The Cathedral Choir's Mission

Provide an enriched worship experience and enhance the life of the arts
and ecumenical communities through the performance of sacred choral
music in its intended setting.

The primary focus of the Cathedral music program is to support the assembly at liturgy in the singing of the hymns and responses, and to lift their hearts and minds through the great patrimony of music that belongs to the Church. Another very important part of the mission of the Cathedral is its outreach to the greater community through music in non-liturgical settings.

In the course of a season, thousands of people come to the Cathedral for musical events. For many of these concert-goers, this is their first encounter with the Cathedral. For many others, this is their first connection with the Catholic Church. The Church recognizes the importance of concerts:

Our churches have for a very long time played an important role in the cultural life of cities and towns. Is not the church the house of the People of God? Has it not been in churches that this people has had its first aesthetic experiences in seeing the beauty of the building, its mosaics, paintings, statues, or sacred objects; in hearing organ music or the singing of the choir? Outside of liturgical celebrations there can be a place for religious music in the form of a concert. This can be an occasion offered to Christians who are no longer practicing their faith, or even to non-Christians who are seeking God, to have access to a true religious experience, beyond a simple aesthetic emotion.

(Pope John Paul II, 1987)