Hymns at Church

I never could resist piling on. When I read Hymns at Church in the current issue of Gilbert, my fingers started to tingle. I just had to add my two cents. (Full disclosure, I'm a convert from the Episcopal Church) In my youth I sang in a paid church choir for several years. The choir was directed by Mr. Clifford Balshaw. He was an accomplished organist and choirmaster. To this day when I hear a good organist play something by Bach, I get chills up my spine. (See some of the organ pipes in the picture at right. The picture is from St. Stephens Church, Wilkes-Barre, PA, in the 1960s. ) St. Stephen's choir consisted of about 10-15 boys (sopranos) 4 women (altos) and about 8 men; four tenors and four basses. (There are now girls in the choir.) My brother also sang in the choir. I remember that rehearsals were about and hour long, twice a week. What little I know about singing and music I learned from Mr. Balshaw. I know he said many, many interesting things. We occasionally sang in Latin, so I learned how to pronounce a very limited amount of Latin. However the day he told my brother to sit up straight and "get out of his Cleopatra slouch", is one I'll never forget. My brother was embarrassed and so was I. After that we both kept our feet flat on the floor and sat up straight in our chairs.

But, to the point. I occasionally sing in our local church choir (St. Benignus in Greenfield, OH). Usually there are only two or three of us. On a good day their might be five of us. We usually sing in unison. I really don't care for most of the newer hymns in the Heritage Missal. Now for my rant on the newer hymns. Since when does a hymn to be sung by a congregation, the majority of whom can't read music, count time, etc. start with a rest, have triplets, and multiple notes floating around in the measure to accommodate words that make the rhythm change on every verse? I call them "hokey hymns". The choir director is not always amused. I just remind myself that no matter what I think about the hymns, we are helping in the liturgy. And, I'll always get to sing Barbershop on Thursday nights. Barbershop songs, of course, are not "Hokey". By the way, the choir director sings with the Sweet Adelines in Columbus, so I cut her some slack!

New Issue of Gilbert Arrives

My new issue of Gilbert arrived yesterday. I, of course, immediately took it with me to Schlegel's. I relaxed with a decaf coffee and got to read several pages. I'm looking forward to reading the entire issue. I'm already planning to watch "The Maltese Falcon" again, after reading the movie review.

Saint Gilbert?

The Catholic Herald (UK) notes that: "G K Chesterton's reputation for holiness will be boosted next month when leading scholars meet in Oxford to discuss his Cause." You can read the article at the Catholic Herald link above, or see some additional information at the American Chesterton Society's blog.

Happy Birthday Mr. Chesterton

Today is G.K. Chesterton's birthday. What a gift to the world! Chesterton was born on this date in 1874. In honor of his birthday, and in order to prepare for this year's Chesterton Conference, I've been reading Tremendous Trifles. A thoroughly enjoyable collection of 39 essays on an arresting array of common subjects. So far the one that has reached out and really grabbed me is The Twelve Men. Specifically where Chesterton writes: "Now, one of these four or five paradoxes which should be taught to every infant prattling at his mother's knee is the following: That the more a man looks at a thing, the less he can see it...." I experienced that when I was working and living in Tucson, Arizona several years ago. I was renting a room in a house which, from the front steps, had a gorgeous view of the Catalina Mountains. For the first couple of months I really looked at the mountains each morning as came out of the house to drive to work. The view was inspiring. Eventually, however, I didn't see the mountains. They were, of course, still there, but not for me. After a year or so, as my work in Tucson was drawing to a close and I was leaving the house for the last time, I looked up, and for the first time in over a year, saw the mountains again. And I remember thinking, how could I have not seen this beautiful sight each and every day? Chesterton, of course, has the answer, or at least that's what I think he means: "That the more a man looks at a thing, the less he can see it..."

Holy Cow! April/May Issue of Gilbert has Arrived

The new issue of Gilbert has recently arrived in my mailbox. There are quite a few humorous comments about the cover on the ACS Blog. You might want to take a peek.


Last night I read this issue cover to cover. The ACS Blogmistress asked that readers send in any comments they might have to the Editor. Here's a copy of what I sent to the Editor.

