Worshiping God with prayerful song — spiritual music brings us closer to Him

Attend a weekend Mass at Queen of Peace Parish in North Arlington, and there is a good chance you’ll find the music ministry performing some contemporary songs.

But that is not all, according to Natasha Gonzalez, Music Director of three years for the parish.

“I do not do all contemporary music for Mass. I definitely mix it up – some organ songs and then some contemporary, just to have the best of all the worlds,” Gonzalez said. “That has to be my perspective as a person who provides worship and music to masses of people. I am going to appreciate and love all styles. If you are doing the same songs all the time, you are not growing.”

She added, “As long as we’re ministering to people, that’s the most important thing for me.”

No matter what the music, Steve Pierinelli, Director of Music for the Church of St. Philomena in Livingston, said that “it’s always a great honor and privilege to provide music for the Liturgy, and to assist people in their worship of God through song,”

Music may differ, message doesn’t

If you ask the Directors of Music of the 212 parishes that comprise the Archdiocese of Newark the mission of their ministry, you may get different responses.

However, in the end, there is the main goal of helping lead, through beautiful music, their respective congregations to Jesus Christ.

In his 14th year as Director of Music at Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in Union, John Ondrey said, the Mass is supposed to be transformative.

“And the music therein should also be transformative,” he said. “It should not sound like what you hear outside of the church doors. I am not only an employee in the church, but I am also a practitioner of the faith.”

Jersey Catholic spoke with six Archdiocese of Newark heads of music ministry about their entourages. Some of their ministries are small, some large, some sing primarily current compositions, some reach back into the past for traditional hymns, and many do both.

John Miller, who serves the Archdiocese of Newark as the Director of Music Ministries for the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart as well as Music Coordinator for the Office of Worship, recalls the first time he entered the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.

“What really grabbed my eye was the stained-glass windows. The brightness of the colors and the images and everything. Luckily, I was able to walk in during the day, so the sun was shining, and the windows were spectacular,” Miller said about the space that is only enhanced by music.

The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart music ministry has about 55 members, and the building’s beauty lends itself to their performance.

“The building certainly gives a lot to the music-making process. The architecture, and the beauty of the design of the cathedral, are so artistically inspiring from a musical perspective,” Miller said, noting how he draws inspiration from the church’s stained glass windows, where he sees stories from Scripture depicted. “When you are making music, you want it to be of the finest quality. A lot of times, the building really gives us that extra push of artistic inspiration.”

A learning ground

Ed Ginter, for 30 years Director of Music for the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, leads an adult choir of 30 people. Their repertoire is often newer compositions, but they do trek back for stanzas like ‘Panis Angelicus’ and older, glorious hymns.

“We learned a tune this year which was very different, ‘Sacramentum Caritatis’ (by Michael Joncas). So, we do the Latin songs, and my choir does it well. I have such a great age variance,” Ginter said.

Ginter, a Montclair State College (now University) graduate, said the members of the choir are “phenomenal.” They sing for the Sunday 11:30 Mass, and the children’s choir of 10 sing at the 10 Mass. Two of Ginter’s friends, John Angotti and Meredith Augustine, are writers of modern, contemporary works, and the Church of the Presentation also has a contemporary group that performs at 6:30 p.m. Mass on Sunday nights.

“We do an eclectic group of music, actually. We do a bunch of the older songs and more contemporary songs.” Ginter said. “I live happily every day. I love what I do.”

Vincent Carr has been Director of Music for Verona’s Our Lady of the Lake Parish for three years. His ministry has four cantors. There are 12 people total in the adult choir, and the children’s choir is drawn from the kids from Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School.

Carr conferred with his pastor, Father Peter Wehrle, telling him that the hallmark of a great music ministry is education. The parish now offers a Choral Scholars Program, where students in high school and college via an internship are provided a learning opportunity, so that they may eventually become a staff singer or cantor.

