The Guadalajara Reporter

City Living - December 20, 2013

A traditional Christmas Eve Mass at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Guadalajara begins with a bilingual carol sing at 6 p.m., Tuesday, December 24, led by the church’s 17-member choir including six professional singers and the acclaimed Ana Silvia Guerrero on the organ. These five carols — “Good Christian Friends Rejoice,” “Joy to the World,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and others — have been arranged with alternating English and Spanish lyrics and the congregation will join in the singing.

The Mass immediately follows the carols and will include more music, such as “Adeste Fideles,” Handel’s “Glory to God” from “The Messiah,” “O Holy Night,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Stille Nacht/Silent Night.” The Mass, with 14 choral pieces in all — the majority for congregational singing — concludes with a candle lighting service. The finale will be Handel’s roaring “Hallelujah Chorus” from “The Messiah.” There will be two short sermons, one in English and one in Spanish.

After the Mass there are refreshments in the parish hall.

The church is a two-minute drive north of Plaza Mexico, on the corner of Aztecas and Chichimecas in Colonia Monraz. It is near the westernmost end of bus route 33A. www.stmarksanglican.org,  (33) 3641-6620.

St. John Crisostomo

At St. John Cristosomo Roman Catholic church, the English-speaking group celebrates Mass at noon on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25, with music by the church choir, the well-known 10-member, a cappella group Cantabile. Cantabile will sing traditional Christmas songs in English and other languages. The group was founded by American musician John Brown and has been directed for several years by Jesus Chavez.

The church is near Sears in the Grand Plaza shopping center at Av. Vallarta and Lazaro Cardenas.