Voices of the Nigerian Catholic Community Choir

I set out for the inaugural Mass of the Pan African Catholic Organization of the Atlanta last weekend.
Wandering around before the service began, I found a choir of women, wearing colorful clothes, practicing for the upcoming Mass. You can hear the choir below.

Here's my lede for the story:

Worshippers recited prayers in five languages as they praised God African-style.

Crowds filled the pews at Stone Mountain’s Corpus Christi Church, with many wearing vibrant African clothes and women in elaborate headdresses.

At the start of Mass, five women danced down the center aisle of Corpus Christi Church to the drum beat of African rhythms, as one carried the book with the day’s Bible readings on her back.

Choirs from the communities of Cameroon, Gambian, Nigeria raised their voices to lead the faithful in song.

The Pan African Catholic Organization of Atlanta in the archdiocese held its inaugural Mass on Saturday, Oct. 1, bringing together nine different immigrant nationalities and ethnic groups.

Some details about the African Catholic community came from a survey done four years ago:

A 2007 survey for the Office of Black Catholic Ministry estimated in the archdiocese there are more than 22,000 black Catholics.

And in the survey, about one in three respondents identified themselves as African. The largest number of people born in Africa came from Nigeria, followed by Eritrea and Ivory Coast. (Cote d’Ivoire).

Finally, the choir.  (To enlarge the photo, please hover the cursor over the photo.).

listen to ‘Church choir practice ’ on Audioboo

-Andrew

What I Saw:

Song at a funeral for an Atlanta Catholic priest by anelson-1

I attended the funeral of Marist Father Larry Schmuhl last week, and I wrote about it in the Sept. 1 "Georgia Bulletin."

There's a custom I first noticed at other funerals for priests. And I don't know if it's part of the funeral rite for priests, or a nice tradition that has been adopted by clergy. (Or perhaps lay people also have this custom, but I am not familiar with it.)

After the prayer of commendation and the conclusion of Mass, priests gather and circle the casket before it's placed in the hearse.

The group chants the prayer "Salve Regina" in Latin. The prayer may date to the 11th century, according to Wikipedia.

In Latin:

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae,
ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

In English:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

--Andrew

Sharing A Common Date In August

Today, August 11, is the feast of Italy’s St. Clare. This young woman left her life of nobility to follow St. Francis of Assisi and give her life over to God. St. Clare is also the founder of the order of nuns known as the Poor Clares. Back on Palm Sunday of this year the Poor Clares commenced a yearlong celebration marking their 800^th anniversary. The celebration will culminate on St. Clare’s feast day a year from now. St. Clare started the order on Palm Sunday in 1212.

A stained glass image of St. Clare inside the Church of San Damiano, Assisi, Italy.

(Georgia Bulletin Photo By Michael Alexander, June 2005)

My first encounter with the Poor Clares took place back in 1993 or 1994 when Mark Zimmermann, my former editor at The Catholic Standard, Washington, DC, assigned writer Richard Szczepanowski to do a story on the nuns who reside in the nearby neighborhood of Brookland. I joined Richard in an effort to provide photographs for the feature piece.

Initially I must have thought it was going to be pretty boring covering a group of cloistered nuns, but was I ever wrong. They were so happy, so full of life and so in love with Christ. We became good friends with the Poor Clares after the story was published, and at least once a week or more I would meet Richard at their chapel for 7 a.m. Mass.

Some mornings I would take our two children before I dropped them off at St. Gabriel School. At the time the youngest was in kindergarten and the oldest was in the fourth grade. We often enjoyed conversing with the Mother Superior Sister Margaret Mary and the other nuns after Mass in the parlor. The biggest treat for the kids was playing with the Poor Clares’ beagle hound name Kyra. To this day we remain friends with the Poor Clares, and we like to stop by their monastery and home at 3900 13^th Street, NE, during visits to D.C. In addition to their friendship, we appreciate their prayers on our behalf.

Today is also the our 27^th wedding anniversary. On this day in 1984 at 1 p.m. Tramell and I were married at St. Anthony of Padua Church, Atlanta. To be perfectly honest, we didn’t know it was the feast of St. Clare. We picked that day because it was a Saturday, the church was available and it was a good weekend for relatives and friends. While St. Francis of Assisi was probably delighted that Clare answered the call to religious life, I’m equally blessed and thankful that Tramell became my soul mate in our matrimonial life.

Wedding Day

(Photo by Julius Alexander, August 11, 1984)

Happy feast day St. Clare.

Happy anniversary Tramell. I love you today and always!

Michael Alexander, Staff Photographer

A Monk For The Ages

Last week writer Andrew Nelson and I went out to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, to interview and photograph Father Luke Kot, someone I would only describe as a real gem and living legend in monastic circles. It was a week before his 100^th birthday.

I arrived about 40 minutes ahead of our scheduled 10 a.m. meeting, so I could set up and scout out the historic barn, which is a central component of the monastery’s new Monastic Heritage Center.

Just a few minutes after the hour Brother Callistus, the monastery’s public relations and development coordinator, was seen approaching the barn, walking beside the 99-year-old monk. Pushing his walker, Father Luke stopped to pose for a photo and talk to a passerby he saw along the way. It was like he was walking the red carpet to the Oscars. “Come on Father Luke, come on Father Luke,” implored Brother Callistus.

As I held the door open Brother Calistus asked, “Do you know who this guy is?” Father Luke stopped in his tracks, formed a camera with his hands and said, “The photographer!” He walked to the center of the barn and sat next to Andrew for the interview. Andrew said he needed about 20 minutes, so I left so they could have their time alone. After Brother Callistus led me on my first tour of the Monastic Heritage Center, we returned to the barn for the photo session.

