Mike was the consensus choice of those
who participated in the Search Committee (a 9-member
group of staff and parishioners) and also the clear
choice among the members of our SJV Music Ministry
who participated in the auditions. Mike will join
our staff on July 1 and will be at all of our Masses
the weekend of July 5-6.
Mike’s education and ministerial experience is both rich and varied. Coming from the Diocese of Stockton, Mike served most recently as the Director of Music Ministries for the Cathedral Parish of the Annunciation and for diocesan liturgical celebrations. He also served as Supervisor/Advisor of Music Ministry programs for the 34 parishes in the Stockton diocese.
He also directed six performing groups forming Cathedral Music Ministry: Adult Choir (40 members), Junior Choir (50 members), Teen Band (12 members), Bell Choir (15 members), Scholar of Cantors (8 members), and the Scholar of Cantors – Junior (9 students).
He has worked in all aspects of music ministry and has a strong background in Liturgy. Mike has a great depth of experience in choral conducting and voice performance. He has worked with a number of different instrumentalists and is himself an accomplished musician on both the piano and organ. Mike has been a soloist, accompanist, and on-stage performer with opera, orchestra, and choruses in Missouri, Texas, Florida and California.
I would like to thank each and every one of you for your patience, perseverance, and prayer as we worked through the DLM selection process. I am very grateful for your generous support of Vicki Fawns as our interim director and for her great help in shepherding our music ministry through this 8+ month transition.
We were fortunate to have a number of very talented people express an interest in our DLM position. Finding the “right fit” for the varied dimensions of our liturgical music ministry and our parish community was time consuming but well worth it! Mike is a “right fit” for us.
Our choirs have begun their summer break after last weekend’s celebration of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on May 24-25. As usual, we will have a cantor and accompanist at our summer weekend Masses. Vicki will continue to be our accompanist through July 24-25 when Mike comes back from a previously scheduled engagement.
I would like to share with you the comments offered by a parishioner and choir member at the Cathedral Parish of the Annunciation (Stockton):
“Mike has more than lived up to the challenges we heaped on him, when he assumed the Director position that day. Could he take a struggling and disjointed music program and build it into a true aid to worship in our parish? Could he successfully recruit new singers to the sadly depleted choirs and improve the overall quality of music for our services? Could he meet the expectations of the parish and the diocese for special services and events?...
Michael Joyce has achieved all those challenges and more. Our choirs thrive under his leadership. He is a teacher who can take the young voices of our parish school children and turn them into angel choirs. He can work with adults who come with little or no music reading skill or experience and teach them to read and sing in four-part harmony, even unaccompanied.”
“Finally, I must say that Mike has inspired in all of us the understanding of our music as worship and prayer.
His knowledge and understanding of the liturgy and of liturgical music has enriched all of us as he explains weekly the selections and how they fit with the readings. No longer do we see ourselves as performers on a stage, but with Mike’s tutelage, as helpers to the congregation when they raise their voices to worship in song…”.
Again, thank you for your support and prayers! We all look forward to Mike’s arrival to our SJV community!
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