As I mentioned in last week’s post, after this Sunday, the 11am Adult Choir will go on summer break, and the 5pm Worship Band will go into “optional mode.” Our 9:30am Youth Choir will stick around for one more Sunday and will go on break after June 15th.
For a long time now, I’ve been contemplating the idea of doing songs in multiple languages, as I’ve been fortunate to have worked with some very talented individuals who have shared their language and culture with me in some way or another. Perhaps you were present during one of the rare times at the 9:30 or the 5 when did a hymn in Spanish. Or perhaps you were at the 9:30 or 11 on last year’s Solemnity of Christ the King (11/24/2024), when we were graced with the joyful music ministering of The Karolines, a Ugandan choir based in St. Mary Parish in Waltham. I’ll let you in on a little secret… For this year’s Solemnity of Christ the King (on 11/23), I’m seriously considering inviting The Karolines again to jointly minister with our Adult Choir, and I have a very special song arrangement in mind (a challenging one at that!), which utilizes different languages, among other things. But I won’t spoil the surprise any further!
This Pentecost Sunday, at the 9:30am and 5pm Masses, our Youth Choir (9:30) and Worship Band (5:00) will offer a little something I like to call “Amazing Grace in Tongues.” At the 9:30, this will involve our Youth Choir’s own Eloise Mascitti, the Sevigny siblings (Mateo & Isabela), and a special guest named Natasha Mikhaylova (one of the 4th graders from the St. Joe’s School choir), who will each sing a verse of Amazing Grace in French, Spanish, and Russian, respectively. As for the 5:00, I will keep that a secret—come in-person if you’d like to see for yourself.
Finally, for the 11am this Sunday, as mentioned previously, we’re giving the music a little extra flourish for our very own Marty Cunniffe, who will be moving to New Hampshire in the near future. In addition to doing all the Mass responses, including the Responsorial Psalm and Gospel Acclamation, in multi-part harmony (normally we sing these all in unison), we’ll be doing a Holy Spirit-themed song that has a special place in the hearts of our choir members from St. Bart’s—it’s called Surely the Presence of the Lord, and Marty will sing the 2nd verse as a solo.
We look forward to seeing you at any of the Masses this Sunday, and may our music help you to feel the movement of the Holy Spirit in your worship!
With my peace,
Carlo Serrano, Music Director
