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A Hymn Before Vatican II

Why Catholics Can't Sing by Thomas Day

The Culture of Catholicism and the Triumph of Bad Taste

Have you realized how bad the US hymn selection is when you attend Church?

Then I would suggest "Why Catholics Can't Sing," written by Thomas Day. He is a professional Catholic organist who lived through the Vatican II era and also taught sacred music at university.

Italian, Spanish, and Mexican parishes have long had boisterous vernacular hymns, but these "ethnic" Catholic cultures were never really mainstream. Yet, we have long been left with the standard Catholicism, which in its roots was Irish American Catholicism, which hated high church innovation and had a very weak, very new repertoire.

The Irish Americans also were proud of their silent and somber heritage, though. For this reason, high masses were avoided in favor of music-less low masses.

And even though Irish Catholics in America were suddenly in a land where they were free to sing, and sing, and loudly, what would they sing?

There was no culture of hymns from their motherland, because you can hardly sing congregational hymns while under persecution. Were they supposed to adopt Anglican hymns, now that they were in the New World? How could they, after having to bear the humiliation of walking past proud and vibrant Anglican churches singing hymns loudly while attending secret masses in barns. Instead, you got a collection of hymns that mimicked the style of music popular among Irish American urbanites- and a small repertoire at that.

In.. the '40s? '50s? A liturgical revival started, which enthusiastic lliturgists started assembling little boys choirs and scholas. They started trying to reintroduce chant and polyphony into masses.

This was cut short in the '60s by Vatican 2.

People have asked me why I don't always sing along. And I give the standard answer, the one where you just say it to move on. "I'm a bad singer." Actually I love to sing, but I just don't like the songs that we have to choose from. They sound like hack music. And some are just plain bad.

How do you tell the bad from the good? Look through your hymnal for things copyright before 1960s for examples.

When you find one notice that the hymns all end with doxologies- a verse of praise to the Trinity.

This is a feature of hymns that should be reinstated to our current use of them, because it reminds us of the purpose of our singing which can so easily be forgotten with some modern music.

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Footwear = Foot Pain

I don't know if this exists, or if it is a mythical creature. I am talking about footwear that doesn't hurt my feet. I am on my feet most of the day and when I get home my feet hurt. And though I have been actively looking for them for a long time they have remained elusive.

Rainbow sandals were a good fit for the more casual good weather shoe. Though I got a sunburn once on my right foot so bad that it swelled up and I couldn't wear shoes.

I have yet to find a shoe that I have no foot pain ever, but these are the best I have worn.

For sneakers I like to go with either Nike (casual) or New Balance (running), but their quality seems to have declined somewhat over time and I buy a new pair more often that I use to with the same amount of wear. They only last about 6-9 months before I have worn them out which is slightly faster than it used to be.

While I find Crocs nice — my mother got me hooked on them — I can't wear those in the lab. Plus the are nice to pull on, but I am not sure 8-10 hours on them would be as nice.

I've got some shoes in circulation that I have bought over the last couple of years, but they're not really any more soft or supportive than what I would like. Then I have some that remained heavy and stiff even I spent time breaking in. Ironically the shoes will last me decades since I almost never wear them. This is why my professors in college always looked dated.

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My Shoes Make My Goal Achievable

For Running and percentage breakdown use per week:

  1. New Balance Minimus, no cushion, get about 10% use
  2. New Balance Zante, medium cushion, about 15%
  3. New Balance 1080s with a large cushion 25%
  4. Altra Torins with a medium to large cushion get the rest

A variety of shoes to prevent overuse injuries.

For walking around the city I like a little more comfort, something casual:

  • Nike Free Running

I wear — or have worn other shoes — one example would be my Boracay's are a weird shoe, at least for me, which I didn't list.

They feel fine and can put up a good amount of miles, but they're just different somehow.

I only wear them when I don't want to wear the other shoes and though I have tried I have been unable to pinpoint why.

The Saucs are versatile forever shoes, the 1400 is a solid track/race shoe, and the Cloudflow is this goofy-fun tempo shoe, but the Boracays are something else. I would suggest giving them a try if you are having a hard time finding a shoe that you like.

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Hey! That’s My Bag

Have you ever been standing at the luggage carousel, watching people fight their way to the front and just start grabbing bags? I have been witness to a number of interesting scenes, including one where a guy grabbed my bag.

Now I use a band of colored tape around the handles of my luggage even my carry ons, all in the same color. Generally speaking a bright color works well.

My father suggested it and since then I mainly use pink gaff tape. The nice thing about the tape is that it doesnt usually leave that nasty adhesive goo behind if you need to remove it. And it is made from cotton which feels nice.

I buy my gaffer type from amazon.