MINISTRY OF THE ASSEMBLY CHOIR
Our Masses are blessed with thoughtful and inspired music and we are always looking to continue our ministry growth and energy. Though we are one music ministry, talented and dedicated parishioners are welcome to sing at any of our Masses, as available. You are invited to participate with your singing or musical experience by joining this active parish ministry! In addition to Sundays, our core ministers also lead sung prayer during holy days, major holidays and special liturgical celebrations. Ministers are requested to audition and commit to attending weekly evening rehearsals as scheduled, in addition to singing at 2–3 Sunday Masses per month. To become involved with singing or playing your instrument, contact Ron Vanasdlen, Director of Liturgy and Music, to schedule a vocal check and/or instrumental audition.
Members of the liturgical assembly are the preeminent music makers in liturgical celebration.
Choirs, ensembles, song leaders and instrumentalists have significant roles in liturgical celebration, but their principal responsibility is to encourage and enable the full, conscious and active participation of the assembly of believers.
In order to serve parish communities well, leaders in music ministry must have multiple musical skills, expertise in liturgy and planning, and the pastoral sensibilities necessary to navigate the rubrics, relationships and realities of parish liturgy. As music ministers we strive to include music that is familiar, energizing and engaging.
(Based on Pope Francis' comments to participants at the International Conference on Sacred Music March 2017)
In order to serve parish communities well, leaders in music ministry must have multiple musical skills, expertise in liturgy and planning, and the pastoral sensibilities necessary to navigate the rubrics, relationships and realities of parish liturgy. As music ministers we strive to include music that is familiar, energizing and engaging.
(Based on Pope Francis' comments to participants at the International Conference on Sacred Music March 2017)
If you have a calling to support our community with music,
please consider joining us in ministry.
please consider joining us in ministry.
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The 5:00pm Saturday Ensemble sings from September - May and rehearses at 4:00pm before the start of the Mass. Email or call to schedule an audition.
The 10:00am Choir sings for all holy days, observances, and events in the life of the parish from September through Pentecost and rehearses on Thursdays at 7:30pm in the Music Studio. The Jubilee Choir sings throughout the year as the combined Divine Mercy Choir consisting of all music ministers from St. Philip and Sacred Heart and welcomes all occasional singers from the surrounding parishes and community. The 4:30pm Sunday Ensemble sings Taize-style music each week. Rehearsals are before Mass at 3:30 p.m. The Resurrection Choir (in formation) sings during all parish funerals (rehearses 30 minutes before a scheduled funeral. If interested please contact Ron. Talented instrumentalists also minister at our weekend Masses. Contact Ron to schedule an audition. |
Song Leaders and Psalmists are minister at Masses without a choir. Song Leaders and Psalmists share a special part of our ministry for non-choir Masses every weekend at Sacred Heart and St. Philip. Please contact Ron with your interest in this aspect of the ministry and to schedule an audition.
We rehearse 45 minutes before the start of the 5 p.m. Saturday Mass at Sacred Heart, 7:15 a.m. Sunday at St. Philip the Apostle and 9:15 a.m. at Sacred Heart. Families may request a cantor for weddings and funerals. Soli Deo Gloria |
Our School Liturgical Choir at Sacred Heart sings throughout the school year at the weekly Wednesday morning Mass.
The Sacred Heart Children's Choir sings monthly from September through May during Family Mass (contact us for the rehearsal schedule). |
1962 Old Willow Rd.
Northfield, IL 60093-2913 Mass Times: Sunday 8:00 a.m. Tuesday & Friday 8:00 a.m. Confessions at St. Philip the Apostles Wednesdays 3 - 4:30 p.m. Presently there is no obligation to attend Mass. We strictly observe the guidelines for safely gathering set by the Archdiocese of Chicago. |
One of the first documents
of the liturgical renewal affirmed: “Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it. Indeed, through this form, prayer is expressed in a more attractive way, the mystery of the liturgy, with its hierarchical and community nature, is more openly shown, the unity of hearts is more profoundly achieved by the union of voices, minds are more easily raised to heavenly things by the beauty of the sacred rites, and the whole celebration more clearly prefigures that heavenly liturgy which is enacted in the holy city of Jerusalem.” (Musicam sacram, 5). |
1077 Tower Road
Winnetka, IL 60093-1852 Mass Times: Saturday 5:00 p.m. Sunday 10:00 a.m. Monday, Wednesday (summer) & Thursday 8 a.m. Confessions at Sacred Heart Saturdays 9 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Holy Days of Obligation announced on our parish webpage www.divinemercynorthshore.org |
The Church also needs musicians. How many sacred works have been composed through the centuries by people deeply imbued with the sense of the mystery! The faith of countless believers has been nourished by melodies flowing from the hearts of other believers, either introduced into the liturgy or used as an aid to dignified worship.
In song, faith is experienced as vibrant joy, love, and confident expectation of the saving intervention of God.
LETTER TO ARTISTS (#12) Pope John Paul II (1999)
"The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art.”
- Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy)
- Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy)
