Lori Vatamanuk has attended Christ the King Parish in Regina for nearly 40 years.

Over those decades she has embraced the gift of a congregation that has become increasingly diversified. She said she and her fellow churchgoers “all want to highlight and celebrate that we have diverse cultures in our community.”

This rich mosaic was honoured this Christmas season — akin to this past Easter — with a multicultural and multi-generational Advent concert hosted at the parish on Dec. 16. Nigerians, Filipinos, East Indians, Latinos and native-born Canadians showcased their performing chops.

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Vatamanuk said the vocalists appreciate such a night for its pure musicality. She suggested “it will be very appealing” for these choirs to “share their given talents with us to the full extent they can” instead of modulating their vocal repertoire so that they can guide the congregation.

Fr. Louis Kim Nguyen, Christ the King’s pastor and the priest-moderator for Regina’s Vietnamese Catholic community, developed this concert initiative after the delight of how well the series of cultural concerts went during the Easter season.

“The church was full and we celebrate with great joy,” said Nguyen, who arrived at this parish in August 2023. “I allowed them to sing some songs in their own language and they explained how they celebrate in their home country. They came with traditional clothes and followed their customs. It went very well and people love to learn and to see that.”

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The Christmas recital represented a step up as all nationalities performed on a single night. Nguyen, during an interview days before the concert, said he prepared for this occasion by learning the significance of the compositions performed in different dialects.

“I learned the meaning and I wrote a reflection, a meditation about (each song),” said Nguyen. “I will summarize the song at the beginning and (share) a special prayer. We learn something with different cultures and languages but we see that we have one God, one faith, one baptism and one Church.”

He characterized the night as a “mini-mission.”

Vatamanuk, the co-chair of liturgy at the parish, commended Nguyen’s “attachment to the choirs” and suggested that his “prayerful moments in between” each song “will draw (the night) into the season itself and prepare us for as we celebrate the birth of Christ.”

She said it is also a gift that this night featured the participation of choirs from St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Ecole St. Pius X and Dr. Martin Leboldus Catholic high schools. And a couple of choirs featured the presence of both teenagers and septuagenarians. In total, “hundreds of performers” graced the stage.

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It also cannot be overlooked, said Vatamanuk, that such a night is cherished because “music can really highlight strong memories in people” and “invoke nice feelings within each of us.”

Christ the King Parish Deacon Eric Gurash, who also serves as the Archdiocese of Regina’s director of communications and evangelization, told The Catholic Register via email that this event “is the start of what the community hopes will become a tradition of multicultural and intergenerational festivities for the city.”