Tony's December-January Chips Article "Addendum" Two birth stories for Christmas time by Tony Sievert

Many of you may be aware of the extraordinary circumstances by which our son, Dominic, came into the world. (If you're not, I'll explain in this article). When I e-mailed family and friends about Dominic's extraordinary birth story, Fr. Bill Lugger wrote me back and simply said "Wow! Wow! Wow!". He also told me that he tells parents around Christmas time to tell their children's birth stories to them. In recalling the miracle of childbirth of your own children and how it changed your life, it illuminates the miracle of Christ's birth which changed all of our lives.

CARMEN
My wife went in for one of her last check-ups with her prenatal physician on the morning of August 3, 2005. This was about ten days before her due date. I went with Kimberly to the appointment, and waited out in the waiting room. My wife would tell me later that during one of the routine examinations, she got a really hard kick, and she swears that there was actually an audible "pop" noise. Her water had broken. The nurse came out into the waiting room, informed me of what had happened, and said, "it looks you're going to be a dad today!" Whoa.

What happened from here was a little bit surreal. She finished out the appointment with her doctor (there was notable excitement in the air), and at this point, even though her water had broken, it was so early in the labor that the contractions were almost an hour apart. So the doctor instructed us (in a very relaxed tone), to go home make sure we had a bag packed for the hospital and to go get something to eat for lunch because they don't really feed you once you're admitted. At one of the most exciting moments of our lives, we were being encouraged to leisurely get to the hospital within the next couple of hours sometime.

So with my wife in labor, we went, stood in a long line at Panera Bread and got sandwiches for lunch. Again, it seemed very surreal to be patiently waiting in line while my wife was in labor (albeit early labor).

We made our way to U of M hospital, got checked in etc., and got situated in the delivery room. This, as it turns out, would be our destination for the next seventeen hours. Not long after being in the delivery room, they began administering Petosin to help the labor along. This made the contractions EXTREMELY painful. For the next several hours labor progressed, the intensity and frequency of labor pains steadily increasing. Finally, by 10:00pm or so, when all seemed pretty well unbearable, my wife asked for an epidaural. Once it was administered, she was a happy camper! The relief from the epidaural allowed her to have the energy to endure the labor which would continue into the middle of the night. It wasn't until about 1:00am that Kimberly was encouraged to start pushing at each contraction. We had an awesome labor and delivery nurse who had great advice and techniques for my wife to try during the labor, and was with us practically the entire time, even after Carmen was born. You knew things were getting serious when there were all of a sudden three doctors and a couple more nurses in the room. The one doctor said, "this next push and you'll have a baby". And he was right! Carmen was born at 4:04am. She was 6lbs 12oz and 19 1/2 inches, and I got to cut the cord. Here was our baby girl, and what occurred to me was this was a strong, determined baby who persevered along with mom through the entire seventeen hours of labor to be born into our lives. We wouldn't know the true extent of how strong-willed and determined (challenging) our daughter could be until she turned three (but that's a story for another time). And I don't even want to think about the teen years yet.

I think we were more relaxed in general with our second pregnancy. Not hustling around trying to get a room ready or packing our bags way in advanced. We were old pros by now. We opted not to find out the sex of our second child either. We found out in advance of Carmen being born that we were having a girl, and we thought it would be fun to be surprised this time around. (Boy were we ever).

Our second baby's due date was December 31st, and this had me a little concerned that if the baby were born a little early, I may not be around to play for the Christmas liturgies. I was lining up contingency plans just in case.

