Sacred Music Workshop, Presented Entirely in Spanish - Feast of St. Cecilia in Northern California

The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California is delighted to present our Fall 2025 term Sacred Music Study Day, to be offered entirely in Spanish.

Saturday, November 22, 2025

St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California

8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Registration and more information available here.

The event features:

• Rehearsals featuring music participants can take home to their congregations (chant, polyphony, and hymns)
• The opportunity to learn music we can sing together at Mass
• An extended session on developing and teaching healthy vocal technique
• Solemn Mass, sung by participants, celebrated by His Excellency, Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco
• Catechesis on the role of sacred music in the spiritual life
• An opportunity to go to confession
• Lunch, refreshments, and fellowship with area musicians

The event is designed especially for: 

• Parish music directors
• Parish choir members
• Cantors
• Clergy

Singers and music directors of all ability levels will find the event enriching and worthwhile. Group registration rates and scholarships are available. 

I’m especially delighted to be joined by two wonderful musicians and teachers who will lead the working sessions in Spanish. 

Please invite anyone interested in learning in Spanish to this event! Questions about the event registration and scholarships can be sent to mary (dot) vianney (at) stpsu (dot) edu.

Christian Cortés is a Catholic sacred music director and family man. He is originally from Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico. Christian’s professional achievements developed primarily in Mexico, especially in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where he lived for the past fifteen years. His professional interests focus on teaching sacred music, especially choral singing to amateur children and adults.

Christian holds a degree in Gregorian Chant from the Escuela Superior de Música Sagrada of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara and a Bachelor of Music with a focus on Choral Conducting from the University of Guadalajara. He completed postgraduate studies in Liturgical Musical Heritage at the University of Barcelona and the Ateneo de Saint Pacia in Barcelona. He has also completed additional studies, such as a Diploma in Theology at the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac in Guadalajara, and has studied organ, singing, and choral conducting at various seminaries and master classes in Mexico and Spain.

His achievements include the renewal of sacred music in various churches and institutions in Michoacán and Jalisco where he has worked, emphasizing the recovery of traditional Hispanic liturgical and devotional hymns, community singing in Latin, classical polyphony, and Gregorian chant for adult and youth choirs, as well as for children’s choirs.

He founded the Choir of Infants of the Holy Family in Uruapan and the Choir Festival of the same church, which has achieved national prestige. He was also director of the choirboys at the School of Infants of the Cathedral of Guadalajara from 2015 to 2020, during which he was responsible for its restructuring. With this group, he has toured nationally and internationally in Italy and Spain, participating in the International Corearte Festival in Barcelona. With these same groups, he participated in the celebration of the Holy Mass presided over by Pope Francis, held in Morelia in 2016.

He was associate director of the Choir of the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA), where he was twice awarded the CALMECAC award for academic excellence. He has been a member of the Mexican Federation of Pueri Cantores since its founding and served as its president from 2022 to 2024, during which time he participated in the 44th International Congress of Pueri Cantores held in Rome, representing Mexico along with the choral delegation that traveled for this congress.

He currently works full-time as Director of Sacred Music at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Goshen, IN, a position he has held since March 2024, having moved to the United States. He collaborates closely with the Liturgy and Hispanic Ministry offices of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, providing resources for the diocese’s Hispanic and bilingual celebrations.

He is happily married to Alma, and they have a beautiful three-month-old baby. They share the same passion for performing and teaching the great treasure of sacred music, especially to Spanish-speaking brethren in the United States.

Sandra Raquel Bengochea, soprano, has established a remarkable reputation for her exceptional performances in the lyric coloratura repertoire. Critically acclaimed for her natural vivacity and undeniable charisma, Opera News describes her as “a performer who brings joy from the first note to the last.” With an extensive career spanning over thirty operatic roles, Sandra has captivated audiences with her remarkable portrayals of characters from headstrong Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro to the iconic title role in Manon. Her talent has graced prestigious companies including Bangkok Opera, Opera San José, Great Falls Opera, Opera Idaho, Intermountain Opera, and Tel Aviv Opera. Sandra’s versatility extends beyond the operatic stage, as she effortlessly commands both concert and recital performances. Notably, she has impressed audiences with her soprano solos in masterpieces such as Orff’s Carmina Burana, Schubert’s Mass in G, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and Mozart’s Requiem. These powerful performances have been hailed alongside accomplished orchestras, including The Winchester Orchestra, The Santa Clara Chorale, The San Jose Chamber Orchestra, The San José Symphony, The Sacramento Chorale Society, and The Midsummer Mozart Festival. Notably, she made last-minute appearances as a replacement for legendary vocalist Frederica Von Stade during a performance with The Midsummer Mozart orchestra at Villa Montalvo. 

