THE P RTAL
October 2014
Page 23
An Enriched Prayer
with the Customary
and the Internet
A personal revelation is shared by Ronald Crane
T
he publication
of the Customary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in 2012
brought “Ordinariate Use” within the grasp of all members of the Ordinariate, lay and clerical. It is not
to everyone’s taste, of course not, but, for those who have tried it and found it useful, it is a treasure of prayer
and worship.
I began to use it as soon as it was published. I do
not really know why. The Roman Office had been my
staple diet since the 1960s! Maybe I am just obedient,
or like a change. Whatever, I tried it.
Much to my surprise, the Customary and I got on
very well. At the time, a friend had a job as Verger
at a nearby Anglican Cathedral and on occasion, I
would go there for Evensong. It occurred to me that
Evensong at the Cathedral and in the Customary were
not that different.
This is quite apart from individual pieces of music
on iTunes and YouTube, and on many other music
web sites such as “The Chant Café” and the “Saturday
Chorale”; not forgetting BBC Radio 3’s weekly Choral
Evensong on Wednesdays and Sundays.
awash with Choral Evensong music
The web is awash with Choral Evensong music;
Preces and Responses by Cluclas and Smith of Durham
via Kenneth Leighton; Plainsong Office Hymns;
Canticles; Anthems; and organ music to die for. For
example, just before she died, Marie-Claire Alain
missing Anglican Cathedral music
recorded the complete organ works of J. S Bach and
more than words can tell
they are all there on the Internet. Not only do I pray
Music is, and always has been, an important aspect Choral Evensong every day, it closes with a superb
of my life and worship. The happiest ten years of my Organ Voluntary as well!
life were a spell as Vicar of an Anglican Church with
a superb cathedral-standard choir. I can honestly say Crane’s own private Cathedral
that I was missing Anglican Cathedral music more
Friends mock. One referred to “Crane’s own private
than words can tell. Then the thought came to me. I do Cathedral”, and I suppose it might be thought eccentric
not have to miss it at all. The Customary provides the in some quarters, but it works for me. As a great man
basis and the Internet the means.
once said, “Pray as you can, not as your can’t.” Well I
do, every day at 5pm all stops for the hour of Choral
I set about searching the Internet. It is all there; Evensong.
Cathedral Evensong after Cathedral Evensong.
Together with some CDs (two editions of all 150
But it is not just Evensong; with care and forethought,
psalms for example), one can have Cathedral Evensong Choral Mattins on Festivals can enrich the diet.
according to our Customary in the comfort of one’s
own home every evening.
Some of you will remember the days when Saturday
evenings were completed on BBC Radio 4 by Choral
repertoire on the web site for free
Compline. Well, the good people of St David’s Episcopal
Saint John’s College Cambridge has the majority Church, Austin, Texas have three or four year’s worth
of their repertoire on their web site for free! King’s of Sunday Compline on the Internet thanks to the
College Cambridge places about five or six Evensongs redoubtable Susan Ritcher.
on their web site every week. Trinity Cambridge,
New College Oxford, together with many more, do
There are those who despise the Customary and the
the same. One of the best is St Thomas’, 5th Avenue, Internet can have a bad name, but here is an instance
New York; a wonderful building and a wonderful of where these two enhance our prayer life. Go on!
choir.
Try it.
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