New director of music seeks to connect faithful to truth, reality of word

Veteran pilgrims from the diocese may have noticed a different musician at the keyboard of the massive Möller pipe organ high above the sanctuary of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.

The Mass celebrating the diocese’s 40th anniversary served as an out-of-town introduction to its newest director of sacred music, Christopher M.C. Deibert, who had taken up the baton and donned the organ shoes this June.

Deibert, 51, was born and raised in New Jersey as the eldest of four siblings, “with strong, Catholic family values,” he stressed.

He was raised in then-St. Paul the Apostle Parish and attended its now-closed parochial school, Highland Park, then worshipped at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, while attending Saint Joseph High School, both in Metuchen.

In addition to singing in church choirs since boyhood, he developed his musical acumen playing jazz piano. Deibert earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Scranton (Pa.) in business and foreign languages (he speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish and Latin), then continued his musical studies in piano and organ performance at Marywood College, also in Scranton.

He has studied church music, organ, choral conducting and harpsichord at Westminster Choir College, Princeton; the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N.Y., and McGill University, Montreal. Prior to his arrival at the Cathedral, Deibert served as organist in St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park, then St. Bartholomew Parish, East Brunswick, before serving more than 23 years as director of sacred music and organist at St. Mary Parish, South Amboy.

As the Cathedral’s newest musical leader, he plans to build upon the musical legacies of his predecessors, serve as a resource to other diocesan liturgical musicians, and build upon the diocesan Mother Church’s classical music concert series.

In his role as diocesan director of liturgical music, Deibert will be responsible for planning the hymns, antiphons and instrumental music for such diverse diocesan liturgies as the pilgrimage to Washington; the Blue Mass, which honors law enforcement personnel; the Chrism Mass, which gathers faithful from the diocese at the beginning of Holy Week; the Silver and Gold Evening Prayer, which attracts long-married couples to celebrate their union, and priesthood ordinations, among other events.

His goal is to inspire musicians and members of the Diocesan Festival Choir to “elevate the minds, spirits and souls of the assembled worshipping community, and ensure that the true purpose of sacred music within the liturgy is met for the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful,” he said.

Deibert’s philosophy on the importance of music in the Catholic liturgy echoes that of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, that is, “The purpose of sacred music is the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.”

He added, “Singing brings together the reality and truth of the word, which is interpreted by the human intellect, with the beauty of the human voice, which is an outward expression of the body. When these two fundamental elements are brought together in sacred song… [it] becomes a more intimate experience, uniting us with our Eucharistic Lord, and creating for us a closer connection to him.”