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The cover of Raymond Arroyo’s album “Christmas Merry & Bright.” / Credit: Sophia Music Group

CNA Staff, Nov 16, 2023 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

Combining warm vocals and the classic sound of a New Orleans jazz band, Raymond Arroyo’s album “Christmas Merry & Bright” offers a fresh spin on treasured Christmas melodies. The recently released album currently stands among the top 5 on Billboard’s seasonal and jazz charts, top 10 overall on Amazon’s music chart, and top 25 on Barnes & Noble’s bestselling chart for all genres. 

Arroyo, host of EWTN’s “The World Over,” called the process of making the album “an explosion and a journey of joy” in an interview with CNA and credited his audience for the inspiration behind his album. 

Over the years, Arroyo has performed with the likes of Johnny Mathis and Aaron Neville, among others, on several Christmas specials, which led many to ask him about making his own Christmas album.

When he was first approached by a record producer to consider recording an album, he said his initial thought was no. However, after praying about it, he thought about how he could make it original.  

“I dug into the origin stories of so many of these Christmas carols and songs we take for granted and discovered these incredible backstories and approaches to the songs that I had never heard before or considered before,” he explained. 

Together with Kevin Kaska — composer and arranger for hit shows such as “The Greatest Showman” and Disney’s “The Jungle Book” and “The Lion King,” among others — the album showcases the big band jazz sound from Arroyo’s native New Orleans in the rendition of Christmas classics such as “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “Deck the Halls,” and “Feliz Navidad” with José Feliciano. 

Arroyo shared that this is the first time Feliciano agreed to do a new rendition of his beloved Christmas song. When he first wrote it in 1970, Feliciano was “under duress” due to his producer pressuring him to come up with something original, Arroyo explained.

“So, he wrote ‘Feliz Navidad’ in literally 10 minutes. But in his mind, he was thinking of celebrating Christmas by sitting with his brothers on the shores of Puerto Rico, beating on tin cans and boxes, whatever they could find, and singing Spanish carols.”

Inspired to go back to the original context of the song, Arroyo proposed a bossa nova feel to the song and that it be sung “like two brothers on a beach.” Feliciano agreed. 

Arroyo shared that many of his fans are surprised to learn that he has a musical background. He attended a performing arts school in New Orleans, studied acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and took part in several musicals. 

“Growing up in New Orleans you can’t help but be influenced and surrounded by music,” he said. “It’s a part of your life. … So, there was a rich jazz world that swirled around me my entire life.” 

Before returning to the recording studio, Arroyo saw a vocal coach every week, ran his scales, and is now preparing for a tour that will include stops in Phoenix; Dallas; Tampa, Florida; Cleveland; and Nashville, Tennessee.

Arroyo said he was “humbled and aghast” when he saw his Christmas album climbing to the top of the charts. 

“When you see an album like this that really was a labor of love, and anytime you sing, it’s such a vulnerable art,” he added. “You’re putting your heart out for public consumption because it’s not like speech or book, there’s something removed there. It’s your voice; it’s your breath; it’s your mind behind it all. So there’s something very personal about it.”

Arroyo said that during this difficult time in the world, the album is a “gift” for his audience and a reminder to “focus on joy and the ultimate joy, which is the coming of the Christ Child.”

“It’s a touchstone of joy in the midst of chaos and gloom and darkness that light still shines in Bethlehem. And that really is the through-line to all these songs … the light still dawns in Bethlehem.”

He pointed out that Christmas music “is the only genre of music that your great, great, great, grandparents sang, you are singing, and your children’s children will be singing in the future.”

“There’s no other genre of music that has that power. None,” Arroyo said. “And I think it’s because it touches Jesus. That’s my take. It’s wrapped up in the Incarnation and in God, which is why it’s the only eternal music.” 

As for future projects, Arroyo said he hopes to make another album but will “wait on the inspiration.”

“Mother Angelica used to say, ‘When God inspires you to do something, don’t question it. Run at it.’ And I’ve done that my whole life. Really since she told me that, because I watched her do that.”

A segment about “Christmas Merry & Bright” was recently featured on EWTN’s “The World Over”:

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Hundreds of men pray in Santo Domingo Plaza on June 25 at the first-ever Men’s Rosary in Mexico City. / Photo courtesy of Martín Orive

Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 28, 2022 / 17:39 pm (CNA).

