Music Ministry Across the Diocese
“Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful song.” (Psalm 100 1:2, USCCB)
The psalmist enjoins us—one of numerous calls in various books of Scripture—to sing joyfully to God.
Cantors, choirs, organists and parishioners across the diocese raise their voices in joyous song—usually led by a music director—with the accompaniment of organ, keyboard, piano and sometimes guitar, bells, trumpets and other instruments. The music may be modern or traditional—or some parishes blend the two—but all of it gives glory to God and touches the hearts, minds and spirits of congregants.
Today, parish music directors work in many situations—some serve one parish with one church building. For others, they serve a combined parish representing one or more former parishes with one or more different church buildings—often seeking to accommodate the different congregations who usually gather for Mass at their respective churches. The type of music that they offer depends on various factors, including the nature of the respective congregation and the resources available.
The Music Director’s Role
“I always try to uplift,” said Jason Volovar, music director for St. Joseph and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishes in Austintown. Volovar, while a student at Holy Family School in Poland, started taking piano lessons at the age of nine. He studied music at Youngstown State University’s (YSU) Dana School of Music, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 2016 and a master’s in 2018. He found employment as choir director for Calvary Baptist Church in Boardman, and as organist at Good Hope Lutheran Church in North Lima and later at Niles First Methodist Church. “At the same time, I worked at St. Anselm in Chesterland near Chagrin Falls one Saturday night Mass a week.”
“The organist there mentored me in Catholic liturgy,” he said. In 2019, he became music director for St. Joseph Parish, but as the Austintown churches began a closer collaboration, Volovar got more involved with Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish and is now music director at both parishes, which are working toward a full merger for 2025.
“Music to me in the Mass not only enhances the Scripture readings for the day but also brings you into the mindset of worship,” Volovar continued. Liturgical music, furthermore, helps bring back beautiful memories, fosters new and deeper thought about the Scripture readings and refocuses one’s mind from present personal difficulties, he said.
“My goal is always strong assembly singing,” said Lyn Spellman, music director of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Streetsboro. An Akron native, Spellman started playing the piano at age seven, persuading her parents to get a piano and lessons for her. “When I was in eighth grade there was a group of people in the parish who were forming a guitar group or folk group. I realized that was my beginning in Church music. At first, I was just singing. In high school, I learned to play the guitar.”
While attending Kent State University she majored in psychology. “I didn’t think I was good enough to major in music education.” Though she pursued work in retail management after graduating from Kent State in 1978, she continued to serve in music ministry at her parish. “In the 1980s I moved to Portage,” and became involved in music ministry at St. Joseph Parish in Mogadore (now part of St. John Neumann Parish) where Father Tom Dyer was pastor, “I give him the credit for mentoring me and encouraging me to take more initiative in the music field. A couple of years after that, I became music director.”
After seven years she left St. Joseph Parish and joined St. Patrick Parish in Kent, where “I played the piano at some of their Masses and sang in the choir six years.” Then in 2003, she became music director at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Streetsboro and has been serving there since.
“If liturgy is done well, all or most are moved in some fashion—with music playing a key role,” contends Dennis Roden, music director at Little Flower Parish in Canton. A North Canton native, he studied jazz guitar and musical composition at the University of North Texas, where he met his wife and became involved in music ministry at the university’s Catholic center. After graduating in 1995, he returned to Stark County. Eventually he became director of music at Our Lady of Peace Parish in Canton (now part of Christ the Servant Parish) in 1998. He also pursued graduate studies in choral directing at Kent State. In 2007, he became director of music at Little Flower Parish.
“First and foremost, [music] is to glorify God in everything that we choose and in every note and word that they sing,” said Joe Spurio, music director at St. Patrick Parish in Hubbard.
A Hubbard native, Spurio studied music education at Westminster College, where he got involved in the choir at the campus’ Newman Center. After graduating in 2017, Spurio worked in choir in grades four through 12 in the Campbell City Schools for three years.
From 2020 to 2022, he served as a graduate assistant at YSU’s Dana School of Music. In 2021, he began working at St. Patrick Parish as a cantor, taking on additional responsibilities gradually. He was eventually named music director.
“Anyone of any age, gender, race, can play in that role in glorifying of God,” Spurio continued. “There are no limits or fences for anyone who has a voice or a heart to contribute to the music ministry.”
