Children from third to eighth grade in Catholic youth choirs in Detroit (and London, Ontario, Canada) begin singing in Latin

Songs like this, but by children? Or other songs? Do tell!

Oh good, the younger the better. Though children don't necessarily learn languages faster than a motivated adult, a non-motivated child learns languages passively better than the latter. These kids are beginning to get acquainted with Latin during elementary instead of university like most Latin students do.

About 100 children from parishes in Michigan and London, Ontario, are to practice and then perform during the mass with Archbishop Allen Vigneron at Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the seat of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

After the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, greater emphasis was placed on using English in masses so singing in Latin increasingly fell out of favor, said local Catholics.

"When I was young, we only sang in Latin," recalled Cindy Stempin, music director at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Livonia.

"Latin was the universal language of the church," she added. "They are going back to their roots."

Some of her students say they like it.

"It's pretty cool to be singing in a different language," said Alexa Orosz, a sixth-grader at St. Michael school. "When you get used to it, it's not hard at all."

So what songs are they singing? I want examples!

Here's the cathedral where they do the singing:


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