Haley Cafarella | Correspondent

To celebrate the talent of young musicians, St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish, Spring Lake, is hosting its second Songs of Faith Festival the evening of July 16.

The concert, part of the parish Spirituality and the Arts program, will feature young artists, including recent winners of the Grace Gimbel Young Artist Scholarship competition of the Suburban Music Study Club of Madison, N.J., and “Five 4 One,” a praise band consisting of the Reynolds family, who are members of St. John the Baptist Parish, Allentown. John and Andrea Reynolds are the music directors of the Allentown parish’s Canticle Choir. Along with vocals, the family also plays the guitar, keyboard and various percussive instruments. Micayla, 17, and her mother interchange on vocals and keyboard; Caroline, 16, and Anthony, 14, are on vocals and percussion, and John performs vocals and guitar.

The concert will also feature the town of Ocean Grove and St. Catharine-St. Margaret choirs under the direction of Dr. Cindy Bell of Hofstra University, N.Y., and Dr. Jarred Tafaro, St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish music director. Students from St. Rose Grammar School, Belmar, and St. Catharine School will also recite their prize-winning poems recently recognized in the annual Poetry Competition for the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. 

The concept for the show came about during a Spirituality Committee meeting in January 2016, led by Father Harold Cullen, parish pastor, and attended by parishioner Michaline Manno, who suggested presenting the winners of the Suburban Music Study Club. Manno has not only chaired its annual March Young Artist Scholarship Competition since 2000, she is also the chairwoman of the Poetry Competition for the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Court St. Elizabeth, Avon. Some of the young scholarship winners performed at a concert in May in St. Catharine Church.

“Christ is at the center of this worship and praise group, as it is for all the performers. Hopefully, those feelings will project and spread into the hearts of all attendees during this marvelous evening of music-making for the greater Glory of God,” Manno said, adding that the audience will be able to sing with the 70-voice, combined choir throughout the concert, including during George Frideric Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”  

The concert will be held at 7 p.m. in St. Catharine Church, 215 Essex Ave., Spring Lake. For more information, contact Manno at [email protected] or call the parish at 732-449-5765.