Meet Father Rivers
34 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 24 ratingsAuthor and musician Emily Strand examines the life, legacy and her own brief, personal encounter with a little-known but essential figure in American Catholic history: Black liturgist and composer Fr. Clarence Joseph Rivers.
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Episodes
Episode 31: Found Family, Found Footage
March 24, 2024 18:37 - 1 hour - 59.1 MBIn this episode, we interview Michael and Martha DeFrancesco, a Cincinnati couple who enjoyed a life-long friendship with Fr. Rivers that can only be described as “found family.” Martha and Michael share personal memories and wonderful details about Fr. Rivers the man (rather than the legend). They also share a few treasures in the form of footage from interviews Michael conducted with Fr. Rivers in the last few years of his life, allowing us to post them to YouTube for everyone’s enjoyment ...
Episode 30: Having Church all Week with Scott Patterson
February 23, 2024 21:46 - 1 hour - 56 MBWe’re still talking about that phenomenal recording of Fr. Rivers and the Hawkins Family in a new episode of MFR! And we talk about so much more as well. Bonus content from our interview with composer and former Church musician Scott Patterson, featured in Episode 29, forms the content of this episode of Meet Father Rivers. Eric tells us more about Afro House, the art collective our guest Scott (and Alisha Patterson) lead. Then Emily, Eric and Scott discuss music ministry, form in art (and w...
Episode 29: Freeing the Spirit with Fr. Rivers and the Hawkins Family
January 23, 2024 19:53 - 1 hour - 77.9 MBEric and Emily and special guest Scott Patterson discuss a concert Fr. Rivers hosted on August 19, 1971, recorded live at the Detroit Institute of Arts auditorium and produced by the National Office of Black Catholics. The concert—and the week-long workshop that preceded it—were intended as “an act of freedom on the part of contemporary American Black Catholics” to make their “own impact on Catholic worship” (Joseph Davis, SM, from the album’s back cover). The conversation focuses on clips o...
Episode 28: Christmas with Fr. Rivers
December 19, 2023 13:34 - 56 minutes - 52 MBEric and Emily discuss an archival recording of a Christmas liturgy Fr. Rivers designed and presided over from 1972, then later published in his 1974 book Soulfull Worship. Emily and Eric discuss the recording, play clips, and compare and contrast worship practices from 1972 until now. Fr. Rivers' signature style is on full display in this special Christmas episode of Meet Father Rivers. For Episode 28 Show Notes, click here.
Episode 28: Christmas with Fr. Rivers
December 19, 2023 13:32Eric and Emily discuss an archival recording of a Christmas liturgy Fr. Rivers designed and presided over from 1972, then later published in his 1974 book Soulfull Worship. Emily and Eric discuss the recording, play clips, and compare and contrast worship practices from 1972 until now. Fr. Rivers' signature style is on full display in this special Christmas episode of Meet Father Rivers. For Episode 28 Show Notes, click here.
Episode 27: The Making of a Black Catholic Hymnal with Marjorie Gabriel-Burrow
November 28, 2023 18:55 - 54 minutes - 51.3 MBEric and Emily explore a great accomplishment for Black Catholics in the US many years in the making: the Lead Me Guide Me hymnal, published by GIA Publications in 1987. After some background on the hymnal’s development, hosts introduce Marjorie Gabriel-Burrow, who chaired the committee that brought the hymnal to birth. Marjorie, an internationally acclaimed musician and composer, has served the Catholic Church as a pastoral musician since the eighth grade and since 1992 at St. Augustine-St....
Episode 26: The "Soul" of Rivers with William Foster McDaniel
October 31, 2023 15:14 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBEric and Emily interview a key musical collaborator of Fr. Clarence Rivers: pianist, composer and arranger William Foster McDaniel. Billy recalls meeting Fr. Rivers in Paris in 1966, where both were pursuing graduate studies. He details how he later worked and traveled with Fr. Rivers for years as his pianist and arranger and shares a recording of a song he co-composed with Rivers called "Soul." Finally, Billy and the hosts discuss Fr. Rivers' legacy and the uniqueness of his contributions. ...
Meet Season Two of MFR
September 29, 2023 13:16 - 55 minutes - 50.8 MBHosts Emily and Eric catch up after a break from podcasting, sharing the projects and events that kept them busy this summer, including travel to present on Fr. Rivers at the National Black Catholic Congress in the Washington, D.C. area. They introduce the second season of the show with a fascinating, 1968 article from National Catholic Reporter interviewing Fr. Rivers. Rivers' setting of the Creed is also shared and discussed. For show notes for Episode 25, click here.
