Chicagoland

Music minister celebrated for half-century of service

By Michelle Martin | Staff writer
Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Music minister celebrated for half-century of service

Parishioners, former pastors and choir members past and present gathered at Santa Maria del Popolo Parish in Mundelein on Oct. 2, 2022 for a special Mass to celebrate 50 years of service of long-time music director Debbie Titus. Over a 50-member choir consisting with instruments and a bell choir came to honor Titus at the Mass. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Titus directs the choir during Mass. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Former and present choir and bell choir members returned to honor Titus. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Titus, 68, started at the parish when she was still a freshman studying church music at DePaul University in 1972, and saw a notice on a school bulletin board saying the parish was looking for an organist. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
(Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
(Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Bell choir members perform during Mass. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Titus plays during Mass. Her favorite liturgies, she said, are Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve: Thanksgiving Day because it’s not a holy day of obligation, and everyone who comes wants to be there, but it includes many college students and other grown children back for the holiday who participate in the Mass; and Christmas Eve because it includes many returning choir and bell choir members, along with strings, brass, wind instruments and two bell choirs, along with the voice choir. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Titus addresses the congregation at the end of Mass. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Titus receives flowers at the end of Mass. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
(Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Titus receives a hug following Mass. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Maybe the secret to working at the same parish for 50 years is starting as a teenager.

That worked for Debbie Titus, who celebrated a half-century of music ministry at Santa Maria del Popolo Parish in Mundelein at a special Mass Oct. 2.

Titus, 68, started at the parish when she was still a freshman studying church music at DePaul University in 1972, and saw a notice on a school bulletin board saying the parish was looking for an organist.

It was not her first job playing for a parish; she started playing the organ for Masses at St. Joseph in Round Lake when she was in sixth grade, two years after starting to learn the instrument. She also went on to teach music at Carmel Catholic High School for Girls, her alma mater.

During the celebration Mass Oct. 2, Titus joked that Father John Lane, Santa Maria’s pastor when she was hired, was employing good human resources strategy: “He knew to hire people while they’re teenagers and still know everything!”

Over the time she served at Santa Maria, she married Tony Titus and worked with him on the family vegetable farm, which has been sold to become the new Lake County Fairgrounds; raised their daughter, Heather; played at innumerable Masses, weddings, funerals and quinceañeras; and directed voice choirs and bell choirs.

Her husband, meanwhile, sings in the choir and has helped haul everything the bell choirs need to performances — including, for several years, to the blessing of the crèche in Daley Plaza.

The thing she is proudest of, she said, is her attention to choosing music to fit the liturgical occasion, making sure, for example, that the hymns she chooses for Sunday Mass complement the readings.

“Father Dan Siwek used to teach homiletics at Mundelein (the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary) and he would do Masses here,” Titus said. “He used to say that if his homily matched the music, he knew he got it right.”

Father Miguel Martinez, the current pastor, said Titus’ care in selecting music for Sunday Masses and for special liturgies is evident, and that its importance can’t be overstated.

“As a priest, I’m confident that people will get a good message from the music,” Martinez said. “A lot of times, people don’t remember the readings or the homily, but they do remember a song that touched their hearts. Especially weddings and funerals. It’s so important to have good music for those two occasions in the lives of people.”

While Titus leads the choir at the 10 a.m. English-language Mass and plans the music for the parish’s other English Masses, she sings and plays for English and Spanish-language weddings, funerals and other celebrations, and works with the Filipino choir for their celebrations.

In the first winter of COVID-19, she said, she did music for funerals five days in a row right after Christmas.

Also during COVID-19, once the parish began live-streaming Masses, she invited families whose members had participated in the bell choirs to come together to ring bells for Mass.

Her favorite liturgies, she said, are Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve: Thanksgiving Day because it’s not a holy day of obligation, and everyone who comes wants to be there, but it includes many college students and other grown children back for the holiday who participate in the Mass; and Christmas Eve because it includes many returning choir and bell choir members, along with strings, brass, wind instruments and two bell choirs, along with the voice choir.

“I remember the first time she did the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ with our choir at Santa Maria,” said Denise Roeser, a member of Titus’ first children’s choir at the parish. “This was a very long time ago, and it was big stretch for the choir. It was at Christmas Eve Mass, and the only one who believed we could pull it off was Debbie, up until the moment we did pull it off. It sounded beautiful, and it sounded worshipful.”

Roeser laughs now when she realizes that Titus, who seemed such an authority figure when she was a child, is only about 10 years older than she is. She sang with Titus through high school at Carmel, and returned to sing in the choir at Santa Maria del Popolo after living for several years in Michigan.

Choir member Janine Walsh, who has sung at Santa Maria del Popolo for more than 30 years, said Titus has high expectations for herself and for her musicians.

“She has her work ethic, her commitment to the ministry and the people who are participating in the ministry,” Walsh said. “She is a no-nonsense person. She very much demands a lot of herself, and in return, she expects that from the people who work with her, in a good way.”

“I think she’s exceptional,” said voice and bell choir member Ted Ketchum, who started singing in Episcopal church choirs as a child. After marrying and becoming Catholic, he joined the choir at Santa Maria del Popolo. “She does a lot of the traditional stuff that the congregation knows. But she’s always going to out to music festivals where she gets to hear other pieces that local and national composers have come out with. She likes picking out pieces she knows that our choir can do, and will also be challenging.”

Titus said she intends to keep doing it for as long as she can. She formally retired a couple of years ago, now receives stipends for Masses and rehearsals rather than a hourly wage, but that hasn’t slowed her down.

“To me, it’s not a job,” Titus said. “It is my life. I love what I’m doing. A lot of people say, ‘I have to go to work,’ and I just never call it that.”

Topics:

  • music ministry
  • parishes

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