Reflection on the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Aug. 4th

As you are well aware, the Church runs on volunteers – whether for social concerns, Bible studies, RCIA, men’s and women’s groups, liturgical ministries or the other multiple groups in our parish.  Part of volunteering is discovering what you are talented in, and how you can best put your gifts to work for the church.  That’s what stewardship – and evangelization - is all about.  Today I’d like to put in a plug for music ministry.

We have multiple groups that serve our parish’s masses each and every weekend.  As stated prior, it’s about finding out what your own gifts are and how/when you’d like to use them.  Don’t have time for a week night rehearsal? Love singing 4-part choral works like you did in high school or college? You play an instrument and would like to help out every now and then?  We’ve got options for you!  As several of our active volunteers are starting to getting older and are not able to give as much of their time to music ministry as in the past, we are needing new people to step up and start giving of their talents.  All ages are welcome and there are no auditions for any of the groups.  Here’s a brief listing of what are current groups look like:

St. Gregory Choir – The Choir sings 3 times a month. 1st, 2nd and 4th Sundays - 9:00am; if 5th Sunday – 11:00am. Rehearsals are every Thursday evening at 7:30 in the church. The St. Gregory choir sings 4 part SATB music.  The Director is Ralph Weber: ralph@rentmyinstrument.com

The Sunrise Choir – This group sings at the 7:30 am Mass on the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays.  Guitar, piano/organ, singers.  The leader is Ed Szubka at 913-908-0945.  Rehearsals as needed.

5pm Saturday Mass – on the 2nd, 4th and 5th Saturdays of the month, a group of musicians lead by Ann King  – anniev624@gmail.com.  Rehearsal at 4pm before mass.

11am Musicians – a group of instrumentalists and vocalists  Rehearsals are immediately prior to mass at 9:45am.  This group ministers at the 11am mass every week except for the 2nd Sunday of the month.  The leader is Mike Oliver: mpo@orlawyers.net

9am Musicians – This group meets for the 9am mass on the 3rd  and 5th weeks of the month.  All instrumentalists and vocalists are welcome.  Maggie Helin is the leader of this group: helinm51@yahoo.com.

5pm Sunday Musicians - The 5:00pm Sunday (1st, 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month) group rehearses beginning at 3:45pm in the sanctuary prior to Mass.  The group is currently structured for "parts as possible" dependent on participants and the music selections.  The leader is Reid Hjelmaas: jorehj@gmail.com.

Youth Choir and Children’s Choir – there are music groups for the younger members (grades 1 – 12) of our parish under the direction of Melissa Jakmouj, mjakmouj@popolathe.org. The Youth group sings at the 5pm Sunday mass on the 3rd Sunday of the month.  Children’s choir sings on the 2nd Sunday of the month at the 11am mass. All high school youth who play instruments are encouraged to contact Melissa to see what options there are for playing according to your ability and availability.  We need our youth to become involved in music ministry!

Cantors - There are some masses throughout the month where individual singers are needed to cantor at a mass.  Contact Melissa for more information.

For more information on any of the groups, contact Melissa Jakmouj, the Director of Music and Liturgy, at mjakmouj@popolathe.org or 913-747-7741.