It’s that time of the year when our Adult Choir, Children’s Choir, and Worship Band go on summer break. Last week, on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Adult Choir did their last service for the season. This Sunday, our Children’s Choir and Worship Band will also be concluding service for this season. Our ensembles typically resume duty on the Sunday after Labor Day.
Over the summer, Danielle Coles will continue to cantor at the 9:30 AM Mass, while Debbie Geary cantors for the 11:00 AM. As for the Worship Band which is assigned to the 5:00 PM, what summer break looks like for them is something I like to call “optional duty.” What that basically means is that the members of the Worship Band won’t be “required” to serve at Mass, but they may still do so if they choose. I suppose one could argue that all music ministry service is essentially “optional” by the fact of it being carried out entirely by volunteers (with the exception of our paid music staff), but let’s just say that it becomes “even more optional” for the Worship Band over the summer, if that makes sense haha. That said, most of them choose the option of still coming in to serve anyway.
Finally, I’d like to take this time to officially bid farewell to Eloise Mascitti and Austin Poirier, who have been two of the strongest singers in our Children’s Choir for a very long time. Eloise graduated from the St. Joe’s School on June 5th, and Austin will be attending a different school for 8th grade. I will always fondly remember their enthusiasm for the music ministry, and how they each took turns cantoring for the 9:30 AM Mass during one particular month when Debbie Geary had to be away for several weekends. And if I’m being totally honest, I must say that I even delighted in their friendly rivalry, which sometimes manifested in their competing with each other for who’d get to do the solo on the final verse of Easter Hallelujah, or that one time when Eloise was absent and I needed someone to sing her signature high note and Austin volunteered for it saying, “I am Eloise 2.0!” To honor Eloise and Austin in this post, below is a video of them from 2 years ago singing a congregational favorite, The Summons.
With my peace,
Carlo Serrano, Music Director
