The Deacon's Bench
In case you missed it, here are some highlights from last night’s big event in Washington, featuring the singing Dominican nuns, courtesy Catholic News Service:
Some background:
After being introduced as our “very own caroling angels,” the 14 sisters assembled in Washington sang the Christmas classic “Carol of the Bells.”
What they had planned to sing was being kept a secret until the day of the ceremony, [publicist Monica] Fitzgibbons told Catholic News Service in a Nov. 27 telephone interview from Naples, Florida, home to the DeMontfort Music record label, which releases the nuns’ music.
The order hit the top spot on the Billboard classical music charts a year ago with their third album, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring: Christmas With the Dominican Sisters of Mary.” In fact, it was that CD that won them a spot to perform during the ceremony.
“I’ve been in the music business for a long time, and the promoter was a friend of a friend,” Fitzgibbons said. “They had the Christmas album out. … This is put on by the National Parks (Service), so I submitted it that way.” It was so long ago, she admitted, “I just forgot about it.”
“They’re not Beyonce, they’re just kind of doing this and want to put Christ in Christmas,” Fitzgibbons added. “Can you imagine Christmas without Christmas music?”
Asked how they got from their motherhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to the nation’s capital, Fitzgibbons replied, “The National Parks flew them in. … They’re ‘Nuns on the Plane.’ They had no choice. That’s what was offered to them. They live in poverty, so it was the National Parks that arranged for their transportation.”
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