St. Joseph Church celebrated the 50th anniversary of its famous Gospel Choir with a vibrant, standing-room-only event filled with praise and thanksgiving Oct. 18.
Founded in 1915 to serve African American Catholics in Old Town Alexandria, the parish was packed with friends, neighbors and parishioners honoring five decades of musical ministry.
Josephite Father Donald M. Fest, pastor, praised the choir’s profound impact on the community.
“They have preached Christ without ever stepping into a pulpit,” he said. “Music is one of the most powerful forms of evangelization.”
Father Fest is a priest with the St. Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart, an order dedicated to serve the African American community and known as the Josephites. “A song can reach the heart faster than a sermon, a melody can soften a soul that words cannot reach,” he told the congregation. “The ministry of a Gospel choir reminds us that the Gospel is not only spoken, it is sung; not only proclaimed, it is lived; (and) not only taught, it is felt.”
The Gospel Choir began in 1976 with eight members, and it was never simply about starting another music ministry, said Barbara Alston Bell, founding director. Alston Bell, who now lives in Newport News, remained at the helm until 1985. She addressed the crowd briefly before picking up the choir director’s baton one more time, for a few tribute songs. Eventually the choir grew to some 30 members. “God started it, God blessed it and God had sustained it,” she said to the crowd’s loud applause.
The anniversary celebration brought together several generations of leadership, including former conductors Jesse G. Williams Jr. and Eugene Harper Jr., the current parish music director, both of whom returned to the podium to direct tribute performances.
The ceremony featured a vibrant repertoire of traditional and contemporary Gospel staples, including: “Trials and Tribulations,” “Be Grateful,” “Jesus I Love You” and “Use Me.”
For Jeffrey E. Corry, who took the helm as director in 2023, the choir is a lifelong family affair. Baptized at St. Joseph, Corry grew up attending rehearsals as a toddler alongside his mother, Blanche Corry, and his aunt, Vancine M. Washington — both of whom remain active singing members today. “We don’t just perform, we minister,” Corry said. “Anybody can sing, but to minister, that’s work.”
Other friends joined, including those from neighboring Maryland. “Fifty years of lifting your voices is a magnificent achievement,” said Deborah Rogers, a representative of Holy Family Catholic Church, established in 1890 in Prince George’s County as a Roman Catholic mission for the Black community. “Thank you for being a beacon of faith and music for half a century,” she added.
The area director for the Josephite fathers was also present, clearly enjoying the performance: Father Cornelius K. Ejiogu noted that the members of the St. Joseph choir were the pioneers of Gospel music and choirs in Catholic churches in the United States, a movement pioneered by Father William Norwell, the first African American to lead the Josephites and an advocate for Black Catholic worship and ministry.
As for parishioner Karen Grauvagel, the Gospel Choir embodies joy, warmth and family. She said her family moved away from the area for 10 years, and when they returned six years ago, there was no question they’d come back to St. Joseph where her German husband sings in the choir. The Gospel Choir “gets people in the door that would not come otherwise,” she said.
Chapman is a freelancer from Alexandria
Black Catholic History Month
November is Black Catholic History Month. Read more about Black Catholic history in the diocese. The diocesan multicultural ministries office will host a Mass in celebration of Black Catholic History Month at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 22 at St. John Neumann Church in Reston. A reception will follow.
