By Anthony Barich
Doubleview parishioner Carmel Charlton has produced a CD with WA Josephite Sister Emilie Cattalini with music to be used for liturgies and Masses that celebrate Mary MacKillop in the lead up to and on the day of her canonisation on 17 October.
The CD has five songs, including Calling My Name, the cover title of the CD which has been placed on the Mary MacKillop website (www.marymackillop.org.au) as a recommended song suitable for use at Masses and Liturgies of the Word that celebrate Mary of the Cross, as she will be canonised by Pope Benedict XVI.
While the CD was produced just last week, the main song was written in 1995 when MacKillop was beatified in Sydney by Pope John Paul II, and Carmel has updated it since.
Sr Emilie, who wrote the music arranged by Carmel for Calling My Name, said the words “speak of MacKillop’s spiritual connection with the Australian land and its people and of the same God who today still calls us by name”.
Carmel, a singer-songwriter for over 30 years who has taught privately and in schools and studied classical guitar at the WA Conservatorium of Music, will also launch on 16 November songs and an accompanying teachers’ manual and a book of full sheet music.
The 16 songs, written for primary school students, are about the environment, Australian history and heritage and Christian values, and include original Christmas songs that speak of a unique Australian experience, as well as Calling My Name.
Holy Spirit Primary School sang Calling My Name during the Catholic Performing Arts Festival, while Currambine sang some of Carmel’s other songs at the festival.
The Calling My Name CD and accompanying sheet music are available for parishes in the lead up to MacKillop’s canonisation from
The Record Bookshop
at 21 Victoria Square, Perth or call 9220 5900. Alternatively, contact Carmel on 9446 1558, email carmel@carmelcharlton.com or log onto
www.carmelcharlton.com.