People who attended any of the conferences (youth and leaders) at the Catholic Charismatic (and Franciscan) University of Steubenville in the early 1980's will remember the group Emmanuel, the music ministry of the Servants of God's Love community.
Emmanuel was always a "cut above" many of their Catholic Charismatic counterparts. They used their own compositions, many of which have artistic value and made a deep impact on those who attended their conferences. As with much of the legacy of the Charismatic Renewal, it deserves to be remembered and disseminated, and we are pleased to do so, along with The Ancient Star-Song, who hosts their first album, God, You Are My Refuge.
Yahweh in the Morning (EM002) 1979
This was their second album. The people involved were as follows:
- Emmanuel Members
- Mike Clark
- Tom Cramer
- Mary Crienjak
- Dave Fatula
- John and Barbara Flaherty
- Julia Norton
- Cincy Teynor
- Betty Jo Thompson
- Producer: Martin Leifeld
- Director: Elsie Luke
- Recording Engineer: Henry Root
The music is an advance from their first effort, more consistent in composition and performance.
Come to Me (1655) 1983
After a four year hiatus (and a name change of the community to the Servants of Christ the King) Emmanuel produced another effort, the tape Come to Me (I don't think it was ever in vinyl, thus the lack of cover art.) With Martin Leifeld's promotion to Director of the Christian Conference Office, Jim Cowan became the group's director and composed most of the music for the tape. Members of the group for this work were as follows:
- Michael Clark--Vocal, Tambourine
- Jim Cowan--Vocal, Guitar, Piano
- John Flaherty--Vocal, Guitar
- Joe Pino--Vocal
- Matt Senecal--Vocal, Mandolin
- Carol Cuomo--Vocal, Cello
- Charlotte Dausch--Vocal
- Betty Jo Boloon--Vocal, Guitar
- Eileen Hanley--Vocal
- Pam Minto--Vocal
- Nancy Schreck--Vocal, Flute
Come to Me's compositional quality remained high, but their performance showed that they spent a lot of time hanging around their counterparts in Ann Arbor (Word of God) and South Bend (People of Praise) with almost nonexistent percussion and less variation from one song to the next in performance. Cowan's piano work does, however, compensate for many of the other deficiencies of this good Catholic Charismatic music ministry.
The songs themselves (in MP3 format, for download):
(right click on each song to download, don't try to stream it)Yahweh in the Morning:
Come to Me:
- Come to Me
- Wherever You Go
- Celebrate (supposed to have been on Yahweh in the Morning)
- Emmanuel
- Harden Not Your Hearts
- Jesus I Need You
- As For Me And My House
- Sing A New Song
- You Alone Are Holy
- Open the Door
- Song of Victory