By early December my wife was getting Braxton-Hicks contractions and was getting increasing uncomfortable due to searing sciatic nerve pain. In the middle of the night on December 6^th, my wife woke up from bed in a lot of pain. This was more than three weeks before this baby was supposed to be born, and yet, to my wife this felt like what she was experiencing while she was in labor with Carmen. We were anticipating that we would probably be going to the hospital shortly, and my wife, in the midst of her pain was upset that she wouldn't have a chance to take a shower before going to the hospital. I began running a bath for her, and told it her it might make her feel better. At this point, my wife would describe feeling like she was going to split in two and was concerned that something was wrong with the baby. I'm frantically looking around for the phone number of the doctor, and I also remembered to call of one of our friends who was going to watch Carmen if we had to go to the hospital. My wife yelled out from the tub, "I think I'm going to have this baby right now!!" I instantly called 911 and told the operator that my wife and I were at home, and my wife was about to give birth. The operator dispatched paramedics and then gave me instructions. Get some towels for mom and the baby. Get a shoestring to tie the cord off with. All of a sudden my wife says, "the baby is here right now" and gave birth right there in the tub. I told the operator that she had just had the baby and she says, "Congratulations. What did you have?" I was in such shock I hadn't even thought to ascertain this information until the operator asked me. "It's a little boy," my wife said. The operator asked me if the baby seemed alright, encouraged us to clear any fluid from his mouth and nose and touch his chest to stimulate him until the paramedics arrived. Miraculously, our son was born without complication, at home in our bathtub at around 5:15am on December 7, 2007. By now the paramedics were here, and were helping my wife with the rest of the delivery. They seemed unphased by this whole situation as if they'd seen this kind of thing all the time. One of the paramedics, who seemed to be the "lead paramedic" in this three person crew, asked if we had a name for this little guy. We said we'd been kicking around the names Samuel, Peter, and Dominic. She heard the last name and said, "I have a nephew named Dominic. I think that's a great name. Let's call this little guy Dominic." (Truthfully, Dominic was the name we'd been leaning toward most seriously, anyway, although it was nice to get a bit of affirmation from the paramedic!)

Like all parents, the birth stories of our children mean a great deal to my wife and I. From the moment you know you are going to have a baby to the moment that child is born, the entire experience is nothing short of miraculous. You go through a range of emotions, of physical sensations, and there are literally blood, sweat, and tears that bring these precious babies into our world. You wonder what it must have been like for Mary to give birth to Jesus in a crude stable in the middle of winter. Surely she experienced the same pain, excitement, fear, discomfort, and ultimately joy in bringing our Savior to birth. In this Christmastide, we can surely thank God for the gift of life, for the miracle of childbirth, for the gift of his own son being born among us as a baby. So as you unwrap gifts on Christmas morning, or see what Santa left in your stockings, as you share a Christmas meal with family and friends, tell your kids their birth stories. They might get a little grossed out or embarassed, or they might be fascinated. Give them a big hug, and praise God for the gift of children which He has blessed you with.

Tony's November Chips Article

Sing to The Lord: Music in Divine Worship

The Church at Prayer

(part 2 of 4)

By

Tony Sievert

Last month I shared some of the commentary from Rev. Virgil Funk on the church document, "Sing To Lord: Music in Divine Worship". It focused on the first portion of the actual document which deals with the many reasons why we sing. The next section of STL is called, "The Church at Prayer" and this is some of what it talks about:

It deals with the "who's" of the Church at prayer and refers first to the individual roles of the bishop, the priest, the gathered liturgical assembly, and finally the ministers of liturgical music. It then goes on to speak about leadership and formation, music in Catholic schools, diverse cultures and languages, and Latin in the liturgy. Here are some of the highlights --

THE BISHOP (paragraphs 16-17) - "is assisted in his role by his staff…(to promote) sacred music together with pastoral liturgical action in the diocese." This refers to people like Rita Thiron in the Office of Worship who help the bishop in forming diocesan parishes in the ways of sound practices with regard to music and liturgy.

THE PRIEST (paragraphs 18-21) - The document gets more specific on the roles of the priest when it comes to music and the Mass: The priest should, "Sing the dialogues, such as "The Lord be with you," and the introductory dialogue of the Eucharistic Prayer, "Sing when the assembly sings except the memorial acclamation and Amen because these are in a call-and-response format", "When the assembly sings, sing with out being heard over the assembly. The microphone can be turned off if necessary." (alrighty then!)

