Advertise on podcast: Meet Father Rivers

Eric and Emily reconvene the podcast after a break and share some life updates: for Eric, joining the Society of St. Joseph and beginning life as a seminarian; for Emily, campus ministry, liturgical music and teaching at Ohio Dominican University. They welcome Deacon Royce Winters of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (and personal friend of Father Rivers) to discuss some great news: the approval of a historical marker all about Father Rivers, to be installed at St. Joseph Parish in Cincinnati. Eric, Emily and Deacon Royce discuss the process for the marker (especially determining its text) and ultimately the enduring historical significance of their friend, His Grace, Fr. Clarence Rivers. Listeners are encouraged to donate to help offset the significant cost of the historical marker (see below). For Episode 41 Show Notes, click here.

Liturgeeks, unite! Eric and Emily are joined by Nick Wagner and Diana Macalintal, new friends from the November 2024 Symposium at University of Dayton, to geek out about good liturgy. The heart of the conversation dwells on Rivers' concept of effective worship and how liturgists in various cultural contexts can—and must—encourage communities to achieve worship that is both beautiful and that forms disciples bent on justice. Lots of smart talk in this episode about liturgy, liturgical anthropology, inculturation, liturgical flow, the rites of the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults)... and of course Father Rivers. For Episode 40 Show Notes, click here.

Eric and Emily interview author and speaker Daryl Grigsby, who with Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns, presented at last November's Seeking for a City Symposium at the University of Dayton. Daryl's new book, Catholics for the Common Good: An Eternal Offering, highlights the lives of thirty-six Catholics whose lives exemplify the line of Eucharistic Prayer III that asks God to "make of us an eternal offering to you." Eric, Emily and Daryl discuss his presentation at the Symposium (including the insights of Fr. Rivers) and his new book, which employs a very liturgical lens in examining the nature and character of great holiness. For Episode 39 Show Notes, click here.

Emily and Eric interview Bianca C. Farmer, an archivist-in-training at the Catholic University of America. As part of her coursework for her Master's in Library and Information Science, Bianca completed a 50-hour practicum in CUA's Special Collections, and she spent these hours with Father Rivers! She was responsible for the intake, organization and documentation of a new donated collection focused on Father Rivers. Emily and Eric find out what's in this new collection and who donated it; they also learn what a "finding aid" is and how it helps researchers access material history. Finally, Bianca tells us all how to access this new collection at CUA. For Episode 38 Show Notes, click here.

Enjoy a unique and innovative Christmas Eve service created by Fr. Rivers--and Emily and Eric's commentary on the historic recording--in this replay episode of Meet Father Rivers. Merry Christmas! (No show notes.)

It's a live episode of Meet Father Rivers! Eric and Emily have spent the last year or more helping Deacon Royce Winters (Office of African American Pastoral Ministries, Archdiocese of Cincinnati) organize an academic symposium on Black liturgy and culture to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Black Bishops' pastoral letter "What We Have Seen and Heard" and the 20th anniversary of Fr. Rivers' death. The symposium took place Nov. 22-24, 2024 at the University of Dayton. This live episode of MFR engages the attendees and speakers of the symposium, entitled "Seeking for a City," to sum up what we saw and heard during the 2-day event, and how we will move back into our lives of ministry and faith to implement the wisdom shared during this extraordinary event.

Emily and Eric introduce you to some new friends and collaborators: Dr. Darnell Allen St. Romain and Dr. Darrell Anthony St. Romain, twin brothers, recent doctoral degree recipients and Catholic church musicians who will together present a breakout presentation at "Seeking for a City," the upcoming November Symposium at the University of Dayton on Black liturgy and culture. Their breakout will be titled "Soulful, Black and Catholic" and focuses on Black Catholic composers since 1964 and the ways in which they've enriched the Church. As is their way, Eric and Emily and their guests get into deep stuff about liturgy, ministry, race, history, the future of Black Catholic Church music, what it means to be a Church musician in the Black Catholic tradition and of course, Fr. Rivers. For Episode 35 Show Notes, click here.

In this first episode of Season 3 of Meet Father Rivers, Emily and Eric discuss a recent scholarly publication about Father Rivers, an upcoming Symposium on Black Catholic liturgy and culture, and a new e-newsletter for friends of the podcast and anyone interested in Father Rivers Studies. For Episode 34 Show Notes, click here.

In 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 and edification. To Michael and Martha, we are eternally grateful. For Episode 31 Show Notes, click here.

We'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 when to break it), Earth, Wind & Fire as church music, liturgy as "folk art" and how to have church all week. We intersperse more music from the Hawkins Family concert with Fr. Rivers and close with reflections on the importance of leadership in liturgy. Enjoy this eclectic episode of Meet Father Rivers. For Episode 30 Show Notes, click here.

Eric 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 of the concert while touching on Gospel music then and now, the importance of Protestant-Catholic collaborations in building a Black Catholic liturgical aesthetic, music ministry in Black Catholic pastoral settings and, of course, Fr. Rivers and his legacy. For Episode 29 Show Notes, click here.

Eric 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.

Eric 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. Monica Parish in Detroit. Marjorie tells stories of a lifetime of making music in the Church as a Black Catholic, including meeting Fr. Rivers and long-time parish use of Rivers' Mass Dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man and the struggles and triumphs of putting together Lead Me Guide Me with collaborators Rawn Harbor and Leon C. Roberts. Hosts and guest discuss Fr. Rivers' decision not to allow the inclusion of much of his music in the hymnal. Marjorie shares her personal remembrances of Fr. Rivers. For Episode 27 Show Notes, click here.

Eric 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. For Episode 26 Show Notes, click here.

Hosts 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.