Today we speak to Diana Macalintal, the cofounder and codirector of TeamRCIA.com and Liturgy.life, as well as a widely-recognized leader and speaker in the areas of the catechumenate and Catholic liturgy and music. Diana discusses the process of developing, approving, and executing a new translation of the Rite in the Catholic Church, both in the United States and across the world. Moreover, Diana discusses the basis of the changes to the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) and what to expect for its upcoming new translation, the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA).

Diana joins us from her home in San Jose, California.

The music we choose speaks volumes about us as musicians, whether we realize it or not. It expresses our personal tastes in terms of style, genre, modality, and more. Not only that, our musical choices have the power to amplify the people behind them: from gender to culture, race to religion, the composers themselves are just as much a part of the music we choose as the notes on the page.

It’s a topic we’ve discussed on the podcast before, but during Black History Month, I return to one of my favorite interviews of the history of the podcast. I spoke with Dr. Mickey Thomas Terry, organist and lecturer currently based in the Washington, D.C. area. Among Dr. Terry’s varied accomplishments is the African-American Organ Music Anthology, which recently released its 10th volume through MorningStar Music Publishers. Dr. Terry’s professional work, both through the anthology and his research at large, seek to raise visibility for music by African-American classical composers and give them the opportunity to be played and celebrated today.

And so today I replay my discussion with Dr. Terry, sharing his thoughts on the struggles of African-American composers and what we can do today to honor their esteemed work.

Today I speak to Marilyn Santos, Associate Director of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). We discuss the National Eucharistic Revival Musical Competition and the opportunity to compose the music that will be used at the 2024 Eucharistic Congress and across the country, sharing the love of the Eucharist.