Day two started earlier and went straight into morning prayer.
The next keynote was from Rita Ferrone entitled, “Friends on the Way.” She noted the distinction between tourism and pilgrimage, which was a response to a call to travel to a holy place involving self discovery and transformation by mystery. She discussed the communal nature of pilgramage and the association with the need for penance, leading in to the the Vatican 2 characterisation of the church as a Pilgrim People. The symbolic nature of processions in their various forms was discussed.
After the Morning Sing with Dr Anthony Young there were the prsentations of awards and scholarships, followed by small group discussions.
In one of the breaks I spoke to a young man from Quack Studios, the company that did the NLC website, and he showed me the difference that a great website can make for a parish.
Before lunch, I was pleased to introduce Timothy Hart, who spoke on “The Guitar in Worship: A Pilgrim’s Instrument.” He demonstrated how using different styles of guitar playing were useful in different circumstances in the liturgy. He demonstrated the techniques but lost me when he used two capoes. The main message I got was to get better on the guitar.
After lunch, I attended Michael Mangan’s talk, “Suitable and Singable: Composing Music for Liturgy.” He gave wise counsel on the context for which we were writing, the intended assembly and care with language.
Ricky Manalo gave another keynote, “Many and Great: Transformative Inclusion through Intercultural Liturgical Music.” He used his own story and his blended background to illustrate the way these influences inspire musical style. Unfortunately, in a lecture about inculturation, he used an Easter song with Spring motifs in the Southern Hemisphere, and I wasn’t the only attendee who noticed. While his story is interesting, a keynote on inculturation given in Australia might have been better given to a speaker with local insights.
Prior to the the moving conference mass at the Cathedral, there was an expert panel with some home truths about the lack of liturgical formation in our seminaries to the fore.