Welcome to the blog of the Catholic Curmudgeon, carrying on the fine tradition of Hiliare Belloc, Nicolas Gomez Davila and other aficionados of original sin.  I hope to comment on a variety of things, with no attempt to be topical.  I will try to discipline myself to be charitable; irony is permitted, but absolutely no sarcasm.


In the rather large category of "disappointments in the liturgy after Vatican II", contemporary liturgical music holds a prominent place.  There's lots of mediocre music out there, and the St. Louis Jesuits have been responsible for their fair share.  My first story concerns a fellow worker of mine who attended Creighton University in the mid-1970's.  Before their move to St. Louis University, these Jesuits were located at Creighton, and my co-worker got to know them well.  He's been partial to their music ever since.   (Loyalty I can understand, but this was too much!).  One day at work, we started an impromptu rendering of "Bless Be the Lord", I providing the counterpoint.  After we finished singing the verse which ends ".... and the arrow that flies by day",  I mentioned to my co-worker that these sorts of songs drive me crazy because the happy-clappy melody is completely out of character with the lyrics.  I reminded him that the lyrics were taken from Psalm 91 and that the verse following "the arrow that flies by day" reads:  "nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the destruction that wastes at noonday".  My friend paused for a moment, looked at me in the eye, and said: "You have permanently ruined that song for me."