The co-music directors of Divine Mercy Parish in Massillon—which consists of the former Massillon parishes of St. Mary, St. Joseph and St. Barbara—noted the role of music in drawing parishioners further into the life of the parish.
“Our goal is to discover how we can utilize the talents in our parish to contribute more to the life of the parish,” said co-director Kevin Kutz.
“We try to do the best we can to lead the people to a better understanding of Christ,” said Mark Thewes, also co-director. “We do the best we can to help them do the best they can.”
Thewes, a Canton native, became fascinated with the organ as a child attending Mass at St. Clement in Navarre (now part of Holy Family Parish) and soon began taking organ lessons. “My first Mass as an organist was when I was in sixth grade.” He studied organ performance at the University of Akron, earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. He was later certified at Baldwin-Wallace University in sacred music. He served for a number of years as an organist/music director at Westbrook Park United Methodist Church in Canton. In 2021, he became music director of St. Joseph Parish in Massillon.
Kutz, a Massillon native, was baptized at St. Barbara but his family later moved to Dover, Ohio. He took piano lessons at Baldwin-Wallace. In the 1970s, he began singing in the choir at St. Joseph Parish in Dover, where the music director, Mary Kay Bazzoli, later taught him organ.
He studied business at Kent State and for 30 years worked in banking but was involved with music, serving as organist at various parishes—eventually working his way to St. Mary in Massillon for a time. He credits Bazzoli for mentoring him in Catholic liturgy.
Around 2018, he became music director at St. Barbara. St. Mary, St. Barbara and St. Joseph merged in 2022 to form one parish in Massillon, and Kutz and Thewes were named co-music directors at Divine Mercy Parish in 2023.
The Styles of Sacred Music
“We’re probably more traditional than a lot of parishes,” said Roden of Little Flower Parish, “but we are more eclectic. You’ll hear traditional hymns, chants in English and Latin, and we also do some Renaissance polyphony and some contemporary music as well. We have an organist, violinists, guitarist, choir director and more variety than you might expect.”
Though she leans more toward modern liturgical music, “I’m eclectic. I love it all. I love the traditional,” Spellman of St. Joan of Arc Parish commented. She noted that many traditional hymns have been enhanced with newer, additional lyrics that provide an added dimension for a contemporary perspective.
“If the lyrics speak to me and it’s singable, I’m all for it,” Spellman added. “You can’t give the congregation new music every week,” but if a congregation is given opportunities and sufficient time to learn new hymns, she finds that they are responsive.
At St. Joseph and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishes, Volovar said, “We offer a blended form of music with traditional and contemporary.” Of the two church communities he serves, St. Joseph Parish is more inclined to traditional “and we have a Rodgers digital organ and a baby grand piano.” At Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, the music ministry employs a Yamaha digital keyboard and a 1954 Allen organ. Each of his parishes also has a contemporary group that provides music at Mass.
At Divine Mercy Parish, “We lean toward traditional,” reflecting the people of the parish and the preferences of the pastor, Father John Sheridan, Kutz said. “It’s well received. People like good music.”
For St. Patrick Parish, Spurio explains, “with most of our weekend Masses, I try to mix in two more traditional and two more contemporary, progressive or modern [hymns].” Regardless, he added, the hymns are chosen to convey the spirit of that day’s celebration of the Mass.
The Liturgical Musician’s Role
To encourage congregational singing, parishes employ either paid or volunteer cantors. Many parishes also have choirs—though the frequency in which the choirs sing at Mass varies, and some parishes even have children’s choirs. Most parishes across the diocese also employ an organ or piano—or both—or digital keyboard, and many use other instruments, including trumpets, flutes, percussion, handbells—for special occasions.
Use of trumpets and percussion, for example, are more prominent during Christmas and Easter and—to an extent, Advent—but are generally not used during Lent. For example, St. Joseph Parish uses a brass quartet with trumpet, tuba and trombone at Christmas. Some parishes also use guitar, but others do not—either because of a lack of availability or out of a preference for traditional music.
Volovar noted that, “At St. Joseph, I have five cantors, a bell choir with five volunteers and six singing in the choir,” whom he described as “wonderful and very dedicated.” There are also three musicians who play in the contemporary group. That group also has two guitarists and a drummer. Both guitarists can play trumpet when needed.
As for Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Volovar said, there are 14 volunteers in the choir. There is also a contemporary group with four guitarists, a drummer and a flutist.
