Our Lady of Good Counsel singers part of 300-member American chorus traveling to Rome

PLYMOUTH — There’s something about Detroit’s music that just “fits” with Vatican celebrations.

On the heels of the Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit’s historic trip to sing for Pope Francis on the Feast of the Epiphany in January, another local band of singers will travel to Rome to help close the Year of Mercy in style.

The parish choir of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth is one of a handful of American choirs chosen to sing during an outdoor Mass with the pope in St. Peter’s Square to end the Year of Mercy, an opportunity its 20 or so singers say is “once in a lifetime.”

“Corporate Travel was tasked with finding choirs that would be a good fit with the Sistine Chapel Choir, and we found out in April that we were selected,” said Tom Oram, director of the Our Lady of Good Counsel choir.

The choir will join 11 other choirs to form a 300-member American chorus that will sing with the Sistine Chapel Choir during the Mass.

“I’ve never been at an outdoor papal Mass, so it’s not an opportunity you do often or at all,” Oram said, adding the choir has been practicing for six weeks the material they will be singing during the Mass, including a piece called “Pilgrim’s Hymn,” which Oram said nobody in the choir had ever heard before a couple of days ago.

“This has been really great for recruiting people to join the choir,” Oram said. “We’ve been rehearsing the pieces we’ll be singing with the whole choir, that way the whole choir knows the songs we’ll be singing in Rome.”

The choir had a chance to perform for their home parish Nov. 6 in a sendoff concert before members began making their way to Rome for the Nov. 20 Mass.

Choir member Katie Greenough said some of the music is challenging, but the unique opportunity is well worth it.

“The variety of music is great,” Greenough said. “It’s challenging, and it makes it all the more rewarding when you’re singing it, it makes it more powerful. Especially with ‘Pilgrim’s Hymn,’ which makes the words so important as it mixes with the harmonies, highlighting the angelic nature of the piece.”

In addition to the once-in-a-lifetime honor of singing before the pope, Greenough said it’s a great honor to represent Our Lady of Good Counsel in Rome.

“It’s bananas,” Greenough exclaimed. “It’s even more powerful with Fr. John Riccardo being named a missionary of mercy (by Pope Francis); we’re able to be with the faithful, carrying the banner and representing my home parish since I was baptized. It’s been incredible.”
The choir will spend a week in Rome for the Mass, but some members are choosing to leave in advance for an extended experience in the Eternal City.

“We’re extremely excited and looking forward to the papal Mass and everything,” said Concetta Zybell, who will being singing in the choir and traveling with her husband, Juergen, and daughter, Laura. “I’ve been to Rome 17 years ago, and then we found out we’re going to do this pilgrimage. We want to see the ancient sites in Rome, further exploring the Vatican.”

This is not the first time the Our Lady of Good Counsel choir will be singing abroad. Under the direction of Michele Johns, Oram’s predecessor, the choir made it a habit of singing outside the confines of the archdiocese.

“Under Dr. Michele Johns, who directed the choir for many years before retiring in 2007, she took the program to the next level, and I just took it and kept going,” Oram said. “Under her, she took them all over the place. Going to Rome to sing at the closing of the Year of Mercy is an incredible honor for our parish, and it’s all thanks to Michele and the groundwork she laid out here.”