Yale ISM Congregations Project

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music has just announced a new ecumenical initiative to strengthen the ministries of worship, music and the arts in congregations. It’s a wonderful project. ( I say this as an interested observer. As a “Friend of the ISM” I’ve been watching it come into being over the past several years.) It involves a week-long seminar for teams from several congregations, who then commit to bringing what they learn back to their home regions. The theme for 2011, “Worshiping God in This Place,” considers the actual inhabited landscapes upon which congregations live out their ministries.

You can read a press release about it here: http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/pressreleases/ism_announces_creation_of_the_congregations_project_in_sacred_music_worship/

Or visit the website for the project here: http://www.yale.edu/ism/congregations

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music, an interdisciplinary graduate center, educates leaders who foster, explore, and study engagement with the sacred through music, worship, and the arts in Christian communities, diverse religious traditions, and public life.

Rita Ferrone

Rita Ferrone is an award-winning writer and frequent speaker on issues of liturgy and church renewal in the Roman Catholic tradition. She is currently a contributing writer and columnist for Commonweal magazine and an independent scholar. The author of several books about liturgy, she is most widely known for her commentary on Sacrosanctum Concilium (Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium, Paulist Press). Her most recent book, Pastoral Guide to Pope Francis's Desiderio Desideravi, was published by Liturgical Press.

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Comments

5 responses to “Yale ISM Congregations Project”

  1. Sebastian Pollock

    This looks really interesting. A pity that is has not happened before. Many universities in American have church music courses which are all about performance and nothing about liturgy and its demands. Could this be a turn for the better?

    Reply
  2. Rita Ferrone

    Sebastian, let’s hope so! The Yale ISM does in fact happen to be unique, but it would be good if other institutions were inspired to “go and do likewise.”

    Reply
  3. Jeffrey P. Regan

    This sounds like a wonderful initiative! With that said, I’m curious about which “arts” other than sacred music the seminar will address.

    Reply
  4. Rita Ferrone

    Great question, Jeffrey. I don’t know exactly what the seminar will cover, but some arts that might be included are: the visual arts; architecture and sacred space; preaching, poetry (such as hymn texts) and the crafting of words for prayer; and everything that might be termed “the art of celebration.”

    Performance arts such as dance and theater have never been well represented in programs geared toward Christian congregations anywhere I think, to be honest. My own assumption is that this is the case simply because so few congregations draw upon these arts on a regular basis. (Congregations have music at every worship service, but a mystery play? Liturgical dance? Not many. I know of one congregation in California that dances every Sunday.) Nevertheless, the religious use of these arts is a fascinating subject that continues to generate interest today. So, who knows? Maybe it will emerge in one of the participants’ projects that come out of the seminar.

    Thanks for that question! I am hoping that more information about the Congregations Project will be shared through their website as the project develops.

    Reply
  5. Jeffrey P. Regan

    Thank you for the illuminating feedback, Rita! I look forward to following this project as it progresses.

    Reply

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