2014 Colloquium: Indianapolis

June 30 – July 6, 2014

Scores of works sung during the Colloquium are included in the music book.

Monday, June 30

CMAA Vice President Horst Buchholz welcomed participants to the Colloquium in the Association’s 50th anniversary year, along with chaplain Fr. Robert Pasley and the Association’s President William Mahrt:

The first musical event of our week in Indianapolis came through the hospitality of the Episcopal cathedral parish around the corner from our hotel. Christ Church Cathedral and its musicians not only made their rehearsal spaces and their organ available for some of our sessions during the week, but also invited us to a beautiful Evensong service:

Here’s one of Ben Yanke’s daily video blog reports:

Tuesday, July 1

The first plenary address to the Colloquium was from Fr. Christopher Smith (at the time a recent PhD graduate of the Sorbonne) on the theology of the liturgy:

The evening’s opening Mass in English at St John the Evangelist was celebrated by Fr. Pasley.


Wednesday, July 2

Professor Denis McNamara presented his plenary address on “Sacred Architecture”:

Later that day Fr. Francisco Nahoe, O.F.M. Conv., celebrated Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the feast of the Visitation. He was assisted by Deacon Edward Schaefer and by Edward Olsen as subdeacon. Organist Paul Weber’s stunning liturgical improvisations included a scherzo based on the Ave maris stella in the style of Duruflé.


In the evening we returned to Christ Church Cathedral for a recital by Simon Thomas Jacobs on the Cathedral’s three organs:

Thursday, July 3

In his plenary address, Dr. Mahrt spoke about “The Ordinary of the Mass and the Beauty of the Liturgy”:

For the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, Mass was celebrated in the Ordinary Form by Fr. Michael Earthman. The Gregorian Mass V ordinary was sung, and the organist was Horst Buchholz.

At Vespers for the feast day, the men’s and women’s scholas sang the psalms, Dr. Mahrt’s chant improvisation class sang the Magnificat, and the motet choir sang Guerrero’s setting of the hymn Deus tuorum militum. Fr Robert Pasley officiated and the organist was Paul Weber.

Friday, July 4

The day began with Jeffrey Morse’s popular solfege warmup:

The Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church was in the Ordinary Form, a Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart celebrated by Fr. Christopher Smith. Ann Labounsky was organist and Wilko Brouwers conducted the Missa de Beata Virgine Maria by Cardoso. The Mass was immediately followed by a brief service of Exposition and Benediction.

Saturday, July 5

The Requiem Mass offered for the departed members of the Association, drew largely from Victoria‘s Requiem for 4 voices, sometimes wholly polyphonic and sometimes alternating with Gregorian melodies.

Sunday, July 6

The Archbishop of Indianapolis, the Most Rev. Joseph Tobin, C.SS.R., celebrated the closing Mass of the Colloquium at St. John the Evangelist Church, in the Ordinary Form for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The organist was Jonathan Ryan and the conductors were Jeffrey Morse, Mary Jane Ballou, Paul Weber, Melanie Malinka and also Horst Buchholz, who conducted the Colloquium participants in Bruckner’s Ave Maria.

Additional recordings

Morning Prayer from Thursday, July 3:

Matthew Meloche on budgeting and planning for a music program:

Prof. Jennifer Donelson on chironomy according to the classic Solesmes Method (two sessions):

Charles Cole on basic conducting technique:

Susan Treacy on “Should Women sing in choirs and scholae? The early 20th-century controversy over women’s role in liturgical music”