The scola does it at the seminary. A good question would be to ask anyone who has spent much time at the Winona seminary if the scope ever did this. I assumed it is something only done by clergy, if present, but considering the Virginia seminary chapel layout, there isn't room for a scola, so they form a circle in the middle, which allows the rest of the clergy to see the scola director.

I assume others have observed this, and that there is a wide spread assumption that if the seminary does something, every church should. Similarly I have seen and heard of traditions of serving mass coming to other chapels from the seminary.

Not everything is some secret modernization; often there are reasonable explanations. With the new live stream available from the seminary, it is likely many churches will adopt new traditions observed there.

I agree with this response, and I know it was done at the Seminary when it was in Winona too. I don't know if it was always done there, but there was a 2010 docuмentary on the Seminary where it shows the schola in that formation.

Matthew might be able to tell us if that's what the schola did when he was there.

Given that this is what the Seminary does, it wouldn't be surprising if that's why these chapels do it too. Why they would switch to doing it that way all-of-a-sudden when they didn't do it before might be a different story, but the Seminary doing it likely might be a reason nonetheless.

Mega church.  Wait until televisions are up front.  Novus ordo has televisions in church.

I don’t trust any hierarchy that promoted the jab. 

Smaller is better.  Easier to correct sin and errors. 

To be fair, St Athanasius in Vienna VA (Fr Ringrose) had a closed-circuit TV set up to accommodate overflow, back when Sunday Mass was offered in the repurposed basement and rec room of the split-level house on Trap Road (1980s).  If any of you have ever been there, you'll know why.   The space was very cramped with low ceilings, and you could only fit 30-40 people into that area.

Not an ideal set-up, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

To be fair, St Athanasius in Vienna VA (Fr Ringrose) had a closed-circuit TV set up to accommodate overflow, back when Sunday Mass was offered in the repurposed basement and rec room of the split-level house on Trap Road (1980s).  If any of you have ever been there, you'll know why.  The space was very cramped with low ceilings, and you could only fit 30-40 people into that area.

Not an ideal set-up, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

There's a church near me that has room separated off from the main part of the church, mostly for families with crying babies or agitated small ones I think. That church is shaped in such a way that they can watch the Mass through the window and IIRC there are speakers that play the sound, but if they had to use a TV instead I wouldn't have thought it inappropriate.

Here's the reason I asked:

Back in October, I happened to be toward the back of the Chapel for sung Mass here in Minnesota/Minneapolis, and was surprised when all of a sudden the schola came out into the center aisle, formed a circle, and started chanting right there.

At certain points, they remained in the corner alongside the rest of the choir (as distinct from the schola, which performs the gregorian chant), and at others times, they wander back into the center aisle.

So far as I am aware, I am the only one who noticed or found it curious (but naturally, anyone from the middle to front of the chapel would never know the shola has begun this practice, unless they had cause to turn around at the right time).

Anyway, I texted the priest after Mass to ask him what this new schola posture/positioning signified.  My suspicion, given the continued liberalization of the Society, its promotion of congregational singing, and its continued promotion of the dialogue Mass, was that this was but another in a series of modernist reforms intended to extend the action of the Mass beyond the sanctuary, in order to give the laity a more prominent or "active" role.

The priest responded that it only signified that there was no longer room in the corner by the organ (where the schola always used to chant) because of the "influx of new members."

That response sounded strange to me, because there's only about a dozen in the schola, and if that was a higher number than formerly, it wasn't by much.

I let the matter drop, because the modus operandi of the Society is always to dig its heels in, so there was no good that could come from making an issue out of it.

But now that I read this post, and discover this is a recent innovation in another SSPX chapel, I'm wondering whether the answer I received was a mental reservation, and in fact, my initial suspicions might have some basis in truth after all.

I don't have enough information to form that firm conclusion yet, but the radar is tracking again.

Bumping for CatholicCrusader ^^^

To be fair, St Athanasius in Vienna VA (Fr Ringrose) had a closed-circuit TV set up to accommodate overflow, back when Sunday Mass was offered in the repurposed basement and rec room of the split-level house on Trap Road (1980s).  If any of you have ever been there, you'll know why.  The space was very cramped with low ceilings, and you could only fit 30-40 people into that area.

Not an ideal set-up, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

I remember when I first went to Saint Athanasius I was very disturbed by the closed circuit TV overflow idea in the basement...

But after having children, that is usually where we end up.  If they didn't have the basement overflow room we probably wouldn't be able to attend Mass with the boys because we would have to be taking them out so much.  (One is 3 and the other just turned 2 and they are so rambunctious and noisy even with being disciplined.) 😅

I remember hearing that Saint Therese of Lisieux wasn't allowed to go to Mass until she was 4 years old because back in the day little children were usually considered to loud and disruptive to have in Mass at an early age.  So, that makes me feel a little better.

And at least with the T.V. we can follow Mass and go upstairs and go up for Holy Communion.  😇

That’s not what I meant.  

The Protestant & Novus Ordo have televisions above the altar.   

The novus Ordo has two flat screen televisions.  Barf.  


(I’m noticing televisions in diners too.) barf. 

I have been in choirs most of my life. 
Many even in Latin Mass choirs lack humility. 

Many live in mortal sin from adultery, sodomy, Pride, etc.    Some are in the choir because they are paid musicians.

I have some friends who sing in their Novus Ordo choirs, and they've commented that several of the musicians are paid and some aren't Catholic.  Does this happen in the Latin Mass crowd too?  I could see it in the Fraternity, as they're attached to the diocese, but I would've thought it was still too much of a stretch for the isolated SSPX crowd.