DUBLIN DIOCESAN MUSIC GROUP
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS
The Dublin Diocesan Advent Service on Saturday 27 November at the Pro-Cathedral also saw the members of the Dublin Diocesan Music Group celebrate 25 years of musical service to the Diocese.
In Advent 1985, Archbishop Kevin McNamara led the Dublin Diocesan celebration for International Youth Year in a Mass at St. Columba’s Church Iona Road. The then youth music group put together by Father Pat O’Donoghue, Diocesan Director of Music, for the occasion was drawn from four parishes, Aughrim Street, Beaumont, Larkhill/Whitehall and Shangan in Ballymun.
They stayed together after the event and became known as a Music Resource Group offering workshops on contemporary liturgical music and singing at occasional events mostly in the St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin.
In the coming years their repertoire expanded, including a strong base in music in the Irish language, and the number of liturgical events increased. At the Pro-Cathedral they now lead music for the Diocesan Advent Service, the main national celebration for St. Patrick’s Day, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and the Festival of the Peoples.
Many members sing as cantors or in other ensembles at the Pro-Cathedral for various events. The members of the group have sung at all the Episcopal Ordinations since 1988 and the Installation ceremony for Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in 2003. Their Annual Remembrance Service in the Monastery of St. Alphonsus each November is an important source of comfort to the bereaved. They led music at the first Diocesan Service in 1998 for those who suffer as a result of abuse in Westland Row Church.
They have raised money for many charities through their Annual Carol Service which takes place this year on Sunday 12 December 2010 in the Church of Holy Cross College,
Clonliffe Road
at 4.00 p.m. in aid of CrossCare.
The Group has participated in Masses and other services broadcast on RTE – special events include the Remembrance Service on the Day of National Mourning after the 11 September terrorist attacks in 2001 and the Sunset Service in the Phoenix Park on the day when Pope John Paul II was buried.
They have made recordings as prayer or liturgical resources which are available through Veritas outlets or at the Pro-Cathedral:
Be Still and Know (2002)
The Mysteries of Light (2003)
The Wedding Album (2005)
Songs of Farewell (2006)
Lourdes Where Miracles Happen (2008)
Becoming the Body of Christ (2010)
