“To sing well is to pray twice” is a saying attributed to St. Augustine. The Second Vatican Council (aka “Vatican II”) also strongly highlighted the integral role of music for our Liturgy and worship, primarily as a form of active participation engaged in by the entire assembly, not just the choir and musicians.

Accordingly, recent Catholic churches are often built following this principle, aiming to provide our choirs with a designated space closer to the front of the church to engage better and lead the assembly in song. Unfortunately, our little church of St. Nicholas, constructed before Vatican II, has little room at the front of the church for our choir and cantors. The result is that our musicians are either crowded into the niche in front of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or they end up positioned within the sanctuary itself (the sanctuary being the elevated area surrounding the altar). This creates another problem as the focal point of the liturgy is and must be centered on the altar and ambo, the Eucharist, and the Word. Use of the sanctuary is explicitly reserved for those with a direct role in the liturgy: the priest, deacon, and altar servers. In a space as small as St. Nicholas, notwithstanding the goodwill of our musicians, the choir risks competing with our attention and drawing us away from that focal point.  

Taking all this into consideration, we have decided to return the choir to the choir loft, where our musicians will continue to lead us in song, guiding our voices and worship toward Jesus Christ, the center of our liturgy and our lives.