Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 2 August 2026

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

Music was a big theme in my last week. Our D.C./Arlington Chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians hosted the annual Convention at Catholic University. And, of course, we enjoyed performances of our Summer Theatre Program’s “The Little Mermaid.” I remain amazed at the talent among us in our young people. Photos from the productions are on pages 9-11 in this bulletin. As always, photos in the online bulletin on the parish website are always far better quality than the printed ones.

As I mentioned in my homilies last weekend, a song can be powerful. It was the Dan Schutte song about finding a treasure in a field that touched me deeply when I was in the seminary and has stayed with me all these years. We watched as music and its performance galvanized a group of 80 youth in rallying around a mermaid deepening gifts, and building confidence and comm-unity. That is what music does.

At the convention I had the opportunity to listen to talks given by composers Tony Alonso (we sing his “From the Many, Make Us One,” and “God Sends Us Forth,” among others) and Steven Janco (“Mass of the Angels and Saints”). Here are some notes I took away from their talks.

Alonso stated that we are so surrounded by music—literally everywhere we go—that we are robbed of song. In our culture music is something that is supplied, not something we make. Everybody has their personalized song list that they can get from Siri or Alexa, who aren’t even people. For some people, they were told they were not talented and not to even try. (A mortal sin, I would say.) Singing together, he said, is a counter-cultural act. And, even more counter-cultural, we sing because God commands it.

The command is throughout the Bible, but particularly in the Psalms. “Sing to the Lord a new song...” the psalmist writes. He doesn’t add “...if you have a good voice” or “if you feel up to it.”

Alonso gave three obstacles to full, con-scious, active participation in the liturgy, as Vatican II calls us to do:

1) Settling for inspiration rather than being inspired. What is vying for my attention at Mass? Singing provides a focus to return to when our minds stray. But we must inspire people rather than inspiring their participation. It must be personal. The people are the primary aim, the heart of Catholic liturgy.

2) Confusion about what is the primary instrument of liturgical worship. It isn’t the organ, or the cantor. It is your voice.

3) Resisting the invitation to sing a new song.

It has always been our best form of communication and worship, many have simply forgotten to learn something new.

Janco talked about how singing is the one thing that involves your whole brain. One part of the brain deals with text, one with melody, one with rhythm. But singing unites the brain even before it unites us.

He said if we teach people to sing, we automatically teach them to pray. Text, music, utterance, and gesture give birth to message and meaning, engaging all our senses and feelings of being truly human.

Or, we could turn to science and consider how singing can prepare us more effectively for our encounter with the living God, which always will help us feel up to.

Statistically, singing provides measurable health benefits, including lower stress hormone levels, improved lung function, and enhanced social bonding, not to mention mental and emotional health.

Saliva tests taken before and after singing show a clear drop in cortisol, the main stress hormone in the body.

Actively singing triggers the brain to release endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, which lift mood and reduce pain perception.

Regular choir and group singing correlates with lower self-reported depression symptoms and better well-being over time.

There’s more! Deep breathing from the diaphragm (sing OUT!) increases oxygen in the blood and is a light aerobic workout for the heart and lungs. It increases your immunity to illnesses, improves posture, raises pain tolerance, supports verbal fluency and memory recall and releases oxytocin, reducing loneliness. As we sing in the song: “How can I keep from singing?!?” Indeed.

The Lord be with you,