Jeffrey Tucker

Jeffrey Tucker is managing editor of Sacred Music and publications editor of the Church Music Association of America. He writes a bi-weekly column on sacred music and liturgy for Crisis Magazine and also runs the Chant Cafe Blog. [email protected]

recent articles

The Real Catholic Songbook

  The appeal of Catholic liturgy is that it is structured, and in this, it differs dramatically from the run-of-the-mill evangelical service in which everything is left to human discretion. What a relief, even a liberation, to have an order of service that has been put together by organic development over the ages rather than … Read more

Politicians Promise; Enterprise Delivers

While the politicians run around the country telling us of their plans to make our lives better — what wizardry they command; merely to make speeches, pass laws, and print paper, thereby making us prosperous and secure! — free enterprise is busy actually accomplishing this, and with little or no fanfare. This is the thought … Read more

Does Money Taint Everything?

During Lent, you will hear some version of the following from the pulpit: “This is the season to volunteer in charitable causes, to give back in service to the community, in a labor of love.”  One cannot argue with the instruction here, or the sentiment behind it. Lent is indeed a time for giving and … Read more

The Trouble With Child Labor Laws

Let’s say you want your computer fixed or your software explained. You can shell out big bucks to the Geek Squad, or you can ask — but you can’t hire — a typical teenager, or even a pre-teen. Their experience with computers and the online world is vastly superior to most people over the age … Read more

How Free Is the ‘Free Market’?

See if you can spot anything wrong with the following claim, a version of which seems to appear in a book, magazine, or newspaper every few weeks for as long as I’ve been reading public commentary on economic matters: The dominant idea guiding economic policy in the United States and much of the globe has … Read more

Hollywood’s Workers and Peasants

The workers and peasants of Hollywood, formed in solidarity against evil capitalistic sitcom producers, and organizing under the form of the Writers Guild of America, are threatening to withhold their astonishing talents pending an end to exploitation at the hands of their masters. So goes the conventional story, which is inherently implausible in more ways … Read more

How to Start Your Own Garage Schola

At an international conference on liturgical music sponsored by the Vatican on December 5, 2005, Monsignor Valentino Miserachs Grau dropped a bomb. Being the head of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, and the leading voice for the Catholic Faith in all matters of music, his topic was not merely of academic interest, nor was … Read more

The Hidden Hand Behind Bad Catholic Music

It usually starts with the missalettes—those lightweight booklets scattered around the pews of your parish church. They contain all the readings of the Sunday Masses, plus some hymns and responses in the back. There’s nothing between the covers that would offend an orthodox sense of the faith, and most of the songs are traditional by … Read more

Catholics Give the Best Parties

Postmodern man—and postmodern woman—don’t know how to give a good party. It’s up to us Catholics to reclaim this lost art and share it with the world. Why? Because good parties are intrinsic to our Catholic faith. The liturgical year is punctuated with a wide array of feast days and celebrations, many of which are … Read more

Oscar Wilde, Roman Catholic

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), the author of The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray, has been gaining in popularity and academic respect for his literary achievements. The revival of his 1895 play, An Ideal Husband, on Broadway and in a 1999 film proved very successful. However, the Irish playwright’s personal lifestyle, rather … Read more

Papal Economics 101: The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

If the initial reception of Centesimus Annus is any indication, the pope’s latest treatise may become the most controversial social encyclical issued this century. From the day of its release, May 1, 1991, a struggle has ensued to define its meaning in a concrete form. All parties understand that the stakes are high, for this … Read more

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