Missa pro Defunctis, Alan Sullivan
 

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrTimMurphy#p/u

Alan wanted a mass to be sung in Latin at his passing. This is it. Monsignor Laliberte is the man of god who will be granting the Sullivan/Zohar translations of David's Poems the Nihil Obstat. His sermon on the Word of God and Poetry is the most remarkable I have ever been privileged to hear. His sermon begins near the end of Tube One and continues into Two. I think we can all learn from this.

Msgr Laliberte I
 

Try clicking Msgr Laliberte I if your first click doesn't work. Mine doesn't.

Tim

Personally, I always liked the words "what is man that thou art mindful of him." "What is man that you mark him" sounds too prosaic.

Philip

Sorry, Philip, I find King James, not Sullivan, prosaic.

On the advice of a friend. Offending post removed.

Post also removed, since it responded in part to the preceding.

Tim, I watched Tube One and found it utterly fascinating. Thanks for posting the link. It was good to see you and your lovely church, and I was stunned that these clergymen were talking about Alan, your lifelong partner, as if they accepted him and you. Stunning, Tim, really stunning! It was good hearing a bit of the sermon about the meaning of the color black. Monsignor Laliberte seems like a remarkable person. And so are you.

Mary, the big man, the deacon co-officiating, is Stuart Longtin. He was my high school quarterback when I was president of my high school. He also worked for me as a lifeguard when I ran Camp Wilderness. We'd been out of touch for forty years, but I wrote him a poem, which Poetry published two years ago.

Prison Chaplain
for Stuart Longtin

Heavy and grey now, dressed in deacon’s robes—
I see you in your Speedo at Floyd Lake,
its nylon clinging to those golden globes
you exercised for Moorhead football’s sake.

We hiked the Black Trail to Itasca Park,
but now I see a deacon hard at work
explicating the Gospel of St. Mark,
our high school quarterback become a clerk—

in the high sense. A boy with such good looks,
you could have run to Hollywood and whored
but turned to mastery of sacred books
and the manly mimesis of our Lord.

Lifesaver, that was your job at Wilderness,
teaching tenderfoot farm boys how to swim.
Soulsaver, I would call you now and bless
any man who preaches Saint Mark to Tim.

We take our coffee outside for the view,
patrol the walk-about with twelve-foot mesh
where drunks can smoke. What has become of Stu?
The Word. Not on the page but in the flesh.

Prairie St. John’s Hospital

You must hear the second Tube, my friend, for that is where Msgr Laliberte gets to his real theme, poetry. The Church adores poets, so it is no wonder they embraced Alan and me. As for Philip Quinlan? No comment.

Timothy

Apologies to all concerned.

On the advice of a friend I have removed the offending post.

A subject for another time and place.

Philip

Thank you, Philip.

Thank you, Tim. A fitting service, to be sure, and oh! the Latin. My compliments to the videographer; I felt I was right there.

Yes Kate, doesn't Father Bob make Church Latin sound like the speech of God? In fact there's today's free verse:

Missa pro defunctis

Father Bob
makes Church Latin
sound like the Word
of God,
but doesn't God speak
Greek?
Or Hebrew?
I have so far to seek.

Media Productions does a very good job. There is the lacuna of the tape switching, with my dubbing in the missing thirty seconds, but I am so happy that 213 of Alan's friends who couldn't come to Fargo have had the opportunity to view this at the Sphere. And my Bishop is very happy to have a permanent record of Laliberte singing a Mass in Latin. His Ite Missa Est takes my breath away. Tim

"The Church adores poets, so it is no wonder they embraced Alan and me."

Indeed, and that is wonderful. I appreciated the Monsignor's words concerning poetry. While I would disagree with his judgment about "self-appointed intellectuals" and the "culture of death" and the scourge against science, I do see deep wisdom and comfort in his words and his sincerity. Apparently, "nothing hinders" the acceptance of Alan Sullivan's translation. That is also sweet.

More to my point, Tim, and I mean this as a gay man who differs with you on matters of faith--I'm a committed agnostic--but if there is a loving God as the Christians of all stripes say, then, at the very least, I would hope that God would love you and Alan for being gay as well. After all, if He made you, he made you the way you are. Being gay is a gift, not a sin. Your love for each other was a gift. Period. Religion is yet to catch up with this. Fortunately, Alan is way ahead of the curve with his translation: why not a gay man of faith, even orthodox? Talk about possibilities!

Until then, I wish you every reward and more for your faith.

Don

Don, I completely agree on gay matters. Too many Christians regard homosexuality as a "choice," a "lifestyle." Well who on earth would make such a "choice?" Alan and I saw it as a cross, not that heavy, which we could bear together.