Outside of her artistic pursuits, Sandra has enjoyed over a fifteen-year career as an instructor in higher education. Her expertise has been valued at esteemed institutions such as San José State University, West Valley College, Modesto Junior College School of Music, and Stanislaus State University, where she currently teaches applied lessons, Diction, Opera Theater, Art Song Repertoire, and Vocal Pedagogy. She currently serves on the faculty of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. 

Sandra’s creative vision extends beyond her performances, as she is also an award-winning stage director. Recognized by the National Opera Association, she has received two awards for her outstanding productions. 

Sandra notes her extensive time participating in choral singing all throughout high school and college to her success as a solo performer. Under the direction of Dr. Charlene Archibeque, Sandra was a member of the choral ensemble “Choraliers” that participated and placed first in “The Choir of the World Competition” in Tallinn, Estonia.

Sandra Bengochea received her Master’s Degree from The Manhattan School of Music. She is a devoted wife and mother of two sons and has been active as an advocate for those affected by autism.

Spanish-Language CMAA Virtual Colloquium Event

As part of the Church Music Association of America's July 6–10 virtual colloquium this summer, the CMAA is venturing further into providing resources and programming for Spanish speakers.

We’re delighted to be able to host two online workshops on Thursday, July 9th, presented by Dr. Heitor Caballero, and they are integrated into a fuller day which includes a streamed Requiem Mass and Compline, both in Latin. Admission to these events is free, but advance registration is required. 

Spanish-language TLM Handouts and OF Chanted Propers

In keeping with my advice last Thursday on taking advantage of this down-time to plan ahead for the future, it seems opportune to mention here some Spanish-language Catholic Mass resources that have come to my attention.

The FSSP apostolate in Sydney, Maternal Heart of Mary, has added Spanish-Latin versions of their popular single-sheet bookfold Propers of the Mass for the Temporal and Sanctoral cycles of the traditional Latin Mass:

Propios del año

Propios de los santos

Space has been left at the top of each .pdf so that parish priests who have Adobe Acrobat Pro may insert their own parish header.

The South American district of the SSPX has also made available printable PDFs for most of the Sunday Propers either in Spanish and Latin or in Spanish alone. A sample:

On the Ordinary Form front, the indefatigable Fr. Samuel Weber, working with Ignatius Press, has developed what is by far the best Spanish pew missal: ¡Canta la Misa!, an annual subscription-based book with high production values in art, layout, and musical selection. In particular, as with the English version (Ignatius Pew Missal), entrance and communion antiphons are set to simple chant melodies, and plainchant Mass settings are included. The Order of Mass is also present in parallel Latin and Spanish. Bulk discounts are available (see here) and, of course, free examination copies are available (email this address with requests or questions).

Here are sample pages from the 2019 edition:

It is good to see Spanish-language materials of this quality emerging after quite a dry spell in this regard. Readers who are aware of other pertinent items should add further links in the comments. Let's make this a go-to place for those who are in search of materials.

Visit Dr. Kwasniewski’s website, SoundCloud page, and YouTube channel. 

FSSP Spanish Immersion Program in Mexico This Summer

The St Junipero Serra Spanish Institute is pleased to announce that registration is open for its fifth year of Spanish immersion for priests and seminarians in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. This year the program will run from June 15th – August 14th; for more information, and to register, see their webpage: http://sjsinstitute.org/

Participants stay at Casa Cristo Rey of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, where, in addition to 4 hours of class daily, they live in a pastoral environment that immerses them in Spanish and nourishes them spiritually. Each day begins with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the singing of the Divine Office. Seminarians have a wide range of opportunities to put the Spanish they learn in practice through interaction with local families and participation in pastoral activities of the FSSP’s parish in Guadalajara.

Some of the highlights of the programs:

Academics: Students attend 4 hours of class daily with professional language instructors. These professors have developed their own curriculum specifically designed to meet the needs of students whose primary goal is to apply their knowledge of the language in a pastoral setting. Students will be asked, according to their proficiency in the language, to prepare sample sermons and conduct practice confessions. Private tutoring sessions are also available several times per week at the student’s discretion.

Immersion: Upon arrival students will sign a pledge to only speak Spanish during their time in the program. Each week they will have dinner with a local family and will enjoy many opportunities to interact with people in situations which necessitate speaking Spanish.

Pastoral: Because the St. Junipero Serra Institute is designed for priests and seminarians, students have a wide array of pastoral opportunities during their time in Guadalajara. These include visits to hospitals and orphanages, participation in parochial groups and activities, and lectures on vital cultural elements of ministering in a Hispanic culture. Additionally, the curriculum is specifically designed for seminarians and priests. Our professors have created the language program “¡Habla Cristiano!” which takes its name from the history of the Reconquista in Spain. During the time of Muslim occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, Catholics would differentiate themselves from Muslims on the basis of the language they spoke. To speak Castilian was to speak the Christian language.

Continue Reading this Article. . .