“They get molded and formed in this area, and they learn a lot about liturgy, theology, and music, and how it all kind of comes together in a nice package,” Carr said. “They are in our choir, along with our volunteers.”

During Church Holy Days like Christmas and Easter, Carr and his ministry will perform Mozart and Hayden Masses with orchestra. On All Souls’ Day, they will do the “Faure’s Requiem” with an orchestra.

Carr became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in London this spring and is only one of five living “Royal College” organists in the United States.

“We just take the rich treasury of sacred music in the church, from the 1500s to today, and that music is represented, and it is given its pride and place in the liturgy,” Carr said. “At a Christmas Midnight Mass, we might have the gorgeous ‘Gloria’ by Mozart that we sing with the orchestra – and that is exactly how it would have been done in Mozart’s days.”

Keeping is sacred

Steven Pierinelli leads an adult choir of 27 people, a children’s choir of 10, and four cantors at the Church of Saint Philomena in Livingston. Both a volunteer guitarist and violinist play at Saturday afternoon Mass. The St. Philomena adult choir sings every Sunday, from September to June, at the 10:30 a.m. Mass, while the children’s choir sings at one Mass per month, playing handbells as they serenade the congregation.

The key to the ministry is making sure the music is sacred in nature, Pierinelli said. “I like to keep to scriptural text as much as possible. Some of the pieces that our choir does that are my favorite, and that they sing so well are a beautiful Advent piece called ‘E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come’ by Paul Manz, A beautiful Christmas piece called ‘All Praise to Thee’ by Elaine Hagenberg. Another choral piece that we sing throughout the year that we love is ‘Esto Les Digo,’ by Kinley Lange, which is a Spanish piece that is a paraphrase of Matthew’s Gospel passage about ‘where two or three are gathered in my name.’”

Ondrey, who is also the Director of Bands at Harding Elementary School in Kenilworth, said of his music ministry, which numbers about 20, “We have a parish choir, and we have instrumentalists, which includes clarinet and tenor saxophone, and we have cantors at most of our Masses. I always tell the choir, ‘We are a link in the chain to the past and the future because of the specific songs we sing.’”

The Holy Spirit music ministry performs all styles of music.

“We sing Gregorian Chant, which was written about 1,000 years ago, pieces from the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, 19th century, and 20th century, all the way to pieces that are written today,” Ondrey said. “The works must be prayerful, they should have a foundation in church music.”

Keeping is current

Queen of Peace music ministry has about 30 people, and Gonzalez has started a Spanish choir to perform at the Spanish Mass.

“I have six people,” Gonzalez said. “But we do get volunteers. I have a good volunteer flute player and saxophone player, and both are professional musicians. I have a small music ministry, but the quality is pretty good. And my Spanish choir people all sing with our English choir.”

For Gonzalez, who enjoys having her ministry playing and singing a mixed bag of beautiful songs, her ears are attuned to current performers.

She said she asks herself: “Who is current in the church now? What are they writing? What is their perspective on liturgical music? I am currently obsessed with Francesca La Rosa. I love that she is using scripture in her songs, and she is really taking the words from the Bible, but it is also just such modern, peaceful music.”

At the cathedral, Miller is responsible for anything that happens musically including taking care of New Jersey’s largest pipe organ of 9,513 pipes.

“It is such a pleasure and a joy to play that organ,” he said.

The Cathedral music ministry has a Hispanic music ministry coordinator and an associate organist for the four Masses on the weekend — three in English, one in Spanish.

He also serves as a resource for parish musicians or pastors who might have an issue or a question regarding music in their parish.

Miller, who has a Fellowship Certificate with the American Guild of Organists and will enter his 27th year at the Cathedral in August, has had the opportunity to perform around the world. Still, when asked what is most moving for him, he doesn’t hesitate.

“The sound that moves me the most is the sound of a congregation is singing together at Mass,” Miller said. “To me, there is no better sound in the world, and that is what absolutely continues to get me up every day and come back to work.”

Featured photo and above: Concert at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. (Archdiocese of Newark)