The following story appeared in the November 19 Idaho Catholic Register.
Matthew Loucks, sacred music director of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Coeur d’Alene, directs the new schola choir for the parish. A choral Mass is celebrated the first weekend of every month. (Photo courtesy Genavive Edman)
COEUR D’ALENE – Father John Mosier, pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Coeur d’Alene, recalls with fondness his days at Mount Angel Seminary when a schola choir would sing much of the Sunday Liturgy with antiphons, chants and hymns in English and Latin.
With the naming of the parish’s new Sacred Music Director, Matthew Loucks, the parish now celebrates a choral Mass on the first weekend of every month at the parish’s 5 p.m. Vigil Mass on Saturdays.
Loucks has “been wonderful for the whole congregation as he encourages everyone to sing at Mass as a form of prayer,” said Genavive Edman, a member of the parish who took this picture of the parish’s first choral Mass in early October.
A schola is the name of a small choir that sings at Masses or other liturgies, primarily in Latin, but also in English. The parish’s website offers opportunities for parishioners to join either a men’s or a women’s schola. The women sang at the Nov. 7 Mass.
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