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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

I Like Regular Better

I was in for a surprise the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time when I attended Mass at the Royal Presidio Chapel, otherwise known as the San Carlos Cathedral, in Monterey. This happened to be the weekend of the Monterey Jazz Festival. According to some parishioners I spoke with, the parish has made it an annual event to have a jazz Mass at the same time as the festival. Apparently, the jazz Mass was very popular; the parish had two of them. I attended the one at 10:30 a.m.

Approaching the cathedral, one can see on its façade empty niches where, it appears, statues once stood. The cathedral is a narrow church, seating only about five people per pew. Numerous sacred paintings and statues dating from the time of Junipero Serra grace its interior. The church's shape is cruciform with the tabernacle in the left transept. The original high altar had been torn out and in its place is a baptismal font.

Although I arrived fifteen minutes before curtain in order to procure a seat, I found many others had had the same idea. The right side of the sanctuary clamored with singers and musicians struggling to get into position. A woman advised the congregation to follow our "liturgical aid" pamphlet. According to the liturgical aid, the mixed choir had 24 singers. Accompanying them were six musicians playing piano, electric keyboard, drums, bass, saxophone, and clarinet -- all stuffed into the little sanctuary.

The processional (or "Gathering Song," as the liturgical aid put it) was the quintuple rhythmed, "Sing of the Lord's Goodness." The procession was led by an attractive female liturgical dancer in her thirties. She held a pole that dangled green, gold and silver ribbons at one end. Next came a team of five Eucharistic ministers dressed in lay clothing -- three men and two women. Then followed a man and woman, one holding a missal and the other a lectionary above their heads. Following these were two altar girls wearing alb and cincture, behind whom came a singing Father Joe Occhiuto. Upon arrival in the sanctuary, Father Joe noted that the rhythm of the "Gathering Song" was taken from jazz legend Dave Brubeck's "Take Five."

The priest then invited the children to the front of the church so he could give them a blessing. As the children walked forward, the piano played a medley of "Go Tell It on The Mountain" and "Yes, Jesus Loves Me." The congregation held out their hands as father recited the blessing.

Immediately following the children's withdrawal from the sanctuary, we were launched into the seductive rhythms of a bossa nova "Lord Have Mercy" -- led by a female soloist in the gospel side pulpit. After a short prayer from Father, we were on a southbound train to Memphis, singing, "Glory to God: Blues Style." The congregation repeated the first few lines as a chorus, the soloist crooned the text a capella in a mournful improvisation. Between phrases, suspenseful diminished chords accented her lament. The forceful ascending stepwise octaves of the piano propelled the congregation back into the chorus. Most resisted the impulse to sway with the music, except the choir and a few women holding small children.

A lector read the Old Testament at the Gospel side of the altar. The psalm response was the "gospel" sounding "Taste and See," which was artistically and energetically acted out by the liturgical dancer. The same lector also read the epistle on the gospel side. The Alleluia (called "The Salisbury Alleluia") was sung as the priest lifted the lectionary high in the air. This piece was a little more somber and elevated than the previous pieces, though it had the standard improvised jazzy-sounding piano as the coda. Father then read the gospel passage about the vineyard owner. The gospel was finished, the Salisbury alleluia was repeated and Father again held the lectionary above him.

Father Joe began his sermon by threatening (jokingly) to spray the church with WD-40 unless we made more room for the people standing. Everyone laughed with genuine amusement. He twice commanded the congregation, "all God's children say Amen!" and twice everyone roared "Amen!" It sounded like they'd done this before. The priest then said, "all those saved by the blood of the Lamb, say Amen!" Again the congregation cried, "Amen!"

The priest then explained that jazz music lifts our spirit as the Gospel should lift up our spirit, even though this Gospel reading probably won't. He warned that this reading may not fit in with capitalism. Our entrance into heaven does not depend on how hard or how long we work. It doesn't matter if we have been Christians for 70 years or 70 minutes, we are all equal in God's eyes. God does not accept "brownie points." Brownie points are okay in the "real world," but they don't work with God. Father then produced a small model train and a golf ball. He asked the congregation, "If the earth was this golf ball, where would the nearest star be?" Someone yelled "Prunedale!" The congregation bellowed with laughter. Father then informed us the nearest star would be 50,000 miles away. God's love, he concluded, is as unfathomable as the size of the universe and we are all equal in God's eyes.

The Nicene Creed was then recited.

The offertory song was a polyphonic piece entitled, "The Jazz Gloria," whose words consisted mostly of Gloria in excelsis Deo, "Alleluia" and "Hosanna".

The Holy Holy Holy, the Memorial Acclamation (Christ have mercy), and the great Amen had the same music written by Serena Underwood. They had intense, climactic crescendos with abrupt endings that left us with a powerful silence. After the Holy Holy Holy, Father instructed the congregation to kneel. All throughout the Liturgy of the Eucharist, a woman in the choir fanned herself with her liturgical aid.

The church chanted the Our Father with hands raised. The Lamb of God was in two-part, sung in Latin. During the kiss of peace, one altar girl scampered down the aisle to make peace with her family. The priest distributed the Eucharist to the altar servers and the Eucharistic ministers during the Lamb of God. After Father said, "may the body and blood of Christ bring us to everlasting life," he and the servers consumed their respective hosts together. The priest's host was the size of a frisbee. The choir immediately began chanting Da Pacem Domine which began with light piano accompaniment, a repeating chord. It gradually and dramatically gained momentum -- the piano doing its characteristic jazz style improvisation.

The next piece was the Pange Lingua. With a nod to traditional sentiment, it began with the traditional chant. But a sudden pounding of chords jolted us out of our Gregorian ecstasy and flooded the Church with rhythmic energy. Every now and then you could hear open fifths, giving the piece a medieval sound.

Before recessing, the celebrant explained to the congregation that the arrangement of the Pange Lingua was based upon a version written by Dave Brubeck (playing at the Monterey Jazz Festival) who had played the piece for Pope John Paul II at a World Youth Day. Father went on to comment that if the piece was good enough for the pope, then it's good enough for us.

Father then closed the Mass as he had opened it, with the song "Sing of the Lord's Goodness."

Upon exiting the Church, I overheard a father talking to his eight-year-old son.

"That was great!" the father said. "I wish they would do that every week."

To which the son replied, "I like regular better."

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