Our thanks to Mr Ryan Bjorgaard for sharing with us these photos and description of the liturgies celebrated during the Sacred Music Symposium recently held in British Columbia.



Saturday July 21 - Vigil Mass of the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (OF).

Sunday July 22 - Closing Mass, Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Faldstool





From July 20-22, Ss Joachim and Ann Parish in Aldergrove, British Columbia hosted the 1st BC Sacred Music Symposium; 106 participants gathered for a weekend of fellowship, practical workshops, lectures, presentations on different aspects of sacred liturgy, liturgical celebrations in both forms of the Roman Rite, all employing music from the great treasury of the Church’s sacred repertoire. The keynote speaker this year was Bishop Joseph Perry, Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Being the first year we put this event on, the organizing team had no idea what kind of reception to expect, but we were amazed by the interest and enthusiasm of the participants, speakers, and volunteers.Anyone who is interested can visit the website ( bcsacredmusicsymposium.com ) for more information, to see the full photo set, and for eventually for updates on the 2019 Symposium.The music was prepared by the Ss Joachim & Ann Parish Schola, under the direction of Mr Alex McCune, who also taught the beginner’s chant workshop. The repertoire included Giovanni Asola’s four part setting of the Iste Confessor, and Ravenello’s three part setting of the Magnificat.The Mass was celebrated, as are all the Masses at Ss Joachim & Ann, with His Grace Archbishop Michael Miller of Vancouver as the principle celebrant. The schola chanted the full propers of the Mass from the Graduale Romanum, the readings were chanted in English by one of the seminarians of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, and the Ordinary of the Mass was William Byrd’ssung by by the local choral group Belle Voci, under the direction of Ms Paula DeWit.The mass was celebrated by Bishop Joseph Perry of Chicago; the music was sung by the symposium participants, who sang the full Gregorian propers and ordinary, and several polyphonic pieces, including Victoria’s, Tallis’, and Jeff Ostrowski’s setting of thebased on Allegri’s