On the ACS Blog, Nancy asked that Gilbert readers provide you some comments on the current issue. So here are a few of mine:

I always enjoy John Peterson's stories. I especially enjoyed "Mason is Shadowed". I did not see that ending coming. I suppose, somewhat like Mason and the bus. And was it planned or just serendipitous that the ending to the story started on a new page?

The Secret Constitution was timely, given that a new Supreme Court justice will be appointed shortly. Justice Scalia is one of my heroes, even is he is a bit acerbic in some of his dissents.

As a subscriber to First Things, I'm always glad to see anything related to the late Fr. Neuhaus/First Things mentioned in Gilbert, i.e. the review of Catholic Matters. Also the sidebar: Distributism is Everywhere from First Things letters.

Seeing Winkie. As a transplant to rural southern Ohio from the suburbs, I too was amazed the first time I saw a cow jump a 4 ft fence. And I, too, would not have had things quite as easy if it were not for some very helpful rural neighbors who showed us how to "capture a spring" for drinking water, identify trees so as to not cut down the wrong type for fence posts (you want locust), dig post holes with a spud bar and posthole digger, stretch woven wire fence, put up electric fence, give a cow an injection, and yes, bend the tail up to gain some measure of control over the creature. The other thing we had to learn was to listen carefully and translate words from the local dialect. We found that our electricity came from the PAR (power) company, if we had a brush fire and needed assistance we should call the FAR (fire) department. Also, if we were invited up for dinner, we had better be there at noon! Yes, Seeing Winkie brought back fond memories.

Reading Three Acres and A Penguin lead me to check out billpowellisalive.com and his several web sites. I've now got them in my Favorites and will visit them often.

Clerihew Corner. What can I say? I've finally been published. And now I'm really enthused about writing more Clerihews for the upcoming Conference contest. Also, I substitute teach occasionally. As it is the end of the school year here, the kids are not really into doing any more school work. So I sponsored an informal Clerihew contest in one of my classes. The prize was $5. I only got about half of the kids interested, but at least some of them now have heard of G. K. Chesterton (to paraphrase Rahm Emanuel, never waste an opportunity to proselytize for G. K. Chesterton and E. C. Bentley) and know what a Clerihew is. My task for next year is to convince the British/World Literature teacher to at least mention Chesterton along with his contemporaries such as Wells, Shaw, and Wilde.

And last, but certainly not least, I enjoyed the three pieces by Nancy Brown, our ACS Blog Mistress. Her interview of Dr. von Hildebrand and her review of The Privilege of Being Woman introduced me to a new author. Nancy's essay on Fatherhood is also timely, with Father's Day coming up next month. Also, I work part time in a facility that treats about 60 young men. Almost without exception they come from homes with no father present. I feel certain that if these young men had had good role models, they would not have ended up where they now are. Fathers are very important.

All in all, a very enjoyable issue.

"Debaptism"?

From the current (June/July, 2009) Issue of First Things, While We're At It:
• The National Secular Society of England has begun a campaign that promotes “de-baptism.” For £3 (about $5) a person can get a parchment de-baptism certificate, which claims the holder was a victim of baptism before the age of consent, and purports to revoke and renounce whatever church it was that did the baptism. Additionally, the newly un-baptized rejects all creeds and other such superstitions of the Christian faith. According to one de-baptizee, baptizing infants without their consent is a form of child abuse. So far, the National Secular Society claims, 100,000 Brits have applied for de-baptism.Baptism for those baptized is a biographical fact of life, no more erasable from one’s history than birth from one’s parents. Beyond biography, Christians assert baptism is an indelible claim from God upon the whole person. If God is likely to have any say in the matter, these de-baptizees, for all their petulance, might be in for a nice surprise come the other side of death. Of course, by then it will be too late to get a refund.

At first I thought this might be a joke, but I Googled National Secular Society of England and found that it wasn't.

What does G.K. have to say about this?

Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved (Orthodoxy, chap. 2).

Summer Hiatus for Chillicothe Chesterton Society

There will be no meetings of the Chillicothe Chesterton Society in June, July or August of 2009. Meetings will resume in September. However, if you'd like to learn more about G.K. Chesterton, feel free to contact me at 740-703-5651. I've got quite a few of his books that I would consider lending out. And, of course, you could always attend the 2009 Conference to be held August 6-8 in Seattle, WA. More information on the Conference is available here.