Welcome!
At Divine Mercy Parish at Sacred Heart and St. Philip the Apostle all are welcome to the Ministry of Music!
LET US RAISE OUR VOICES IN SONG, ONCE AGAIN!
Be a part of Divine Mercy Parish Music Ministry!
As St. Augustine once said, “those who sing pray twice!” If you love to sing – or if you play an instrument – let us know. We’d love to share your gift with the parish as part of the liturgy. Sacred Heart has a broad range of musical offerings, suiting different ages, musical tastes, and schedules.
Parishioners who participate in the music ministry consider it a centerpiece of their Sacred Heart experience. Many have been volunteers with the music ministry for years. If you sang in a choir in school, if you ever played an instrument in an orchestra or band, or just love to sing around the house, you will feel right at home here.
The choirs and ensembles are open to musicians of all ages who wish to share their gifts in praise and worship of God.
Adult Choir
The Adult Choir sings at the 10 a.m. Mass on Sundays from September through Pentecost and at special Masses throughout the year at Sacred Heart.
The choir rehearses on Thursday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. in the music studio of parish center (lower level).
Music ranges from sacred motets, oratorio (e.g., selections from Handel’s “Messiah” and Mendelsohn’s “Christus” and “Elijah”) and plainchant to spirituals, gospel, and traditional hymns and more contemporary repertoire from present-day church composers.
Saturday Contemporary Choir
The Saturday Contemporary Choir sings at the 5:00 p.m. Saturday Mass each week and rehearses before Mass and at extra times that are arranged seasonally.
Instrumentalists (wind, guitar, string or keyboard) are also most welcome!
For more information, contact Sacred Heart Music Director, Ron Vanasdlen, at (847) 446-0856 ext. 107, or at [email protected] or by completing the form below.
Children’s Choir
For many children, this is their first experience with an organized choir, and music director Jon Comtock, our Sacred Heart School Music Teacher, ensures that the experience is a joyful one. Sacred Heart has two choirs for the children in Sacred Heart's parish school and religious education program, one for Grades 1 through 4, and one for Grades 5 through 8. The two Children’s Choirs combine to sing at one Sunday 9 a.m. Mass monthly.
For information on the Children’s Choirs, please contact Mr. Comstock at Sacred Heart School.
As St. Augustine once said, “those who sing pray twice!” If you love to sing – or if you play an instrument – let us know. We’d love to share your gift with the parish as part of the liturgy. Sacred Heart has a broad range of musical offerings, suiting different ages, musical tastes, and schedules.
Parishioners who participate in the music ministry consider it a centerpiece of their Sacred Heart experience. Many have been volunteers with the music ministry for years. If you sang in a choir in school, if you ever played an instrument in an orchestra or band, or just love to sing around the house, you will feel right at home here.
The choirs and ensembles are open to musicians of all ages who wish to share their gifts in praise and worship of God.
Adult Choir
The Adult Choir sings at the 10 a.m. Mass on Sundays from September through Pentecost and at special Masses throughout the year at Sacred Heart.
The choir rehearses on Thursday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. in the music studio of parish center (lower level).
Music ranges from sacred motets, oratorio (e.g., selections from Handel’s “Messiah” and Mendelsohn’s “Christus” and “Elijah”) and plainchant to spirituals, gospel, and traditional hymns and more contemporary repertoire from present-day church composers.
Saturday Contemporary Choir
The Saturday Contemporary Choir sings at the 5:00 p.m. Saturday Mass each week and rehearses before Mass and at extra times that are arranged seasonally.
Instrumentalists (wind, guitar, string or keyboard) are also most welcome!
For more information, contact Sacred Heart Music Director, Ron Vanasdlen, at (847) 446-0856 ext. 107, or at [email protected] or by completing the form below.
Children’s Choir
For many children, this is their first experience with an organized choir, and music director Jon Comtock, our Sacred Heart School Music Teacher, ensures that the experience is a joyful one. Sacred Heart has two choirs for the children in Sacred Heart's parish school and religious education program, one for Grades 1 through 4, and one for Grades 5 through 8. The two Children’s Choirs combine to sing at one Sunday 9 a.m. Mass monthly.
For information on the Children’s Choirs, please contact Mr. Comstock at Sacred Heart School.
Our Director of Liturgy & Music
Ron Vanasdlen (pronounced Van-AZ-lyn) is a native of Carlisle, PA, and now a resident of Niles, IL, has been a church musician since the age of 10 when he began playing and singing for his adopted mother’s church women’s prayer meetings. His piano studies began at the age of five with his mother as his first piano teacher. His first church position was the assistant organist during his high school junior year in his home parish (St. Patrick Church). After graduating from high school, Ron enlisted in the U.S. Navy and pursued a 14-year career as a journalist, radio broadcaster and public relations officer while continuing as a pastoral musician either aboard ship or shore station assignments around the world.
