Father Christmas works for the Pentagon
When his BMW Roadster pulls up at the back of the church, the parking lot is already jam-packed. Folks dressed up like Eskimos have braved the biting cold to see the man some call “the super conductor”.
This Jersey Christmas ritual started some 25 years ago, when a charismatic priest and former student at The Manhattan School of Music, founded the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea. His name: Rev. Alphonse J. Stephenson. But most most people simply know him as “Father Alphonse”.
Stephenson formed his very first group of musicians in New York’s Theater District, back in the eighties, while serving as assistant pastor at St. Malachy’s, the Actor’s Chapel. When his parochial duties were over for the night, you could find him moonlighting as a pianist at a Broadway hangout. He recalls that the confessions he would hear while playing were often more truthful and candid, than the ones he would hear in church.
FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT…
“Torn between Pit and Pulpit,” as People Magazine once put it, Stephenson joined a touring company to conduct more than 2,000 performances of “A Chorus Line”. In 1984, choreographer Michael Bennett tapped him to conduct the musical at the Shubert Theatre.
But tonight, there’s no “Tits and Ass” on the program, although the symphony orchestra effortlessly transitions from Beethoven to Broadway at the touch of a baton. Tonight, Corpus Christi Church in Chatham NJ, has opened its doors to hear the familiar sounds of the season.
Only a few days ago, the orchestra and its conductor were featured on an ABC Christmas special: “A New York Holiday” alongside Cirque du Soleil and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.
To be honest, the Catholic Community of Chatham deserves some holiday cheer. On October 23rd, 2009, Rev. Ed Hinds, a beloved local priest, was found brutally murdered in his clerical robes, in the kitchen of the rectory in St. Patrick’s Church. His death left this Northern Jersey town in shock.
Authorities were quick to arrest the church janitor. “He’s the last person I would have suspected,” a parishioner commented (in December 2011, the janitor was found guilty). Now, all the faithful of Chatham have come together for an evening of heartwarming music and… humor.
FORCED TO BE HERE
After opening with “Adeste Fidelis”, Father Alphonse turns to the audience and thanks them profusely for coming. Then he asks: “How many of you have heard us before?” Almost the entire church raises their hand.
In this part of New Jersey, Christmas without Father Alphonse is like Thanksgiving without turkey. “How many of you are new to the orchestra?” he wants to know. A few hands go up in the air. But he isn’t done yet.
“Now, who was forced to be here tonight?” he asks. One brave man in his late fifties pleads guilty, only to hear the conductor follow-up with: “May I ask who forced you to be here?” Predictably, the man points a trembling finger at his wife.
That was the cue Father Alphonse had been waiting for.
“I am working on my next book,” he says with a grin on his face. “It’s called ‘The Joys of Celibacy. You see, I don’t have to go anywhere I don’t want to go.” The audience roars.
THE CANDY LADY
An evening with St. Peter by the Sea is no ordinary evening. But of course, Father Alphonse is no ordinary conductor, or priest for that matter. He once stopped his 45 musicians in the middle of a performance because a woman in the front row was struggling with a very loud candy wrapper. He turned around; asked her to come up to the stage with the sweets, and then he yanked the candy right out of her hands. Thankfully, she had a great sense of humor and the audience had a good laugh.
For years, the ‘candy lady’ always showed up to the same concert and had a front row seat. And at some point during the program, she handed the conductor a bag of sweets and he gave her home-made cookies.
In a way, Father Alphonse reminds me of Danny Kaye, who often conducted orchestras as charity fund-raisers. It was always a mix of stand-up comedy and musical magic.
Stephenson founded the Cecelia Foundation, a nonprofit group, giving professional quality musical instruments to deserving children who, in his words, “promise not to break them.” Proceeds of the sale of the orchestra’s CD’s go to the foundation, but last year, their conductor surprised everyone with a new fund raiser. He published “Le Canzoni Della Cucina, Songs of the Kitchen”, a cookbook (+ CD) filled with Neapolitan and Sicilian family recipes he wrote with his cousin Antoinette Scillieri.
DAY JOB
Though he was ordained in 1975 and always wears his clerical collar when conducting, he has never had his own parish, nor has he ever wanted one. Throughout the week, Stephenson wears a very different uniform. He used to be the Command Chaplain of the New Jersey Army and Air National Guard, Headquartered in Fort Dix. In 2011 he was promoted to Brigadier General.
Just because he works with those who keep our nation out of harm’s way, doesn’t mean that you’d be safe at a Christmas concert. Let’s go back to the action in the church. Right before the intermission, Father Alphonse turns to the man who was forced to be there; he hands him the baton and has him conduct Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride”. After the man-turned-fan gets a well-deserved ovation, Stephenson is ready to talk about serious matters.
A SPECIAL MISSION
Behind the scenes and far away from the podium, Colonel Stephenson is conducting a different operation. He is working hard to invigorate the evolving role of military chaplains in a nation at war.
“This year”, he tells the audience “has been a special year for me. As you may know, I was asked to come to Arlington. I can’t exactly tell you where I work; that’s a state secret. I can only reveal that the building has five sides.”
As of June 2010, Father Alphonse assumed full-time duties as the Director of the Joint Chaplaincy Staff at the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, VA. As the highest ranking officer, he is in command of the Army, Air Force and National Guard Chaplaincy with an office in the Capital building.
photo by Noah Addis
BEETHOVEN ON THE BEACH
Musical dynamics usually change during the summer. At that time, Stephenson outranks everybody, because he’s at the helm of the Festival of the Atlantic in Point Pleasant Beach. It’s New Jersey’s largest outdoor music festival, founded by… you guessed it, a certain priest.
Expect thousands of people gathered on the beach, listening to opera, symphonies and show tunes. Some of them bring food, drinks and candles. During intermission, a group of dedicated volunteers collects donations. They’re nicknamed “Father Alphonse’s Angels”. (The Festival is now -as Rev. Stephenson called it in a letter to the Friends of the Festival- “on hiatus”.)
Meanwhile, at Corpus Christi, the soloists, Edward Perretti, Thad Shirey and rising star Victoria Cannizzo, are singing of different angels. As their music permeates even the darkest corners of the church, something remarkable happens.
Suddenly, the good people of Chatham, still shaken by the evil that was in their midst, start seeing a glimmer of light in a night filled with darkness. Some would say that the light has always been there. But sometimes, we manage to obscure it with our thoughts, with our words and with our actions.
When things are too profound for words; when we are left speechless, music takes over.
Music lifts us up. Music brings hope. Music heals.
It’s almost a religious experience.
Especially when the conductor is… a priest.
Paul Strikwerda © 2009
www.nethervoice.com
PS Busy, busy, busy… that’s what most of us are. Our in-box is never empty. Do we ever pause to ask the fundamental questions? Or does it take a snowstorm, to stop us in our tracks as we wonder why we work and work and work…? Click here to find out.
