The September Carolina Catholic show features an interview with Alex Hill, Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Wilmington.
Since January of 2010, Alex Hill has been the Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Mark's. Alex, the father of six children, earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Composition and his Masters of Music in Conducting. His musical resume includes 18 years as the Musical Director of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra, as a guest conductor of various orchestras, symphonies, and chorale groups, as a co-founder of a ballet company and a music conservatory, and as a composer of liturgical music.
The show will have Alex's music featured throughout. The show will cover his biography, his conversion story, and his current job as Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Mark's. That all will lead into talk about the revised Roman Missal, the changing role of the liturgical music, and how Catholics and choirs should be preparing for the changes.
To quote Alex on the importance of liturgy:
I always say "The liturgy made me do it!" Many people believe that "liturgy" is just a formal worship structure, a set of rules or rubrics which are limiting. But like so many other things in Catholicism, there is a paradox in the idea of limits and freedom. In liturgy, the closer we get to the exactitude of the Church's teaching on liturgy and worship, the more free we become to have a real actual encounter with Christ. When we experiment with the Mass (which is a sacrament), when we apply an "anything goes" philosophy to texts or music or style or structure, we become slaves to popular taste or the whims of pastors or music leaders, or to parishioners who want music which THEY like. This is why following the Church on embarking on this new translation is so important - Christ gave the Church the Holy Spirit to infallibly lead the faithful in true sacramental worship. We must trust this, and discover Christ anew in the Mass every time we attend. Each Mass is the same in many ways, but each Mass is a one-time event - the actual sacrifice of Jesus Christ who offers himself to the Father on our behalf, in our presence and for our benefit. Its pretty amazing when you stop to think about it, and Catholicism demands that we "think about it" much more than we are willing to do sometimes!
Listen to the show
