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Few cities in America can boast the richness of Catholic heritage the way Chicago can. If you’re going to be in the Windy City for the Chant Intensive or the Colloquium, it will be well worth your while to do a little exploring on your own.

A good place to start is with the many, many beautiful churches that stand as a testament to the faith of the city’s citizens since its first days. Read more about them in author Denis McNamara’s acclaimed Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago.

Camera and missal in hand, your first visit might be to the liturgical oasis St. John Cantius. Founded by Polish immigrants at the end of the 19th century, today it thrives as a vibrant parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago that offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Roman Rite in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms, and is also home of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, a religious community of men dedicated to the Restoration of the Sacred.

Another must see, not far from St. John Cantius, is The Sanctuary of The Divine Mercy. By the way, EWTN will be broadcasting live from the Sanctuary on May 31, 2008 to witness the unveiling of the Iconic Monstrance (a nine foot tall Marian monstrance). You’ll be sure to want to go by for yourself to have a look.

Caffeinate your tour of the Catholic city with a visit to a new attraction for young Catholics: the faith based cafe called The Ark. It is very easy to get there from Loyola on the El, Chicago’s famed above ground public transportation system.

If you’re still downtown, getting hungry, and don’t want to spend a bundle – run, don’t walk – to the fabulous diner with the trendiest name going: Feed. Nowhere else in the city will you get the kind of down home Southern fare you’ll be served up by Donna and her crew. The men of St. John Cantius swear by her cooking. Don’t forget to tell her that the Church Music Association of America sent you.

Here is the most up-to-date version of the repertoire packet for Colloquium 2008.

Though it is a work in progress, it now includes a play list for every day. In addition to the chanted propers — which will be divided among the different scholae — and chanted ordinaries on days 1-3 of the Colloquium, you will be able to see what the polyphony choirs will be singing at each of the liturgies.
Please don’t be intimated in thinking that you will have to be responsible for singing every note of every Mass and every polyphonic motet in the packet. You are the best judge of what will make you happy – and you will be able to decide for yourself in which choir you will sing. Perhaps you will base your decision on repertoire alone, or your decision may take into account the desire to study under a particular conductor. The variety of selections is astounding – Morales, Palestrina, Victoria, Gombert, Di Lasso, Monteverdi – and each more glorious than the next.

The Parish Book of Chant is published by the Church Music Association of America as a unique resource for choirs, priests, families, and congregations who seek to sing and understand the universal musical tradition of Catholic people. It is a hardbound volume, 182 pages, with a very beautiful cover and outstanding print quality, available for $14 per copy. It has been developed with the hope of bringing to life what the Second Vatican Council called a “treasure of inestimable value,” which is our Gregorian tradition of song.

To here to read more about the book, go here. It will be available from Aquinas and Morein June 2008.

Here is a printable program for a Compline service in English that you can use. It was prepared by Richard Rice with the assistance of William Mahrt. It will be used for night prayer at the Sacred Music Colloquium.

The Winter 2007 issue of SACRED MUSIC

Contents: It’s the Music, Mahrt; The Salve Motive, Candelaria; Beauty as the Road to God, Stump; Changing Hearts, Ballou; Chant as Beautiful Art, Chrader; God and Meaning in Music, Pickstock; Interview with Pickstock; Chabanel Psalms, Ostrowski; Chant Experience, Tucker; Workshop Reports; Liturgy and Seafood, Poterack