Sing it loud: Joy to the world!

By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

Photography: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

MIAMI LAKES | Two days before Christmas, the people of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish were treated to a little catechesis and a lot of wonderful music, when the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary choir performed the last of their four seasonal concerts.

The 28-voice choir, composed entirely of young men studying for the priesthood at the Hialeah-based seminary, brought not just their harmonies but also their instruments, which ranged from the traditional keyboard, guitar and drums to a tuba, a trumpet, a clarinet and two violins.

They sang traditional Christmas carols, both religious and secular, in English and Spanish, along with other Scripture-based hymns with Latin and Hebrew words and melodies, whose meaning and message the seminarians took turns explaining before they sang.

The choir’s director, Father James Arriola, is parochial vicar at Mother of Christ in Miami and himself a former choir member, as he studied for the priesthood at Redemptoris Mater. He has directed the choir for the past eight years, since before his ordination in 2017.

Although he played the trumpet for seven years in middle and high school — “and my whole family, we played music” — he said he brings no special talent to his role as director. It just seemed he was the most “musically inclined” seminarian when he took on the role.

“As far as directing, I had no idea. As long as it looks good, sounds good,” he said.

The choir works the same way: composed only of seminarians, with whatever musical talents they possess. It was formed in 2013, two years after the seminary opened. Redemptoris Mater currently has 40 men in formation.

“These are all their talents that we pick and choose,” Father Arriola said, noting that eight years ago, “we had basically guitar and maybe a keyboard. Then you start to build as new seminarians start to come. We build it up with the instruments and everything. So when we find out that someone plays something, we immediately try to exploit it. We say, you got given talents, so you gotta use it.”

The choir is renewing itself constantly, Father Arriola added, because “once you get ordained, essentially, you're out, you're off.”

Since the concerts take place at Christmas, the seminarians practice on their own for about two or three months beforehand, in between their regular studies. Because of his parish duties, Father Arriola only joined their practices in the last two weeks.

“Obviously it’s not a professional concert. It's the seminarians singing and we do, you know, we give back to the community. We give back to the people, as a sign also of evangelization,” Father Arriola said.

He explained that the concerts have been taking place for at least the past eight years, mainly in parishes around Miami. “As the pastors invite us, we go to where we are able to go,” he said.

The concerts this year took place in four parishes, beginning Dec. 17 and concluding Dec. 22, 2023: St. Cecilia in Hialeah, whose pastor, Father Emanuele De Nigris, is rector of Redemptoris Mater seminary; St. Lawrence in North Miami Beach, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Fort Lauderdale, and, for the first time, Our Lady of the Lakes — all churches whose pastors are seminary graduates and former choir members.

“We have witnessed a historical event at our parish,” wrote Our Lady of the Lakes’ pastor, Father Ivan Rodriguez, in a bulletin message to parishioners.

He noted the presence at the concert of Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Bishop Fernando Isern (emeritus of Pueblo, Colorado) and even Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, along with priests and pastors from several other archdiocesan churches.

“The church was overwhelmingly flowing to the brims!” he wrote. “So much so that many parishioners were telling me, ‘We have never seen something like this in our parish.’”

Asked why the concerts had not been publicly announced until this year, making them somewhat of a secret known only to the Neocatechumenal Way community, an ecstatic Father Rodriguez replied, “Ok, now we’re gonna make it public. From Miami Lakes to the world.”

Full disclosure: The author, Ana Rodriguez-Soto, is a parishioner at Our Lady of the Lakes.

FIND OUT MORE

• Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary’s formation program is based on theNeocatechumenal Way, an “itinerary of Christian formation” aimed at revitalizing the faith of Catholics, especially nominal ones.
• The seminarians come from all over the world and make themselves available to serve the Church anywhere in the world. They take classes alongside other archdiocesan seminarians, at St. John Vianney in Miami and St. Vincent de Paul in Boynton Beach, but live at the seminary in Hialeah and spend additional years of formation as itinerant missionaries, catechizing and helping to form Neocatechumenal Way communities in other dioceses.
• Redemptoris Mater seminary opened in December 2011. For more information, go to rmmiami.org.