Kate Keefe

England

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Music for psalms, acclamations, Mass texts for congregations everywhere. Writes at https://t.co/W1BdQPkhIu and @The_Tablet #Synod2024 #womenwerethere

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Articles

New Pope. New hope.

1 week ago | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

It was very sad to hear that the late Pope had died (on Easter Monday morning), but on the other hand, what a great day to go, with heaven having its biggest celebration of the year, and how characteristic of the last Pope to make his last appearance blessing all of us, urbi et orbi, on Easter Sunday. It was a perfect way to be remembered, and we pray for the repose of his soul with serene confidence and hope. But now what?
Choosing hymns for special occasions

1 month ago | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

This is the time of year for several special services. First Communions, Confirmations, Mothers’ Day, Lady Day all seem to be in spring or early summer, and we aren’t even into the wedding season yet, especially with the weather we’ve been having recently. Most people expect music at a celebratory service of whatever nature in church, and quite right too. Music brings people together, it wakes them up and calms them down, it can be a source of great comfort and solidarity.
Lent Gospel Acclamations : the New Lectionary

2 months ago | musicformass.blog | Kate Keefe

It’s that time of year again… I’ve written about Lent Gospel Acclamations before, those little tags we use during Lent to replace the Alleluias before the Gospel. I feel prophetic, because the main message of my first blog about them was about how they always manage to creep round and bite you when you aren’t looking, and here we go again. I have spent a lot of time on them over the last several years, trying to make sure we have all the versions and that the words are correct.
Called to bear fruit?

2 months ago | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

Guess what – we’re having another church consultation, this one organised and promulgated by the Archdiocese of Southwark. Glossy booklets have arrived and been distributed, and there is a request for us to set up small discussion groups among the laity of the parishes in the diocese. Our priests have been told this is to be lay-run and lay-led; they should not be involved. Two questions are immediately striking: 1.
Candlemas and the Magi – gifts, giving and the real meaning of generosity - The Tablet

Jan 31, 2025 | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

Our first grandchild has very recently arrived, and we’ve been able to go and visit. And it is still just the season of Christmas, running up to Candlemas at the beginning of February, and including the feast of the Epiphany, with the Magi visiting the manger. The theological significance of this feast is huge, demonstrating that the Nativity is a global, not just local, event, but it’s also fun to consider it in a more personal and direct way.
Making sense of place

Jan 16, 2025 | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

A sense of place is something very difficult to describe, but it’s deeply rooted in the human heart and most people understand what you mean by it. Of course we usually have no memory of where we were born and spent our early childhood, though some people claim to have memories from being in a pram, and I am very jealous, because I haven’t.
Encounters with St Nicholas

Dec 3, 2024 | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

My earliest encounter with St Nicholas is so long ago that I can’t remember exactly when it was, but it happened when I was learning to play the piano, so maybe when I was about seven years old. My first piano book was called Jibbidy F and A-C-E, and this was a little four-line tune on three notes starting with the thumb on Middle C. Not wildly exciting, musically, with only three notes and nearly all crotchets, but the words were “Jolly old St Nicholas, / Bend your ear this way.
Why this expert Church musician is not happy with the new Lectionary

Nov 20, 2024 | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

On the first Sunday of Advent, we’re all supposed to start using the new Lectionary mandated by the bishops. You may not notice at first, because if your parish is like mine, although we have had the Mass books on order for months, they haven’t arrived yet. We have taken delivery of the enormous altar Lectionary, but not the people’s parts.
Trading with tradition and why it matters

Oct 30, 2024 | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

Tradition is a powerful force to tie any group together, because it’s one way that any group, or community, or nation, defines itself: “We are the people who – fill in the gap – unlike all the other people we know.” Many of these traditions come round on a regular time cycle, such as Christmas, midsummer, or the shortest day, or attached to a particular life event such as births, deaths, marriages, losing first teeth.
Home from the holidays

Oct 1, 2024 | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

What are holidays for? They are regarded as almost a basic human right for most of the people we know, but this is a very modern assumption. The word “holiday” doesn’t occur in the Bible. For most people in the world, today as well as historically, holidays would be a luxurious and unrealistic idea.