We began the month of May with the May Crowning at the 6:45 A.M. Mass. It has been a long tradition at the Cathedral to have this celebration. Many years ago, the St. Mary’s School May Crowning included a procession from the school to the church. The school continues the tradition of crowning Mary each May, using the beautiful statue of “Our Lady with the Children” in the school atrium.
On May 13, Carol Ann Strader retired from playing the organ at the 7:30 A.M. Mass. She has served as organist since 1972. Carol Ann will continue playing for funerals and will substitute on occasions at weekend Masses. This same day, we honored our own mothers with the singing of “Hail Mary: Gentle Woman”. (Visit Ministry Monday at npm.org for a webinar with Carey Landry dated May 7. What a treasure this hymn has been over the years.)
https://www.ministrymonday.org/
On May 19, Joel Bacon conducted an organ workshop for our organist. Joel is the professor of organ at Colorado State University. The organists found the morning both enriching and useful.
On the afternoon of May 19, the Adult choir sang for Ray Kisicki’s funeral. Ray was a long time choir member from 1947-1982. For the majority of that time, Ray served as song leader for not only Sunday Mass, but additional devotions such as Stations of the Cross during Lent. I personally was inspired watching and listening to Ray as a child. As I was remembering Ray, I came across in my office the old hymnal introduced to our congregation in the 1970’s. Many of these hymns came back to my memory. One of the hymns was entitiled, “Happy the Man”. The words of this hymn described Ray well as a faithful Christian man.
On May 20 at the 9:00 a.m. Mass, the Adult choir ended their season as we sang for the Tri-Parish Adult confirmation Mass. This was an historical moment as this marked the last time the Adult choir would officially sing for the 9:00 a.m. Mass. With the new schedule, beginning in the fall, the Adult choir will sing a rotation at the 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Masses.