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SLM Children's Choir
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MISSION To nurture a strong relationship with Jesus among the young church and their families, fostering their active participation in the life of SLM parish through liturgical ministries and outreach of the Church and to prepare them for dedicated Christian leadership at SLM and beyond.MEMBERSHIP
CC Team membership includes boys and girls of registered families at St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church who have already made their First Communion up through the 8th grade, inclusive. Those who complete their 8th grade year "graduate" into the Youth Choir, which sings at 5 PM on Sunday Mass.
The CC Team is first a ministry choir and then a performance choir. Unlike other children’s choirs, which sing only once a month at Mass, the CC Team serves the SLM community weekly at the 11:30 AM Mass.
Practices:
WEEKLY PRACTICE & MASS SCHEDULE
Every Wednesday, 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm in the church and on scheduled Sundays 1/2 hour before Mass
This year’s CC TEAM season is exciting! Here's a quick look ahead:- CC TEAM will perform at SLM’s Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony.
- CC TEAM will serve at the 4 PM Mass on Christmas Eve.
- Qualifying CC TEAM members will participate in the Southern California Choral Festival of the American Federation of Pueri Cantores in March 2025.
- CC TEAM will be on track to attend the 2029 International Federation of Pueri Cantores (IFP) International Congress Rome, Italy, in December 2028-January 2029
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$10.00 CC TEAM GEAR
Mandatory for all teammates, the CC TEAM gear consists of a folder, A-Z tabs and music (to be provided at practices).$25.00 CC TEAM UNIFORM
This is mandatory for all teammates. To determine the correct size, please measure the child's height from the top of the head to the floor and give his/her measurements in feet and inches.
$10.00 CC TEAM V-STOLE
The royal blue v-stole is worn over the uniform. It is a one-size-fits-all.
$45.00
Total Per Child- For a family with additional qualifying children:
$35 for the second child,
$25 for the third child, and so on.
NOTE: No child(ren) will be denied the wonderful experience of being in the CC TEAM because of financial hardship. Please email Coach Les, in confidence, at [email protected] or speak to him directly. - For a family with additional qualifying children:
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The Children’s Choir (CC) uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of the CC Team while participating in the CC Team at St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church. It includes a robe, v-stole, black dress shoes (no sneakers, tennis shoes, sandals, Crocs, etc.)
The CC Team uniform:
- makes members of the CC Team stand out of the crowd of adults, so that they can be easily recognizable—especially for security and safety reasons (you can’t miss seeing a child in CC Team uniform!);
- affirms the discipline of music, ministry, liturgy, spirituality, and teamwork;
- encourages children to behave positively while wearing their CC Team uniform in Church;
- distinguishes members of the CC Team for the ministry they do;
- evokes sameness, without any difference;
- provides a sense of commonality and solidarity that develops among members of the CC Team;
- not only makes members of the CC Team feel proud but also has an imposing effect on others and, with the presence of a child in a CC Team uniform, can change the mood of people around;
- results in considerable conservation of time and energy for the members and their families (especially on Sunday morning), as they don’t have to choose again and again the clothes to be worn in Church;
- promotes a sense of belonging and community;
- promotes the sense of equality: the CC Team uniform brings everyone to the same table (no matter the economic or social status of the families involved), thus inculcating a sense of equality among those wearing the CC Team uniform;
- encourages mutual growth: wearing the CC Team uniform fosters caring for their fellow members; members care not only for their growth but the growth of their peers as well;
- fosters traits necessary for a person as an individual and the CC Team--as a whole--to thrive and prosper.
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LES RANGEL-SANTOSis the Director of Worship: Liturgy & Music at SLM. Coach Les studied choral conducting under the late, great Paul Salamunovich at Loyola Marymount University and theology and art at Universitá Loyola in Rome, Italy. His graduate studies centered on pastoral liturgy. He studied psalmody from Fr. Joseph Gelineau SJ at Gonzaga University. Les is a past member of the Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and has served as its chair of the music committee. He is also a founding member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM). Moreover, Les served at Ft. MacArthur Chapel as director of music for both Catholic and Protestant communities at the Los Angeles Air Force Base. Coach Les is currently a member of the American Federation Pueri Cantores, a children’s choral organization of the Catholic Church. At the age of 15, Les began his ministry in music and liturgy at his home parish, St. Thomas Aquinas, in Monterey Park, where he met his future wife, Monica. Since then, he has developed more than 37 cantors and music directors, including his two sons, to serve the Church.
MONICA RANGEL-SANTOS
has more than 30 years of experience working in liturgical ministry as a cantor, soloist and director of children’s choirs. Her professional experience as a child development specialist enhances her work as a volunteer coach of the Children’s Choir, with a passion for building musicians and leaders through her work in Music Ministry. Coach Monica has recorded with Oregon Catholic Press and GIA Publications (Chicago) for liturgical music composers such as Chris de Silva, Marty Haugen, Tony Alonso, Liam Lawton, Bob Hurd, and Jaime Cortez.
Other Coaches
Diana Brownson (accompanist), Sarah Bacon and Jon Hauer.
The Children’s Choir of
St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church
is a member of the
American Federation of Pueri Cantores.
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Have you ever played in a team sport? Society easily accepts as gospel-truth the fact that a basketball team has to be a unified machine.
The coach calls the warm-up time ½ hour to an hour before the game, and everyone arrives on time. “On time” is BEFORE warm-up. No one dares to come after the warm-up has begun, lest he/she gets the ire of the coach (and the teammates!).The coaches, forwards, center, guards, and point guard always arrive before practice or warm-up begins. No one disputes this. No one argues with the coach that it would be too much to ask the forwards to come to practice or warm-up on time. If a player does not come to the warm-up, the coach usually chooses a substitute from the bench to replace the late or absent teammate. It is what it is. And this is accepted without question.The same is true for the choir as a team sport in a church setting. The coach (choir director), forwards (choir), center (cantors), guards (psalmists), and point guard (instrumentalists) arrive on time for the team practice earlier in the week and the “warm-up” before the game. Whoa! But the Mass is not like a basketball game!?! No, the Mass is not like a basketball game. Actually, the Mass IS MORE than a basketball game. The Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life! But if we accept the basketball game team “rules” (and, for that matter, all sports team rules) so easily and without question, then the practices or “warm-up times” and bringing all your music to the Church choir activities need to be taken in even higher regard. Right? Right!
Would you come to your soccer practice late, even once? Would you come to your volleyball tournament without your uniform or gear?
Come to the team practice (rehearsal) or game (Mass) on time with all your gear (things you need for the ministry):- Team Uniform: Burgundy Robe, Royal Blue V-Stole
- Folder with music
- Pencil
BE A TEAM PLAYER!
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