THE ASSEMBLY (paragraphs 24-27) - The document addresses three concerns for the today's assembly; division in the assembly, musical formation of the assembly, and introducing new music. On the first point, it poses questions which we might ask ourselves about our assembly, "how can the faithful shun any appearance of individualism or division." On formation, it talks about singing being one of the most important ways that the assembly fully, actively, consciously participates, and how vital musical formation is in having this happen. It doesn't go into, per se, how to do it. Finally on introducing new music, in a similarly vague fashion, it says that a "pastoral judgement" must be made in deciding when and how often to introduce new music.

MINISTERS OF LITURGICAL MUSIC (paragraphs 28-47) - this is a large portion of this section of the document. Interestingly, it mentions the choir FIRST in order of discussion, which shows a way in which this document is placing particular emphasis on the choir. It says, "the choir must not minimize the participation of the faithful", and are to be drawn from the assembly (rather than be paid musicians).

STL also defines the term, "ensemble" as a form of choir that commonly includes singers and instrumentalists (like our Contemporary Music Group).

It says that choirs (and therefore ensembles) should sing:

BY ALTERNATING WITH THE ASSEMBLY DURING THE

Litanies, Kyrie, and Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)

Gloria or Creed, when composed with antiphons

Three processional songs (entrance, communion, and closing hymn)

THE CHOIR MAY SING ALONE DURING THE

Prelude

Entrance chant

Preparation of the gifts

Communion procession

Time after the reception of Communion

One of the things the document mentions that I find particularly interesting as a choir director, is that choir directors are discouraged from directing the choir when the assembly is singing so as not to give the impression that the choir is replacing the assembly's song. It also makes an important distinction by saying that the choir does not, "lead congregational singing, but.. sing(s) with the congregation (32).

The next portion of the document goes into some rather picky language discuss the roles of "psalmist" and "cantor". Historically in other Roman documents, these have been considered two different roles, in the United States we have often linked the roles of the psalmist and the cantor. STL has some language to it which goes along with combining these roles, (referring to the psalmist as "the cantor of the psalm"), but also recognizes the Roman legislation with the statement, "Although the psalmist's role is distinct from the role of the cantor, the two ministries are often entrusted to the same person." It gives these directives for the cantor:

- The cantor leads those dialogues STL assigns to the choir when the choir is not

present

- The cantor should control the volume of his/her voice when the assembly is singing

- Gestures should be modest and should not be designed to direct the assembly

- The cantor does not need to be seen every time the assembly sings, especially if the assembly knows its musical role

- The cantor, in performing his or her roles, does not use the ambo or wear a cassock

The Organist and Other Instrumentalists (paragraphs 41-44)

The major thing to notice about these paragraphs from STL are that there are some differences in the way that organ/instrumental solo music is designated for use as compared with what it says in Music in Catholic Worship. MCW (the earlier document), talks about the use of solo organ music as, "an instrumental prelude, a soft background to a spoken psalm, at the preparation of the gifts in place of singing, during the procession of the communion rite, and the recessional." STL refers to using solo organ music in all of these places EXCEPT as background to the responsorial psalm and during the communion procession. As organists and music directors, then, we are being encouraged toward singing exclusively in these portions of the liturgy primarily (good thing, because that’s how we do it at our parish!)

Director of Music Ministries (paragraphs 45-47)

"Sing To The Lord" is the first official document to list the title 'director of music ministries' as a unique role in parish ministry. So, as a director of music ministry, I can say that it feels good that we're going the official distinction we deserve!

The final paragraphs of this portion of the document, "Leadership and Formation", "Music In Catholic Schools", "Diverse Cultures and Languages", and "Latin in the Liturgy" all point to the need for competent and pastoral leadership when it comes to celebrating liturgy well. I am most intrigued by the final section on the use of Latin, as I, personally, am a huge fan of using Latin chants as part of worship (in a sparing and pastorally responsible way, of course). I think that to use Latin chants connects us in a very special way to the tradition of the Church and to the way in which Catholics have celebrated for centuries. I also appreciate the overtone in STL in speaking of the use of Latin in the liturgy as a unifying force particularly in light of the ever increasing desire to address multiculturalism and diversity in our celebrations.

