at Saint Michael's College
  a ministry of the Society of Saint Edmund

Are you a lector looking for a Sunday reading?

You can find readings for any daily mass or Sunday liturgy by going to the following link: Readings and Psalms. Click on the date you are scheduled for, so you can practice reading prayerfully and thoughtfully!

Edmundite Campus Ministry
One Winooski Park
Box 271
Colchester, Vermont 05439
802-654-2333
Fax: 802-654-2780

Liturgical Choir and Ensemble

Primarily composed of undergraduate students, the Saint Michael's College Liturgical Choir also proudly includes members from the wider worshipping community. The main function of the group is to facilitate sung prayer.

Under the direction of Jerome Monachino '91, the group is characterized by an original, eclectic musical style utilizing African, Latin American, and Irish flavors to compliment traditional hymn singing. The Liturgical Choir celebrates prayer in song at most Sunday liturgies and at all major feasts of the liturgical year.

For more information, please contact Jerome Monachino.

Would you like to hear a clip from the choir?  Click on the links below:

Are you hoping to hear more and pray with the liturgical choir through song?  CD's can be found in the Saint Michael's College Bookstore.

Sacred Dance Ensemble

Dance, like music brings life to sacred words. It is gift to the worshipping community. The dancer who moves with an open and generous heart communicates a sense of warmth and inclusiveness that envelopes all within it. The congregation is able to participate with the dancer on a heart-to-heart level. Our prayers in movement give outward and visible form to inner feelings of praise and thanksgiving.

Sacred dance is our physical expression of our Christian faith. It is part of the liturgy; it reflects the Catholic Church's calendar. By collaborating with the Liturgical Choir, we help to bring understanding to the sanctity of what is happening in the mystery of the Eucharist. The Sacred Dance ensemble is open to anyone interested in our purpose--to embody prayer through sacred movement.

For more information, please contact Claire Monachino.

All ministries are callings, or vocations. God calls us to serve one another. Jesus gives us the model for serving one another. Jesus gives us the model for serving when he washes the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper.

But how do you know you are being called?

• Here are some good indications to think about:
• Do you have a desire to serve others as Jesus did?
• Do you have a love of and for the Scriptures?
• Do friends and others in the Church suggest to you that you take on this work?
• Do you think you would enjoy ministry?
• Most importantly, do you believe God has spoken to you in your heart, and is moving you to serve in this way?

Trained

All ministries involve doing something and call for some training in order to do it at our best. The ministries of Lector, Eucharistic Minister, Altar Server, Liturgical Choir and Sacred Dance Ensemble are no exception.

Love of God and neighbor as well as oneself, and love and respect for the Scriptures and the consecrated body of Christ, so essential to these ministries, cannot be received from training. However, the skills which help these traits come through to those to whom you minister can. Therefore, attending the appropriate training session offered each semester is essential.

To Serve

All ministries are a service to others. Jesus tells us that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Him. By proclaiming the Word with a confident voice, we announce God's saving work. When distributing Communion, we witness by our deep faith in the Eucharist to the saving mystery of Christ. By serving those at the Lord's table, we honor Jesus' great example of selfless love. When we sing, we pray twice. When we dance before the Lord, we express our praise of God. The beauty created in song and dance echoes in the hearts of those gathered in the assembly. And so it is Christ Himself who serves through, with, and in us.

At the Last Supper, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus showed us what we are to do if we want to be His disciples. We are to serve one another, and we are to do so with love.

If it sounds like a lot, don't be concerned; after one is trained and commissioned, one generally serves no more than once a month and the staff in Edmundite Campus Ministry will support you. By the grace of God, what you learn and do through this ministry will enrich your life as well as those whom you serve.