimack below, the gothic image, both were painted especially for our chapel.

As President of the college, he lead from the top, so to speak and was present on each occasion. Then, the next day, in response to what happened  - the Black 'mass' was cancelled - we gave thanks, again in the context of the liturgy, by reciting the Te Deum at Mass.

What he had proposed was, it seems to me, a profoundly Catholic program of prayer - liturgy and devotions in harmony. As a result, those students and faculty present were praying for and on behalf of the whole community including those who were not present. As prayer ordered to the liturgy it was elevated above individual prayers in other settings through being united to Christ in a special, who is our advocate to the Father and through Christ. The Son prays to the Father in the Spirit and we participate in His prayer for us. By this, the college was an entity and a society truly at prayer.

I do not want to exaggerate the visible response in terms of numbers. I would love to be able to say that the attendance at each event was high but it wasn't. Each took place and was offered beautifully, but I have to say that the numbers really could have been much higher (even to the degree that we asked how we can communicate more effectively the importance of the liturgy in an educational institution and for the lives of the students). But here is the point. The liturgical ordering of the prayer ensured that the few who took the trouble were the soul of the society, praying on behalf of all, and for all.

This pattern of the few taking on the prayer and acting as leaven for the many is an ever present truth of the Church, so I am not so surprised or disappointed at the numbers, even at a Catholic institution. Sometimes of course there are very good practical reasons that we cannot make it. This is the wonderful thing about the idea of advocacy of one on behalf of others. It rests on an assumption that it is rare that everyone can always attend even with the very best of intentions. I have in mind the ideal of enough participation to keep the regular pattern of liturgical worship going on campus; then, I believe, the benefits for all can be profound.

Aside from special instances like that described above the institution as  whole and the surrounding community benefits from the few ensuring that the liturgy is prayed for the many. Here is one way: the liturgy of the whole society shapes its culture powerfully, through this network of personal interraction. The culture in this case means the natural way that people do things and relate to each other. The culture thus created is not only a reflection of core priorities and beliefs, it is also the most profound influencing factor especially on those who are not participating in the liturgy. At an educational instution, this is what above all else, forms the students. This may surprise some, but Blessed John Henry Newman no less, in his Idea of a University, went so far as to say that it was this forming influence in the daily living of an educational community that was the single most powerful influence on the formation and education of the individuals; more important, he said, than attendance at lectures, classes and tutorials, than the taking of exams or considerations of what curriculum is taught.

This tells us, therefore, that it is the liturgical life of the college that should be the first thing that is considered when forming a college and that everything else that is done should be ordered to this primary consideration.

The same, can be said for a home as well, I believe. It is the liturgical life of those in the home that affects this society in microcosm most profoundly. We worry much about the influences that might affect our children adversely and that is right I think to be aware of these things. However, the most important thing to worry about in regard to the Catholic education and upbringing of our children is liturgical piety. This is what will transmit the Faith most profoundly and, other things being equal, will have the power to overcome the negative aspects of modern society. This is a relief to me because I feel that this is something we can control far more easily. It also highlights the special role of the father in the family as the advocate for the family to God in prayer. He is head of the family is Christ is head of the Church.

The book, The Little Oratory: A Beginners Guide to Prayer in the Family is written rests on this understanding of the nature and power of liturgical prayer on us and those with whom we associate.

Three Medieval-Art Classes this July; Plus a Weekend Residential on Sacred Art and the New Evangelization

Learn to Paint in the Style of the English Gothic School of St Albans: Kansas, Calgary and New Hampshire. 

Plus, for artists and non-artists alike, Sacred Art and the New Evangelization a weekend residential course teaching about the connection between art, culture and liturgy. Offered by myself and Dr Caroline Farey, adviser to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

For any who are interested, here are the contact details for four residential summer schools that offer instruction either on the theory or practice of sacred art. In painting classes teach the painting of illuminations in the style of the gothic Masters of the School of St Albans (which flourish in the 13th century England). I am the teacher at each. In this week of the Feast of the Visitation, as an example I offer a modern illumination in this style.

