Una Voce America

Mrs.  Joy Lanfranchi reports from Una Voce Orange County, CA:

Mr.  Bob Opelle, a longtime champion for the TLM, passed away Thursday, January 5 after a brief illness. He was in Hawaii, where he had been living with his wife for several years. He had served as a leader battling for the TLM many years ago when the fight was still new.

Una Voce America adds:

Mr. Opelle was President of the Traditional Mass Society, headquartered in San Juan Capistrano, for many years. The TMS was successor to the original Una Voce in the United States association that was founded and led by Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand. After von Hildebrand died in 1977, Bob diligently represented the U.S. at meetings of the international Una Voce Federation. The TMS produced a bimonthly newsletter that focused on raising consciousness of Catholics of their liturgical patrimony. Bob led national petition drives to awaken the Curia to the desires, and indeed the rights, of Catholics to have access to the traditional Mass. His final petition effort netted nearly 50,000 names and was placed directly into the hands of Pope John Paul II in 1994 by Bob himself.

I had the honor of meeting Bob while in Huntington, CA for the UVA leadership conference there in 2002. He very graciously took me on a private tour of the beautiful San Juan Capistrano area, culminating in a visit to the Mission there, and made sure I would have a place to sit for Mass on Sunday morning in the crowded historic chapel.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace.

Thank you, friend.

Byron Smith,
Secretary, Una Voce America

Gregorian Chant Workshop
Sponsored by Una Voce Los Angeles
Saturday October 8, 2011 8:30 am – 5 pm
St. Victor’s Catholic Church
8634 Holloway Drive
West Hollywood, California 90069
(310) 652-6477

Details:  http://www.unavocela.org/chant.pdf

Participants will learn the basics of chant under the direction of Kathy Reinheimer, the Director of the Regina Pacis Cantorum choir and Sursum Corda schola, which sing throughout the Diocese of Reno and the Sierra foothills of California. Ms. Reinheimer is an experienced chanter, having studied under the world’s leading experts in Gregorian chant. She is also a gifted teacher. She will be your guide through the basic chant repertoire of the Church.

Una Voce Ventura Conference, Saturday, September 10, 2011

Conference: “Applying the Fruits of the Extraordinary Rite to Family Life”

The manifest fruits of the Mass of Ages can provide a solid foundation for the spiritual life of your family. In this one-day conference, our two distinguished speakers will address what Catholic families can do and gain from a deeper appreciation of the traditional Latin Mass. Deep experience has shown that the reverence, solemnity, quiet and beauty of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite can produce rich spiritual growth and foster the formation of saints.
More info here …

With permission of Carolyn Schuk, Santa Clara Weekly:

Michael Hey was four years old when the Roman Catholic Church convened the Second Vatican Council. So you can hardly describe his love for western Christianity’s traditional Latin liturgy and music as a die-hard’s nostalgia for the past.

And you can’t say it about the choir he directs every Sunday at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Oratory in Santa Clara, either. The famous 1962-1965 gathering of leaders of the Roman Catholic Church – the world’s largest single Christian body – was long over by the time most of Hey’s singers were born. Arguably, these days the reactionaries are their tambourine-toting, Birkenstock-shod, stuck-in-the-70s baby boomer parents.

The recently retired Cisco engineer began singing Gregorian chant with Palo Alto’s St. Ann Choir (www.stannchoir.org) and its director, Stanford professor and early music titan Dr. William Mahrt, at Our Lady of Peace. The Santa Clara parish celebrated a traditional Latin mass on Saturday evening for many years.

When the traditionalist Oratory of Our Mother of Perpetual Help (www.institute-christ-king.org/santaclara) acquired the historic Elim church on Homestead Road, Santa Clara’s Latin mass made its home there and the choir brought its talents to the chapel’s 9:30 a.m. liturgy. The Oratory now celebrates four Latin masses every Sunday.

With support over the years from St. Ann choir member David Webb, the Oratory’s choir is now a capable group of about a dozen with a solid repertory of Gregorian chant and medieval and Renaissance polyphony.

“These young people love good music and they see the importance of worshipping in a reverent way,” explains Hey. “There are now there are so many resources available online that there’s no excuse for not doing this music.”

*”Mass” is the principal worship service of the Roman Catholic Church. The name derives from the final words of the liturgy: Ite missa est, deo gratias.

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