‘Cantemus Domino’
Juan Manuel Cajero, choir director at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Charlotte, talks about the release of a new CD that includes songs with original music and lyrics. ( César Hurtado | Catholic News Herald)
CHARLOTTE — Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish recently released its third musical production, “Cantemus Domino,” under the guidance of its longtime music director, Juan Manuel Cajero.
Cajero composed and produced the religious-themed collection, a series of psalms and reflections set to original music.
Each of the themes includes a personal reflection by priests who have served at the Charlotte parish over the years. One of the songs includes a reflection from his own brother, Father José Luis Cajero Ramos, who died unexpectedly in April at only 38 years old. A priest for seven years, Father Cajero served at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish during the summer months of 2013 and 2015.
Cajero describes the musical collection as “psalms for healing, for forgiveness, for moments of sadness and melancholy, for thanksgiving.”
A native of Mexico, Cajero says he always had a taste for the religious music that he heard growing up in his Catholic home.
Inspired by seminarians who visited his parish while on their missionary travels, Cajero entered the minor seminary of Guadalajara when he was just 15 years old. There he learned music theory and Gregorian chant. He became interested in piano but was disappointed because the rigorous studies of seminary life left him little time left over to pursue music.
In 2002 he visited Charlotte while on vacation and met a priest who would shape his life: Vincentian Father Vincent Finnerty, then pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. Father Finnerty invited him to stay in Charlotte and discern the priesthood with his religious order.
Cajero enrolled in classes at Central Piedmont Community College, studying philosophy and psychology as part of his vocation discernment process, but music was still beckoning him. He switched to music classes and joined the college’s opera group.
Cajero became convinced that music – not priestly ministry – was how God was calling him to serve the Church. In 2004 Father Finnerty put him in charge of the parish choirs, and Cajero didn’t look back.
A year later, his musical skills were brought to bear for a special occasion at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish: the ordination of a Vincentian priest. Cajero and the choir rehearsed new material, and Father Finnerty liked it so much he asked them to record it on a CD.
“A New Day Dawns” was their first production, but it wouldn’t be their last.
Cajero and the parish choir planned to release a second CD with original music, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed their efforts. In 2023, “Let God Win” was finally released. Among the songs was an original composition Cajero had created as the entrance song at his wedding: “Yo te acepto a ti.”
Cajero, now father of three children – Sofía, Natalia and Emmanuel – does not know what God has planned for his future, whether it’s writing more music, focusing on his family life or something else. His additional duties as a tribunal advocate at the parish are also fulfilling, he says.
“I want to continue studying and growing. I want to finish canon law to help my community, especially the non-English speaking community. I feel very sorry for people who cannot receive Communion. This helps them to rebuild their lives.”
Yet, Cajero adds, he will never give up music entirely. And he is already preparing a new production that he plans to call “What I Believe In,” he says, “where I will sing to women, to family, to life.”
— César Hurtado