I am continuing to study this document, and I hope I can continue to bring you what things I have learned from it both in these articles for "Chips" and in our worship at liturgy.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Tony away at Priest Convocation September 28-October 1

Just a reminder that I will be away next week, doing music for the Priest Convocation for the Diocese of Lansing. We'll be up north at Maguire's in Cadillac.

So there are no rehearsals next week for our music groups.

We will resume regular rehearsals the week of October 5.

Very successful beginning to Children's Choir

We had our first Children's Choir rehearsal this week (Thursday, September 17), and I'm very happy to report that we had 22 children! The best news is that we had three boys present (and one missing, but who is planning to be part of the children's choir). Just because I feel like acknowledging our exceptional boys in the choir they are:

Charlie Giglio
Andrew Covert
Jacob Zettel
Pablo Demerath

Our first rehearsal went very well and we did a lot of great singing!

To parents,

Thanks for having your children be part of Children's Choir!

CHILDREN'S CHOIR STARTS THIS WEEK

Hi, all!

Just a reminder that Children's Choir starts this week on Thursday. We meet from 5:30 to 6:15pm at the Village Church. St. Joseph Children's Choir is for children in 2nd through 4th grade.

For a full schedule for Children's Choir 2009-2010 please paste the following link into your web browser:

http://ParishBulletin.com/Organizations/1826/Schedule.for.Children.2009-2010.doc

See you there!

Tony's Chips and Sawdust Article - October 2009

Sing To The Lord: Music In Divine Worship

"Why We Sing"

You may wonder where I (or anyone in pastoral ministry) get our guiding principles from for the work that we do. One of the realities of the Church is it publishes a lot of official documents. These documents range in weight of influence from Encyclicals put forth by the Pope, Apostolic Letters, official directories, and some documents which are put forth and approved for use in the Catholic Church in certain parts of the world. One example of the last type of document, which has a lot of bearing on those of us involved in music ministry, is Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship (STL) which was developed by the Committee on Divine Worship of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). STL was approved by the Latin Church members of the USCCB in November 2007. STL is a revision of two earlier Church documents, Music in Catholic Worship and its companion, Liturgical Music Today (1982). One of the preparation guides that I use for the liturgy called, Today's Liturgy, has had a four-part series written by Rev. Virgin Funk outlining this important new document and offering commentary on it. Rev. Funk is the president emeritus of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (of which I am a proud card carrying member!) In his first commentary he summarizes the 14 reasons that STL puts forth on why, as Church, we sing:

1. God gave us the gift of song.

2. “Singing together in church expresses so well the sacramental presence of God to his people.”

3. The Jewish people were instructed to sing.

4. Jesus and his apostles sang.

5. Music strengthens our faith.

6. Our Catholic liturgical tradition uses music to proclaim Christ and to reply with worship and praise.

7. We continue the song of the victory: of the exodus, of the Resurrection, and of the eternal Song of the Lamb.

8. The paschal hymn continues in service outside of Church.

9. Inspired by song, we go forth to spread the Gospel; singing motivates us to action.

10. Sung worship allows us to participate in the action of the Trinity.

11. Sung participation is the source from which the true Christian spirit is derived.

12. Listening to sung prayer lifts our minds to God.

13. Even if we don’t have good singing voices, sung participation comes from our heart.

14. Through song, we honor and glorify the Trinity.

So what? If nothing else perhaps these ideas can give us some renewed focus on just how important singing is and how inextricably linked it is to our mission as Church.

These fourteen reasons appear in the first chapter of Sing to the Lord simply called, "Why We Sing", and, again just focuses on the WHY of what we do, and not of HOW we do it, or HOW we may strive to do it better. The later chapters are the ones that get into just how we do it. [And believe me, as a pastoral musician, it is no easy feat]. In the coming months, I'll continue to offer snippets of what this important new document says to us and about us. Soli Deo Gloria!