Saints Philip and James
Catholic Church

Lots of music that we hear in churches can sound more like music that we hear out and about in the world on the radio or in a restaurant. Here at Saints Philip and James we hope to create an atmosphere that says to your heart, mind, and soul “You’re in God’s house now and you’re here to be with Him, worshipping, praying, giving thanks, and leaving the world behind.” Singing and hearing hymns, melodies, chanted responses, the power or subtlety of the organ, or a solo cantor’s voice filling the space with the sung Word - all these elements work together to draw us into the mystery of that other world, which is eternal and timeless, like God Himself. 

Because our holy mother the Church says to! You see, Latin is the language of the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council gives us these words, “It should be arranged that the faithful can say or sing together in Latin, those parts of the Mass that belong to them” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy). The Catholic Church has a kind of “ethnicity of the soul." In other words, the Church has an actual culture of her own. A culture with all the elements of a particular group of people but meant for the whole world. Cultures usually have music, food, clothing and language that set them apart and make them distinctive. The most distinctive and important element of a culture is its language. When language is lost, often the rest of a culture is in danger of being lost too.