By Katie Vasquez
At Holy Family Church in Canarsie, their Sunday prayers come with a joyful noise.
“I couldn’t imagine praising God without singing to him first,” Julie Augustin, a choir member at Holy Family said.
But if their hymns sound different, it’s because they are also looking to their cultural roots during their praise.
The songs are from a book called “Lead Me, Guide Me,” which celebrates the faith journey of African American Catholics.
“I find that song can really connect us,” Augustin said. “The common parishioner can play a part praising God and letting the spirit move within us. That’s what their purpose is.”
The music incorporates different African and Caribbean styles and even some traditions from Pentecostal and Baptist churches.
“It’s like it resonates in my soul,” said Everett Wilson, director of music at Holy Family Church. “And you know then I found out it came from other denominations, other traditions. and I never thought of it as an African American thing; it just feels right.”
Wilson brought the songs to the Brooklyn church when he joined as the director of music 17 years ago.
He hoped it would spark the same joy he felt when he first heard them at 13 years old.
“It was kind of amazing to me, and then the music sounded more like gospel and not traditional, this was like blowing my mind and I think that’s why I fell in love with the book so much,” WIlson said.
Each beat connects the congregation with their culture, Christ, and their Church.
“The fact that the congregation sings with me, I see them swaying because everybody knows that song,” Wilson said. “It just really elates me that the whole church is praising God together.”
The choir is looking to the past, so they can carry on these traditions to the future.