Here are the courses:

Sacred Art and the New Evangelization - Diocese of Kansas City, KS (July 11 - 13); Contact: Kimberly Rode at ecat2@archkck.org

Painting - Diocese of Kansas City, KS (July 14- 18th); Contact: Kimberly Rode at ecat2@archkck.org

It is envisaged that many will be interested in taking both courses in Kansas, they are designed to compliment each other.

Painting - St Mary's University College, Calgary, Canada (July 21-25th), email:  sacredarts@stmu.ca

Painting - Thomas More College in Merrimack, NH (July 27-August 2). Contact: Gwyneth Holston, gholston@thomasmorecollege.edu

The New Evangelization course is $250 all in.

All painting courses come in at a cost of under $600. Although each is taught as a class in which we work together, each class is taught so that each person gets a high level of individual attention and personalized instruction. This allows everyone work at his own pace and level. Each course will be suitable therefore, both for beginners and the more experienced. If you have already done one of these courses this will be for building on what you already know - you will be able to choose your own image and will benefit from more instruction. Students will learn the traditional technique of egg tempera. Here is a modern King David painted in the style of the School of St Albans.

At all three, I will teach people also how to pray with visual imagery (a lot more straightforward than many imagine) and explain how to set up an icon or image corner as a focus of prayer in your home (as described in the book, The Little Oratory). At the courses in Kansas and at Thomas More College the singing of the Divine Office will run through the course, so people who wish to will have a chance not only to sing the psalms, but potentially also learn to do so at a level that they can start doing it at home or parish - perhaps in front of your own icon corner.

The icon class at Thomas More College coincides with a lecture series the college is presenting that features myself, NLM's own Matthew Alderman, the founder and director of the Catholic Artist's Society Kevin Collins, the well known sculptor Andrew Wilson Smith and finally, but not least, Dr Ryan Topping the author of Rebuilding Catholic Culture. All lectures are open to the public and free to attend.

Creating the New Culture of Beauty - a little parish in Jasper, Georgia shows us the way

The artistic and musical creativity of a parish shows us why liturgical and, hence, cultural renewal is likely to be a grass-roots, bottom-up process. If you want to know how your parish can do it, read this. Who is going to patronize, ie pay for, the new works that will the Catholic culture? Will it be committees created by the Vatican? Unlikely, given the evidence of the past 50 years or so. Will it be those who fund the grand cathedrals in our large cities? Possibly, but again the evidence of the recent past is not too encouraging there (although not altogether hopeless). How about the ordinary parish church? I think probably the latter. The sheer statistics point to it. There is no reason to believe that a parish priest or parish community is going to be any less (or more) aware of Catholic cultural traditions than those of cathedrals. But given that there are more parishes than cathedrals, says it is more likely that the first green shoots of cultural recovery are going to happen at the local level.

The obvious objection to this is money - where will parishes get the money to patronise the liturgical arts? Don't you need the sort of money that those who build cathedrals have to pay the artists well? I would say no. First, I do believe that artists ought to be paid at least the hourly rate we would pay any other artisan for his work (think of how much a plumber charges) which would ensure a decent price for a picture. But I say also that if the will is there it can pay for art. If a church can afford to keep the plumbing and its roof in good order; it can afford to pay reasonable prices for art and music.

I have two heartening stories about ordinary parish churches having the interest to do great work. The first is the subject of this week's story and is in Jasper, Georgia. The second is a little church in Wyoming that has decided to install a full cosmati pavement in its floor, to replace the carpeting that was there previously. I will give more detail about the second on another occasion. But today Our Lady of the Mountains, Jasper, Georgia, set, as the name suggest up in the hills, the blueridge North Georgia mountains.

I have just been contacted by Fr Charles Byrd the paster who informed me that the church had commissioned and original piece of music for their Good Friday liturgy. I'll let him tell you some detail:

'On Good Friday, 18 April 2014, at the close of Communion, the St. Gregory Choir of Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church in Jasper, Georgia, with soloist, Mr. Joseph McBrayer, and organist, Mr. Joseph D’Amico, under the direction of Mrs. Bridget Scott, performed for the first time ever The Song of Rood. Our relic of the True Cross, which the congregation had just venerated, was enthroned upon the altar. This recording documents that first performance. The parish had commissioned this music from Mr. Dallas Gambrell with the text loosely based upon a portion of Saint Caedmon’s epic poem, The Dream of the Rood, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, Christian texts written in English. St. Caedmon was a 7th / 8th century herdsman, lay brother, and poet, and is considered the Father of English Sacred Song. The section we used for the anthem is that part of his longer poem that had been carved in runes on the Ruthwell Cross (or rood), a standing preaching cross, in what is today southwest Scotland.'

