Singers of all ages from across the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington and from the Diocese of Richmond came together on Nov. 15 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., for a Jubilee Choral Festival marking the Jubilee Year of Hope in the Catholic Church. They rehearsed Mass parts, music in different languages, familiar and unfamiliar music, and big pieces that their smaller home parish choirs might not be able to sing. They ended the day singing at the cathedral’s 5:30 pm Vigil Mass. Organized by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the day was about beautiful music, community and worship all in celebration of the end of the 2025 Jubilee year.
“I love singing,” said Amy Massey, who serves on the board of the association’s D.C. chapter and is the choir director at Mother Seton Parish in Germantown, Maryland. “And I don't get to do it very often, because I’m in front of the choir. So this was a great opportunity for me to sing for this Jubilee year, in this beautiful space with people from other parishes.”
Dr. Peter Kadeli who serves as the Director of Choral Activities and Head of the Sacred Music Academic Area at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., conducted the chorus of about 65 singers from about 20 parishes, from as far away as Chesapeake, Virginia. One mother even came to sing with her 16-year-old son who wants to be a priest.
Kadeli grew up in northern Virginia, but he was in St. Matthew’s Cathedral for the first time. “It’s gorgeous. I mean, absolutely beautiful, and it’s a special community,” he said. “This festival is unique. It’s about the Mass. But it’s also a celebration of these musicians, too.” He hoped to bring energy, artistry and community to the Mass. “Hopefully something of that community, that spirit and that mission comes out today, too,” he said.
Jennifer Klug, the executive director at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, participated as a singer. “It has been so much fun,” she said. ”It’s an opportunity to make music with one another and to have a world class conductor with us as well. And also as we are closing on the Jubilee Year of Hope, what a perfect ending for the year, too.”
Communicating the meaning of the liturgy is something singers do every week at Mass, Klug said. But at the 5:30 Mass in front of the congregation, she hoped to show “the community gathered, this is what we do, this is our vocation, and just how much we love it, and how we do it for the joys that it brings!”
Remi Bauer, who serves on both the DC chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and on national boards and is the musical director at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Gaithersburg, Maryland, brought 11 choir members to the day. It was important, she felt, to get together as church musicians. “A lot of times we’re isolated in our own parishes. But [the day] is also something that’s very enriching for us. We’re working with a different director and challenging repertoire. The last several weeks, [my choir has] been working on the music, and it’s a challenge for them, and it just helps them grow as musicians.”
Bauer was also watching Kadeli closely to improve upon her own ministry as a choir director.
“Peter has a whole bag of tricks to get us to get just the right notes. A number of us here are directors, and we always pick up different things,” she said.
One of Bauer’s singers, Erin Magee, agreed that some of the music was challenging. But it also offered her the “opportunity to sing in such a beautiful space with so much history, in the nation's capital, with people that I don't know, [and] to come together as one church!”
Magee commented on what she hoped the congregation would take away from the Mass.
“At St. Rose, we have a beautiful music ministry. We're very blessed. Remi Bauer, our director is just fantastic. Before we sing at church every Sunday, Remi prays for whoever needs the Holy Spirit to find it in our music. And I think that that will definitely resonate today. Whatever it is that you need to hear, hopefully, you will hear it in a word, a sentence, a song, a silent moment, whatever it might be,” she said.
