There will be a Sung Requiem Mass (Missa Cantata)for Pope Francis on Tuesday, May 20 at 6 PM at the Georgetown Oratory in Redding, CT.   Come join in prayer on the 30th Day of the passing of Pope Francis.  

Other upcoming Traditional Masses at the Oratory:

Thursday, May 29, 6 pm: Ascension Thursday

Saturday, May 31, 8:30 am, Queenship of Mary

Friday, June 6, First Friday, 8:30 am Mass; 9 am-8 pm Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; 7:50 pm Litany of the Most Sacred Heart and Benediction.

The Oratory also offers a weekly Sunday Traditional Mass at 12 noon and a weekly Traditional Mass on Wednesdays at 6 pm.

The Georgetown Oratory now sends out a Flocknote by email, listing upcoming Masses and events. If you would like to receive the Flocknote please message Fr. Novajosky at frnovajosky@diobpt.org.

This painting of a ruined abbey is dominated by a “Trinitarian” set of windows. A closer view reveals a statue of the Virgin Mary and a crucifix.

The beginnings of the 19th century saw a remarkable spiritual revival in Germany. It was represented by Catholics but also by Protestants. This movement – Romanticism – strove for a recovery of the sacred. Now around 1800 certain of the leading German romantics started to take a specifically Christian, even Catholic direction. It was one of the religious revivals (one also thinks of the Tractarians in England) that revived Christianity and the Catholic Church after the collapse of the 18th century.

One of foremost exemplars of Romanticism in the visual arts was Caspar David Friedrich. He is currently the subject of a splendid exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Friedrich’s art emphasizes the less obvious, the mysterious, “the road less traveled.” In general landscapes predominate. There are many scenes of the twilight but also of the sunrise. In some paintings the symbolist movement of the end of the 19th century is foreshadowed. Other paintings remind the viewer even of 20th century abstract art. It’s a marked contrast with the dominant artistic tendency of art at that time: neo-classicism. In all respects it preserves a spiritual focus – a symbolic meaning almost always lies beneath the surface.

I cannot recommend the explantory materials provided on the exhibition which typify the attitudes that prevail in Germany today rather than clarifying what Friedrich himself intended. But for those who preserve a spiritual view of the world this exhibition is immensely rewarding.

More on the Exhibition:

Caspar David Friedrich:The Soul of Nature

(Exhibition runs through May 11)

On Thursday, April 24, 2025, we attended the Higher Word Easter concert (“Rise Again’) at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The 50+ member Higher Word orchestra and choir is an explicitly Catholic musical enterprise. The music for the evening was by Catholic composers and the introductions to each piece emphasized their links to the Faith. Old St. Patrick’s was filled for the occasion with an often festively attired crowd. I definitely felt my age – I would say the average age of the audience was in the mid-20’s. The concert was preceded and followed by social events (which I did not attend)  which helps to explain the fancy dress of much of the crowd.  

The musical offerings and accompanying explanations were on the short side, and very user-friendly.  At times processions and dramatic light effects enhanced the event. The audience received the evening enthusiastically.

The spirit of Higher Word reminds me of what an earlier generation of young Catholics attempted to achieve in the City. In the 1980’s the Catholic Forum also tried to combine knowledge of Catholicism with opportunities for social mixing. However,  instead of music, the Forum generally offered lectures by Catholic greats of the past – I can’t say that that was an equally attractive proposition. I recall that the Forum also organized more purely social events, but I don’t think any had remotely the success of last Thursday’s concert.  

Perhaps a change of generation it also involved. For despite (or because of) the decrepitude of the Catholic Church establishment, a new generation is turning to the faith. The New York Post recently covered the phenomenon in New York City:

Why young People are Converting to Catholicism en Masse.

I have seen and have been told of the same developments elsewhere in and around New York. Is it because of the influence of podcasts and social media apostolates? Is it the shock of the sudden political change in the United States? Or a more significant spiritual transformation that’s underway? 

For more on Higher Word see higherword.org.

We have compiled a schedule of Traditional Masses and liturgies for Holy Week and Easter. Please go to this link.