Google Earth Pictorial: Basilica of King St. Louis
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I am always struck by irony. How come we have the ability to create a ritual that it is antithetical to the message we are attempting to communicate through the ritual? This was my first thought when I heard the reader at Mass SPEAK the Responsorial Psalm. “Sing to the Lord a new song.”  That’s funny! We are SPEAKING about SINGING a new song! How odd! Perhaps what the psalmist meant is we should be inventive about singing by not singing at all. A smile came across my face. What does that say about the way we worship? 

The same smile came across my face years ago in college. I was singing in the choir at Mass and the gifts were being presented to the priest during an instrumental piece. It was only after two verses that we realized that the pianist was playing the song “How Can I Keep from Signing?” Well evidently the way to keep from singing is to play the song as an instrumental. We all looked over at the pianist and smiled. 

I certainly don’t want my comments to be taken as criticism of the Basilica of St. Louis the King. (Not only is the Basilica in the city of St. Louis, but the Basilica is also dedicated to St. Louis.) It is a historic church which holds the title of the first cathedral west of the Mississippi river (which it makes by only a couple hundred meters). In between the Basilica and the river lies the Arch, also known as the Jefferson Memorial Expansion. The Basilica and the city represent a rich tradition of Spanish and French missionaries and explorers who settled this land. The simplicity of the Church reminded me of the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore (January 11, 2007) and St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia (January 10, 2007).

Now the Basilica has very few parishioners, and it mostly ministers to the workers downtown who come to morning Mass and tourists to the city. To learn more about the parish click here. If you have downloaded Google Earth, you can view my pictorial of the parish by clicking here.  

But back to singing, or more importantly communication. Having visited 23 churches thus far, it is fascinating to observe what is communicated by the parishes, people, and worship. A photo, a flash of light, a sound, a pinch, a push, a word, and even silence, all communicate something. Something.  

Words are repeated over and over and over at Mass because the Catholic community has determined that these are the most important words we can say when we gather. The problem becomes that the words are repeated so many times that we forget what the words mean and why we say them. The same happens to actors who have done a show too many times without work at keeping the material fresh. 

As I write this, I am sitting in a theater. Another place where words are repeated over and over and over. Music is rehearsed. Dancers dance steps until everything is in the perfect ordered position so that on a Friday evening, two hours of an audience’s time is thoroughly composed in order to communicate a story and a message.  

This is a high school rehearsal of Hello Dolly. I am in the high school I attended, although the facility has been much improved. The spirit is still the same. The director is the same man who taught and directed me, Joseph Schulte. A wheelchair can’t slow the man down. The music director has no more or less hair than he had 15 years ago, Doc Joe Koestner. He has a knack for demanding perfection while not letting things get too serious. For four years of my life, these men helped to shape my ability to communicate, by constant instruction with other kids my age in order to put together lights, music, costumes, lines, props, direction, and seemingly limitless energy into Broadway show. 

The result is always amazing. I have always loved theater because when you are doing a show, you have to exercise your total ability to communicate. You have to bring the best out of yourself, but it is never at the cost of someone else. There is never a cathartic moment where one person is winner and one person is a loser. Theater is a practice in which victory is achieved only through collaboration doing one’s personal best. 

It is exciting to watch young people do theater. I’m actually a bit jealous of them. The can sound flat, miss lines, and make a zillion mistakes that I could never get away with in a professional show and still get a standing ovation. I have to work my butt off to achieve only half of what they communicate by the very fact they are young and exceeding expectations.  

What I’m really talking about is bigger than theater. God knows there is more to life than a little music and dance. There are sports and politics and sciences of many forms. Most of these occupy a bigger place in the American culture than theater, but what I’m fascinated occupies each of these. When young people come together and collaborate as a team in efforts that exceed expectations, they communicate hope to the rest of us. They communicate that there is a better world to come. 

So in the Joe Schulte Theater at St. Louis University High, a group of young people listen to a 70 year old man who has directed many young people, including me, on how to communicate better, to the fullest advantage of abilities they never knew they even had. It is inspiring.  

For many, it just may seem like they are just playing… doing a silly show. I have worked professionally with Joe Schulte and Doc Koestner. I know their faults as they know mine. But at their core, I see a value I have always hope to emulate. Work with the young. Show them that the best performances are yet to come, the best books are still to be written, the future can be better than what we have already achieved. Each of them do that by helping young people learn how to communicate… yes through pre-scripted music, words and dance, but ultimately through communicating their total being.  

Sing a new song. No matter if those words are spoken or sung, they are at the core of the Catholic tradition. Communicate with all of our being, all of who we are.