Dear Parishioners and Friends,
We are moving quickly toward the conclusion of the liturgical year which ends with the Solemnity of Christ the King next weekend. The following weekend will mark the start of a new liturgical year and the season of Advent. This perennial cycle is marked by special seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter) as well the long stretches of Ordinary Time; however, the winter Ordinary Time will be quite short in 2027 with only four weeks between the end of the Christmas season on January 10 and the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday, February 10. Easter Sunday will be March 28!
This coming Saturday, November 21, the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will hold a Hymn Festival to celebrate the music of the Church Year. We are honored to host this wonderful free event, which begins at 1:30 PM, and I hope you will be able to join us.
A large choir of singers from churches throughout the greater Hart-ford community will lead a program of hymns for the church year, beginning with Advent and ending with Pentecost. Hymns include Praise to the Lord, the Almighty; The King of Love My Shepherd Is; and Jesus Christ is Risen Today.
Accompanying the hymns will be a brass quintet, timpani, and the church’s two pipe organs. Along with the choir and the audience, we will hear a glorious sound in our resonant acoustics.
The Festival will be conducted by composer, church musician, conductor and organist Richard Webster who is currently Lecturer in the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. He retired in 2022 as Director of Music and Organist at historic Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston after 17 years.
Come and raise the roof with our singing as we celebrate the goodness and blessings of God!
Blessings on your week ahead!
Fr. Tim Shreenan, O.F.M.
Pastor