Musicians Of Archdiocese To Be Honored With Mass

Published: October 28, 2004

ATLANTA—The gift of musicians to the church will be celebrated in a special archdiocesan-wide Mass on Sunday, Nov. 7, at Holy Spirit Church at 2:30 p.m.

All musicians in the archdiocese—choir members, cantors, instrumentalists and worship leaders—are invited and encouraged to attend the Mass and lift their voices in praise. The liturgy will include a special blessing of all the musicians.

Father Paul Berny, pastor of St. Joseph Church, Marietta, will be the principal celebrant and the Archdiocesan Festival Choir will lead the music.

The Mass is timed to be near the Nov. 22 feast of St. Cecilia, patron saint of musicians. The month of November is a natural time to focus on the gifts, talents and vocation of musicians who serve the church.

The Archdiocesan Festival Choir planned the liturgy “to give thanks to God for the musicians that work as ministers in our parishes,” said John Brandt, a member of the steering committee.

“It is so difficult for pastoral musicians to gather from the various corners of our archdiocese, partially because of the distances involved, but also because we all are working and celebrating in our own parishes,” he said.

However, the planners hope this will be a time when the musicians come together en masse.

“Getting together and sharing our love of music and the liturgy with other music ministers could really be an invigorating and energizing thing,” he said. “There is nothing more powerful than the music that is made with musicians as the assembly.”

The Archdiocesan Festival Choir was formed three years ago to serve the Catholic community by providing choral music for special occasions and liturgies.

Linda Morgan, director of music at St. Andrew Church, Roswell, said that “for the first two seasons the choir concentrated on purely musical and organizational challenges, and we have been fairly successful in celebrating great Roman Catholic music.”

The 2003 program featured Robert Twynham’s Magnificat, while in 2004 the choir presented a program with a variety of works, ranging from chant to contemporary church music. This year they expanded their scope to include this fall liturgy as well as a spring concert.

Elyn Macek, Christ the King Contemporary Ensemble director and member of the choir, said, “The Festival Choir has really brought a lot of wonderful people from different backgrounds together, and the spirit of the musicians has been great. They really make a strong statement about the vitality and dedication of musicians in the archdiocese.”

“While we may minister in various and different voices, styles and musical traditions, it will be uplifting to celebrate our faith together through the language of sound,” she added. “I hope that the dialogue started here will blossom and grow.”

Holy Spirit Church is located at 4465 Northside Drive, NW, at the corner of Northside Drive and Mt. Paran Road.