Comments on: Making musical history at St. Patrick’s

By: IM Bonus

IM Bonus — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 22:01:02 +0000

New York is blessed to have a historical as well as monumental structure such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I am glad that Salvatore Basile who is a musical historian and cantor shared his thoughts about this church in his book Fifth Avenue Famous.

By: E Grady

E Grady — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:44:47 +0000

Thank you for the coments on John Grady. My husband’s grandfather and John Grady’s father were sibling. So it was nice to hear diferent views on John Grady and his tenure at St Patrick’s. I never met the man. I do know that his Grady grandparents were both from Ireland. It was nice to hear that he was a man who stood up for what he thought was right even if it was against the Archbishop of New York City….lol…if you have any other stories about John grady please share and I will get in touch.

By: mmckew

mmckew — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 16:55:13 +0000

Dear Janet,
Thank you for your comment. I apologize for the delay in replying; I wanted to confirm my recollections of Cardinal O’Connor with some people who were at the Cathedral during his tenure.
Cardinal O’Connor never gave interviews to the media before Mass, only after the Liturgy and by the side entrance to his residence. The reason for the creation of the media section was to keep the camera people and reporters from wandering around during Mass with their heavy equipment and distracting people.
As for the time change for the Pontifical Mass, it is possible that was a measure taken to alleviate crowding as people departed from one mass while others came in for the next one.
Regarding the relationship between the Cardinal and Mr. Grady, the fact is that the pastor of a church – in this case the Archbishop of New York – has the final call on the music for the liturgy. Sometimes personalities allow this to be worked out easily; other times not.
My memories of Mr. Grady also include his gifts as an organist. I am told that the Cathedral organ can be a problem sometimes; one never would have guessed that when he played.

By: Janet S.

Janet S. — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:05:06 +0000

I read your comment about John Grady vs. Cardinal O’Connor and can only shake my head. I was in the choir at the time that O’Connor was sent to New York and was there watching him dismantle the music department or at least try to turn St. Patrick’s of Fifth Avenue into his version of St. Patrick’s of Verplank [apologies to that parish, but you get the picture]. O’Connor failed to recognize that John Grady knew what he was about and knew music and knew what was necessary to bring in and interest tourists who did not want to sing, but wanted to hear great music sung greatly. For free. O’Connor is quoted as telling Grady that he was not a fan of ——. Well, neither was John, but that comment told him all he needed to know. I realize that it is sacreligious to badmouth O’Connor but the truth is that he was all about being the center of attention, not the Mass, not the music, but him. That’s why the 10:15 Mass was changed to 10:30 — so he could spend time talking to the press. And that’s why the 11:45 never started on time — so he could talk to the press. In fact, I’m sure I remember pews being taken out of the cathedral, so the press would be able to set up their equipment.
While John Grady was not without guilt, he knew who was in charge and was made to know it every day. O”Connor was lucky to have a musician as talented as Grady as his musical director: The choir was featured all over the city during his tenure and got quite a lot of attention, always valuable to O’Connor.

It gobsmacks me to think that there are people who think O”Connor should be made a saint. Cooke, Sheen, Mother Teresa, yes indeed. O’Connor? Heck, no.

By: Mary O’Sullivan

Mary O’Sullivan — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:10:04 +0000

Hi Maureen,

I loved your blog and the review of the book. My mother was married in the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral because she attended Cathedral High School (Archbishop Hughes Memorial) I was nice to see you in print – You look great and haven’t changed a bit! Mary O’Sullivan