Dear Parishioners

Dear Parishioners,

At long last, after a diligent search, I am very pleased to announce to you that Mr. John Robinson has been appointed as the Organist and Director of Music for St. Paul Parish and the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School. John has accepted this position with thanks and tremendous enthusiasm for being given this wonderful opportunity.

John and his wife Emma now prepare to journey across the pond to take up this exciting post with us all. He comes to us from Canterbury Cathedral in England where he presently serves as the Assistant Organist under David Flood and provides a complete teaching program for the probationer choristers. Mr. Robinson has a deep appreciation for the choral tradition of the Church and the life of a choirboy from having sung at Hereford Cathedral as a boy himself. He received his education at St. John’s College, Cambridge University where he read music and studied choir training under Dr. Christopher Robinson and Dr. David Hill earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree. John is an accomplished organist and is a frequent recitalist with many recordings to his credit and has also written numerous choral works.

John brings much enthusiasm to this position and it is his desire to preserve as well as promote the strong choral tradition of the European cathedral school here in the United States. His dedication and strong work ethic were clear to me and to the search committee when he spent a week with us this winter – he clearly does his homework!

Regarding the search committee who assisted me at every step: Bill Burke (Headmaster, St. Sebastian’s School), John Canavan (BACS Parent), Mark Dwyer (Organist and Choir Master, Church of the Advent), Sharon Gallagher (Parishioner and BACS Advisory Board Chair) and Sheri Kenney (BACS Interim Principal) – I wish to thank them for their prayers, time, dedication, counsel and support throughout the entire process. It was a true pleasure to work and learn with them as we interviewed the six very strong candidates from an applicant pool of over thirty.

Now the search is complete and the important work begins. It is a new beginning for us all and we set out now with John Robinson leading us to new musical heights with an eye on that tradition that has brought us to this moment. That tradition – the tradition of Marier and Dunn – has established the music program at St. Paul’s on a rock-solid foundation from which to grow. I would be remiss if I did not once again acknowledge with sincere gratitude the gift of John Dunn to this community. His generosity of spirit enabled us all to travel this year growing and flourishing in a way that would have made Dr. Marier proud. Our thanks are extended to John as well as our prayers and best wishes to accompany him as he begins to enjoy, again, his well-deserved retirement.

I ask for your prayers and your enthusiastic support for John Robinson and his wife Emma as they begin this new and exciting, as well as challenging, chapter in their lives. Leaving their homeland for these shores will surely be bittersweet as it will be every bit exciting. Let us all welcome them to the family that is St. Paul Parish – may they be happy and blessed for years to come.

Sincerely yours in Christ

Father Michael E. Drea

Pastor