Florida Catholic | St. Andrew Parish Gospel Choir

Gospel choir brings an ‘upbeat approach to worship’

The refurbished church is not all that’s fresh at St. Andrew Parish. A new Gospel choir ”moves the spirit” during Mass once each month.

BETTY ANN WEBER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 02.15.08

On the heels of its 50th anniversary and last month’s dedication of a refurbished church, St. Andrew Parish in Orlando introduced its new gospel choir Feb. 3.

CHARLES HODGES | FC
On the heels of its 50th anniversary and last month’s dedication of a refurbished church, St. Andrew Parish in Orlando introduced its new gospel choir Feb. 3. In the right foreground is Gretchen Demps Simmons, choir director. In the front row, from left to right, are: Christiana Dillard, Teodora Dillard, Emily MacGuilliard, Joan Thomas and Yvonne Gonzalez. In the middle row, from left to right are: Brittany Lawrence, Janis Lawrence, Mona Merchant, Elizabeth Roche and Geraldine Benjamin. In the back row, from left to right are: Roosevelt “Reggie” Simmons, Harold Boxie, Brinda Wadsworth, Michelle Paul, Marcia Headley and Shellita Boxie.

ORLANDO | They’d been rehearsing since November — singing their hearts out, catching the spirit. Then, at the 11:30 a.m. Mass Feb. 3, the new St. Andrew gospel choir in Pine Hills was ready to go.

“We have a newly refurbished church,” said Kevin Kress, St. Andrew’s director of music and liturgy, “so we were ready to try something new. But it’s Gretchen’s baby. She’s been trying to birth it for nearly six years.”

Gospel choir director Gretchen Demps Simmons, 47, a St. Andrew parishioner since 1973, never gave up on her dream of having a gospel choir at her church.

“Gospel music moves the spirit,” said Simmons, who served five years in the former diocesan office of black community ministry. “I was the little girl who played her family piano by ear, the flute in junior high and joined the University of South Florida gospel choir. But my love of gospel probably took root in childhood visits with cousins to Protestant churches.”

“It has the potential of being a great asset to our liturgy,” said the pastor, Society of the Precious Blood Father Andrew O’Reilly.

Armed with the African-American Catholic hymnal, “Lead Me, Guide Me,” Simmons recruited nearly 20 diverse parishioners — even her husband, Reggie. “It’s a family affair,” she said. Nicole Lopez, a Bishop Moore High School senior and the choir’s deft piano accompanist, is “a real blessing,” she said. Unfortunately for the choir, she’ll soon head for studies at Columbia University in New York City, Simmons said.

After weeks of practicing, it was suddenly Sunday morning, and time to sing. First, the choir sang the South African melody, “We are Marching,” as the processional hymn. The Mass was under way.

Watching her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, 12, in the choir, parishioner Sandra Scott joined the singing.

After Father O’Reilly and the altar servers recessed at the end of Mass, many attendees continued to stand and sing, “Jesus, You Brought Me All the Way.”

“Usually, after Mass, most people leave,” Scott said.

“But this time they stayed. We’d all been moving to the music, clapping. Now they were saying, ‘We needed this life!’”

Scott’s 9-year-old grandson looked up, wide-eyed, and asked, “Grandma, am I old enough to sing?”

“It was transferred energy,” said the exhilarated Simmons. “Hugging and smiling, people asked, ‘When’s the next rehearsal? Can I join?’”

Parishioner Dorcas Dillard, whose two adolescent daughters are in the choir, said, “It’s an upbeat approach to worship. You feel it is OK to be able to clap and say, ‘Amen.’ It is another approach to praising the Lord through music.”

The St. Andrew gospel choir plans to sing at the 11:30 Mass the first Sunday of each month. Rehearsals are Saturday mornings at 9:30.

Tanya Goodman of the Florida Catholic staff contributed to this article.

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