Faith, Companionship, and Purpose: The Choral Identity of the Ateneo College Ministry Group
Photo taken by Dani Regis at Ateneo OrSem Lundag
If there’s one thing that I’m definitely sure of after my four years in the Ateneo, it would be that choral music is a tradition that is fostered among students in the Loyola Schools. Besides the very remarkable and outstanding choir of the Ateneo College Glee Club (ACGC), many student groups and organizations in Ateneo were able to develop choirs within their respective communities throughout the years and each of them has something that sets them apart from others. Upon looking into the various student organizations in Ateneo, I decided to look into the choral tradition of an organization that considers the choir as an integral part of its service: the Ateneo College Ministry Group (ACMG).
The Ateneo College Ministry Group was founded in 1982 by Fr. Bill Kreutz, SJ in response to the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola on the beauty of the sacramental life, particularly the Eucharist, in deepening one’s relationship with God. With this, ACMG’s main service is to sing and serve in the Mass and make the Eucharistic celebration more meaningful especially for the Loyola Schools community. Aside from the Mass, ACMG’s choir often gets the chance to perform in other events. They would be invited by various organizations and groups within Ateneo to lead the invocation of their events. The choir would also be invited to sing in weddings, wake masses, and even the national anthem which is alongside the invocation. Of course, ACMG wouldn’t definitely forget to include caroling as part of the choir’s opportunities to share their music. In recent years, ACMG has been known by various students in the Loyola Schools as the choir that always gets in the Top 3 places in the Blue Harmonies, an annual inter-org choir competition hosted by ACGC, and a group that stands out because of the amazing group of talented singers that the organization has nurtured. However, ACMG’s Choir Committee Head, Yani Pulido (IV – BS AMF), asserts that ACMG and the choir is more than just a group of people who sing and blend voices very well.
Being the leader of the choir for what is probably the longest school year in Ateneo so far, Yani recounts what the ACMG choir is really all about and for whom or what do the members sing for. Yani explains that music is universal and that being able to bring songs that are full of meaning in the celebration of the Eucharist helps in bringing the community together. He would notice that it is because of the beautiful songs being played and sung in the Mass that people are brought to listen and sing along with more fervor and emotion. It is through this that people in the Mass become more connected to one another. For Yani, ACMG believes in the meaning of the liturgical songs that the choir sings and the bonds that are made out of singing these songs together. It is because of this that the choir’s musical repertoire is mostly composed of Jesuit liturgical songs composed by some of the choir’s favorite Jesuit composers: Fr. Manoling V. Francisco, Fr. Arnel Aquino, and Fr. Fruto Ramirez.
Upon asking what makes ACMG’s choir unique among all the other choirs in campus, I was able to learn that it has been a habit of ACMG to sing songs with utmost solemnity and emotion. Although this doesn’t give much room for flexibility of genres, the choir is able to exude the message of the songs and the Mass through the solemn yet awe-inspiring sound that the choir is able to produce. According to Yani, everyone in the choir is taught that there is always a message in mind every time they sing, whether it’d be just the usual Mass in Ordinary Time or the important institutional Masses. It is because of this that ACMG’s choir was able to stay consistent in nurturing the members and being able to perform while always bringing the ACMG identity. Yani says that it shouldn’t be the primary goal of the choir head to make the choir grow better musically. In leading congregations of people during the Mass, it becomes more relevant for the choir to always stay true to their roots - making the celebration of the Mass more meaningful. In exerting the Atenean value of magis, the ACMG choir achieves excellence through faith, companionship, and purpose.