On March 25, 1970, a small blurb appeared in the Carey Progressor Times: Community Choir to Be Organized. All men and women older than high school age interested in forming a community choir were encouraged to attend a meeting in the band room of the high school. “All types of music will be sung,” stated the blurb. Brother Paul Faroh, OFM Conv., the director of the Shrine Chorale, had attended a concert at the Fort Wayne cathedral and thought that forming a community choir in Carey would be a great idea. With inter-denominational collaboration between the local Catholic and Protestant groups having been a success in other facets of town life, organizing an ecumenical musical group was a great opportunity. Fast forward about eighteen months, and the Carey Ecumenical Choir as we know it today was preparing for its first ever Christmas concert.
In 1971, four local choir directors came together to lead the first Christmas concert: John Raymaley, director of the Christ Lutheran Church Choir and music teacher at Wynford High School; Ronald Croy, director of the Grace United Methodist choir and director of music at Vanlue Schools; James Roynon, director the Youth Choir of Memorial Methodist Church, and Brother Paul Faroh, OFM Conv., director of the Shrine Chorale at Our Lady of Consolation. The choir was accompanied by Mrs. Lyle Orians of Christ Lutheran Church, Sister Andrea Inkrott of Our Lady of Consolation, and Donna Orians of Grace Methodist. The first choir of over fifty singers presented a concert of a cappella works as well as some accompanied by organ and piano. That first concert on December 19, 1971, attended by almost 800 people, was a splendid success.
Following the success of the first concert, the Choir returned for its second concert in 1972. Although initial plans were to rotate the concert location amongst the area churches, the size of the audience in 1971 illustrated that only the basilica was large enough to accommodate the crowd. In 1972, the Carey Ecumenical Choir received the honor of singing for the taped Christmas Day Mass to be shown on Channel 13. The Mass was celebrated by Bishop John Donovan of the Diocese of Toledo. It was the first time in diocesan history that an ecumenical choir sang for a Catholic Mass celebrated by a bishop. The choir, numbering 76 members with nearly two-thirds being non-Catholics, had a little over a week to learn music and the order and flow of the liturgy.
For the next eleven years, concerts continued with membership consistently hovering between 60 and 70. Unfortunately in 1984, no director could be found, and no concert was presented. This truly proved to be the spark which ignited members of the community because 1985 was a fantastic return of the choir—nearly 100 singers joined to ensure the annual tradition made its reappearance!
In 1987, the Choir invited New York Metropolitan Opera tenor Robert Nagy and his wife, Vincenza, a soprano, as featured soloists. Sadly, they fell ill and were unable to attend; however, area vocalists stepped up to fill in and sang with the 90 member choir.
With a special Marian Year proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in 1988, the Basilica & Shrine scheduled special events to celebrate and commemorate the year since the basilica is under a title of Mary. As the kick-off of these monthly events at the Shrine, the choir presented the only Spring Concert in its history on April 24. Sixty-six members joined this special edition of the Choir. That same year in
December, portions of the Choir’s 17th annual Christmas concert were featured on WBGU-TV on two separate occasions.
In 1991, a chapter closed in the choir’s history. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the choir bid farewell to Fr. Paul Faroh who was sent by the Franciscans to southern Indiana. Membership in the choir that year was 132 singers—the highest number in the choir’s history up to that point. Throughout the 1990s, membership in the choir was at its all-time high with numbers each year averaging 130+. The choir celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1997. In 1998, the choir featured John Hines as a soloist. He was a Heidelberg College graduate and one of eight international finalists to perform in 1996 at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The 2000s brought significant changes to the Ecumenical Choir. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the choir closed another chapter in 2001. Donna Orians, who had served as one of the principal
accompanists, planning committee members, and the group’s unofficial historian, “retired” from the choir. Even though she had fractured her right wrist in October, she still managed to rehearse. She had her cast off in early December and played for her final concert on December 16, 2001. The following year on December 15, 2002, John Raymaley directed his final concert with the Ecumenical Choir. The legacy that he had helped begin 32 years prior was still going strong with over 90 choir members in the choir that year. John and Jack Gerding, the current OLC Director discussed potential replacements and asked Patricia Murphy to replace John.
In 2007, northwest Ohio winter struck and postponed the concert. Originally scheduled for December 16, it had to be moved to the 23rd due to snow. Despite the weather hurdle from the previous week, John Raymaley, Donna Orians, Sr. Veronica Nowakowski, and Fr. Paul Faroh were able to return and attend the concert. For the first time, the OLC Children’s Choir sang for the prelude. Three years later, the weather struck again and unfortunately for the first time in the choir’s history, the concert had to be cancelled. In subsequent years, the concert time was moved earlier in the day so there would be some light outside for travel in case there was bad weather. This change proved to be helpful in rebuilding audience attendance and choir membership which had been waning somewhat the past few seasons. The rest of the 2010s continued with membership hovering between 80 and 100 members each year.
With the COVID pandemic of 2020, all the Arts came to a screeching halt and the Ecumenical Choir was certainly not exempt. Painful as it was, there were no concerts in 2020 or 2021 due to the
pandemic. The following year, due to no director of music at OLC, a concert was not able to be held. Upon Anthony Gallina being hired at OLC in January of 2023, he and Patricia Murphy coordinated the return of the Choir for its 49th concert on December 10. Sixty-two singers joined to bring back the annual tradition.
In 2024, the Choir celebrated its Golden Jubilee with its 50th Anniversary Concert. During the concert, former member and director, Matthew Armstrong, returned to Carey to conduct his composition, “Comfort, Comfort, These My People.” The work had been composed and dedicated to the Choir in 1993. Current director, Anthony Gallina, composed a setting of the text “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” for five part choir, brass quintet, and piano. The choir world premiered this piece. Finally, John Raymaley, the only surviving original director, returned to the Carey to conduct the final piece of the concert: “The Lord Bless You and Keep You.” Following the 2024 Concert, Patricia Murphy announced her retirement having co-directed the choir for 23 years.
2025 was a big year for the basilica in Carey: it was the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Consolation, the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the church, and the Ordinary Jubilee in the Catholic Church. To mark this momentous occasion, the Choir held a spring concert for only the second time in its history. Seventeen members comprised the “spring edition” of the choir, but they sounded like 60!
Directors of the Ecumenical Choir
John Raymaley: 1971-1978, 1985-2002
Bro. (Fr.) Paul Faroh: 1971-1976, 1985-1991
James Roynon: 1971-1972
Ronald Croy: 1971
Donna Orians: 1972
Richard Geib: 1973
Bruce Koons: 1977-1978
Vince Brown: 1977-1978
Paul Giles: 1978, 1980
Matthew Armstrong: 1978-1979
Eileen Buckland: 1978-1983
Dave Mowery: 1979-1983
Bro. Ambrose Eischens: 1981-1982
Sr. Ritamarie Miller: 1983
Dennis Clark: 1985
William Seymour III: 1985
James Kitzler: 1985
Phil Lortz: 1986-1996
Karl Stephan: 1986-1990
Carolyn Huston: 1986-1988
Connie Goshe: 1987-1989
Christine Meyer: 1989-1990
Bev (Chapman) Roby: 1998-1999
Jack Gerding: 2000-2003, 2010-2019
Patricia Murphy: 2003-2019, 2023-2024
Shawn Daly: 2004-2005
Travis Powell: 2006-2008
Matthew Walicke: 2009
Anthony Gallina: 2023-present