Episode 25: Meet Season Two of MFR
September 29, 2023 13:16 - 55 minutes - 50.8 MBHosts Emily and Eric catch up after a break from podcasting, sharing the projects and events that kept them busy this summer, including travel to present on Fr. Rivers at the National Black Catholic Congress in the Washington, D.C. area. They introduce the second season of the show with a fascinating, 1968 article from National Catholic Reporter interviewing Fr. Rivers. Rivers' setting of the Creed is also shared and discussed. For show notes for Episode 25, click here.
Episode 24: The Anaphora, Captured
May 26, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBEric and Emily receive a unique and precious gift: a wedding video recording from 1994 in which Fr. Rivers leads his original Eucharistic Prayer, the Anaphora of the Lion and Lamb. Eric and Emily talk to the bride and groom, Pam and Matt Fellerhoff, about their experience and play audio clips from their memorable celebration. Eric and Emily discuss their reactions to this extraordinary find. For the Episode 24 Show Notes, click here.
Episode 23: Fr. Rivers and the Black Catholic Studies Reader
April 26, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 70.7 MBEmily and Eric examine a new book that contains two essays by Fr. Clarence Rivers: the Black Catholic Studies Reader: History and Theology, recently published by Catholic University of America Press. We speak with editor Fr. David Endres, a priest of Archdiocese of Cincinnati, seminary dean, and editor of US Catholic Historian. We also speak to one of the book’s contributors, Dr. Cecilia Moore, associate professor of religious studies at University of Dayton. We talk about how the Reader cam...
Episode 22: Music that Speaks to the Soul with Bro. Louis Canter
January 21, 2023 00:48 - 51 minutes - 47.2 MBEmily and Eric welcome Bro. Louis Canter, OEF, life-long Catholic liturgist, pastoral musician and composer, to the show to talk about an old box of music, slated for destruction, that he found at a pivotal time in his young career. The box was full of colorful music from a publisher called Stimuli, Inc., by a composer named Fr. Clarence Jos. Rivers. Louis tells us about how rescuing that box and playing through it in his free time set a trajectory for his life and career in ministry, helpin...
Episode 21: The Rivers Reading Club
November 28, 2022 15:44 - 1 hour - 67.2 MBEmily and Eric welcome Black Catholic podcasters Nate Tinner-Williams and Lorna DesRoses to Meet Father Rivers to celebrate Black Catholic History Month (November) with the first-ever Rivers Reading Club. Participants discuss one of Fr. Rivers’ most provocative and insightful pieces of writing: a chapter called “The Oral African Tradition Versus the Ocular Western Tradition.” The chapter is available as a free download, compliments of Orbis Books (see Show Notes for the link). We discuss Fr....
Episode 20: It's Black Catholic History Month... and Here's Your Homework
November 15, 2022 16:20 - 27 minutes - 28.4 MBHappy Black Catholic History Month! In this brief but important episode, listeners get oriented to this celebratory month and receive a homework assignment for next episode. But don’t fear—this is homework you’ll want to do! The fine folks at Orbis Books have given us permission to share a chapter Fr. Rivers published in the 1998 scholarly collection, Taking Down Our Harps (ed. by Fr. Cyprian Davis, OSB and Diana L. Hayes) entitled “The Oral African Tradition Versus the Ocular Western Tradit...
Episode 19: Keeping the Fire Burning with Ken Canedo
October 28, 2022 15:40 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MBEmily and Eric continue their conversation with composer Ken Canedo by asking a tough question about whether Fr. Rivers got co-opted and left behind by the White folk movement in the American Catholic Church. Ken provides a thoughtful response that involves (of all things) Catholic missalettes and lack of accompaniment, and discussion turns to the ways Fr. Rivers may have unintentionally hindered access to his own works. We pose Ken our standard question about Fr. Rivers’ obscurity, and Ken’...
Episode 18: Rivers as Inspiration with Ken Canedo
October 14, 2022 17:32 - 46 minutes - 42.2 MBCatholic composer and musician Ken Canedo discusses the influence of Fr. Rivers on his life and career in liturgy and music. Ken is the co-composer (with Bob Hurd) of the Gospel-styled song “Alleluia! Give the Glory”. Ken and the hosts talk about the advice Fr. Rivers gave Ken when he met him as a young composer and what elements of Fr. Rivers’ compositions Ken still strives to incorporate today. Ken is also a chronicler of the story of contemporary music in the North American Catholic Churc...
Episode 17: Rivers as Composer with Fr. Jan Michael Joncas
September 27, 2022 08:00 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBEric and Emily interview celebrated Catholic liturgical music composer and liturgy scholar Fr. Jan Michael Joncas, who has penned such classics as “On Eagles’ Wings” and “I Have Loved You” about Rivers as a composer. Fr. Mike shares two of his own compositions for liturgy in which one can hear Fr. Rivers’ influence clearly (full songs included). The conversation situates Rivers as an American Catholic composer and highlights Fr. Rivers’ historical significance, our changing times, and other ...