For Divine Mercy Parish, Kutz said, “We have no paid staff other than Mark [Thewes] and me. We have a choir at all three churches with 15 to 20 singers each. The combined choir is about 50.”
Thewes said Divine Mercy has two bell choirs. “We ring once a month.” The bell choirs perform more frequently around Christmas. “We keep them in practice.”
In addition, Thewes said, “We have a whole bunch of instruments—at least a dozen or more trumpets, trombone, clarinets, flute. We use them wherever we can.”
As for cantors, “We probably have a good dozen or so” who are assigned regularly for weekend Mass but also for weddings and funerals and other special occasions, Thewes said.
At St. Joan of Arc Parish, Spellman noted, “We have about five musicians—including me—and I have an organist and cantors.” In addition, their adult choir “is about 15 people right now. It had been as large as 30. For many years I had a children’s choir—at one time there were 30 kids.” But fewer parents bringing their children to Mass makes recruiting for children’s choir difficult today. Spellman added, “Nothing has been the same since the pandemic.”
“Right now, I have one cantor who also plays the flute. … I have had, in the past, some brass. They come and go. I had a violinist for a while. If they are available, I’m willing to work with a live instrumentalist,” Spellman said, adding that they have some percussion occasionally. “I have no guitarist. I wish I did.”
At St. Patrick Parish, Spurio said, “We have a paid organist and choir director. Our adult choir is 30-strong, with all four voice parts. Some of them are people who sing professionally. We have 12 children in the children’s choir. We have a bell choir with 10 and one or two music teachers. We have occasional soloists or instrumentalists—oboe, clarinet, flute, trumpet, saxophone, guitar.” At Christmas the parish may hire musicians, he said.
At Little Flower Parish, “we have organ, classical guitar and piano, flute and trumpet pretty regularly,” said Roden. “We are eclectic.”
For music directors that are seeking additional resources, musicians or the opportunity to network with other music ministers in their area, the diocesan director of music, Ralph Holtzhauser, does whatever he can to support liturgical music across the diocese. Visit www.doy.org for more information.
Enhancing the Mass
Darren Faye, a lifelong parishioner of Little Flower Parish and a lay leader of prayer, said that the music ministry at his parish, “has greatly enhanced—and greatly is not even a strong enough word—my connection to the Eucharist and the Mass. And even other liturgical services,” such as Communion services during the week, he said.
“When I’m away, I miss it,” Faye added.
Faye praised Roden for his musical ability as well as his leadership. “Dennis is the leader, but he also has fantastic musicians around him. He draws musicians, singers, just with his love of music and his love of the ministry.”
In addition, Faye said, “My daughter, Leah, a high school student, is a cantor. Being a cantor—and at a younger age—has really helped her grow closer to the Church.” He quoted Saint Augustine who said, “When we sing, we pray twice,” adding, “As a parent, I appreciate that singing has led her close to the Church.”
Mo Marsinek, a parishioner at St. Joan of Arc Parish, also praised the music ministry at her parish. “It’s so very important, it’s an additional way to pray and worship together. It comes from the heart, and the way that you sing, reflects the way that you feel at the moment.”
About Spellman, Marsinek said, “She does everything she can to involve children and parishioners of all ages. You look at her and you can see the passion and feel the passion in the music.”
Andrea Peters, who is a choir member and cantor at Divine Mercy Parish, has been involved at the St. Mary location for 20 years. “Mark [Thewes] is exceptional as an organist,” she said. “Kevin [Kutz] is very exacting in his conducting the choir, and he is challenging us and gives us good tips. They both bring such talents and such experience. We’re blessed to have them.”
In addition, Peters said, “They treat everyone with such love and respect. We are like a family, but we are growing closer to the other churches’ choirs also. They bring in outside concerts with talented musicians, which draws both Catholics and non-Catholics. The people who come in are learning of the beauty of the Church and all that Catholicism offers.”
At choir rehearsal, Peters said, “We take turns singing a prayer before each practice. This helps show how important it is to bring God’s message of love to everyone. It’s important that we sing together, but also that we draw parishioners together through our music.”
The diocesan Gold Mass, which celebrates the contributions of all liturgical musicians across the six counties of the diocese, will be held Sunday, November 17, at 4 p.m. at St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown. A barbecue-style reception will follow. Please email Ralph Holtzhauser at rholtzhauser@youngstowndiocese.org to RSVP.
