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Ben Kenobi
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McGregornobi!
Oct 2002
time: 21:17
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Although my perception is that they are, I would be willing to hear evidence to the contrary. To be fair, it's difficult to know for sure, considering that Americans move from place to place so often and there has been a big urbanization process going on as well. That said, most of the churches that I have attended have been very well attended, even in the city at English-language masses (spanish-language masses don't seem to be supplanting English-language masses, but rather complementing them). Also, there are lots of churches being built.
There are wrinkles. As AH alludes to, the church's teaching on contraception is widely ignored, even in or especially in the red states. But so far that hasn't seemed to impact church attendance any more than other things in previous generations. The pedophilia scandals greatly negatively impacted the church's moral standing and I'm sure it impacted giving at least temporarily. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that attendance was negatively impacted temporarily too.
Also, as noted, the number of priests and religious has fallen off rather substantially. But I bet that has a lot more to do with no more 4th sons becoming priests, etc. The structure of the post-modern family seems particularly ill-suited to generating priests in great numbers. On the other hand, my brother was in the seminary and left it at the last minute to marry, so undoubtedly there are other issues going on with regard to post-modern life. The priest at my sister's parish just left the priesthood because of what is assumed to be marriage.
Tellingly, at the mass for the pope (attended by Bush), Cardinal McCarrick spent a good half minute praying for new priests and religious. The prayers for new priests keep getting longer and longer...
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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:17
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Well, you're in a minority there, as most classical music folks recognize that, in spite of its problems, Fidelio is a terrific work. Once you get past the beginning scene, it's high drama and brilliant music.
The biggest problem is the singspiel format, which sucks. But that wasn't Beethoven's fault, since it was decreed by the Emperor at the time that all operas had to be thus. They make the beginning rocky, but once things get going, they are tolerable enough.
I like Sir Denis Forman's take on it:
quote:
From the prisoner's chorus (one of the most moving scenes in all of opera) onwards, the piece holds its power, we can tolerate the spiels and, indeed, the melodrame between Rocco and Leonore is a positive plus. The tension builds through the trio and quartet leading up to the trumpet call and then the joy and the passion of the Leonore/Florestan duet makes it the real climax of the opera. It is Beethoven's ability to make his absolute music pack such a dramatic punch that lends such enormous power to Fidelio: his passionate advocacy of liberty, his hatred of tyranny speak to us directly through the music and make Fidelio one of the greatest of all operas. Only the weakness of the beginning stops it from being an alpha-plus; [it's] a mighty alpha. |
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16-04-2005 11:21
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