St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California
Catholic Institute
of Sacred Music
Announcing the Fall 2024 Online Workshop Series!
Starts Monday, September 16th
Blueprint for Building a Parish Sacred Music Program: Foundations, Structures, Personnel, and Resources
Topic #1 of Fall 2024 Workshop Series
Mondays, September 16, 23, 30
5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PDT
Does your parish music program need some new initiatives or a complete overhaul? Join Dr. Donelson-Nowicka as she takes participants through the outline of a strategic planning process. Discover ways of assessing your program and goals, brainstorm ideas, and set short- and long-term goals for the future. Ideal for parish music directors and pastors.
Chant Modality at the Keyboard and Chant Accompaniment
Topic #2 of Fall 2024 Workshop Series
Mondays, October 7, 14, 21
5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PDT
Are you an organist who’s new to chant or could use a refresher on how to approach chant at the keyboard? Join Prof. Christopher Berry and Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka as they discuss the basics of understanding chant modality at the keyboard, as well as the rhythmic and harmonic principles behind the main schools of chant accompaniment. Registration and texture will also be addressed.
The Cantiones Sacræ, Masses, and Gradualia of William Byrd
Topic #3 of Fall 2024 Workshop Series
Mondays, October 28 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PDT and November 4, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., PST
Join Dr. William Mahrt as he presents an overview of the most well-loved music of English Tudor composer, William Byrd.
A Fantastic Summer 2024!
From Our Director’s Desk
Dear friends of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music,
It was a tremendous second summer term here at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music!
From our over 200 applicants, we were able to offer enrollment to over 90 students in our 9 filled-to-capacity courses.
Students in History and Principles of Sacred Music took a deep dive into the Church’s treasury of sacred music, from its roots in Jewish tradition and patristic application of ideas from classical antiquity, through to the modern repertory and legislative documents. Student teachers tackled the first level of the Ward Method in our Teaching Gregorian Chant to Children Course, offering great teaching demos every day of the class. Singers in Introduction to Gregorian Chant received a systematic overview of the spirituality, genres, and rhetorical style of chant, and the elements of a fully sung Mass, while intensively studying neumes and chant modality and the rhythmic approach of Dom Mocquereau. Participants sang and conducted three pieces of chant on their own for the final exam, and the week concluded with the class singing a Votive Mass of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Dr. William Mahrt presented an insightful overview of the style, structure, and Chants of the Mass Proper, while Dr. Charles Weaver helped students navigate the most important source manuscripts, along with their different styles of notation and implications for rhythm in chant. The 34 singers in our Choral Institute sang daily Lauds, Mass, and Vespers under the direction of Prof. Christopher Berry and Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, with the week culminating in singing Palestrina’s Missa Æterna Christi Munera and Howells’ Mass in the Dorian Mode, alongside motets from the five composers in Dr. Frank La Rocca’s Composition Seminar. The term finished out with a fruitful dialogue of the chant performance practice approaches of Eugène Cardine (Semiology, taught by Dr. Edward Schaefer) and Dom Mocquereau (Chironomy), including a sung Mass on Thursday morning of the courses featuring singing in both styles.
We can’t wait to share with you some wonderful photographs, audio, and video from the summer, and we’re already looking ahead to Summer 2025!
Please join us this academic year 2024-25 at our workshops, conferences, lectures, and concerts. Spots fill quickly—join our mailing list here so you don’t miss out on anything!
Please remember us, our students, and our work in your prayers! All for the praise of His glory!
In the heart of Our Lady,
Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, Director
Virtual Conference for Music Educators
October 18–19, 2024
Join us in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jubilate Deo!
Gregorian Chants Every Catholic Should Know: Handing on a Core Repertory of Sacred Music to Youth, 50 Years after Jubilate Deo
Fall 2024 Public Lecture & Concert Series
How Ritual Changes Space:
From Pantheon to Sancta Maria ad Martyres
Lecture, Professor Susan Rankin (University of Cambridge)
Saturday, November 16, 10 a.m. PST
Missed an Event?
Check out a video archive of our 2023–2024 events.
Our Mission
Founded in 2022, the mission of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music is to draw souls to Jesus Christ through the beauty of sacred music and the liturgy.
The Institute offers a series of graduate-level coursework for credit, designed to help church musicians and clergy better to know and love the Church’s treasury of sacred music and her teachings on sacred music. Our goal is to equip students with the theological, philosophical, and historical knowledge, as well as the practical skills (singing, playing, conducting, composing, organizing, fundraising) necessary to build excellent sacred music programs in parishes and schools. We aim to help others revitalize the faith of Catholics and instill vitality in parish and school life through a vibrant sacred music program.
We are committed to a faithful and generous service of the Church. We cultivate fidelity, resiliency, a healthy sense of creativity, and selflessness within our student body and faculty as characteristics of our service as we labor together in the vineyard of the Lord to bring in a rich harvest.
St. Patrick’s Seminary, in Menlo Park, California
News
Over 20 Events in 2024–25 Academic Year; Fall Workshop Series Announced
We have just wrapped up an amazing series of summer 2024 courses and are ready to dive into the regular academic year. We've got over 20 events coming up during the 2024–25 academic year, including:...
CISM Choir in Collaboration with Frank La Rocca and Benedict XVI Institute
The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music was happy to collaborate with the Benedict XVI Institute in an evening of prayer and learning about the situation of Christians persecuted for their faith in...
Archived Footage of Fr. Cassian Folsom’s Talk on the History of the Graduale Romanum
The last event of our 2023–2024 Public Lecture and Concert Series was a wonderful lecture by Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., a foremost historian of books of the Roman rite, and is a preview of some...
Archbishop Cordileone’s Talk at Sacred Music Study Day
Archbishop Cordileone's Talk at our first Sacred Music Study Day on April 20, 2024 was splendid - a great overview of the basics of sacred music from the Church's perspective. Unfortunately we...
Study Day Success!
We held our first annual Sacred Music Study Day yesterday, April 20th. 110 singers from the area joined us, along with a few visitors from Sacramento, Stockton, L.A., and Mexico. Archbishop...
Announcing Summer 2024!
The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California is proud to announce its second summer term. Through the sponsorship of generous donors, we are delighted...