Welcome to Music at Saint Monica Parish
At Saint Monica Parish, we welcome any parishoners who are interested in sharing their time and talents with our gathered assembly. Whether you are able to participate weekly or monthly, the music ministry in our parish will greatly benefit from your participation. There are so many ways to be involved in music at Mass. Some of them require extra preparation time each week. These include singing in one of our choirs, serving as a cantor, singing for a special event, providing musical accompaniment, or playing an instrument.
If you would like to join any of the groups, please DON’T BE SHY. Fill our THIS FORM and we will get in touch with you right away.
Music is for all and by all at Saint Monica; whether you raise your voice and heart from the pew or join one of our ensembles, your participation in the music of our parish is a blessing. Thank you for your enthusiasm each week! Contact Music Directors Trae & Kelsey Blanco for more information:
Trae at [email protected] Kelsey at [email protected]
Cantors
Being a cantor is one of the more visible roles in the music ministry. It requires both a strong, good voice and the ability to read music. The cantor’s role is to lead the worshiping assembly during the liturgy and to proclaim the Word in music, especially through the Psalms.
Adult Choir
Dear Friends,
Happy Summer! What a joy it has been to make music with all of you over the last year. We are grateful for your generosity of spirit and ministry as you've led the congregation in sung worship throughout our choir mini-seasons this year.
We are eager and ready to take things up a notch in the coming year with you all, and we encourage you to speak with friends and fellow parishioners to offer a personal invitation to be a part of the Saint Monica Choir. In today's Gospel from the Memorial of Saint Benedict the Abbot, we hear from Saint Matthew:
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."
We are called to be great stewards of our church and ministry, and what better way to grow our choir than for each of us to invite more laborers to our great harvest of sung scripture! When you encounter someone, please get them in touch with Kelsey and I to get them the information needed for our upcoming year together.
New for 2023:
1. A full year of music making! Calendar Link HERE
2. We are excited to host and welcome Catholic Music Artist and Composer, Steve Angrisano. He will offer a liturgical music workshop in October, as well as host a concert here that same weekend. He's absolutely incredible, and you can read more about him HERE.
3. In December, we will be offering a Christmas Concert of sung carols and additional sacred music. Additionally, we will be joined by the Saint Monica Middle School Choir; which is now being led by Kelsey! Very exciting collaboration.
4. In March, we will host an ecumenical Taize service here, (plans still in process for this) and we will invite area churches to join us as well. I've not led a Taize service since the early 2000's and we are looking forward to bringing that to Saint Monica during the season of Lent 2024.
I'm guessing you're having one of two thoughts right now:
1. HOLY EXCITING, I can't wait to get back to singing together each week!
OR
2. Oh my, this looks very busy, I'm not sure I can do this. Don't PANIC! We are off one Wednesday each month, we are taking the entire month of January off to recover from Advent/Christmas, and your average commitment each week is an hour and half. We CAN do this, together, we're sure of it!
May God continue to bless each of you in your lives and in your service to the Parish of Saint Monica. It is through your time and talents that we are able to reach the hearts of the congregation with our scripture and song.
PLEASE RSVP HERE so we can prepare binders and hymnals for our rehearsals later next month, and keep an eye on your snail mail for a personal invitation as well.Sincerely in Christ,
Trae & Kelsey
Contemporary Youth Praise Group
Ages 13-18
We welcome all singers an instrumentalists to join this group. We minister to masses twice a month during the school year, and utilize music from contemporary composers featured in the Choose Christ Missal. A full schedule can be found below.
The Sonrise Group
The Sonrise group is a small contemporary group that ministers to the 10:30am mass once each month.
Canto Nuevo & La Alegría en el Espíritu: St. Monica Music in Spanish
Los dos grupos de música sirven en la Misa de domingo a las 12:30 pm. Canto Nuevo también sirve en la Misa de 3:00 pm los domingos.
Instrumentalists
Instrumentalists are encouraged to assist at mass as well. If you play an instrument (piano, guitar, trumpet, flute, etc) we'd love to get you connected with a mass to serve.
Wedding Music
If you are planning a wedding at St. Monica, please contact the Parish Office for assistance and utlize THIS resource for planning.
Music Planning at Saint Monica Parish