I decided I wanted to try three different poses within the barn’s interior and I was hoping he would be able to withstand the demands I was placing upon him. On top of that, the air condition was not on in the barn and I’m guessing the temperature must have been in the low to mid 80s. First I took some photos of him in front of a display featuring an image of the Abbey Church. It almost looks like we’re really outdoors in front of it.

From there we moved a few feet over to the front of a display with an old black and white image of three monks. There was one moment of brief laughter among all of us as we were moving from spot to the other. As Father Luke was getting up from his walker, unaware of what he was doing, Brother Callistus just instinctively grabbed the walker and moved it to the front of the black and white display. For a brief moment before Brother Callistus realized what happened, Father Luke was left standing there wondering, ‘Why did he just take my walker? Doesn’t he know I need that?’ It was an unforgettable look.

It was just further indication of what a trooper Father Luke was that day. He was so patient and so giving of himself. For the final shot I posed him in front of the monastic cowls and hats. It was also during these final series of shots that my sync cord started to malfunction and the strobe light would not fire. I had to use available light, in combination with the modeling light.

By the time we finished, nearly an hour later, I was sweating through my shirt. Brother Callistus asked if we wanted some water, but since the 99-year-old monk had made no such request or never asked to stop for a break, neither could I.

Father Luke has a great face, wonderful stories and a beautiful spirit. You can read Andrew’s story about Father Luke turning 100-years-old in the August 4 issue of The Georgia Bulletin.

Happy Birthday Father Luke and thanks for your time.

Oh, by the way, we did stop in the Abbey Gift Shop and Café on the way out and purchased two bottles of water.

Michael Alexander, Staff Photographer

Happy Birthday to Father Luke!

Today, Wednesday, Aug. 3, Father Luke Kot, a monk at the Trappist Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers, turns 100.

You can see the multimedia slide show photographer Michael Alexander and I did when he was a young man at 98. We've done a few of the slideshows and this remains one of my favorites.

--Andrew

Photographing Sisters of Distinction

One of my assignments this month has been tracking down five of the six sister jubilarians celebrating between 25 and 60 years of service with their respective religious orders. I set out to take their portraits with one light in order to capture various moods and expressions.

The first sister I photographed was Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Sister Esther Ordonez. We met inside St. Lawrence Church, Lawrenceville. I’ve known Sister Esther for a number of years because of her devoted work within the Hispanic community. It was an emotional period for Sister Esther. Just a few weeks earlier her mother had died, and she was also preparing for a move to Paducah, Ky., after 18 years of working in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The sadness comes across in some of the images. While the side and split lighting evokes emotion, it also hides some of her pain in the shadows. If Sister Esther found it difficult to pose for me, she never let it be known. She was very patient and cordial.

After I finished with Sister Esther I drove over to Divino Nino Jesus Mission, Duluth, to photograph Sister Martha Herrera, a Franciscan Sister of Our Lady of Refuge. Sister Martha was wearing a bright, white habit and she was in a cheerful mood. I tried to capture her jovial demeanor in the photos.

Nearly a week later I went to the residence of Sisters of St. Joseph (Concordia, Kansas), Sister Jodi Creten. It was pouring down raining when I arrived. I had to wait for the rain to subside a bit before I could bring the equipment out of the car. Sister Jodi lives in the community behind Most Blessed Sacrament Church called St. Joseph’s Place. Photographing Sister Jodi was like photographing an old friend. In the late 80s/early 90s our family volunteered at St. Thomas Manor in East Point. It was a small personal care home formerly operated by the Archdiocese of Atlanta. At the time Sister Jodi was the resident services coordinator. I took a couple of different shots in the living room of her small one bedroom apartment, but the shot of here sitting by her window with the strobe light over her right shoulder works the best.

A day after I photographed Sister Jodi, I went to the apartment of Sister Angela Abood, a Sister of St. Joseph (Carondolet, St. Louis). She lives in a senior high rise building in Decatur. In fact, she likes to minister to residents there. Out of the three previously mentioned sisters, Sister Angela is the only Georgia native. She used to teach school and it was just my luck that her building had a library on the first floor. The librarian working at the time, a woman by the name of Dorothy Collins, allowed me to set up in there. The only request Sister Angel made for her photo was that I show the cross around her neck, a jubilee gift from one of the residents. I think Sister Angela enjoyed the photo session as much as I did.

I have one more sister to photograph, Sister Susan Arcaro. She’s celebrating her 50th anniversary with the Congregation of Our Lady of the Retreat in The Cenacle.
You will be able to read the story of the other sisters in upcoming issues of the paper.You can read Stephen O’Kane’s story of Sister Esther, Sister Jodi and Sister Angela in the July 21 issue of The Georgia Bulletin.

Michael Alexander, Staff Photographer

Trip to Dalton

Shrine on the campus of St. Joseph Church, Dalton

I drove to Dalton to meet with Father Paul Williams on Friday, July 15. He is the pastor of St. Joseph Church, a parish that is about 90 percent Hispanic. The story focused on the STATE immigration law, HB 87. That evening hundreds of Hispanics gathered in a lively prayer service and I figured I could speak with a few folks about the law. I wrote about it in the July 21 issue of the Georgia Bulletin.

I shot this video and then used the scene as my lede for the story:

I also took this photo of leaders of the prayer group crowded into this small room. I heard this intense sound coming from the room before I could peer in and see the scene. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was obviously heart felt.

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Also, Father Williams and his community are expected to be profiled in Time Magazine. A writer and a crew of photographers visited Dalton and the parish to take a look it from a national perspective. I'm curious to see what they saw and wrote. --Andrew