The Music Ministry helps lead the congregation in song during liturgical celebrations. We invite you to make a beautiful music for our church. It is a wonderful vocation. Every gift of music (singing or playing instruments), which you have been gifted with, can be implemented by joining one of the Sacred Heart Choir groups. Choirs are heard on Saturday at 5:00 pm Mass, Sunday at 9:00, 11:00 am and 5:00 pm.
Our Mass Choirs
- Saturday 5:00 PM Mass
The Saturday 5:00 pm Mass choir is comprised of the youth and young adult members of Couples for Christ – Foundation for Family and Life (CFC-FFL), although the group welcomes any interested parishioner who wants to join the choir regardless of their involvement with CFC-FFL.
The group maintains a repertoire from the parish’s current hymnal (Breaking Bread), which allows the congregation to participate in singing the Liturgy using both traditional and more contemporary music.
During Advent and Lent, the group uses Gregorian Chant (Latin) for the Mass responses, including the Pater Noster (Our Father), in keeping with the Second Vatican Council’s call for the laity to learn and be able to say/sing in Latin the parts of the Mass that pertains to the congregation (Sacrosanctum Concilium 54). Choir practices on Saturdays at 4:00 pm. For those interested in singing or would like any information, please contact Ryan at ryanfactura@gmail.com - Sunday 9:00 and 11:00 am Masses
Choir practices on Thursdays 7:00-9:30 PM – contact Barbara Orlowska at barbaraorlowska@telus.net - Sundays 5:00 pm Mass
We have developed an unusual structure for the Sunday 5:00m choir
Rather than ask singers to make a year-long weekly commitment, we instead send out a list of upcoming Masses (usually 8-10 weeks at a time) with their accompanying prior Tuesday night rehearsal, and ask a pool of singers to sign up for as many or as few of those Rehearsal/Mass combinations as their schedule will allow. Once we have a list of singers for an upcoming Mass, we send an email with the music to the singers in advance, and then have a binder of the music waiting for them when they arrive at the Tuesday night rehearsal for that Sunday Mass. We rehearse the music together at the Tuesday rehearsal from 7:00-8:30pm, then meet at the church at 4:00pm on Sunday to go over the music again before we sing the 5:00pm Mass that Sunday. The singers turn in their binders at the end of Mass, and the process begins again.
Although it is working and we are happy with the results, this method has both advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is that we do not have an opportunity to develop deeply as a choir, or to work on the more challenging polyphony, since the combined membership of the group changes from week to week. Another drawback is that only singers who have experience reading music and singing in groups with harmonies can be added to the pool, since we do not have a lot of rehearsal time. On the other hand, a nice advantage is that people who would not otherwise be able to make the commitment to sing in a traditional weekly choir are able to sing with us. And happily, the standard of music that we have been able to provide has been pleasing.
If you do have some experience with reading music and singing in harmony, and would like to have your name added to the pool of singers so that you will be sent the list of upcoming Masses and invited to sign up for as many Tuesday Rehearsal/Sunday Mass combinations as you can, or if you have any questions, then please contact Alane Boudreau at alanemarie@shaw.ca.
The choir will be on break from June 17-August 19. An organist and cantor will lead the music for those 8 weeks.