Emily 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 contribut...
Mar 29, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 10
In 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 how ...
Mar 15, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In 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.
Feb 22, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Emily 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 to d...
Feb 04, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 7
In 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 the v...
Jan 17, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Host 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 Father Ri...
Dec 15, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Host 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 inform...
Nov 21, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In 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 show n...
Oct 27, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In 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.
Sep 23, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In 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.
Aug 31, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 1
