Singing their praises
Melody Warrener of Egg Harbor City and the Rev.
Monsignor Louis A. Marucci, executive director of the Jubilate Deo Chorale and
Orchestra, rehearse in Glassboro recently for the upcoming concert.
The Jubilate Deo Chorale and Orchestra will perform a
musical salute to military veterans this weekend in Washington Township
By BOB TULINI
Courier-Post Staff
Members and veterans of the armed forces - thank you for protecting us and our
freedom.
That is the purpose and the message of a patriotic concert the Jubilate Deo
Chorale and Orchestra of the Diocese of Camden will perform Saturday and Sunday
in Washington Township. "America! A Pilgrim's Prayer, A Patriot's
Dream" will feature special arrangements of just about every patriotic song
in the United States of America, a touch of drama and acknowledgement of the
great sacrifices made by servicemen and women through the years, said the Rev.
Monsignor Louis A. Marucci, executive director of the ensemble.
"We want to send a message that affirms and validates all of the people who
are serving in the armed forces or have gone before us in the armed forces and
have given their service and their lives so we can enjoy the freedom we
enjoy," Marucci said. "We live in a culture that seems to have
forgotten that aspect of patriotism."
The program will include an overture of patriotic songs, the recitation of a
portion of the U.S. constitution, narration by an actress portraying Betsy Ross
and selections of songs that celebrate America.
Members of Jubilate Deo Chorale (left to right) Lorraine
Fitting of Egg Harbor City, Donna Marie Berchtold of South Egg Harbor and Lynn
Thibault of Pitman rehearse for the concert of patriotic music.
Members and veterans of the United States Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and
Coast Guard are being invited to attend and will be recognized during the
concert. Each branch of the military will be represented by flag bearers.
All of this will build to the presentation of the American flag as a finale.
The ensemble has a number of veterans in it, including Louis B. Gotthold, who
sings bass. The 69 year-old Moorestown resident and Army veteran said he
considers this concert a thank you to military members who gave their lives for
us and our country.
"It is a way of expressing gratitude to God for all that we enjoy in this
country and to the guys who made that possible, the guys who gave their lives to
make that possible, the guys who did the real work," Gotthold said.
Marucci and his brother, the Rev. Monsignor Carl J. Marucci, who conducts the
ensemble, developed the program as a different way to carry out the group's
mission of celebrating spirituality through music.
"We are going to be talking about the gift that we have of freedom and some
of the sins we may have committed with that gift of freedom, such as (delaying)
women's right to vote, the issue of slavery, the assassination of Martin Luther
King Jr.," the executive director said. "We are going to show how
freedom can be used in the wrong way, ask God for mercy and commit to using
freedom in the right way."
The Jubilate Deo Chorale and Orchestra is an 83-member chorus and 73-member
professional symphonic orchestra founded in 1991 by the Marucci brothers, both
priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden. The group has performed to sell
out crowds at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York. In South Jersey the
group has performed its annual Christmas and Easter programs to sell-out crowds
as well.