July 1-4, 2025

St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California

Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit gathers together Catholics who love Christ, the Church, and the Church’s sacred liturgical tradition for

• the solemn celebration of the Mass (Novus Ordo) and Vespers ;  
• insightful talks on the sacred liturgy, liturgical formation, and the sacred liturgical arts; 
• and fellowship to build fraternal bonds through which the clergy, religious, and lay faithful can support the Church and one another in their promotion of the sacred liturgy. 

Fons et Culmen

At the heart of the Summit is the solemn pontifical celebration of the sacred liturgy, both Mass (Novus Ordo) and Vespers .

The conference liturgies feature a special emphasis on excellence in ars celebrandi, superb preaching, beautiful sacred music rendered from the Church’s treasury throughout the ages by a professional choir, and the opportunity to sing Vespers in common. 

Clergy attendees, supported by letters of good standing, are welcome and encouraged to assist at conference liturgies. 

Lectures

Featuring lectures from prominent prelates, clergy, and laity from around the world, the talks of the Summit will offer timely insight into the nature of the sacred liturgy, its ars celebrandi, liturgical formation, the sacred liturgical arts (music, art, and architecture), and the role of the sacred liturgy in the lives of the Church’s clergy and faithful.

Speakers and celebrants include: Robert Cardinal Sarah, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Dom Benedict Nivakoff, Dr. Jennifer Donelson Nowicka, Dr. Michael Foley, and DIno Marcantonio

Fellowship

Designed to foster conversation amongst attendees and speakers, the Summit schedule features time for shared meals and conversational fora.

The fora, moderated by conference hosts, will engage participants, prelates and clergy in attendance, and Summit speakers in discussion about the practicalities of the promotion of the sacred liturgy and liturgical formation in their parishes and schools.

For further information and to register: link

Latin Mass Group 

The first meeting for the discussion group on the Latin Mass will take place this Wednesday, May 28 at 7:30 PM in Pryor-Hubbard Hall at the Georgetown Oratory of the Sacred Heart in Redding, CT.  Fr. Novajosky will offer a brief presentation on what he hopes to accomplish and will share thoughts and some proposals.  He will ask those in attendance for ideas on topics.   While the preference is for the meetings to be done in person, there will also be a zoom meeting option for those who are unable to come to the oratory campus.  Here is a link to set up for the Zoom meeting: Link

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.