Thrown Back

Introductory Chant Workshop!

Last fall, Fr. David Grondz of St. Philip Neri House in Kalamazoo and myself offered an Introductory Chant Workshop. It was a great success - so much so that we're doing it again!

So, Catholics in Michigan - come and learn the music which is most truly that of the Liturgy!

Chant for Beginners

An Introductory Chant Workshop

Presented by Fr. Rob Johansen and Fr. David Grondz.

The Workshop will include presentations on:

Reading Chant Notation
History and Spirituality of Chant
Some Fundamental Chants of the Roman Rite

No previous knowledge of Chant required - This is truly for beginners!


Saturday, March 28, 2008
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Participants will have the opportunity to put to use what they have learned, as we will be singing for the parish 5:00 PM Vigil Mass.

St. Bernard Catholic Church
555 E. Delaware
Benton Harbor, Michigan.

For more information call SS. John and Bernard parish at (269) 925-2425, or e-mail me at frrob AT earthlink DOT net.

(Benton Harbor is located approximately 40 minutes West of Kalamazoo, off of I -94.)

Cost: $30.00 per person (includes lunch and a copy of the Parish Book of Chant).

Co-sponsored by the Diocese of Kalamazoo: Office of Christian Worship, St. Philip Neri House, and SS. John and Bernard Catholic Church.


Fr. Rob Johansen has an extensive background in music, having studied voice, ‘cello, and conducting at the University of Illinois. He studied Chant at the Catholic University of America, and continued his Chant studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary under Calvert Shenk. He has degrees in Religious Studies, Classics, and Patristic Greek and Latin. He currently serves as Pastor of St. Stanislaus parish, Dorr.

Fr. David Grondz received his S.T.B. from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained to the Priesthood in 2006. Fr. Grondz has studied Chant for 13 years, and served as assistant organist at the Pontifical North American College. He is currently the Parochial Vicar of St. Mary Church, Kalamazoo, where he regularly celebrates the Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Thomas More College: Giving New Life to Catholic Culture

Tonight, Thomas More College in New Hampshire will host a lecture on the "Restoration of Gregorian Chant in the 20th Century", by Samuel Schmitt. This is just one of a series of speakers and events that Thomas More has sponsored, all directed at inculcating a broad and Catholic understanding and appreciation of Culture.


Some of you will recall, a few months ago, that Thomas More instituted a program in Sacred Art, headed by English artist and iconographer David Clayton. I had David visit my parish last year, where he gave several presentations to my parish and school. I can say firsthand that David is both an outstanding artist and teacher. I have no doubt that this program, called the "Way of Beauty Art Program" will accomplish great things.

But as I said, these efforts serve a larger and broader vision: the restoration of a living and creative Catholic culture. To be truly Catholic and creative, it must be rooted in the Tradition of the Church, which is the wellspring of all Western culture. To this end, students at Thomas More not only read the "Great Books", but experience the fruits of that Catholic tradition through the "Way of Beauty" program and it's programs at Rome and Oxford.

The President of Thomas More College, Jeffrey Nelson, is the source of the vision which has brought about these initiatives at the College. I've known Dr. Nelson since my graduate school days at Catholic University, when he was working for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He had then, and has brought to his post at Thomas More, a vision of the Liberal Arts as part of the great Catholic tradition of learning, cultivation of beauty, and pursuit of virtue which constitute Catholic culture. These elements all complement one another, and Dr. Nelson and the faculty at Thomas More are working to bring them together in a program which, when it reaches fruition, will be perhaps the finest Catholic Liberal Arts curriculum in the country.

It's places like Thomas More College where the "Catholic revival" are happening. It's places like this where we will see the vision of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI for a "new springtime" in the Church come to its fulfillment.

Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form!

I will offer a



Ecce Agnus Dei...


Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the
Roman Rite
(Missa Cantata)

Sunday, March 22, 2009
Laetare Sunday
(Fourth Sunday of Lent)
1:00 PM

St. Stanislaus Catholic Church
1871 136th Avenue
Dorr, Michigan

I will be the celebrant.

Music will again be provided by the Schola of the Chair of St. Peter


Let us come and worship!