It's not unusual for
the director of the Notre Dame Folk Choir, Steven Warner '80M.A.,
to walk into the Basilica or somewhere else where a wedding is
taking place and hear "Set Your Heart on the Higher Gifts."
If the bride and
groom are knowledgeable Christians, they're likely to recognize
the source of the lyrics, especially the last line of the refrain:
"These three gifts are all that remain: faith, hope and love,
and the greatest is love." They're from Saint Paul's first letter
to the Corinthians.
They're less likely
to realize that the composer of this contemporary hymn is standing
right there in their midst: Steve Warner.
The Folk Choir, which
Warner founded after completing his master's in theology/liturgy
at the University in 1980, celebrated its 25th anniversary in
May with a reunion concert in the Basilica a week before commencement.
The event highlighted the group's development from a handful of
singers and musicians to more than 60 members today, including
directors and student assistants. The choir tours widely every
year, including seven trips so far to Ireland. It even has its
own jumbo-sized endowment.
Besides the choir's
growth, the reunion served to showcase the group's eclectic, multiethnic
and increasingly influential repertoire. And much of that consists
of original compositions by Warner.
Since the guitarist-composer's
hymns, psalms and inspired songs began to be published about a
decade ago (he now has more than 70 published), a number have
become standards in parishes throughout the United States and
into Canada, Ireland and Great Britain.
"Steve's music is
routinely sung by 2½ million Catholics every Sunday," says Mary
Prete, general manager of World Library Publications, publisher
of the choir's music and distributor of its recordings since the
early 1990s.
Warner's pieces appear
in the Irish hymnal Veritas, she says, and some have
even crossed over into Episcopal and Lutheran worship services.
The choir director
modestly refers to the compositions as the choir's rather than
his own and says he's never really thinking beyond the group and
the community its serves. "It's just a very joyful and humbling
thing to contribute to the landscape of faith expression in this
country."
In addition to "Set
Your Heart on the Higher Gifts," other Warner parish hits include
his musical version of "The Lord's Prayer" (known as the "Notre
Dame Lord's Prayer" in some circles); the Eucharist accompaniment
"Make of Our Hands a Throne"; "I Have Been Anointed," commonly
sung at confirmation; "Crux Fidelis," which articulates the foundational
beliefs of the Holy Cross order; and "Lead Kindly Light" based
on a poem by Cardinal Newman.
"All Will Be Well," drawn from a text by a medieval woman mystic,
was frequently heard on Chicago radio during the passing of Cardinal
Joseph Bernardin in 1996, Warner says, and it was sung in a Dublin
Cathedral at a memorial for the victims of the 1987 IRA bombing
in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland. (Hear the choir's recording
of "Set Your Heart" in full and samples of the other works at
www.nd.edu/~folk/audiosamples.html.)
For Folk Choir fans
who missed the reunion concert, which combined past and present
members into a group numbering about 150, a multimedia DVD is
in the works. The production will feature footage from the concert,
interviews and musical cuts from the choir's past CDs. Warner
says the compilation is expected to be finished by next summer.
(July 2005)
