The Saint Cloud Visitor
June 15, 2001
Singing, spirituality at heart of National
Catholic Youth Choir
by Joseph Young, Visitor staff writer
COLLEGEVILLE - Some youths may spend their summer days
fishing for bass and their nights watching The Sopranos.
But 51 youths are spending part of their summer days and
nights on the campus of St. John's University actually becoming better
basses and sopranos, as well as better altos and tenors. And better
Catholics.
These members of the National Catholic Youth Choir of St.
John's Abbey and University are 20 boys and 31 girls from across the United
States who are going into the 10th, 11th and 12th grades.
Now in its second year, the choir is the brainchild of
Benedictine Father Anthony Ruff, a monk of the abbey. Most youths who
were members of the choir during its pilot year and who did not graduate
from high school have returned for a second year, he said.
The youths applied earlier this year -- complete with
audition tape and references -- to be a part of the choir. They
arrived on campus June 8 for "choir camp," so to speak -- 17 days of
rigorous daily music rehearsals, classes in music and religion, field trips,
daily prayer and worship, and sports and recreation, according to Father
Ruff, the choir's founder and chaplain who teaches theology, liturgy and
liturgical music at the university.
Each summer, the choir cuts a compact disc recording of
the singing. "Spreading the Catholic faith through great music,"
Father Ruff said, is the choir's motto.
The choir's repertoire ranges from Gregorian chant, Bach,
Mozart and Palestrina to contemporary liturgical music in worship and in
concerts they perform during a June choral croonfest under the direction of
Axel Theimer, choir conductor and professor of choral activities at the
College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph and St. John's University.
The youths have been invited to sing before the U.S.
bishops June 16 in Atlanta during their annual summer meeting. The
choir will also perform a benefit concert for Mary Jo Copland's Sharing and
Caring Hands ministry June 27 at St. Paul's Cathedral in St. Paul.
Closer to home at St. John's Abbey Church, the choir will
perform June 20 with a Lutheran youth choir and again on June 24 -- The
feast of the birth of St. John the Baptist.
Second-year choir members agreed the camp is harmonious
in more than one sense, with camaraderie resonating along with choral
mastery.
"Everybody's just kind of connected," said Paul Engels,
16, a member of St. Marcus Parish in Clear Lake. The youth choir, he
added, "gives me a chance to express myself artistically, through song.
I may not be good at painting but I am a natural singer."
"I can't wait to get back and see the friends I made last
year and to perform before the bishops in Atlanta," said John Becker before
leaving for camp from his home in Green Bay, Wis.
Becker, 16, who is "considering very seriously a possible
vocation to the priesthood," said the 60 hours of rehearsal the choir logged
last June "might sound grueling, but it was actually not. In fact, it
was really wonderful, I'm not overly boastful but we were sounding
pretty good."
Laura Barrosse-Antle, 16, said she discovered the joys of
making joyful noises as a third-grader when the choirmaster in an
Episcopalian girls choir "taught me how to carry a tune in a bucket. I
now love choral music the best," she said -- Palestrina's "Ego Sum Panis
Vivus", for example.
"It's not often you find a group of kids that share both
your values and a love of singing," said Barrosse-Antle of Wilmington, Del.,
adding that during the year choir members communicated regularly via e-mail,
ending their messages with "God loves you," or something similar.
"Not only have I improved as a singer," said Erin
Gaffaney, 17, a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Glenwood, "but I've
also learned more about the Catholic Church. We have awesome
discussions in our religion classes -- about why and how we pray to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, for example."
Amanda Dorff of Loveland, Ohio, said she "enjoyed being
able to spend a concentrated amount of time singing with people who share my
faith in a beautiful environment."
One activity planned, Father Ruff said, is a hike to
Stella Maris Chapel across tree-lined Lake Sagatagan on campus. There
the youths, along with youths participating in the St. John's Youth in
Theology and Ministry program, will pray the rosary.
The choir camp does not shrink from exposing the youths
to many so-called traditional church practices that are often not emphasized
in youth formation, Father Ruff said, such as praying the rosary, saying
devotions to the Blessed Mother and studying the Catechism.
"I started the National Catholic Youth Choir," Father
Ruff said, "because it brings together all of my interests -- youth
ministry, great high-quality music, passing on Catholic traditions,
promoting vocations, and (exhibiting) St. John's as a Catholic institution."
The choir's website is located at
www.catholicyouthchoir.org.
