Steve’s Message: Share the Joy of Singing

By Mary Donovan

If being in the choir is what gives Steve Gregory his energy, then everybody should be in a choir. Steve is principal of St. John's High School, but that's not why he's in this newsletter. Steve has been singing in St. Mary's choir since 1980. He was one of the first members of the Scola, he is a cantor and he directs the Festival Choir.

The arrangement for the interview was to meet him in his office, but he wasn’t in his office. He was striding jauntily the corridor from an English class where he has been baffling the boys with a little early-morning grammar quiz. No problem - a big smile, a sweep of the arm - please enter - and he’s ready to talk.

And talk he does, about the joy of singing in the choir, about how much the support of the priests throughout the years has made music at St. Mary's as great as it is, about how the choir is always looking for new members.

When the Scola began, it was an all-male group. When the choir was reorganized to include female voices, some of the men left, he said. He didn’t speak to that circumstance, but he made a plea for more men to join the choir – more men and younger men.

"Join up," he said. "There’s so much joy in it. It's one of those ministries that is not a task at all."

Steve moved to Shrewsbury in 1975. Five years later he joined the choir. He always wanted to sing in a choir, he said. He had sung in the Glee Club in college and he plays the piano.

He qualified that last accomplishment. "I'm happy to fill in playing as long as they don't expect too much."

He said he can't talk about music at St. Mary's without giving Rick Vacca a ton of credit.

"He's the glue that holds it all together," Steve staid. "He’s sensitive to people; knows how to ask people to do things. His good planning makes it easy."

Rick Vacca asked Steve to direct the Festival choir at the midnight Christmas Mass. Steve said he'd do it with one provision.

"As long as they know that what they see is what they get, we'll make some joyful noise he said."

The festival choir is an altogether different group, he said. There are many young people who can't commit to a year-round schedule. They sing at Christmas and they sing at Easter. It’s very relaxed, he said.

"It's come one, come all. No auditions," he said. "Just give back what God gave us."

Participation is what Steve is after. He's not urging people to do all the things he does, just sing. Sing in the choir or sing at Mass.

"When I cantor," he said, I look out, look for people singing." He opens and closes his mouth to demonstrate what he's looking for and raises his arms in the cantor's classic invitation. "It’s not me alone, guys."

It’s not that he needs company so much; it's that he wants everybody to share the joy.