The View Returns, Pt. 2

It has been many years since I posted here, and the story is a long one.

Back in 2016, I resigned from St. Mary's church in Marshall, MI. There were many disappointments over my short tenure there that led to the decision to part company, but there were valuable lessons learned as well. It was unfortunate that despite the Pastor's background in organ, we were unable to form a truly collegial working relationship. There were many successes at St. Mary's, and it is my hope that I left the position having laid the foundation upon which a solid music program could continue being built. There were a number of very dedicated adults and younger voices in the program, and there were many moments where truly beautiful music was made, all in service to the liturgy and the raising of the hearts and minds of the Faithful to higher things.

This was to be, at least I thought, my last full-time position as a sacred musician, and I had determined at that point that I no longer had the energy or the appetite to continue in the sometimes stressful work as an advocate for the "reform of the reform" and the restoration and preservation of chant and polyphony to the liturgy of the Church. I continued to serve in part-time positions as organist only, and returned to the secular working world in the legal field as a records and file room manager, applying the skills I'd learned as a paralegal.

But, as my grandfather (Allen Saunders), was quoted as saying, "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." (This is, by the way, incorrectly attributed to John Lennon, because he used it in his song Beautiful Boy. My grandfather's quote first appeared in Reader's Digest in 1957. The misattribution has been corrected several times over the course of the years.)

This brings me to the new picture for the header here. I was working full-time at a law firm, and playing for services at St. Michael's in the Hills Episcopal church, in Ottawa Hills (outside of Toledo, OH). My relationship with St. Michael's was an interesting one, and I'll share that experience in a separate post. I was also assisting with the music at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Temperance, MI where the Mass is celebrated in both forms (Ordinary and Extraordinary), and the music is under the direction of a good friend and colleague. This brought me into contact with a number of like-minded musicians, and when the need for a serious-minded sacred musician presented itself at Immaculate Conception Church in Bellevue, OH, I decided to apply. I was offered the position, and on March 1, 2023 became Director of Sacred Music and Liturgy. I resigned from my position at the law firm, and stepped down from my work for St. Michael's, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The header photo is of the altar, set in the "Benedictine" arrangement. It is a free-standing altar, but Mass can be offered either versus populum or ad orientem. The current Pastor and I share a similar understanding of sacred music and liturgy, and the importance of reclaiming the unique identity of the Catholic Church that has been in steep decline and at risk of being entirely lost. It is because of his commitment to Sacred Tradition and the salvation of souls that I determined that the time was right to return to my first passion.

I will be posting more over the coming weeks, so please visit this blog frequently!