Arts News

{mosimage}LONDON, Ont. - When Ontario high school kids get an art lesson from internationally collected, veteran professional artist Hendrikus Bervoets they don’t learn about form, colour, composition and balance.

“We deal with all kinds of social justice issues,” Boervoets told The Catholic Register as he was setting up a new gallery for student work in downtown London, Ont.

{mosimage}TORONTO - They shoot hoops, surf the Internet and sing Gregorian chants. And they count Pope Benedict XVI as one of their fans.

You could say this group of Austrian monks isn’t your average musical sensation. Their CD Chant: Music for the Soul has rocked the charts in Canada and around the world. During the first month of its Canadian debut in July, the CD ranked second behind Josh Grobin in the Nielsen Canadian SoundScan joint classical cross-over chart. And at one point, it even surpassed pop music powerhouses like Madonna and Amy Winehouse on Britain’s top 10 list.

TORONTO - Canada’s Salt+Light Television has won a 2008 Gabriel Award from the U.S. Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals, which cited the network’s “value-centred view of society and humanity.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - A new committee within the National Liturgy Office is developing liturgical music guidelines for the Catholic Church in Canada.

The guidelines, being drafted by the National Council for Liturgical Music, once completed, will need to be approved by the bishops and will help worship leaders, priests and liturgy offices in the task of deciding what songs are appropriate to play or sing during Mass. It will also assist musicians hoping to compose music for the Mass setting.

{mosimage}TORONTO - You could say it’s a pipe dream come true. On the Plains of Abraham during the papal Mass at the 49th Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City, the virtual pipe organ had its largest live audience. More than 50,000 people attended the event in June.

The $25,000 organ was designed by Markham-based Classic Organ Works specifically for the June congress.

{mosimage}LONDON - British radio has broadcast an interview with John Lennon in which the late singer-composer claimed the Beatles were a Christian band that wanted to bring people closer to God.

In the interview, aired for the first time in the U.K., Lennon described himself as "one of Christ's biggest fans."

{mosimage}UNIONVILLE, Ont. - Visitors to Unionville’s Varley Gallery will find a unique religious exhibit this summer. More than 150 sacred icons from mainly private collections will be on display until Sept. 1.

{mosimage}In 1966 John Lennon got into a world of trouble by saying during an interview that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. He later clarified, correctly so, that his statement was taken out of context and that rather than implying that the Beatles were more important than Jesus, he was merely pointing out that rock and roll music at that time was probably more influential in the life of the typical teenager than was Jesus.

{mosimage}CAMBRIDGE, Ont. - More than 30 Christian journalists who gathered for the annual Canadian Church Press (CCP) convention this month received an earful about “life beyond the church walls.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - Catholic composers today fall into two categories: those who write for liturgy, and those who don’t. James MacMillan, a world-renowned Scottish composer and conductor, spoke about this in a lecture on “The Catholic Composer Today” at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto April 8.