River of the Immaculate Conception: An Evening for Artists & Art Lovers

Join Maggie Gallagher and the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship as James Matthew Wilson reads from his epic song cycle inspired by Frank La Rocca's spectacular music commissioned by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone: the Mass of the Americas.

Mr. Wilson, called "the most conspicuously talented young poet-critic in American Catholic letters" by none other than Dana Gioia, will read from The River of the Immaculate Conception, which was inspired both by composer Frank LaRocca's Mass of the Americas and his own Michigan boyhood vision of America as a Catholic country.

Experience also with your fellow lovers of art, music from the Mass of the Americas, which is coming to the Midwest for the first time on August 5, when Cardinal Raymond Burke and Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone will bring Frank La Rocca's Mass of the Americas to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Mass of the Americas, which has been called "the most important Catholic composition of our lifetime," is a unity Mass to Our Blessed Mother under her titles Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the United States, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Patroness of Mexico and all the Americas. The new celebration is part of Project Guadalupe 2031, created by Archbishop Cordileone and the Benedict XVI Institute to inspire more Americans to appreciate the 500th anniversary of Our Lady's appearance as the birthday of Christianity in North America.

We will share the hauntingly ethereal "Aue Maria" (in Nahuatl) and ask for the poet James Matthew Wilson to share insight into his creative process, and the relationship between music and poetry.

Plus: We invite you to bring a poem, either one of your own or a favorite, to share with your fellow artists and art lovers. Fellowship to follow.

Please register now as the Catholic Renaissance in the arts comes to Grand Rapids at the grand Holmdene Manor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, July 7, 7:00-9:00 PM.

Also check out other Arts events in Grand Rapids, Literary Art events in Grand Rapids.