Service to God through music drew Cathedral music director and his wife to each other, to this diocese
There was a baby who enjoyed “singing” with the choir each Sunday at Mass.
His name was Andrew, and some things don’t change much.
“A lot of people are brought closer to God by music than by spoken words,” said Andrew Meagher, DMA, director of music for Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish in Jefferson City.
“It does add something powerful,” he said.
Dr. Meagher plans the music for all parish and diocesan liturgies in the Cathedral, directs the parish choir and provides organ and piano accompaniment at several Masses each weekend.
He works with Father Stephen Jones, pastor of the Cathedral parish, and members of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission to help leverage music’s potential to elevate communal worship and help people grow in their relationship with Christ.
“What we’re ultimately trying to do is bring people closer to God and help them get to heaven,” said Dr. Meagher.
His wife, Katherine, who holds two master’s degrees in vocal music, regularly serves as cantor and a section leader for the choir at Mass.
Dr. Meagher was selected for this role about two years ago, following a national search prompted by the retirement of his predecessor, Thomas Halpin.
Dr. and Mrs. Meagher moved to Columbia from the Archdiocese of Detroit and became members of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.
They’re both convinced that God brought them together and led them to this community.
“Any time you take a job, you pray about it,” Dr. Meagher stated. “I’m convinced that God steered me away from other opportunities so that we would wind up here.”
Dr. Meagher holds a bachelor’s degree in piano music and a master’s degree and a doctorate in organ music.
He has served as an accompanist, choir director and director of music for several Catholic and Protestant congregations.
The Binghamton, New York, native played piano with his parish youth ensemble when he was in high school.
The first time he helped accompany Mass was at his own Confirmation.
“That was when I started to realize how much I enjoyed my Catholic faith and that this might be something I want to do for a living,” he said.
“And that I wanted to do it for God rather than the accolades of other human beings.”
Try, try again
Dr. Meagher’s mother reminded him that he would sing along with the choir at church when he was little.
Having failed at his fourth-grade attempt to learn viola, he took up piano and wound up excelling with it.
“That just shows that if you’re not good at one instrument, you should try another,” he said.
His mother suggested he take piano lessons using the Yamaha Method, which places a heavy emphasis on singing.
“The best way to learn to read music is to sing,” he said. “After all, the human voice is the original instrument that we used in church.”
He advanced quickly in his keyboard technique.
He took two years of private lessons with a jazz piano teacher, then switched to classical piano lessons for all four years of high school.
“My teacher was also an organist,” he noted. “I once heard him give a recital on a four-manual Möller organ. I was so amazed by that.”
Dr. Meagher was accepted into the music school at Ithaca College in Upstate New York.
“I had this lifelong dream of being a concert pianist,” he acknowledged.
His instructor at Ithaca tempered those aspirations, noting that only about 1 percent of the people who try become successful concert pianists.
“It was a foolish pipe dream of mine,” said Dr. Meagher.
But another dream — this one actually involving pipes — was already taking shape.
“I explored some other things during my sophomore year,” Dr. Meagher recalled. “I started taking organ lessons my junior year.”
Meanwhile, he and two other Catholic piano students took turns accompanying Sunday Masses in the chapel.
He then pursued and completed a master’s degree in organ music at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, followed by a doctorate at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
That’s where he and Kathy met.
Singular vision
Mrs. Meagher grew up near Detroit and joined the honors choir in grade school.
Her teacher told her she had a beautiful voice and perfect pitch.
She took piano and flute lessons for a while, then played viola in the school orchestra for a year in middle school.
She sang in the choir and played in the school band.
She did so despite being severely sight-impaired since birth.
“Then, in high school, I got serious about music,” she recalled.
She joined the school’s show choir and studied under a very influential voice teacher.
“Because of her, I decided that I wanted to pursue music,” said Mrs. Meagher.
From there, she went to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston for undergraduate studies in music, then pursued a master of arts degree in vocal performance at New York University in New York.
Having completed that, she went to the University of Michigan to pursue a master’s degree in music and voice.
The couple crossed paths a few times and got acquainted through friends.
In the winter of 2010, Mrs. Meagher went to hear her future husband’s final dissertation organ recital.
The couple wound up going to a few hockey games together, and he came to a one-act opera she sang in and brought her flowers.
They sat together at graduation. They took a day trip to Chicago and talked a lot on their way home.
Dr. Meagher applied for a job as an organist at a Catholic parish in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“One June 23, 2010, we got the good news that he got the job and was going to stay,” said Mrs. Meagher.
