Youth from across Wisconsin gathered Feb. 28 at St. Frances Cabrini, West Bend, for the fourth annual Pueri Cantores Milwaukee Youth Choral Festival.
About 100 students in grades 4-12 spent the day rehearsing sacred music with nationally known conductor Lee Gwozdz. The festival concluded with Mass celebrated by Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay.
The event, one of 18 Pueri Cantores youth choral festivals held in the United States this year, was sponsored in part by Liturgical Publications Inc., Allen Organs of Wisconsin and a grant from The Catholic Community Foundation.
Headquartered at the Vatican, Pueri Cantores is the official student choral organization of the Catholic Church. The organization includes federations in 43 countries and about 70,000 singers worldwide and seeks to evangelize youth through sacred music.
“A profound sacred music is beauty incarnate,” said Paul French, President of the American Federation of Pueri Cantores. “That beauty points directly to the divine and helps young singers look more deeply at their life of faith and their relationship with the Church.”
Students said the Feb. 28 experience strengthened their faith as well as their musical skills. Ainsley, an eighth grader from the host parish, said singing together “made me feel very close to God.”
Michele Zampino brought a choir representing five Seton schools and said the collaboration helped students appreciate the music even more.
“What struck me most were the smiles on the faces of the children,” St. Frances Cabrini Pastor Fr. Jacob Strand said. “Working together to create something beautiful for God brought them real joy.”
About 100 students in grades 4-12 gathered last month at St. Frances Cabrini, West Bend, for the fourth annual Pueri Cantores Milwaukee Youth Choral Festival. (Submitted photo)