It was sung after the Reproaches and Communion and Fr Charles tells me, may be used for the Exaltation of the Cross. You can read more about this and hear the recording of the piece (which I like very much) on their website here.

This is the same parish that contacted me and was looking to commission four icons (they commissioned two from me in the end and I referred them to another iconographer for the other two). What was noticeable to me in undertaking these is how knowledgeable and helpful he was as a patron. He had a firm idea of what he wanted, had done all the background reading on the appearances of the two saints - Ambrose and Gregory - and was clear in his mind why he wanted new images. He was open to suggestions from me as to how we might conform to his idea. As this discussion was taking place I was reminded of John Paul II's call, in his Letter to Artists, of a 'renewed dialogue' between artists and the Church. How did JPII imagine this dialogue would play out, one wonders. I can't answer that, but my own part, I don't think this is something that is going to happen at an institutional level or at grand conferences in Rome. Rather, it will right at the grassroots, where priest and congregation talk to artist and between them they produce something that will be used regularly by those who are commissioning. The great thing about the modern age is that technology, such as the internet (with media such as this blog!), ensure that remoteness does not mean isolation. Georgia and Wyoming can speak to world as easily as Rome or Washington.

Here we have someone with a great sense of the culture and the liturgy and this is what makes it. As a general rule, for a parish to be able to achieve this is needs a consensus on what is good, artistically and musically; or at least a well placed trust on the part of those who do not know, in those who do. That is the difficult part. If priest and congregation are at odds with each other it will reduce the chances of anything being done. Choosing art or music by committee which has to reconcile widely differing views by compromise, often leads to the worst of all both worlds, not the best.

Coming back to this commission: here is the description of their adaptation of the text for modern congregations: 'Our text, a modern adaptation, takes some liberties with Caedmon’s text. We augmented the text with some verses from the Vercelli Book to give this abridged poem more clarity. The original Anglo-Saxon text would be hard for us to understand today, but one phrase in that original tongue remains in our anthem — “Krist waes on rodi,” which means “Christ was on the cross.” There are two voices in the poem, the voice of the dreamer who narrates his vision, and the voice of the Holy Rood, who recalls the heroic struggle of the Crucifixion of the Lord. We can almost think of this song as a dramatic play. The chorus speaks for Caedmon and a soloist speaks the soliloquy of the Rood.

Chorus:

Hear now a vision long foretold of greatest hero from of old.

Naked He embraced the rood;

He was stripped upon the wood.

So the blessed Cross did say of Him who died for us that day.

Krist waes on rodi, Krist waes on rodi, Krist waes on rodi. Gloria.

Krist waes on rodi, Krist waes on rodi, Krist waes on rodi. Gloria.'

I give you images of the paintings commissioned from me which were delivered last Christmas as well as the recording of the music commissioned. I can't comment on the pictures (being mine) and I think the music is has the qualities of goodness of form, holiness and universality that are needed in liturgical music. Regardless, here is the point: even if you don't like what Our Lady of the Mountains has done, we can see from this example that this really can be a bottom up cultural transformation. It starts with inculturation in families and parishes who demand beautiful forms in unity with the liturgy, and beautiful worship. I don't know what the liturgy at Our Lady of the Mountains is like, but I'm guessing from the images and the music I have heard, that it is not dominated by guitars and tambourines.

From the fact that the number of parish churches is much greater

How to Address the Crisis in Fatherhood Head On through Prayer

In this article I describe how it is prayer, above all, that binds families together; and the most powerful form of prayer we can pray in the home is the liturgy of the hours. Furthermore, with the father leading the prayers, we are opening the way for a powerful driving force that has effect not only within the family but also beyond the four walls of our home.  I first posted this exactly three years ago. It was in part a desire to see this home-based driving force for change that lead to the writing of the book on prayer in the home, The Little Oratory.

