HOMEPAGE for this issue: November 10, 2010

Pastoral musicians to be honored at St. Cecilia Mass

Workshop to be offered on new Roman Missal

By John Gleason

To prepare Church musicians for the new Roman Missal, this year a luncheon, lecture and workshop will follow the annual St. Cecilia Mass.

The Mass will be held 10 a.m. Nov. 20 at Queen of Vietnamese Martyrs Church, 4655 Harlan St. in Wheat Ridge.  The Mass, which includes a special blessing for all those who support the ministry of music including cantors, choir members and music directors, will acknowledge the winners of the St. Cecilia Award, presented to pastoral musicians for their dedication to Church music.

Celebrant for this year’s Mass will be Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley. Homilist will be Father Patrick Dolan, pastor of Most Precious Blood Parish in Denver, who is himself an accomplished musician.

This year’s recipients of the award are: Dan Wyatt of St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Littleton, Jackie Reid of Spirit of Christ Parish in Arvada and Penny Shuster (honored posthumously) of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Aurora.  All three winners will be profiled in an upcoming issue of the Denver Catholic Register. 

The names of the honored are selected by peer acclamation, according to John Miller, associate director for the archdiocese’s Office of Liturgy.

“We gather the names of those people nominated,” he said, “review them and submit them to the archbishop for selection.”

A third-century woman of noble birth, Cecilia married a Roman by the name of Valerian. After the marriage, Valerian and his brother Tiburtius converted to Christianity. Soon however, the two men were found out and martyred, a fate that eventually caught up with Cecilia. Since the Renaissance, St. Cecilia is usually depicted with a viola or small organ.

Rehearsal for those who wish to sing with the choir at the St. Cecilia Mass will begin at 9 a.m. Nov. 20. A reception and lunch will follow the Mass and Bishop Conley will deliver a talk regarding the impact of the missal, which is set to go into use next year. Musician Jerry Galipeau, associate editor with New Library Publications, will present a workshop from 12:45 p.m. to 3 p.m.

“The new missal will be used for the first time on the First Sunday of Advent, 2011,” Miller said, adding that Galipeau’s lecture will “go over the changes that people will find in the new missal.  He’ll have the forensic details of what the missal holds whereas Bishop Conley’s talk will deal more with the spiritual aspects of the missal.”

For more information, call the Office of Liturgy at 303-715-3221 or vist www.archden.org/newromanmissal.