Community members are invited to St. Francis de Sales Church (47th and Springfield) for a candlelight Christmas concert under the dome this Wednesday (Dec. 14). The church’s choir will preview pieces from their annual Midnight Mass carol service, and their lineup this year will showcase pieces by Vaughan-Williams, Victoria, Franck, Garau and others, as well as feature a carol sing-along.

The concert is free and open to the public, but donations are encouraged. All proceeds go toward restoration projects in the church building, which dates to 1907.

“Since the departure of the old pastor, there are a number of cultural and community events that SFDS is looking to relaunch,” writes SFDS sexton Michael Nevadomski. “Most of them are pretty Catholic, but we’re looking to start doing more regular concerts, the first of which is a candlelight Christmas concert by our very talented choir and organist on December 14.” 

Also, local residents may have noticed that the church started ringing its bells again on the regular basis since the scaffolding came down from the towers this past summer. And the bells just “celebrated” their 100th birthday!

The donations received at the upcoming Christmas concert will help support some of the minor architectural restoration costs, like light fixtures, etc.

Volunteers will also have SFDS-themed Christmas ornaments (a cache of which were just discovered in the rectory attic) and LPs of the choir’s previous Midnight Mass (with the Ormandy French organ) available for purchase.

A reception in the parish hall (with desserts and hot chocolate) follows afterwards.

The concert begins at 7 p.m.