Leah Allen, a resident of Milford tours NJ with Saint Michael's College Liturgical Choir

2010 Jan 25

Leah Allen, daughter of Carol-Anne and Scott Allen of Milford, is amongst the 43 members of the Saint Michael's College Liturgical Choir who will sing in six schools and churches in Jersey City, Bayonne, Cranford, West Long Branch and Eatontown, N.J., on tour February 5 to 7. The group will be accompanied by the Rev. Brian Cummings, SSE, Saint Michael's director of Edmundite Campus Ministry and a Jersey City native, who will preside and preach at the Masses to be celebrated. Choir Director Jerome Monachino, Saint Michael's associate director of Edmundite Campus Ministry for Liturgical Music, will lead the choir. The group is traveling from Saint Michael's College, a liberal arts residential Catholic college located in the Burlington area of Vermont.

Allen, a first-year student English major, graduated from Milford High School before coming to Saint Michael's. The choir includes 28 Saint Michael's students, 15 Saint Michael's alumni and community members. Their schedule is as follows:

• Friday, February 5, Mass at 9 a.m. at Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City, N.J., and Mass at 1 p.m. at Marist High School in Bayonne, N.J.

• Saturday, February 6, Mass at 5:30 p.m. at St. Michael's Church in Cranford, N.J.

• Sunday, February 7, Mass at 9 a.m. at St. Jerome Church in West Long Branch, N.J. and 12 noon Mass at St. Mary's Church in Middletown, N.J.

Music at Mass

Music at the several Masses will include "Gather Your People," "I Will Praise Your Name O God in the Sight of the Angels," "Two Fishermen," "Faith Hope and Love," and "Jubilate Servite," reported guitarist, music director Jerome Monachino.

The Saint Michael's Liturgical Choir and Ensemble performs in its own eclectic and popular musical style, using a combination of African, Brazilian, and American Swing flavors to compliment traditional hymn singing. Guided by their mission of inspiring sung prayer, they perform with great enthusiasm. The group was one of the select few choirs invited to perform for Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day in Denver, Colo., in the 90's.

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu. Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead a successful, purposeful life that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 371 Colleges. It is one of 270 colleges and universities nationwide, and one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 100 international students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings. Saint Michael's is located just outside Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns.

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