Praying twice
Kathy had been baptized and grown up in another Christian faith tradition.
“Right before we started dating, I went with Andy to a church where he was playing,” she recalled. “I really liked the music that they did.”
She started going to Mass every weekend to hear him play the organ.
One day, her mother called to tell her that her father had been in a car accident and sustained a serious brain injury.
He had been airlifted to St. Mary’s of Michigan Medical Center in Saginaw, about 85 miles from where Kathy was living in Ann Arbor.
“I called Andy,” Kathy recalled. “He wanted to come with me, but he couldn’t.”
Bishop Earl Boyea was coming to Ann Arbor, and Andrew had to accompany the Mass.
Kathy attended, not knowing whether her father would survive the emergency brain surgery he was having at that time.
“That day, I met Bishop Boyea, and he prayed with me for my dad,” she recalled.
Gradually, her father made a full recovery.
Andrew began accompanying Kathy’s voice recitals in the winter of 2013 at the University of Michigan and started serving as her voice coach about a year later.
His grandfather died at age 101 in October 2015. Andrew invited Kathy to sing at the funeral.
Her voice led the way into his family’s heart.
On Aug. 27 of the following year, Andrew told her he didn’t want to be her boyfriend anymore.
He got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife.
They got married a year later.
The couple continued collaborating musically and enjoying each other’s company.
“I also found that I liked the spirituality and the music of the worship at the Catholic oratory,” said Mrs. Meagher.
She told her husband she wanted to become Catholic.
He quickly replied that “this has to be because you want it, not because of me.”
Sure of her intentions, Mrs. Meagher entered what is now known as the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) in 2016 and was received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church on Easter Sunday, 2017.
Dr. Meagher went on to serve as accompanist, choir director and director of music at parishes throughout the Detroit archdiocese and Lansing diocese.
Mrs. Meagher served as staff singer at another parish, St. Paul on the Lake in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.
All for one
Dr. Meagher applied for the director of music position at the Cathedral in Jefferson City in 2023.
The selection committee was impressed with his experience, credentials and passion for his work.
“So, I went from being organist to director of music, then director of music at a larger parish, and now, director of music at a cathedral,” Dr. Meagher stated with delight.
“Here I am, two years in, and I couldn’t be happier to be serving God in this capacity and sharing God’s love — not just with the people of this parish but with the whole diocese,” he said.
He and Mrs. Meagher are committed to helping people participate more effectively at Mass.
“We’re here to help other singers and musicians, so they can serve,” said Dr. Meagher. “We want to help bring people closer to God.”
“To build up the ministry, to build up the Church,” Mrs. Meagher added.
“And help God save souls,” said Dr. Meagher.
He noted that music in communal worship has the power to bring people closer to God and fill them with a desire to serve him with all their heart.
“It can also help them decide that they want to become more active in the Church and receive the Sacraments,” said Dr. Meagher.
“It’s one way to foster full and active participation — and not just for people in the choir,” he stated.
He agrees with an insight a colleague once shared with him: “The whole congregation is a choir of 500 singing for an audience of one — that one being God.”
Joy from joy
Dr. Meagher said he’s grateful to Archbishop-designate McKnight; Fr. Jones and his predecessor, Father Louis Nelen; the members of the committee who selected him; and Mr. Halpin, who continues to help and encourage him.
Dr. Meagher is delighted to make sacred music in the exquisitely renovated Cathedral with its soon-to-be-completed new organ.
Knowing that there’s no way to please everyone, he continues working to draw as many people into sacred worship as possible.
“The greatest joy in my job comes from helping people in need and celebrating their joys,” he told fellow parishioners shortly after he arrived.
What can people do to help Dr. Meagher serve the Cathedral parish and the whole diocese better?
“Stewardship of your time and talent,” he stated. “I’m not saying leave your own parish, but come here for the diocesan events, join the diocesan choir and sing out!”
He suggested that people who are interested in serving in music ministries at their home parish connect with the diocesan chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.
“They offer great resources and opportunities for your formation, to help you share your voice or your gift for playing an instrument,” he said.
He asked for prayers to be able to continue his work with wisdom, patience and a gentle, contrite heart.
Mrs. Meagher requested prayers for peace in the world and for people not to overlook the gifts of people who have disabilities.
“A church is not a building — a church is a people!” Dr. Meagher pointed out. “I try to never lose track of the fact that I am serving God’s people and using music to help bring them closer to him.”
