You Can Join Choir on Vatican Trip to Sing for Pope Francis

Joe Balistreri, director of the Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit, said donations are needed to help send the 40 members of the choir to sing as Pope Francis celebrates Mass for the Catholic Day of the Epiphany on Jan. 6. (Screenshot via YouTube)

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The Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit will sing for Pope Francis early next year, and the trip to the Vatican is being opened to non-choir members as well.

The choir was invited last month by the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel Choir to sing at a Mass where Pope Francis will be celebrating the Catholic Feast Day of the Epiphany on Jan. 6.

The $3,800 cost for the eight-day trip includes $200 to help defray the cost for the 40-member chorus to travel to Italy, Joe Balistreri, director of the Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit and coordinator of music ministries for the archdiocese, told the Detroit Free Press.

Learn more about donating to the campaign to defray travel costs. Other fundraisers include a June 7 Mass Mob at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Detroit, and a $50-a-plate fund-raising dinner on June 13 also at St. Matthew Catholic Church.

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Balistreri said it’s important for all members of the choir, whose members include both college students and retirees, to make the trip, but financial help is needed for that to happen.

“All our members contribute to our rich sound and how we perform, and that’s the reason we were chosen for this honor,” Balistreri told the Free Press. “That’s why it’s important we make it possible for all of our members to travel to Rome to sing for the pope.”

More information about the trip is found on the Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit website.

Click here to listen to the choir’s rendition of Respighi’s “Launda,” which was submitted to Vatican as part of the audition process.

Below, watch a video about the fundraising campaign.