The Canto Católico Foundation was formed in Chile with a clear goal: to compile all the Mass hymns in a single songbook for those in charge of parish choirs.
What began with only a few volunteers, quickly evolved beyond collecting sheet music.
FRANCISCO VAL JIMÉNEZ
Executive Director, Canto Católico Foundation
'A couple of us who were there thought, 'Hey, as long as we are making some videos, let's upload them to YouTube.' Well, we did this since it's something we know how to do. Singing and whatnot. And we released, I remember, about three Christmas carols one Christmas. We realized that we were able to transmit a message of faith through two mediums. Through the musical on the one hand and, the visual on the other.'
Soon they began to record all sorts of faith-based music, and not just for mass. Without even noticing, they ended up creating a channel for people seeking God through music.
Today, they have over 260,000 subscribers on YouTube and some of their videos have more than four million views.
FRANCISCO VAL JIMÉNEZ
Executive Director, Canto Católico Foundation
'We also became aware of what it adds to people's faith life, which is a great gift. To be able to know it about it, to know what people write to us, they write us comments on our YouTube channel, they send us emails. We also pray about it a lot. We think very carefully about the message we want to convey because we know that it's very likely that a lot of people will see it and, because of that we want to do as good a job as possible.'
To this day they continue their original goal: to support church choir leaders. They've researched at length what it is that makes music sacred. There are three essential qualities: holiness, beauty, and universality.
FRANCISCO VAL JIMÉNEZ
Executive Director, Canto Católico Foundation
'Holiness refers to something being holy and that which is holy is reserved for God, which is a characteristic shared by the liturgy. Beauty is something that is very well done in terms of art. Something that is well done. There are standards pertaining to the different arts. And universality as well, something that we can all recognize as sacred in the background.'
Canto Católico has evolved into a Foundation and has with full-time staff, others work for the organization on a part-time basis and many volunteer to help.
They all share the same goal: to proclaim God through music inside and outside of churches.
RM
TR: JM
Fundación Canto Católico