On the feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, June 25, hundreds of men took part in the first-ever Men’s Rosary in Mexico City, loudly proclaiming “Long live Christ the King!” 

The men first attended Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral and then headed out in procession to the atrium of Santo Domingo church, located in the central district of the Mexican capital.

Speaking to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency, Leonardo Brown, the coordinator of the event, said “it was a unique, and I would say historical, experience.”

“The contingent set out singing songs to Christ the King and to the Virgin” and processed to Santo Domingo Plaza for the prayers “with everyone facing the images of the Virgin and the patron St. Joseph,” he said.

About 700 or 800 men prayed the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Brown added.

For Brown, “the most exciting experience was that many people spontaneously joined the procession, as well as witnessing so many men on their knees in front of the Virgin of Guadalupe.”

In addition, Brown said one could see “not a few who were shaken with emotion by the songs to Christ the King to the point of shedding tears.”

Among the testimonies shared at the event was that of a man who went to Confession after 13 years of being away from the sacrament.

The Men’s Rosary is an international prayer movement that began in Poland. The movement has especially taken off in Latin America, with Men’s Rosary events in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Paraguay. Other countries where Men’s Rosary events have taken place include Germany, Ukraine, the Netherlands, England, the United States, Lithuania, and Spain.

On their website, the initiators of the Men’s Rosary in Poland explain that their goal is to fulfill the desire of the Virgin Mary, which is to do the will of her Son, Jesus Christ.

They also note that “the role of men in God’s plan is to protect all those whom God has given us here on earth, for eternal life.”

“Just as St. Joseph was the earthly protector of the Holy Family, we also have the task of defending the sanctity of our families and loved ones,” they say on the website. “We want to do it together, in a community of men. In this unity, we strengthen our masculine identity and masculine virtues.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Apr 27, 2020 / 04:35 pm (CNA).- A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal has voted against an intervention seeking to decriminalize abortion for expectant mothers diagnosed with the Zika virus.

The judges convened a virtual plenary session April 24 to hear arguments for and against the “Direct Action on Unconstitutionality-ADI 5581,” a legal intervention filed with the court by the National Association of Public Defenders.

While the court has until April 30 to vote on the matter, 7 of its 11 members have already voted in opposition, effectively rejecting the measure.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil but previous Supreme Court rulings have declared it a “non-punishable crime” in cases of rape, a proven risk to life of the mother and, as of 2012, babies diagnosed with anencephaly.

The Zika virus garnered international attention in 2015 after areas of Brazil noted a spike in cases of the birth defect microcephaly – a condition marked by abnormally small heads, brains, and developmental delays – following a recent outbreak of the virus in areas of northeastern Brazil.

Research on the virus suggested a link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and severe neurological birth defects, including microcephaly and incomplete brain development.

However, some experts criticized what they described as technical and scientific flaws of the premise behind ADI 5581.
The Union of Catholic Jurists of Rio de Janeiro issued an official statement arguing that a causal relationship was never established between Zika virus and the microcephaly outbreak that occurred in Brazil.

Raphael Câmara, an obstetrician at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that when an attempt was made in 2016 to allow abortion in Zika cases, little was known about the virus.

“Since then, we have answers to many of the issues raised in ADI-5581 in support of allowing abortion,” Câmara said. “The first fact is that recent studies show that fetuses of infected mothers are affected only 5 to 14% of the time, with the majority having mild problems, as shown by research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

“In addition, a study recently released by the CDC showed that 73% of Brazilian labs have a low accuracy rate for diagnosing the Zika virus, so the request is meaningless because we cannot talk about someone ‘infected with Zika’, but rather ‘maybe infected by Zika.’ Is it based on this inaccuracy that we will kill fetuses?” the obstetrician continued.

Ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, pro-life groups in Brazil had spoken out against efforts to expand abortion in the country. A CitizenGo petition against the legal action drew more than 184,000 online signatures.

The Brazilian Bishops’ Conference had also opposed the attempt, calling on Catholics to defend life and oppose abortion. The conference wrote an open letter and also wrote privately to the Supreme Court, reiterating the duty to value the inviolable gift of life.

In 2017, the conference stated, “It does not belong to any public authority to selectively recognize the right to life or who will live or die. This discrimination is evil and exclusionary.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Digital. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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