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Va. Tech Newman Community produces new CD

By Bryan Schamus
Special to The Catholic Virginian

While holding the memories of the 33 lives lost on April 16, 2007, a group of Virginia Tech students will release a CD “Voices of Hope” on April 16, to share a message of hope that faith in Jesus Christ can bring.

The 10-song CD features the songs sung by the Newman Community at a Mass held on April 16, 2007, as well as songs sung at Masses and events in the days and weeks that followed.

“The response to the violence on April 16 by the Catholic student community was to gather and be consoled by love, mutual support and faith,” said Virginia Tech Catholic Campus Minister Father John Grace.

Beginning on the evening of Feb. 21 and continuing into that weekend, more than 30 volunteer musicians came together to record in the Virginia Tech Music Department’s recording studio in Blacksburg. The musical company included undergraduate students, graduate students, alumni and professional musician Stephen Pishner, composer of track 7, “God Will Wipe the Tears.”

All tracks were recorded and mixed by Jeremy Miller, alum of the Tech Music Department.

The order of the songs of the CD is a journey in itself.

It starts with our call for Jesus to heal us, then transfers to our calling to continue to walk and live, then ends with God◊s promise for a future filled with hope.

While many of the group are active musicians in the Newman Community, multiple communities of faith were represented on the recording.

The Newman Community is requesting a $10 donation for each CD purchased on campus and $16 to have it shipped anywhere in the United States.

The CD can be purchased at www.catholic.org.vt.edu/voicesofhope.

All donations received will be put toward defraying the cost of production, then toward future service and mission trips taken by the Newman Community.

This past March 1–8 the Newman Community sent more than 40 students on alternative spring break trips to Puebla, Mexico; Matabonite, Haiti; and to the inner city of Chicago. The group of students in Chicago also spent time at the Catholic center on the campus of Northern Illinois University.

Established in 1924 as The Newman Club, The Newman Community at Virginia Tech is Tech’s Catholic Campus Ministry. The community holds three Sunday Masses at 10 a.m., noon and 8 p.m. in the War Memorial Chapel on the campus of Virginia Tech.

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