We have five glorious choirs at the Cathedral of St. Joseph.
At the Cathedral of St. Joseph, we are home to six unique choirs, who serve at the Saturday night Mass of Anticipation and the Sunday Masses, and many diocesan celebrations throughout the year. We're fortunate to have in our musical ranks parishoners who have served in the music ministry for more than 30 years. We welcome new members to our music ministry. If you would like to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord”, please join us!
“In company with the choirs of Angels, we praise you, and with joyful celebration we proclaim:”
Denise Brault, piano/vocalist, Justin Brault, guitarist/vocalist and Dorothy Barewicz, vocalist have been leading the 4:00 PM Saturday Anticipatory Mass congregation in contemporary liturgical music for more than 35 years. Their goal is first and foremost to offer praise and worship to God. They love sharing their gifts to make the worship experience uplifting. They work with the liturgies being celebrated to lead and invite the congregation to pray through music, for we all know that singing is praying twice!
Celia Asbell leads The Cathedral Choir in singing on Sunday mornings at the 10:00 AM Mass. They sing a variety of music ranging from unison acapella Gregorian chant to music by contemporary composers with multiple part harmony. They enjoy collaborating with the other music groups in the parish, and serve as the core group for the Diocesan choir. They welcome new members who share our love of singing sacred choral music. Consider joining us; please contact us at [email protected].
What started 25 years ago as the summer replacement for the other choirs, the folk group has evolved to become one joyous voice in the celebration of weekend Masses. Under the direction of Norm Smith, the folk group sings songs from "Breaking Bread" and contemporary artists. Blending voices with guitar, the men and women of the folk group lead the congregation in a calming complement to the praise of Jesus Christ in the Masses.
The Congolese Catholic Choir is the liturgical branch of the French Speaking African Catholic Community in Burlington, created in 2015 by Jules Wetchi, MD, MPH . They aim to create a community to help people maintain their Catholic faith, and to be engaged in the Mass and in parish life . With their music, they respond to the new evangelization call to make our church more vibrant. The choir helps our Congolese make the Mass celebration similar to that in their native home with the singing , clapping and playing of drums and shakers . The choir is a mix of new Americans where the majority are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also from Congo-Brazzaville and Ivory Coast. They sing in several languages of the DR Congo: French, Swahili , Lingala, Tshiluba and Kikongo. The choir's home is the Cathedral of St Joseph, but they also sing at St. Francis and St. Mark's Parishes. The choir is open to everyone. They sing every third Sunday of the month at the 10:00 AM Mass and the group meets for prayer and choir practice every Saturday at 5:30 PM in the Scapular Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Cathedral.
The Burundian choir started in 2008, a few months after a large number of Burundians resettled in Burlington. The choir members are young and old; most were choir members in Burundi, Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania, where they were born or grew up.
The choir sings mainly in Kirundi, but also in Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda. Our Kirundi songs are directly from Burundi, composed by Burundians under the inspiration of Mozart and Beethoven. The music is reviewed and approved by the Burundian Catholic Liturgy Committee. We sing our songs in a traditional way, accompanied by a Burundian drum beat and hand clapping.
From our exposure to other East African cultures, we also sing Swahili and Kinyarwanda compositions.
The Burundian choir sings every last Sunday of the month, and for special events at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph.