LENTEN EVENING OF SONG

Composer Dan Schutte coming back to perform in the Albany Diocese

Liturgical composer Dan Schutte, seen here preforming at last years Lenten Evening of Songs and Lenten Retreat at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Albany, is coming back to the Albany Diocese for another concert/retreat weekend on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29 at Christ the King Church in Guilderland. (Provided photo)

A night of powerful prayer and peaceful music is coming back to the Albany Diocese

Liturgical composer Dan Schutte is making his return to the Capital District to offer another Lenten Evening of Song and a Lenten Retreat at Christ the King Church (20 Sumter Ave.) in Guilderland on Friday, March 28, and Saturday, March 29.

Schutte will lead both the Evening of Song on Friday (beginning at 7 p.m.) followed by the Lenten Retreat on Saturday morning (9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) Guests are welcome to attend one or both events. 

The event was first offered last year thanks to the Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) Albany Chapter which spearheaded and sponsored the retreat. IVC is a national, non-profit service organization that helps connect men and women with local opportunities to serve those in need to help transform lives for the better.

Recruiting Schutte to perform was the Albany chapter’s first public event since its inception in 2019 and it started them off with a bang. The Friday night Lenten Evening of Song drew over 400 attendees last year and the Saturday morning retreat drew a crowd of 100.

Kathleen Burgess, regional director for the IVC Albany chapter, said both events received such praise that she wanted to try and offer it again.

“There’s power in music, and there’s power in coming together as a community, and I think the Evening of Song brought that both together,” she said. “People coming together by prayer through music was just really powerful.”

Schutte, an American composer of Catholic and contemporary Christian liturgical music, has been at the core of many churches’ liturgies for over 50 years. He is best known for his popular hymn, “Here I am, Lord.” 

Attendees can expect more than just music at the Friday night event: “It’s not a concert; it’s an evening of song,” Burgess explained. “Dan’s songs are really rooted in Scripture, so it’s really praying through song. To have 400 people singing their hearts out it was just a spirit-filled, powerful event. I don’t think I can put words on it, except that the Holy Spirit was present, God was present, and it was a holy, blessed event.”

On Saturday, Schutte will lead attendees through quiet meditations, reflections and small group discussions on faith. 

“It was a mix of things that made the morning very prayerful in different ways,” Burgess said. “It was more of the still, small voice of the Spirit. It was more reflective, whereas the evening before was prayer through music; this was a lot of quiet time and listening.”

While last year’s concert was offered just before Holy Week, this year allows attendees to come together in the middle of their Lenten journeys to pray and share their experiences as one.

“Our Lenten journeys, while they may be singular … we do it as a church, we do it as a community,” Burgess said. “So to be together as a community of believers, who are on this journey individually and collectively, this is a way of reminding ourselves that yes, I have my own Lenten journey, but I’m in the company of a lot of others who are also on their Lenten journey.”

Added Burgess: “I have no doubt in my mind this will be a blessing for those who come to either or both programs; it will be a blessing.”

Registration for each program is $15 or $25 for both programs. Tickets can be purchased through the IVC’s website at www.ivcusa.org/Schutte. Tickets will also be sold at the door, but registration beforehand is encouraged. For more information, contact IVC Albany at [email protected].