The word Oratory, incidentally means in English 'House of Prayer'. When I used to go to the London Oratory - the wonderful Catholic church in England whose liturgy was so influential in my conversion - I used to see these words on the walls around the sanctuary: domus mea domus orationis vocabitur. It was a quote from Isaiah 56:7 which is echoed in Matthew's gospel - my house shall be called a house of prayer, says the Lord. This isn't the full quote, I know there's some Latin missing there but I am handicapped by a combination of poor Latin skills and  a bad memory; but here's the point, I wanted to include at least part of it because it shows the word 'orationis' - 'of prayer' - so that you can make the connection with the title of the book.

We chose this title because we wanted to communicate the idea that even the most humble house can be transformed into a house of prayer in accordance with the ideal articulated in Isaiah, and just as the London Oratory, in all its wonderful glory does. This is how a house becomes a home, however many people live there. The book we have written, we hope, helps us to fulfill that ideal and it places fathers, when we are talking of families, once more right at the centre of family and in right relationship with all others. As one might say, the father is the head and the mother is the heart. Both are necessary!

I will be doing a series of postings over the next few weeks that draw out themes discussed in more detail in the book. Anyway, here is the article....

In the exercise of the lay office in the liturgy each person participates in the sacrifice made by Christ, the supreme act of love for humanity. When we are advocates in prayer in this liturgical setting, the participation in the liturgy becomes an act of love for those people and communities with which we have a connection. Accordingly, by participating in the liturgy the family members enter into the to the mystical body of Christ who is our advocate to the Father and so participate in that sacrifice and His advocacy, on behalf of the family, too. It is the father who is the head of the family and who is called is called above the others to be in a quasi-priestly role, and is in a special position to be the advocate to God for his family. This role is executed without diminishing or replacing the advocacy of other family members.

This role of the father as advocate to the Father is a tradition that is biblical at its source, as Scott Hahn points out: ‘[In] the Book of Genesis, liturgy was the province of the Patriarchs themselves. In each household, priesthood belonged to the father, who passed the office to his son, ideally the firstborn, by pronouncing a blessing over him. In every household, fathers served as mediators between God and their families’[1] Also, just as at Mass we pray for the head of state, family members might pray for the head of the family (and by extension, to all communities and groups that we belong to).

We hear that there is a crisis of fatherhood at the moment, and for all the ways that this manifests itself in our society, one wonders if at root, part of the cause at least is the loss of this sense of advocacy for the family by one who is assigned that special role. A visible example of this aspect of fatherhood is powerful for children in learning to pray and inspiring them to do so regularly;  and valuable for boys especially as a demonstration that prayer is a masculine thing to do.

The liturgical activity of the home is the liturgy of the hours because it need not be done in a church and does not need a priest participating in order to be valid, the lay office is sufficient. The ideal therefore is that the father leads the family in the liturgy of the hours, visibly and audibly. If this were to common practice, I believe it would help to reestablish prayer as something that men do and will promote a genuine, masculine fatherhood as well as encouraging vocations to the priesthood amongst boys through this masculine example of liturgical piety.

Something that would help to reinforce this is a domestic shrine. This is a visible focus in the home for prayer and the Eastern practice of creating and icon corner is particularly good for this.  I will never forget seeing an Orthodox family doing their night prayers in front of the icons. The father led the prayers and all sang together or took their turn singing their prayers in the simple but robust Eastern tones. What impressed me was how all the children right down to the youngest who was four, wanted to take their turns and emulate their father. At one point two of the children argued about whose turn it was and Dad had to come in and arbitrate! They had a small incense burner burning and several long slender orange ochre beeswax candles burning in front of the icons. Each stood in reverence, facing the icon corner, occasionally crossing themselves. All the senses and faculties, it seems were directed for prayer as part of and on behalf of the family.

The families who have resolved to do this say to me that full family involvement is not always possible. It is inevitable that often family members will be too busy to join in and some will not want to. Nevertheless, the father resolved to make it clear that he was committing to regular prayer for the family and that all family members were invited at least to join in, so even if the prayer took place with only the father taking part, he was prepared to make that sacrifice on behalf of his family. And when the father is not with the family, for example if at work, he still strives to follow that liturgical rhythm of prayer and when does so, he does so on behalf of his family still.

