BENSONHURST — Twelve-year-old Johana Garcia has dreamed of playing the violin for the longest time — “Ever since I was little,” she said — and now her dream has come true, thanks to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.
Johana is part of the violin section of Our Lady of Guadalupe Mariachi, a 25-piece band of young people from the church that specializes in playing traditional Mexican music.
The musical ensemble was formed last year by Deacon Edgar Saucedo, and lots of eager kids, including Johana, immediately signed up. The band members range in age from kindergarten kids to college students.
“I always wanted to play the violin, and when they opened this new junior mariachi, I decided to join because I wanted to try something new,” Johana said as she took a brief break from rehearsal on Sept. 23.
The band members meet every Tuesday night with their violins, trumpets, guitars and guitarron Mexicanos (a six-string bass guitar traditionally used in mariachi music) to rehearse for their big performance at the church’s celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12 — a major Catholic holiday in Mexico.
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Deacon Saucedo said he is hoping the band will soon be playing at the church’s Spanish-language Masses. Most of the kids are the children of immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador, he explained.
But filling the church with lively mariachi music is not the only reason he formed the band. The real goal, Deacon Saucedo said, is to draw young people into church and get them involved in parish life. And he believes that music is a good entry point.
“I think I based it on the importance for the young people to be part of the community, and I wanted to start working on it,” said Deacon Saucedo, who has served at Our Lady of Guadalupe since 2023.
His first step after getting permission from Msgr. Robert Romano, the church’s pastor, was to put a notice in the church bulletin. The announcement was met with a flood of responses from parents interested in enrolling their children.
Deacon Saucedo admitted that he hoped kids would have so much fun in the band that it would entice them to become involved in the church in other ways — such as becoming altar servers and catechists.
“It is my hope that the Holy Spirit guides them,” he said. “It is all up to the Holy Spirit.”
In the year since the band was formed, he has seen some success with his goal. Our Lady of Guadalupe now has 13 altar servers, many of whom are also band members.
“I think it was because the kids started getting into the mariachi group, they also became altar servers,” Deacon Saucedo said.
Msgr. Romano credited Deacon Saucedo with bringing new life to the church — not just with the mariachi band, but also by training and supervising the altar servers and being actively involved in the faith formation program. “I am so happy with the results,” he said.
One of Deacon Saucedo’s success stories is Edwin Bailon, 19, a sophomore at Borough of Manhattan Community College. He plays the guitarron Mexicano in the band and is an altar server and catechist.
“Church is a lot more fun than people realize,” Bailon said. “They need to explore all the different things in church. You can find something you think is interesting.”
Or unlock a hidden talent. Deacon Saucedo said a byproduct of the band might be that it gives kids a chance to discover their abilities. “I always remind them that their talent came from God, but that they need to discover it,” he said.
For some, it is not discovery as much as it is reinforcing what one already knows.
At the first meeting after the mariachi band was formed, Johana, a seventh grader at Christa McAuliffe Intermediate School in Dyker Heights, knew which instrument was meant for her.
“When we came to the church, there were many teachers playing different instruments,” Johana said. “When I saw the violin, I knew I wanted to play it.”