With early retirement, Ron continued his studies in theology, liturgy, sacred music, opera, and organ, completing two undergraduate degrees (adult education and sacred music) and a licentiate program in liturgics. He became a full-time pastoral musician in the Catholic Church shortly after completing undergraduate studies and has completed a Master of Arts in Music & Liturgy with an emphasis in choral conducting (St. Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, IN). He continues post-graduate studies in liturgy and music at Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI. His graduate recital was dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker, and the title of his research project is A Brief History of the Psalter and Uses of Psalms in Roman Catholic Tradition.
As a Director of Music Ministry, he is committed to bringing hearts to Christ through a theologically sound, globally experienced, and stylistically diverse music ministry enhancing the Mass and life of the community. He is an experienced liturgical minister effective at engaging multiple resources in a creative way to provide respectful and inspiring liturgies for all parish celebration needs and seasons.
His professional singing career has included the Seattle and Grand Rapids Symphony Choruses as well as the Tacoma and Bremerton Opera. He has been the music director at Central Stage Theatre and Western Washington Center for the Arts. As a recitalist, he has played at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes and various parishes in the U.S.
His teachers and mentors include Mr. David Dahl, Dr. James Holloway, (Pacific Lutheran University), Dr. Janet Ahren (Gonzaga University) and Mary Jane Wagner, SSSF, (St Joseph's College) – organ studies; Dr. Todd Samra (St Joseph’s College) Dr. Jerry Blackstone (Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor), Dr. Michael Oriatti (Alverno College) – choral conducting; Dr. Steve Janco (St Joseph’s College) – liturgy; Rev. Columba Kelly, O.S.B. (St. Meinrad Archabbey), Rev. Anthony Ruff, O.S.B. (St John’s Abbey) - Gregorian Chant, Semiology and Chironomy; and Renee Lampee (Olympic College) – vocal studies.
He is a recipient of the National Religious Music Week Alliance Award of Distinction for “developing and maintaining one of our nation’s finest worship music programs” and has held chapter positions with the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and the American Guild of Organists.
His fondest memory as a pastoral musician is while stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, AK, at the Armed Forces Radio and Television Detachment, he was able to sing in an Outdoor Mass with the Archdiocesan Choir during St. John Paul II’s three-hour refueling stopover, February 26, 1981.
With early retirement, Ron continued his studies in theology, liturgy, sacred music, opera, and organ, completing two undergraduate degrees (adult education and sacred music) and a licentiate program in liturgics. He became a full-time pastoral musician in the Catholic Church shortly after completing undergraduate studies and has completed a Master of Arts in Music & Liturgy with an emphasis in choral conducting (St. Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, IN). He continues post-graduate studies in liturgy and music at Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI. His graduate recital was dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker, and the title of his research project is A Brief History of the Psalter and Uses of Psalms in Roman Catholic Tradition.
As a Director of Music Ministry, he is committed to bringing hearts to Christ through a theologically sound, globally experienced, and stylistically diverse music ministry enhancing the Mass and life of the community. He is an experienced liturgical minister effective at engaging multiple resources in a creative way to provide respectful and inspiring liturgies for all parish celebration needs and seasons.
His professional singing career has included the Seattle and Grand Rapids Symphony Choruses as well as the Tacoma and Bremerton Opera. He has been the music director at Central Stage Theatre and Western Washington Center for the Arts. As a recitalist, he has played at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes and various parishes in the U.S.
His teachers and mentors include Mr. David Dahl, Dr. James Holloway, (Pacific Lutheran University), Dr. Janet Ahren (Gonzaga University) and Mary Jane Wagner, SSSF, (St Joseph's College) – organ studies; Dr. Todd Samra (St Joseph’s College) Dr. Jerry Blackstone (Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor), Dr. Michael Oriatti (Alverno College) – choral conducting; Dr. Steve Janco (St Joseph’s College) – liturgy; Rev. Columba Kelly, O.S.B. (St. Meinrad Archabbey), Rev. Anthony Ruff, O.S.B. (St John’s Abbey) - Gregorian Chant, Semiology and Chironomy; and Renee Lampee (Olympic College) – vocal studies.
He is a recipient of the National Religious Music Week Alliance Award of Distinction for “developing and maintaining one of our nation’s finest worship music programs” and has held chapter positions with the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and the American Guild of Organists.
His fondest memory as a pastoral musician is while stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, AK, at the Armed Forces Radio and Television Detachment, he was able to sing in an Outdoor Mass with the Archdiocesan Choir during St. John Paul II’s three-hour refueling stopover, February 26, 1981.
Even in the changed climate of more recent centuries, when a part of society seems to have become indifferent to faith, religious art has continued on its way. Apart from the many artists who made sacred music their chief concern—how can we forget Pier Luigi da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, Tomás Luis de Victoria?—it is also true that many of the great composers—from Handel to Bach, from Mozart to Schubert, from Beethoven to Berlioz, from Liszt to Verdi—have given us works of the highest inspiration in this field.
LETTER TO ARTISTS (#10) Pope John Paul II (1999)
If you are interesting in joining our parish musicians, please contact Ron Vanasdlen.
Join Us in Prayer. Experience the Music.
