What should I say about the GoodNewSingers?

Over the years I have come to know the members of the choir more closely, and I cannot help saying that I have great admiration for all of you: the way you practice, the manner you sing and the concern you show for one another. Many people have told me how much they enjoy your singing.

I know that your choir has not been without its ups and downs, but you keep on praising, thanking and glorifying God through your song. The New Catechism quotes St. Augustine describing singing to God: "He who sings prays twice." Another writer says that the goal of human life is the praise of God. You are fulfilling these two wonderful aims "praying twice" and "praising God."

When you are down, remember that God is a High Fidelity listener; the song may not be quite right to ordinary human ears, but the High Fidelity God hears with His Heart which is full of love for all of you: this in fact is the meaning of your name - Good News. The heart of the "Good News" is that God loves you and all humankind; you are the BELOVED OF GOD; THIS IS WHY YOU SING. Your high fidelity God loves you with a high fidelity love, an endless love, and the song you sing is an endless rendering of the SONG OF SONGS, in which you and God sing to each other in the most lovely of love songs.

Pray for me that I too may worthily sing His praise and proclaim the Good News and pray twice, just as you do.

Love,

Fr. Marciano Baptista, S.J.

A happy New Year to you all! I hope that 1999 will be a great year of singing in St Teresa's. I hear that the congregation has been supplied with the words that it is now joining in the singing. I think it is very important for everyone at Mass to feel they belong to what is going on. When you see people habitually coming in late or leaving early you know that they think that "going to Mass" is just a private thing. The Mass is something that is "done" for them but they don't feel part of it. I have heard people complain that some are even chatting during the Mass. But the congregation is just as important as the priest, or the readers, or the choir. (Imagine if none of them turned up!) They are not coming to hear us passively. They have an active part to play and it is important that we both allow and encourage them to play that part.

We can sing beautiful hymns during the Mass but, if they are so difficult or so new that the congregation cannot join in, then we are preventing the people doing what they have a right to do. It is our job to give them support not to entertain them or say their prayers or do their praising for them.

Do you also go out to sing sometimes? I am sure there are many institutions of sick or elderly people who would enjoy a concert from you. It would not just have to be at Christmas or New Year. It would not just have to be hymns or religious songs. You could sing some "golden oldies" (Chinese and/or English) which they know and like. I also feel that, as a group, you have a great opportunity to deepen your Christian awareness by doing some Bible study, praying together and perhaps do life-sharing together. Maybe you are doing some of this already. Deepening your Christian awareness will be a big help to your functioning as a choir.

A happy New Year in 1999 to all of you!

With much love, Frank Doyle s.j.