{"id":3817,"date":"2009-12-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/12\/a-catholic-american-idol.html"},"modified":"2009-12-22T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-22T06:00:00","slug":"a-catholic-american-idol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/12\/a-catholic-american-idol.html","title":{"rendered":"A Catholic “American Idol”"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s the spin that’s being put on this intriguing singing competition<\/a> in Florida:<\/p>\n

\nSo you think you’ve had a busy few days? Consider Jacqui Urbuteit’s schedule since last Thursday:<\/p>\n

\"26959_122109-voice-of-angel-385.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>She took her final exams for college. She worked at an after-school day care center. She celebrated her 22nd birthday. She graduated from University of Florida. And she headed to Miami to compete in the finals for the statewide “Voice of an Angel” competition.<\/p>\n

It’s safe to say she can be forgiven for leaving one thing off her to-do list.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t done my Christmas shopping yet,” she admits. “But I still have time, don’t I?”<\/p>\n

Not much. The contest’s three-day series of performances kicks off tonight at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity. Think “American Idol” with a Catholic twist.<\/p>\n

The contest is sponsored by God Squad Communications, an outreach ministry that evangelizes to young people. It has run the “Voice of an Angel” contest in the Archdiocese of Miami for the last two years, and expanded it statewide in 2009.<\/p>\n

All contestants must be 13 to 23 years old and registered with a Catholic parish or school in Florida.<\/p>\n

Eight finalists – one from each of the seven Catholic dioceses in Florida, plus a wild card entrant from Palm Beach – will sing individual numbers and take part in medleys. Assigned to choose a song from the 1930s, Urbuteit hopes to wow tonight’s crowd with “Over the Rainbow.”<\/p>\n

Three finalists will be chosen after Tuesday night’s performance of a group song, based on online voting (www.encounterwithgod.com\/angel) and input from a panel of judges.<\/p>\n

The winner will be announced Wednesday after the “Rockin’ Christmas Medley” concert at the church. Every finalist will be featured in a “Passion and Resurrection” concert tour that will travel to all the dioceses in the 2010 Lenten season, while the winner will be the featured vocalist on a “Voice of an Angel” CD produced by God Squad Communications.<\/p>\n

“That could open a lot of doors for an aspiring singer,” says Chris Wills, the ministry’s director and one of the “Angel” judges. Last summer, the 2007 winner went to Los Angeles to record with a Grammy award-winning producer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more about it — and watch Urbuteit’s performance — at the link.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s the spin that’s being put on this intriguing singing competition in Florida: So you think you’ve had a busy few days? Consider Jacqui Urbuteit’s schedule since last Thursday: She took her final exams for college. She worked at an after-school day care center. She celebrated her 22nd birthday. She graduated from University of Florida.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-that"],"yoast_head":"\nA Catholic "American Idol" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/12\/a-catholic-american-idol.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Catholic "American Idol" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That’s the spin that’s being put on this intriguing singing competition in Florida: So you think you’ve had a busy few days? 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