www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Byzantine Catholic Church Extinct? Not if i can help it

Sorry, hit quote instead of edit and didn't notice until after I hit the save post button.

I've got a hunch that it has a lot more to do with the fact that both our esteemed Administrator and the moderator of this particular forum are busy people - and that there is the stated expectation that the denizens of this happy little playground will behave themselves like Christian adults.

I see the "report a post" icon often enough - has anybody tried it? (I'm not being flip - I've never used it myself & I wonder what happens if you do.)

The Administrator *has* asked people to behave themselves - in this thread in fact, if you go back a couple of pages. I haven't reviewed things in detail, but I think it was AFTER that point that names were pointedly named and inflammatory accusations really started flying. Even without libelous lies, this would be a problem.

Prof. Thompson is a man I respect greatly, and I feel it a privilege to think of him as a friend, too. I haven't been following this thread until I read through the whole thing today - and I'm pretty appalled. Even if you don't like the music, there's no reason slander the man who has labored hard to do the job our bishops asked him to do.

For the record, and I've stated it elsewhere in another runaway thread somewhere on this board, my considered opinion of the "new" music is that I'm not accustomed to it yet. I'm getting more familiar with it, and I *think* there's a lot I like a WHOLE lot, a lot that hasn't changed much, and a couple things that maybe I would have done differently - but I'm not a trained composer, and I'm not in charge - and on the whole, it makes musical sense. I have also said on this forum that I think it bears at least *discussing* whether it makes sense to adjust certain melodies when you go from Slavonic to English (or from Ukrainian to Portugese). I believe that I have also said all of these things when talking face to face with Prof. Thompson, who in addition to being a trained musician with a profound love for the Liturgy, is a good and decent man who has welcomed the *constructive* criticisms freely provided by Cantor School students!

He deserves justice - and Christian courtesy.


Sharon

Oh cool. I just found out how "report a post" works.

Sharon

Dear Professor Thompson,

Thank you for your post. It should successfully squelch the rumors in our Church that the bishops are planning to mandate your work and require its use. You are directly involved and are the best person to set the record straight.

You asked: �Why are you permitting this kind of scurrilous material to be posted with regularity?�

You will appreciate that being an administrator of a public internet forum is, at times, difficult. I previous closed and deleted threads that were critical of your work and was criticized for censorship. This time I have allowed too much freedom in allowing people to be uncharitable and you have been personally attacked. I apologize to you for failing to better moderate this thread.

Might I make a suggestion? Don�t worry about what people will say about your work. Some people will like your work and will support it. Others will not like it and will oppose it. Most won�t have a passionate opinion one way or the other. In the end, the Lord will choose to bless what He chooses to bless. If He chooses to bless your work, then our whole Church will quickly and easily embrace it and it will become the standard.

Admin

David,

Thank you for your post.

I�m really not sure how to respond. When I allow limited freedom for people to criticize then I am accused of censorship. When I give greater freedom to people to criticize I am accused of siding with the people who are criticizing. It happens over and over. It is really a no win situation. No matter what I do I am criticized.

Is it possible that I agree with what FrankC has been saying? I don�t think so. I have always defended each cantor�s right to place his or her work on the table for consideration. I have also been around long enough to know that my opinion is pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. The Lord will bless what He chooses to bless. None of can hope for anything more than for Him to bless our work for a short time.

Admin

Thank you!

Too bad the bishops don't share your opinion; there is one cantor in particular whose work they have actively prevented from reaching the table, and that is truly a shame.

Whether that's by divine design, I can't guess. But if it's in any way a "competition" (after all, the best work should "win"), it's not a level playing field by any means.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Mr. Administrator:

Thank you for your words.

The entire time that comments were being made in this thread about the quality of the music, the supposed effect that said music was allegedly having on the Cathedral parish (despite the fact that there are two Divine Liturgies every weekend at the Cathedral, and if people didn't want to attend the DL at which I cantor, they could easily attend the one at which I do NOT cantor), the comments which attacked my ability to lead singing or to pronounce English intelligibly----I was silent. If nothing else, it was good for one's humility.

I only cried foul when I was quoted as saying something that has never come out of my lips ever, at any time, in any circumstances---and most especially not at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Munhall.

This became far, far more than opinion. To accuse someone falsely of saying something is slander. It is not only greviously sinful (by the definition of the Scripture and of the Fathers of the Church) but, in fact, illegal.

Due, however, to the anonymous nature of internet communications, I cannot take my grievance to my brother as directed in Matthew 18.

What other recourse (except, of course, to "cry to heaven") does one possess? One appeals to the Administrator. This is not about the supression of opinion or censorship of people with whom one disagrees; it is dealing with someone who has refused---several times, as I count it---to use this medium in a Christian manner.

Thank you for listening and for doing something about it, and for providing a place for most people to learn something and to find valuable information about our Byzantine Catholic Church and its happenings.

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA