Libera @ Sacred Heart Curch, Bournemouth, UK

[Yorkie]

Jimmy posted a Tweet with a link to a church service last Sunday that featured Libera:

Palm Sunday Service

The procession starts at about 4 minutes. A word of warning, the sound is not great and the camera is fixed and the boys are not in picture for most of the service.

A short article appears HERE

[gingerthedog1]

Thanks for sharing this. I found it interesting that all but a few boys took communion, suggesting most of them are Catholic. This is true even though Libera is based off of an Anglican church. Perhaps Libera will be singing evensong at Ely as a visiting choir, and this was good practice for the upcoming concert?

[TullyBascombe]

Anglicans do Communion / Mass also and they're not picky about where their members take it. Whether or not the Roman Catholic priest would allow them or not would depend on how hard-nosed he was. Out of curiosity, did Mr. Prizeman take communion also?

[chris17]

I didn't watch the whole thing, but looked through the video looking for the offertory and communion hymns. Here are some approximate times for what I believe they sang, though the boys weren't visible and the ambient noise in the church made it hard to hear:
42:00: Were You There, with solos around 43:00 and 44:50
1:08:00: Stabat Mater by Pergolesei (so not the one on the album)
1:12:00: A short song which I didn't recognize
1:13:00: Some version of Ave Verum

[gingerthedog1]

Anglicans do Communion / Mass also and they're not picky about where their members take it. Whether or not the Roman Catholic priest would allow them or not would depend on how hard-nosed he was. Out of curiosity, did Mr. Prizeman take communion also?

I was working off the assumption that the Catholic church would not allow Anglicans to take communion, but you are right in that this may not be true. I assume, then, that most of them are some type of Christian, if not Catholic. As to Mr. Prizeman, I am not able to recognize him from the back of his head, which is all that was visible of the communion takers in the video. Although, I am fairly certain he is Christian, if not Anglican based on his job at St Phillips.

[filiarheni]

Perhaps Libera will be singing evensong at Ely as a visiting choir, and this was good practice for the upcoming concert?

Evensong on 29th April will be sung by a project choir called "Cantemus Cum Spiritu":
http://www.elycathedral.org/worship/service-schedules

[TullyBascombe]

Anglicans do Communion / Mass also and they're not picky about where their members take it. Whether or not the Roman Catholic priest would allow them or not would depend on how hard-nosed he was. Out of curiosity, did Mr. Prizeman take communion also?

I was working off the assumption that the Catholic church would not allow Anglicans to take communion, but you are right in that this may not be true. I assume, then, that most of them are some type of Christian, if not Catholic. As to Mr. Prizeman, I am not able to recognize him from the back of his head, which is all that was visible of the communion takers in the video. Although, I am fairly certain he is Christian, if not Anglican based on his job at St Phillips.

He's been choir director at St. Phillips since he was 18 years old, so I think it's safe to say that he's a member of the Church of England. When the rules are strictly applied Anglicans are barred from taking Communion at a Roman Catholic Church because the C of E is not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church, but OTOH from time to time the Vatican gushes about the Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches being "sister churches" and on occasion the Pope, the Metropolitan and the Archbishop of Canterbury will get together and officiate at a combined service. Individual priest sometimes make their own interpretations.

[Yorkie]

Anglicans do Communion / Mass also and they're not picky about where their members take it. Whether or not the Roman Catholic priest would allow them or not would depend on how hard-nosed he was. Out of curiosity, did Mr. Prizeman take communion also?

I was working off the assumption that the Catholic church would not allow Anglicans to take communion, but you are right in that this may not be true. I assume, then, that most of them are some type of Christian, if not Catholic. As to Mr. Prizeman, I am not able to recognize him from the back of his head, which is all that was visible of the communion takers in the video. Although, I am fairly certain he is Christian, if not Anglican based on his job at St Phillips.

He's been choir director at St. Phillips since he was 18 years old, so I think it's safe to say that he's a member of the Church of England. When the rules are strictly applied Anglicans are barred from taking Communion at a Roman Catholic Church because the C of E is not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church, but OTOH from time to time the Vatican gushes about the Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches being "sister churches" and on occasion the Pope, the Metropolitan and the Archbishop of Canterbury will get together and officiate at a combined service. Individual priest sometimes make their own interpretations.

I don't think it's safe to assume anything to be honest (not that it is our business either way). Plenty of people of one faith are involved with churches of another and just because somebody starts out life as one religion (or none) doesn't mean they can't change over time. All I would say is that over the years Libera tend to perform in a lot of RC churches. Which proves exactly nothing of course

[andmar]

What I think is fantastic about Libera is, that they are no doubt a Christian choir but they are not stick strictly to any particular denomination. They originate from the Anglican Church, sing a lot in Roman Catholic churches and in their repertoire there are also protestant hymns like Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art or Be Still My Soul. They just praise the Lord and that's it.

[TullyBascombe]

IIRC in his autobiography Mr. Prizeman went directly from choir member at St. Phillips to choir director, which I think means that he was brought up in the C of E. AFAIK there has been no break in his tenure as choir director since 1970 which I believe means he spends pretty much every Sunday there. When would he have time to convert? Maybe he's simply possessed by the spirit of ecumenicism. Also Roman Catholic Churches have better attendance.

[Yorkie]

IIRC in his autobiography Mr. Prizeman went directly from choir member at St. Phillips to choir director, which I think means that he was brought up in the C of E. AFAIK there has been no break in his tenure as choir director since 1970 which I believe means he spends pretty much every Sunday there. When would he have time to convert? Maybe he's simply possessed by the spirit of ecumenicism. Also Roman Catholic Churches have better attendance.

An autobiography? You know more than I do as I've never heard mention of that before. On the other points how can James O'Donnell spend all his time in Westminster Abbey on Sunday? In general I agree about attendances in RC churches in the UK (a lot to do with people moving in from Eastern Europe if my local experience is relevant) but Sacred Heart didn't look to be packed out. Anyway, we don't know and we have no need to know to enjoy what Libera provides

[TullyBascombe]

I didn't mean an autobiographical novel. There was a newspaper article in some South London local paper many years ago about Libera in which he was interviewed. The interviewer devoted a couple of paragraphs to Mr. Prizeman. I believe the article was posted on the Yahoo Libera groups webpage quite a few years ago.
James O'Donnell hasn't spent his entire life at Westminister Abbey, he held positions at Westminister Cathedral from 1982 to 1999.

[Yorkie]

Libera were back in Bournemouth this morning to take part in the Easter Sunday 10.30am service which should be available on the church's website to view later:

#Edit# it's there now:

https://www.bournemouthoratory.org.uk/live-feed/

Go to the recordings tab and you can play it.

[bachmahlerfan]

Libera were back in Bournemouth this morning to take part in the Easter Sunday 10.30am service which should be available on the church's website to view later:

#Edit# it's there now:

https://www.bournemouthoratory.org.uk/live-feed/

Go to the recordings tab and you can play it.

I'm guessing the pictures that Libera just posted are from their visit to Bournemouth. As far as I can tell, all the photos seem related to that and not to any other activities like preparing to record an album.

https://twitter.com/officiallibera/stat ... TG4ogqAAAA

[Surpinto]

Libera were back in Bournemouth this morning to take part in the Easter Sunday 10.30am service which should be available on the church's website to view later:

#Edit# it's there now:

https://www.bournemouthoratory.org.uk/live-feed/

Go to the recordings tab and you can play it.

Thank you for sharing! They did an excellent job. Not surprised they did the "Sanctus"