Prayer upon the Death of Pope Francis

by admin | Apr 22, 2025 | News

Upon the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music joins all the faithful in prayers for the repose of his soul, and for the will of God to be done in the election of a new supreme pontiff.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

O God, faithful rewarder of souls, grant that your departed servant Pope Francis, whom you made successor of Peter and shepherd of your Church, may happily enjoy for ever in your presence in heaven the mysteries of your grace and compassion, which he faithfully ministered on earth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Deus, qui inter summos sacerdótes fámulum tuum Francíscum ineffábili tua dispositióne connumerári voluisti: praesta, quáesumus; ut, qui Unigéniti Filii tui vices in terris gerébat, sanctórum tuórum Pontíficum consortio perpétuo aggregétur. Per eundem Christum, Dóminum nostrum. Amen.

God, Who in Thy ineffable providence, did will that Thy servant Francis should be numbered among the high priests, grant, we beseech Thee, that he, who on earth held the place of Thine Only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through the same Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Know a Priest Who’d Like to Come to the Liturgy Summit? Scholarship Available.

by admin | Apr 17, 2025 | News

A Holy Week Gift for Priests!

A generous donor has enabled us to offer 10 $100 discounts to priests. Once the 10 discounted registration fees are gone, we will close this coupon. You must be a priest to receive this discount, and you must register for the entire conference, not just one day.

Ready to go to the Summit? Register now, and enter the coupon code Priest100 at checkout for the $100 discount.

Register here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.regfox.com/sacred-liturgy-summit

Sacred Liturgy Summit in the News

by admin | Apr 9, 2025 | News

We’re gearing up for the July 1–4, 2025 Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here at St. Patrick’s Seminary, with CISM providing the fantastic chant and polyphony which will play an integral role in the Solemn Masses and Vespers that are part of the program.

Archbishop Cordileone speaks about the Summit in an article at the National Catholic Register saying:

Observers point to many serious problems: the decline in marriage and the impending demographic crisis; the parallel decline in young people accepting the call to priesthood and the religious life; ever growing family fragmentation; lingering fallout from revelations of clergy sexual abuse of decades ago; the scandal caused by prominent Catholics who stridently oppose foundational moral truths; lack of clarity in presenting the Church’s teachings on the sensitive issues of our time and the ensuing divisions that result from it; the rise of social media as an alternative magisterium, replacing parents and parish alike as the primary educators of children. And the list goes on.

These are all important. But if you ask me, the problem underlying them all is the loss of the sense of the sacred — and most especially in how Catholics worship.

What does this loss mean? We are seeing it played out before our very eyes: the failure to evangelize the next generation of young Catholics in our pews leading to a cascading decline in Catholic faith and practice, as witnessed by the decline in Mass attendance, marriages, baptisms and religious vocations. At least 40% of adults who say they were raised Catholic have left the Church, Pew Research reported in 2015, and 10 years later, the numbers are not getting better.

Clearly, too many of our next generation of Catholics are not meeting Jesus in the Eucharist. If they were, they would not abandon him to join other religions, or simply to be absorbed by the secular culture. In the oft-quoted line from Sacrosanctum Concilium, the fathers of Vatican II put the importance of the liturgy in our lives as Christians in a wonderfully succinct way:

“[T]he liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.”

I sometimes wonder if we truly appreciate the overriding importance of this principle: it means that there is simply no more important issue in the Church, or in the world, than renewing this source and summit of faith in Jesus Christ. Do we really believe this?

We hope you’ll be able to join CISM at the Summit this summer!

Catch Dr. Donelson-Nowicka on Relevant Radio!

by admin | Feb 22, 2025 | News

What is the place of well-ordered music in life? What are the effects of disordered music? Dr. Donelson-Nowicka discussed the answers to these questions on the Drew Mariani Show earlier this week on Relevant Radio.

Give it a listen here.