Episode 16: Doing the Sankofa Thing with Fr. Joseph A. Brown, SJ
August 30, 2022 08:00 - 1 hour - 71.4 MBFr. Joseph A. Brown, SJ is our guest on this episode: a Jesuit priest and professor of Africana studies and scholar of Black Catholicism and liturgy. Fr. Brown is a poet, an artist and was a friend and colleague of Fr. Rivers. He tells how he first heard Fr. Rivers’ music and shares his belief that Fr. Rivers’ scholarly works are an undiscovered gem of American Catholicism. Hosts and guest discuss how we must share Rivers' ideas and legacy in the digital age. Fr. Joseph teaches us about sank...
The Queen's Men Part II
July 31, 2022 13:04 - 50 minutes - 46 MBEmily and Eric conclude their investigation of Fr. Rivers’ career teaching high school English and drama at Purcell in Cincinnati. Former Queen’s Man Kenneth Stevens shares his memories of Fr. Rivers as a teacher, director and inspiration for Ken’s long and productive career in the arts. Ken describes Rivers’ influence on his own career, contributing to his can-do attitude and his ability to look at situations without prejudice to create amazing results. Ken and the hosts talk about Rivers a...
The Queen's Men Part I
July 12, 2022 08:00 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBEmily and Eric continue their investigation of Fr. Rivers’ career teaching high school English and drama at Purcell in Cincinnati. Fr. Rivers started a drama troupe at Purcell, an all-boys Catholic high school, called the Queen’s Men. 1962 Purcell High School grad Dan Sack sits down with Emily and Eric to tell them about his first-hand experience of Fr. Rivers as a director, teacher and life-long friend. Surprisingly, he also shares how the troupe was broken apart when many of its members be...
The Teaching Years with Fr. James Heft, SM
June 21, 2022 08:00 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBAs a newly-ordained priest, Fr. Rivers served as an English teacher, guidance counselor and drama coach at Purcell High School in Cincinnati in the late 1950s into the 1960s. There, he changed lives. Emily and Eric start their investigation of Fr. Rivers as high school teacher with Purcell teaching colleague, Fr. James Heft, SM. Fr. Jim was fresh out of college at the time of his encounter with Fr. Rivers, but went on to a distinguished career in the academy as an expert in Catholic secondar...
A Pastor's Perspective on Fr. Rivers with Fr. Tom DiFolco
May 31, 2022 08:00 - 56 minutes - 51.9 MBEmily and Eric interview Fr. Tom DiFolco, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who was mentored by Fr. Rivers, forming a friendship with Fr. Rivers as a fellow priest that greatly enhanced Fr. Tom’s own priestly ministry. Fr. Tom has served the Black Catholic parishes of Cincinnati for 25 years, and he opens up about the joys and challenges of his ministry and—most especially—how he has been forever changed by the life and influence of Fr. Clarence Rivers. The conversation include...
Episode 11: Wilton Cardinal Gregory on Fr. Rivers
April 26, 2022 08:00 - 49 minutes - 46.9 MBEmily and Eric interview Wilton Cardinal Gregory, the seventh Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the first African American Cardinal—ever!—in the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Gregory shares how he first encountered Fr. Rivers, what Rivers’ work meant to him as a young seminarian, priest and Bishop, and how he continues to pray in thanksgiving for Fr. Rivers’ work and witness. He explains how he came to possess one of Fr. Rivers’ pectoral crosses and what it mea...
Episode 10: And the 2002 Berakah Award goes to… with special guest Dr. Don E. Saliers
March 29, 2022 09:00 - 55 minutes - 51.2 MBEmily and Eric detail how Fr. Clarence Rivers received, in 2002, the prestigious Berakah Award, an award given by the North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL) to honor distinguished contributors to the field of professional liturgy. The hosts interview scholar of liturgy, musician and clinician Dr. Don E. Saliers, theologian-in-residence at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, who composed the text of Fr. Rivers’ Berakah Award, poetically and beautifully capturing Fr. Rivers’ spirit and contr...
Episode 9: Dr. Mary McGann on Fr. Rivers' liturgical vision
March 15, 2022 09:00 - 55 minutes - 50.5 MBIn this episode, hosts Emily and Eric interview Dr. Mary McGann, RSCJ, who, in January of 2002, published an article in the journal Worship called “Timely Wisdom, Prophetic Challenge: Rediscovering Clarence R.J. Rivers’ Vision of Effective Worship." In it, Mary gives a helpful summary of Fr. Rivers’ liturgical vision and the innovative contributions he made in the field of liturgical theology. Mary tells Eric and Emily about how she first encountered Fr. Rivers’ music and scholarly work and ...
