Singing at a Catholic Mass

Last night, our whole branch went to Selerno to sing at the catholic Mass for Epiphany.  We combined with their small choir and had such a fantastic unexpected experience.  Alfredo, who plays the organ for us at church, every Sunday, is Catholic, and this is the church he has gone to since he was born.  He plays the organ there every Sunday afternoon.  For the past 6 years our branch  has joined them for singing on the 6 th of January for this special mass.  

We got there an hour before and went over about 8 songs.  Some were very short with a lot of Gloria's, and Halleluahs.  A few were  familiar Christmas songs like "Silent Night" and "Come all ye Faithful".  They had a few melody changes and of course they were sung in Italian or Latin, but they were pretty easy to learn.  There were some that I had never heard before, but they were all really fun to sing.  We sang each one after a different part of the mass.  The catholic ladies in the choir were excellent strong singers, so we just followed them.  It was an amazing experience, and one I never dreamed of.  I am still smiling as I think of it.

They had Paul come out toward the end of the mass and be recognized as the President of our branch in Battipaglia.  He shook hands with the Priest.  We all got sprayed with the insense smoke that the priest sprays on each group in the congregation.  Everyone was given communion that wanted it.  Towards the end of the mass the Priest took a little wooden Baby Jesus statue that was baby life size and took it around the congregation and everyone kissed it.  

      Pictured below is me with our two elders (who each have fantastic voices).  We are all standing in a little nook at the side of the front nave of the church.  The organ is there and we were all very crowded as we stood for the hour and half of the mass.  Our voices echoed back and forth to each other, as we sang, so it was easy to stay in tune.  I really loved the whole experience.

Here is a picture of our combined choir afterwards in front of the nave. (Sorry it's out of focus, but I was happy to get this from someone else!) The short white haired man in front, is the priest of this church.  He is so nice.  I would come to church just because of him.  Our organist is the man in back of the Priest.  He is wearing the grey sweater and he has been playing the organ every Sunday, in our branch for maybe 10 years.  

Here is the nativity that was set up inside the church.