In heavenly harmony: The Singing Priests to perform at Our Lady of Peace in Turners Falls, May 22

It’s long been said that to sing is to pray twice. And a group of Catholic clergymen in western Massachusetts that truly takes that sentiment to heart is slated to spread some cheer in Franklin County later this month.

The Singing Priests have a summer concert scheduled for Our Lady of Peace at 7 p.m. on May 22 to help kick off Memorial Day weekend. The collection of roughly 12 ordained priests serenade audiences with setlists that include sacred hymns and classic popular hits from the Beatles, Bob Dylan and others.

“People don’t get to see priests in such a mundane setting,” said the Rev. Francis Reilly, the group’s director. “It’s almost like publicizing the priesthood.”

Reilly plays guitar for the group, which has a non-priest piano player. A devout fan of the Beatles and traditional Irish music, he started learning his instrument in 1971.

“I like to play guitar and sing and have fun. It’s all fun,” he said. “It’s like being a priest – you have to like doing it. It’s fun to be with the people and help them be happy and help them sing.”

Reilly, who was ordained in 1980 and is now pastor at St. Jerome’s Parish in Holyoke, said The Singing Priests do not rehearse as often as they would like because the members’ schedules do not consist of much free time. Still, he is hammering out a setlist that includes the Italian song “Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu (Volare),” the first foreign-language song he ever learned.

“We’ll have a lot of joy in our presentation,” Reilly said. “It will be a joyful night.”

He explained the original group started in the 1980s and then kept evolving. He started spearheading it about five years ago.

The Singing Priests were asked to perform at Our Lady of Peace by the Rev. Stan Aksamit, who attended seminary with Reilly at the American College of the American College of Louvain in Belgium.

“It seems that there’s always been someone that’s great at music that gets the group together. And they’ve had concerts at various locations. It just shows the joy and the talent that [priests] have. It’s incredible,” he said. “It’s very uplifting. The quality of their voices, they way that they blend together … it’s obvious they’re having a good time. They’re very enthusiastic. It just lifts everybody’s spirits.”

Reilly said the group will oblige Aksamit’s request to perform the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art.”

One of the performers since 2019 has been the Rev. Onyekachukwu Valentine Nworah, known as Father Val. He joined the group when he was a transitional deacon, the step before a seminarian is ordained as a priest.

“I’m a singer myself and I love singing. I enjoy singing with my brother priests ... as an opportunity to get together and praise the Lord with our talent and our voices and the gifts that He has given to us,” he said. “All of that is really beautiful.”

Ordained in 2020, Nworah is now at the Newman Catholic Center on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and at St. Brigid’s Parish, also in Amherst. He grew up singing in a church choir with his parents in his native Nigeria.

“I just love any good music,” he said.

Nworah compared the group’s singers to a soccer team’s utility players.

“We sing anything and everything that Father Reilly brings to us,” he said. “We don’t really get together as often as we should, but we try to get together at least three times before every concert that we have.”

Our Lady of Peace is located at 90 Seventh St. in Turners Falls.

No tickets are needed for the May 22 concert but there is a suggested $10 donation for a worthy cause to be selected at a later date. Contact Marguerite Noga, pastoral minister at Our Lady of Peace at 413-863-2585 or [email protected] with any questions.

Reach Domenic Poli at: [email protected] or 413-930-4120.