Holy night for singing priests

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Holy night for singing priests

Published: November 17, 2008

Northern Ireland's singing priests will launch their first album, including the Christmas carol, O Holy Night, in the United States this week.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Fr. Eugene O'Hagan, his brother Fr. Martin O'Hagan, and Fr. David Delargy, a boyhood friend, signed a record contract with Sony BMG last spring.

With the help of Radiohead's string arranger and a producer who's worked with U2, the group recorded an album of hymns sung in close harmony and a traditional liturgical style. In an unusually large launch for an unknown act, an album titled The Priests will be released this month by various Sony labels in more than 30 countries, including the United States on Tuesday.

The album comes with a novel back story (working priests who perform in their clerical collars) and a selection of sacred but accessible hits (Ave Maria, Pie Jesu) that Sony thinks can attract broader attention than even most pop projects.

Industry interest in holiday-themed releases has spiked since Josh Groban's Noel collection became the top-selling album of 2007. The Priests, featuring O Holy Night, is being launched in time for Christmas.

Sony is spreading the word to a wide range of potential fans, not least some 64 million American Catholics. The label is promoting the album through networks of Christian bookstores and launched a contest last week on God Tube.com, a Christian site modeled after YouTube. The winner gets a Christmas trip to New York.

In addition, the label hired a religious consultant to help target its marketing and "take the edges off" the notion of a big company peddling sacred music, says Mark Flaherty, senior vice president of marketing for RCA Music Group, which is releasing The Priests in the U.S.

The consultant, 27-year-old Daniel Schreck, also works for the Archdiocese of New York doing outreach to young professionals. He helped line up meetings with Catholic media outlets, including the Eternal Word Television Network, which doesn't accept advertising. Schreck also made contact with dioceses abroad. In letters to bishops, he says, he emphasized the album project as "a positive portrayal of the priesthood" — a potential boon for an institution racked by scandal in recent years.

In perhaps their biggest shot at mainstream exposure, the Priests will be the focus of a one-hour special that begins airing Nov. 29 on PBS stations during their seasonal fundraising drives. It's a coveted national platform that has helped launch other unconventional acts, including the platinum-selling Celtic Woman, another Irish ensemble. An added bonus: PBS stations are known to rebroadcast such programs throughout the year.

More at Houston Chronicle

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Holy night for singing priests

Published: November 17, 2008

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