I am only recently a father, but even when I was single and I prayed the liturgy of the hours I tried to remember to think of myself as participating in some way on behalf of my wider family and the various social groups that I am a member of, including work. Through my personal relationships, and this is still the case, those groups are present in the liturgy, to some degree, when I am. It is one way I can emulate Our Lord by participating in His sacrifice, and make a sacrifice for those with whom I relate. My hope is that will play a small part in bringing God's grace into these groups of people so that they might become communities supernaturally bound together in love. In my prayers, every morning, I consciously dedicate my liturgical activity to all those groups and with whom I am connected so I think of myself as representing my family, my friends, my work, the Church, social groups and so on, perhaps naming any individuals that are on my mind at that time. if, during the day I am not in a position to recite an hour, which can be often, I try mentally to mark the hour with a small prayer to maintain that sense of rhythm.

Images: top two are both paintings of the Holy Family by Giuseppe Crespi painting around the 1700; below: the Nativity with God the Father and the Holy Ghost by Giambattista Pittoni, Italian, 17th century

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[1] Scott Hahn, Letter and Spirit, pub DLT, p28

From the Atelier of Thomas More College, A Major Commission for an Oakland law firm

A collaboration between Catholic patron and artist demonstrates how even the decor of the office of a law firm can contribute to the New Evangelization Just before Christmas I was contacted by Ray Tittman who is founding partner of the California office of law firm Edison, McDowell & Hetherington. Ray, a Catholic, wanted a large oil painting for his office. He told me he wanted something appropriate for this modern office block in downtown Oakland (the Kaiser Building about a 100 yards from the new cathedral). This meant, he thought, that it should have a contemporary feel to it, but at the same time he wanted something that would be consistent with the Faith and which would in some way bear witness to it. He didn't feel that the modern art he was being presented with was explicit enough, however, as he put it to me, he thought that to go to the other extreme and have a six foot painting of Our Lady would not be right either. 

I suggested that I visit him in California and have a look at the office and the color schemes being used; after talking to him and considering his personal tastes I would come up with some suggestions. I enjoyed this part of the process very much. Ray had a good sense of what he wanted and what would suit his clients and the other members of the office, but at the same he was open to ideas. The final result therefore really is the product of collaboration, I feel.

What we came up with was the idea of an abstracted landscape with a color scheme that would set a mood for the room in harmony with the existing colors of the walls and furniture. The would be sufficient focus for it to be recognizably a natural scene, but it was important that this wasn't too detailed - if it was it would distract. After all, this picture is not meant to be the main attraction, so to speak, but rather a support for Ray in his good work as a lawyer. It was vital, we agreed that in order to fulfill its function that the painting should be beautiful.

Compositionally, through the arrangement of the parts within it, it should point beyond itself to Ray at his desk. Then I suggested, he should discretely place in his personal space a small piece of obviously Christian devotional art (rather as one does with photographs of loved ones). Ideally this would have the face of Our Lord clearly visible. I suggested that he put in behind the desk and on wall facing seated clients and clearly visible. I believe that it is through his work as a good lawyer that Ray most powerfully bears witness to Christ, but people are helped to make that connection with Our Lord by the presence of this piece of devotional work and a beautiful office in which all aspects are, to the best that one can achieve it, participating in divine Beauty.

For this large oil painting, Ray said he wanted a seascape - appropriate for the California coast. We had to decide on the degree of abstraction so I sent him a selection of paintings from highly abstracted, through to very detailed. In the end he decided to go for something at the middle level of abstraction as seen in a landscape I painted several years ago (shown below).

After this, I was left to produce the painting.

In producing this painting I needed the help of students from Thomas More College's woodworking guild, the Guild of St Joseph in stretching a canvas. Local artist Josh O'Donnell (who trained at the Ingbretson Studios) directed students from the Guild in building the frame and stretching the canvas. We see him here with students Oliver Kress and Mary Tardiff.

Then I did the painting working through from underpainting to final version. You may be surprised at the colors of first application, given the final look!

You'll notice in the above picture, there is a fine cream line that borders the painting. This was added by the Guild of St Joseph. In the final week, visiting artisan Tom Ford directed TMC student Lachelle Scott from the Guild of St Joseph in making and painting a wooden edging to the canvas (in the modern style of framing).