By Anne Shuttleworth

Father Clarence Rivers, black priest, musician, and dramatic artist from Cincinnati, Ohio, describes his rather unusual ministry as an opportunity and freedom to do his own thing.

Conducting an Ecumenical Worship Service and lecture-concert at Emory University this Sunday, Father Rivers made use of his performing artistry and did just that.

In his work within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Father Rivers’ own thing takes form in his role as director of “Stimuli, Inc.” He describes the program as “an institution for community-wide human growth using the dramatic arts to provide broadened experience techniques to help people reflect on their existence and provide a purpose for it.” If people fail to respond as they should to the demands of their lives as Christians, says Father Rivers, it is because they do not understand the situation.

His theory is: no matter how close these people may be to the situation, their vision is severely limited and have to be opened up. By means of the performing arts, Father Rivers hopes to present the situation in such a way as to inspire individuals then to take action.

This idea recurred throughout Father River’s Sunday morning worship service at Emory’s Durham Chapel. He reminded the congregation, “Our love is not to be just words and mere talk, but something real and active,” he added “For fear of dying, some never really live. Most of us never live fully, for most of us never share fully.”

In addition to drama, music is another area of the performing arts where inspiration for Christian action can be found. It is perhaps in this area that Father Rivers has made his most far-reaching contributions. The publication in 1963 of his “An American Mass Program” launched a revolution in American Catholic church music. Father Rivers calls this revolutionary music new, but not as merely opposed to the old musical forms.

It is new, he says, because of the variety of styles available now and because, unlike the music which had been previously been based on European traditions, the liturgical music today stems from our own American tradition.