Sacred Heart Parish is home to five choirs, which serve to elevate our liturgy and help dispose the faithful to God’s graces.
Our five parish choirs sing the Church’s rich deposit of Gregorian chant, Latin polyphony, and English hymnody at each Sunday Mass. We also sing on every high holy day, carol around the neighborhood at Christmas time, and sing in liturgical processions like Corpus Christi. If you desire to enter into the sacred liturgy in a more intimate and profound fashion, there’s no better way than by singing in the choir.
Saint Nicholas Singers
Sings four times a year at either 9:30 or 11:30 Sunday Mass. Rehearsals: Friday mornings at 9:00AM. This is the parish children’s choir for students aged 6 to 12, who are not currently enrolled full time at the Academy. Students learn solfège, canons/rounds, chant, and strong unison singing.
Saint Faustina Schola
Sings for the 7:45 Mass every Sunday. Rehearsals: Sunday Morning at 7:15 in the choir loft. A great environment in which to learn how to chant.
The Parish Choir
Sings 2-3 Sundays a month at either the 9:30 or 11:30 Sunday Mass. Rehearsals: Wednesdays at 7:15PM in the Academy music room. A volunteer choir of 25-30 singers. Great for novice and experienced choristers alike.
The Sacred Heart Schola Cantorum
Sings 1-2 Sundays a month at either the 9:30 or 11:30 Mass. Rehearsals: 45 minutes prior to Mass. A small auditioned, paid ensemble designed to immerse college music students and young professionals in the art of consort singing. Rolling admission based on the roster.
Gaudete Grand Rapids
Sings 4-5 times a year at evening Masses on high holy days. Rehearsals: as needed. A 12-voice auditioned, paid ensemble. This is the parish’s premiere choir designed for professional singers. Rolling admission based on the roster.
For more information or to participate in any of these choirs, please join the Parish Choirs Flocknote group or contact: Mr. Jonathan Bading, Director of Sacred Music (musicdirector@shgr.org)
Whoever sings, prays twice!
Our music activities at Sacred Heart Parish invite Catholics to unite in joyfully embracing the Church’s teaching that liturgical music must be oriented toward “the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.”
The Vatican II ‘Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,’ (Sacrosanctum Conciliam, 1963), teaches that music joined to the texts of the sacred rites is “a necessary and integral part of the solemn liturgy.” The ‘Instruction on Music and Liturgy’ (Musicam Sacram, 1967) implementing the council’s teachings reiterated that sacred music, “being created for the celebration of divine worship, is endowed with a certain holy sincerity of form.” In this intimate link with the “source and summit of the Christian life,” it transcends both merely religious music and all other creative art forms.
The Church has also articulated a definite ideal for the nature of sacred music. The Second Vatican Council decreed that “the Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.” In 2003 Saint John Paul II echoed his twentieth-century predecessors, especially Saint Pius X, when he instructed the Church that “the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple.” Pope Benedict XVI in his pontificate taught that “an authentic updating of sacred music can take place only in the lineage of the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.” Vatican II also singled out polyphony (sacred choral music growing directly out of Gregorian chant) and the organ as other key elements of Catholic sacred music.
Music at Sacred Heart Parish aims to lift hearts and minds in prayer and voices in offering to God by fostering a love for the Church’s matchless patrimony of sacred song, which Vatican II called “a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than any other art.” Through the study and practice of Catholic sacred music, we hope to foster musical excellence—especially singing—amongst both the faithful and chorister alike.
You’ll notice that we have a book in our pews: the Parish Book of Chant (PBC), published by the Church Music Association of America. This wonderful collection of Gregorian ordinaries, hymns, and antiphons contains virtually everything the congregation could ever need to participate in a sung Mass, whether it be a Novus Ordo or Traditional Latin Mass. They also include the full texts of both Masses to help you follow along with the priest’s prayers.
The PBC and the Jean de Brebeuf Hymnal skillfully express the riches of our musical deposit of faith, encompassing a vast selection of both liturgical and devotional materials. May they greatly aid you in your assistance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.