MUSIC WILL FILL THE AIR

AT KEYSPAN CELEBRATION

From modern, upbeat instrumental sounds to inspiring liturgical anthems, music will weave through the program for the Diocese of Brooklyn’s celebration of the closing of the Special Year of the Eucharist at KeySpan Park in Coney Island on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Under the theme, “One Bread, One Body, One Family in Christ,” the observance will include, in addition to music, the recitation of a “Living Rosary,” a Eucharistic Procession and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and a concelebrated Mass.

For the afternoon Mass at 1:15, with Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio as the principal celebrant, the 80-voice Vicariate Choir, comprised of singers from all parts of the Diocese, will perform, directed by Charles Mallia, the music minister at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Ozone Park.

A seven-piece brass ensemble and two percussionists will accompany the singers, who will present music in English, Latin and Spanish.  Two parish music ministers, Joseph Smith of St. James Cathedral in Brooklyn and Emanuel Bologna of Resurrection-Ascension Church, Rego Park, will play the organ and keyboard respectively.

Three cantors will lead the congregation of some 9,000 members of parishes in Brooklyn and Queens: Jessica Tranzillo of St. James, Josephine Sanches of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Jackson Heights, and Vanessa Gecewicz of Nativity BVM.

During the Mass, 15 singers from the youth group, Jornadas de Vida Cristiana, will perform a Communion song, “Mensa Jero de Dios,” led by director Howard Crespo.

To open the morning program at 9, a combined choir of 90 voices from Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge and Nazareth Regional High School in East Flatbush will sing four selections and an additional piece---“Christ Be Our Light”---after a “Blessing of Families Present.”

Joseph Loposky, the music director at Xaverian, who will lead the singers, said the students see the KeySpan celebration as an opportunity to “give back to the community” by assembling at KeySpan to offer music for the attendees. “And they enjoy performing,” he added.

Nazareth’s moderator of the school’s Gospel Choir and Liturgical Dance group, Jeannette Boursiquot, who is also assistant principal, said the high schoolers “are very enthusiastic and excited” about being a part of the diocesan celebration. Six of Nazareth’s liturgical dancers will offer a brief piece, she said.

The two schools are rooted in the tradition of the Xaverian Brothers, and the combined choir sang at the Brothers’ 150th anniversary Mass at St. James Cathedral Basilica last Spring.

 As the congregation is arriving, music will greet them, provided by Youth 2000 NY, an international movement, based locally in Greenpoint, for young people seeking to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist.

Guitars, a bass, drums, keyboard, saxophone and singers will offer vibrant melodies, said Angela Scannapieco of Youth 2000. “Music is important to us,” she said.

Youth 2000 will also lead recitation of the Living Rosary in ten languages, said Msgr. Francis J. Caggiano, Vicar for Evangelization and Pastoral Life, who chairs the committee organizing the event.

Speakers during the day will include Father Benedict Groeschel, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, on the topic: “Be Surprised at the Eucharist”; Father Caleb A. Buchanan, parochial vicar of St. Ephrem’s Church, Dyker Heights, who will preach the homily at the Mass, and James Rodriguez, a student at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, L.I., who will describe the importance of the Eucharist in the life of a seminarian.

The Special Year of the Eucharist was announced last year by Pope John Paul II. It will conclude this month, coinciding with the world Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, which begins Oct. 2, led by Pope Benedict XVI.

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