Andrew Mahon, a gifted liturgical musician and professional singer, leads the young men of St. Joseph College Seminary in sacred music. (Photo provided by St. Joseph College Seminary)MOUNT HOLLY — In the search for someone to lead St. Joseph College Seminary’s music program after the sudden passing of beloved music director Tom Savoy, it would seem the seminary has found a match made in heaven in Andrew Mahon, a deeply devoted liturgical musician with extensive teaching and professional singing experience.
Ever seeking the “seamless integration of music and the liturgy,” Mahon saw the music director position posted by Father Matthew Kauth, rector at St. Joseph College Seminary, as a providential opportunity in this pursuit as it would allow him to work with future priests who will bring their sacred music experience to the wider Church.
“I had wanted to work in a seminary for some time, since it presents the opportunity to teach and make music in classes, rehearsals, and on a one-to-one basis,” he said. “This is appealing because it means I can approach sacred music and proper singing with the seminarians intellectually, practically and technically.”
Mahon also noted that there aren’t many seminaries that place the same emphasis on sacred music as St. Joseph College Seminary.
“When I first came across the position and learned more about Father Kauth’s vision, I noticed immediately that the ethos of the seminary mapped onto what I felt I could offer as a liturgical singer,” he said. “Now that I’m becoming more familiar with the seminary, I can’t imagine a better place to live out my vocation as a church musician.”
MahonMahon, who grew up in Toronto, began singing in church choirs at the age of 6. By the time he was in college at the University of Toronto, he was singing in choirs professionally as a bass-baritone.
“I didn’t initially have the ambition of becoming a professional singer, but singing work continued to come my way, and eventually it became my career,” he said. “In 2009, I moved to England, which maintains a robust choral tradition, and for over a decade I was able to sing sacred music in a liturgical setting on an almost daily basis.”
He sang in the choir of Wells Cathedral in Somerset before moving to London in 2013 to pursue further opportunities with English and German chamber choirs, alongside his solo career.
“I prioritized liturgical singing, which I found to be the most fulfilling kind of singing,” he said. “The Anglican choral tradition being what it is, most of my work was in the Church of England, where a tremendous amount of Catholic sacred music is still sung. However, I also sang at the great Catholic churches of England, which maintain a similar standard of choral music, second to none in the world.”
These experiences led to Mahon’s conversion to the Catholic faith. Having been baptized into the Anglican Church as an infant, he remained Anglican for most of his time in England but was received into the Catholic Church in 2017 in London through the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Mahon moved to the United States in 2021 and began working in Minnesota in 2022. He served as director of music and liturgy for Mary, Mother of the Church Area Catholic Community (ACC) in the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he directed the choir at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Wadena and oversaw the liturgical direction for the eight parishes that make up the ACC, which is the largest of its kind. Mahon has also acted as a consultant for various Catholic communities, focusing on sacred music in the liturgy. Now in the Charlotte diocese, he and his wife, Marie-Claire, and their young children have settled in Mount Holly.
For Mahon, singing sacred music as part of the liturgy is something one must do daily to master.
“The habitual singing of Gregorian chant as part of a liturgical routine yields a different kind of excellence to an occasional prepared and polished performance,” he said. “It is a functional and lived excellence, where the singers learn to worship through singing. It gets into their bodies – not just this or that specific chant or motet, but rather the genre itself almost becomes a part of them.”
The seminary offers the opportunity to worship daily through singing, making it an ideal setting for the music to permeate the souls of the future priests whose musicianship Mahon will help form.
“The seminarians I have met so far are very impressive young men – disciplined, enthusiastic, and keen to learn,” Mahon said. “It will be an honor to work with them as part of Father Kauth’s team.”
— Annie Ferguson