Georgia Bulletin

The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

  • The Divine Child of Jesus youth choir at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Alpharetta, sings during the weekly Spanish Mass on Thursday evening. The choir has been around for five years and it has 40 members, including vocalists and musicians. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • (Front row, left to right) Karen Mora, 9, Ariadna Hernandez, 10, Camila Dodinez, 8, Alejandra Rios, 8, and Rafael Nunez, 7, sing the opening hymn during the Sept. 22 evening Spanish Mass. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • (L-r) Guadalupe Pedraza, 14, and percussionist Emmanuel Perez, 13, play beside choir director Martin Torres. He formed the choir in 2011. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Thirteen-year-old Alondra Quintana plays the mandolin in the choir as she wears the bracelets of all the bands she likes to listen to. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • (R-l) Brittany Ramirez, 13, her sister Elsa, 17, Sareli Contreras, 10 and Gabby Iniguez, 11, were four of the seven mandolin players performing with the choir. Brittany and Elsa learned how to play the instrument four years ago, while Sareli and Gabby picked it up a year ago. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • (Foreground, left to right) Kimberly Ramirez, Mariana Perez, Danna Contreras and Karen Mora sing the closing hymn during the evening Spanish Mass. Photo By Michael Alexander

The Divine Child of Jesus youth choir at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Alpharetta, sings during the weekly Spanish Mass on Thursday evening. The choir has been around for five years and it has 40 members, including vocalists and musicians. Photo By Michael Alexander

Youngsters play and sing for the Lord

By Michael Alexander, Staff Photographer | Published September 28, 2016  | En Español

Sometimes I go out on a photo assignment with one thing in mind, and then I discover something else in the process. That was the case last week when I went to St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Alpharetta, to photograph Deacon Joe Pupo.

Deacon Pupo was serving with the main celebrant and pastor, Msgr. Daniel Stack, during the 7 p.m., Thursday Spanish Mass, but my attention was drawn to the beautiful voices and instrumentation of the parish’s Divine Child of Jesus youth choir. On this particular night, in addition to the vocalists, there were 7 mandolin players, five acoustic guitar players, a bass player and some percussionists.

“This is probably my favorite Mass,” said Msgr. Stack before he started his homily. “The kids and their singing knock my socks off.”

Martin Torres put the choir together in September 2011, and today it has some 40 members, age 17 and under. Twenty-four-year-old Marcela Guzman performs with the choir under Torres’ direction and provides guitar and mandolin lessons to the children. Torres and Guzman are of Mexican decent, but many of the children’s families come from Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico.

Stephanie Iniguez, 13, and Julio Bello, 10, play with the choir’s guitar section. Both Stephanie and Julio learned how to play the guitar at age nine. Photo By Michael Alexander

Stephanie Iniguez, 13, and Julio Bello, 10, play with the choir’s guitar section. Both Stephanie and Julio learned how to play the guitar at age 9. Photo By Michael Alexander

Kelly Guartado, 12, said the choir is fun because they get to learn new things and make new friends. Twelve-year-old Christian Zuluaga has been in the choir for nearly a year. Zuluaga, who was born blind, makes the added effort of memorizing every song in the choir’s repertoire. “I enjoy singing for God,” said Zuluaga.

After Mass as Guzman stands by, Torres points to two girls he said cried when they were first learning how to play the guitar and mandolin. “The word ‘can’t’ doesn’t exist in our vocabulary,” said Guzman. “Like many others they persevered, and now they’re dedicated and gifted musicians.”

The choir rehearses on Monday evenings, and they sing on Thursdays for the 7 p.m. Spanish Mass. “The children have taught me a lot,” said Torres. “They are honest, and they give their all to the choir.” Torres thought it was important to provide the choir as an outlet to the children, so they could learn about God, avoid drugs and gangs and learn to love each other.

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