In January, members of the Baltimore Archdiocesan Choir received a letter from Archbishop O’Brien’s office stating that the choir will “cease to serve in this role for now.” I found it to be an inadequate treatment of a group that has given faithful service to the archdiocese for the last 26 years.
I doubt that the archdiocese truly is aware of the time and devotion that volunteer choir members and leaders have put into this organization, some since 1984. Over the years, there have been many members who regularly traveled long distances to participate in rehearsals for special liturgies.
Many of these people remained faithful through many personal hardships, even as advancing age made it more difficult to continue participation. It seems that the archdiocese has not realized how truly dedicated this choir has been to enhancing liturgies. We have been in this choir to express our faith in a far deeper place than just performance, and have been incredibly fortunate to have had directors in the past with the talent to help the choir express that faith with beauty and grace. The archdiocese has failed to put as much effort into keeping up that place for the choir, so that the choir could pass on that expression of faith at very important liturgies to the congregation.