Meet Father Rivers

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 discuss the second of Michael DeFrancesco's interviews with Fr. Rivers in the last few years of Rivers’ life, recently posted to YouTube. Emily and Eric are joined by Fr. Tom DiFolco, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and fellow friend of Fr. Rivers. The three point out interesting features of the second DeFrancesco interview, especially his comments on the role of priest as a cultic function, discussing Rivers’ insights and their broad-ranging implications for worship and the role of priests today. As a bonus, find out what the “DiFolco Death Stare” is in this engaging conversation on worship, inspired—as usual—by Fr. Rivers. For Episode 33 Show Notes, click here.

In this episode, we discuss the first of the interviews Michael DeFrancesco conducted with Fr. Rivers in the last few years of Rivers’ life, recently posted to YouTube. Emily and Eric listen to clips of the interview and discuss their broad-ranging implications for worship today. For Episode 32 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.