Episode 8: Heir Apparent Part II
February 22, 2022 10:00 - 47 minutes - 46.7 MBIn this episode, Eric and Emily continue their interview with liturgist, composer and pastoral musician Rawn Harbor, discussing Fr. Rivers as a composer who defied categorization, and the ongoing genesis of Black Catholic liturgy and liturgical music begun by Fr. Rivers. Click here for Episode 8 Show Notes. These include photos of the beautiful vestments referenced in the show.
Episode 7: Heir Apparent
February 04, 2022 10:00 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBEmily and Eric interview pianist, pastoral musician, liturgist, workshop presenter and composer Mr. Ronald (Rawn) Harbor. Rawn met Fr. Rivers in 1973 and became his primary accompanist and eventually a liturgist in his own right under Fr. Clarence’s careful mentorship. Rawn discusses his own approaches to composition and even shares a recording of a psalm arrangement that he’s particularly proud of: Psalm 63 “My Soul is Thirsting,” on this special, most musical episode of Meet Father Rivers ...
Episode 6: Interview with Bishop Cheri
January 17, 2022 10:00 - 55 minutes - 54.2 MBIn this episode, co-hosts Emily Strand and Eric Styles interview Bishop Fernand Cheri, auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans, Louisiana, archivist of Black Sacred Song and long-time personal friend of Fr. Clarence Rivers. Bishops shares his memories of traveling to Africa with Fr. Rivers and the liturgical insights Fr. Rivers helped instill in him. Then Emily and Eric introduce a new team member, Johnathon Kelso, and share an audio recording they made of an excerpt of one of Fr. Rivers' songs in t...
Episode 5: Friends in Clarence
December 15, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutes - 49 MBHost Emily Strand turns the podcast in a new direction: to find and speak to others whose lives Fr. Rivers touched and with whom she feels a unique kind of Christian fellowship. She interviews Eric T. Styles, a liturgist, writer and Notre Dame Rector who also befriended and was mentored by Fr. Clarence at the end of his life. Together they recall the deep and lasting effects Rivers had on their young lives and discuss how they will team up to continue pursuing Fr. Rivers’ story on Meet Fathe...
Episode 4: All the Questions I Didn't Ask
November 21, 2021 05:00 - 57 minutes - 53.3 MBHost Emily Strand recounts Fr. Rivers’ death and remembers her reactions. She interviews Deacon Royce Winters, Pastoral Administrator at Church of the Resurrection in Cincinnati, Ohio and Director of the Office of African American Pastoral Ministries for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, a personal friend of Fr. Rivers. They visit Fr. Rivers’ gravesite at Gate of Heaven Catholic cemetery in Cincinnati. Lastly Emily reads the letter Fr. Rivers wrote to her, and shares podcast news and contact in...
Episode 3: Single-Handedly Starting a Revolution
October 27, 2021 18:15 - 53 minutes - 51.8 MBIn Episode 3, Emily tells the story of Fr. Rivers’ early career and the efforts toward liturgical inculturation that eventually brought him fame. She talks to Dr. Jessie Thomas who was a child at St. Joseph school in Cincinnati when Fr. Rivers was a young priest in the late 1950s. Emily recounts an early incident of liturgical disobedience by Fr. Rivers, effectively protesting the exclusion of Black forms of music in Catholic worship. News and show contact information is shared. For Ep. 3 sh...
Meet Father Rivers Episode 3
October 27, 2021 18:15 - 53 minutes - 51.8 MBIn Episode 3, Emily tells the story of Fr. Rivers’ early career and the efforts toward liturgical inculturation that eventually brought him fame. She talks to Dr. Jessie Thomas who was a child at St. Joseph school in Cincinnati when Fr. Rivers was a young priest in the late 1950s. Emily recounts an early incident of liturgical disobedience by Fr. Rivers, effectively protesting the exclusion of Black forms of music in Catholic worship. News and show contact information is shared. For Ep. 3 sh...
Episode 2: First Contact
September 23, 2021 16:44 - 38 minutes - 35.8 MBIn this episode, Emily describes her first contact with Fr. Clarence Rivers, interviews her mom, Gabrielle Strand, about their experience of one of Fr. Rivers’ liturgies, and documents the notes she took on her first phone call with Fr. Clarence.
Episode 1: Interview with Dr. Cecilia Moore
August 31, 2021 18:48 - 49 minutes - 45.7 MBIn this pilot episode of Meet Father Rivers, host Emily talks to Dr. Cecilia Moore, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Dayton, about how and why she arranged for Emily to meet Fr. Clarence Joseph Rivers, and why Rivers remains an obscure yet important figure in American Catholic history.