The retail stores are getting ready for holiday shopping, but the Daughters of St. Paul choir has been thinking Christmas for months! A lot goes into a concert season, but the first thing that happens, usually in May, is determining the music and choosing a title that expresses the meaning of the concerts for that year. This year, the Christmas concerts are centering on celebration: “Celebrate Christmas.” Sr. Margaret Timothy, manager of Pauline Studios comments, “We have to live the true spirit of the season, the true spirit, which is the birth of Christ. We’ve chosen songs and are developing the concerts so that people can really celebrate Christmas in its fullest meaning: the coming of Jesus who gave us the ultimate gift…the gift of redemption so that we might be united with him and his Father in heaven. Soon the holiday spirit will be everywhere with festivity, shopping, gifts and decorations. The holiday IS Christmas!”

 There will be 11 sisters touring this year for 10 concerts on the East Coast in eight different locations:

 Sr. Sean Mayer
Sr. Maria Kim Bui
Sr. Fay Josephine Pele
Sr. Tracey Dugas
Sr. Julia Darrenkamp
Sr. Anne Joan Flanagan
Sr. Mary Martha Moss
Sr. Nancy Usselmann
Sr. Helena Burns
Sr. Margaret Timothy Sato
Sr. Bridget Ellis 

“When I set out with my sisters for a tour to share the message of Christmas and the gospel,” says Sr. Timothy, “I think of Jesus sending out the 72 disciples as it is recounted in the New Testament. He sent them to the towns and villages ahead of him to preach the good news. When we go out on tour and see all those people sitting in front of us it is as if we are giving them the Word of God through our presence and our music. In a way we are leaving them the Word of God in the memories they have of our time together, the songs they’ll continue to sing in their hearts during the Christmas season, the happiness that lifted their spirits and helped them realize that God is still with them!”