On the Square Today

George Weigel on five great motets :

The Church’s liturgy has inspired great choral music for centuries. Unfortunately, that part of Catholicism’s cultural memory has been somewhat misplaced in recent years. One reason why is the widespread misapprehension among liturgists that 21st-century congregations can only “hear” music of the Andrew Lloyd Weber genre. (One memorial acclamation I heard recently was straight out of the “ Les Mis ” playbook, the only difference being that the Lord, not Cosette, was the ditty’s alleged subject.) Experience, however, proves that congregations respond gratefully to great music, and there are few classical forms that are better suited to the Roman rite than the motet.

Also today, Stephen L. Mikochik on the first casualty of war :

The bishops list other examples of government action they consider unjust. In several locales, Catholic Charities lost its license or government contract to provide foster care and adoption services because it refused to place children with same-sex or unmarried opposite-sex couples. Further, the federal government changed its contract specifications for agencies administering to victims of human trafficking, requiring provision of or referral for contraceptive and abortions services, thus ending years of participation by the U.S. Catholic Conference.