Around the world, Catholics recognize their music. Around the country, people know their name. In Omaha, many can identify their faces, and on Sept. 20, about 2,000 will gather at the Holland Performing Arts Center to hear them perform.
The St. Louis Jesuits – the group of musicians who collectively wrote hundreds of contemporary liturgical songs that came to dominate Catholic services during the 70s and 80s – are playing a 35-year reunion concert to raise money for two Omaha schools: the Jesuit Middle School of Omaha and St. Peter Claver Cristo Rey High School.
“I thought we might be able to get some money for them,” said the Rev. Roc O’Connor, S.J., an original member of the St. Louis Jesuits and rector of Creighton’s Jesuit Community. “Helping people see these two good works that are going on in Omaha – I think that’s worth it. These are really good works. The guys were really pleased to do that, too.”
Although the St. Louis Jesuits – the Rev. Bob Dufford, S.J., the Rev. John Foley, S.J., the Rev. Tim Manion, the Rev. Dan Schutte and O’Connor – did not perform together while their songs were gaining popularity, they began playing concerts in 2006. This will be their first time performing in Omaha.
“Two of them [Dufford and O’Connor] are from Omaha, so it’s great to finally have them at home to do this,” said Tony Ward, director of music ministry at St. John’s and music producer and conductor for the St. Louis Jesuits concert.
About 170 people from Omaha parishes, the Creighton Chamber Choir and St. John’s Parish make up the choir that will perform with the St. Louis Jesuits at the concert.
“It’s been a real joy to see the musicians involved, to see their joy in participating in this, to see people come together from many different communities to sing music that has meant so many different things to them,” Ward said. “It’s just been wonderful to see.”
O’Connor said the group originally wanted to play in a church, but they couldn’t find a venue large enough to accommodate the crowd they expected.
“The one place left to look was the Holland Center,” O’Connor said. “Going up on stage and just feeling the acoustical integrity of that room, I said, ‘We’ve got to do it here.'”
O’Connor said he’s excited for the performance because it will give people a chance to both reflect on the past and look more intensely at the present.
“I’m not a big fan of nostalgia,” he said. “It’s great to remember that it’s been part of my life at various time and had an influence on my praying for 35 years. But what does it mean today? What does it mean to say ‘let all who thirst come to the water?’ What does it mean to sing it today in this difficult economy, in this world that’s very divided and a world where war is either a threat or a reality in many places, with famine and hunger?
“That’s what I’d like people to focus on – to allow that past to inform the present and then to look together to the future.”