{"id":2991,"date":"2012-12-28T09:07:46","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T14:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=2991"},"modified":"2012-12-28T09:15:45","modified_gmt":"2012-12-28T14:15:45","slug":"singing-nuns-still-flying-high-as-advent-at-ephesus-tops-billboards-classical-chart-for-fifth-consecutive-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/12\/singing-nuns-still-flying-high-as-advent-at-ephesus-tops-billboards-classical-chart-for-fifth-consecutive-week.html","title":{"rendered":"Singing nuns still flying high as &#8220;Advent at Ephesus&#8221; tops Billboard&#8217;s Classical Chart for fifth consecutive week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today&#8217;s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Singing praises.<\/strong> Congratulation to the monastic sisters of Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in rural Missouri. For five weeks now their CD album Advent at Ephesus (which debuted on Nov. 20th) has topped\u00a0 Billboard magazine\u2019s Classical Traditional Music Chart. That put singing nuns on pace to become the bestselling new classical music act of 2012. The sisters\u00a0 have held onto the lofty chart position challenges from Andrea Bocelli, Placido Domingo, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir\u2019s <em>Once Upon a Christmas<\/em>, the London Symphony Orchestra\u2019s <em>Christmas Classics<\/em> and even <em>Fifty Shades of Grey Classical<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Icing on the cake, on top of the strong sales come anecdotal reports of the positive practical import the recording is having on listeners. Monica Fitzgibbons, the co-founder of De Montfort Music which produced the CD along with Decca Records, says\u00a0 \u201cIt has been wondrous to hear the many testimonies of those who have found comfort and joy during Advent and Christmas by listening to the ethereal sounds of <em>Advent at Ephesus<\/em>. We have heard from anyone from a parent of a severely autistic young man who has found soothing calm by listening to the peaceful music on this collection to a young woman who found stillness and consolation during chemotherapy while listening. Still others have been listening during their last moments of this life and others while giving birth. For so many already, this music has undoubtedly inspired tranquility and uplifted hearts and for that we are truly humbled and grateful!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the CD, the album is available as a digital download for all devices at a variety of online retailers, including Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble and the iTunes Store.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suggestion:<\/strong> Some smart TV network executive should give the sisters a TV special next Christmas. It would probably result in very impressive Yule-time ratings.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"The Benedictines of Mary &quot;Advent at Ephesus&quot;\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZSZQceNbZLA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<div><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today&#8217;s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Singing praises. Congratulation to the monastic sisters of Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in rural Missouri. For five weeks now their CD album Advent at Ephesus (which debuted on Nov. 20th) has topped\u00a0 Billboard magazine\u2019s Classical Traditional Music Chart. That put singing nuns&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,3632,25,31],"tags":[3621,35,2692,3739,3622,3769,3624,3773,3741,3770,3625,3740,3771,3774,3772,3742],"class_list":["post-2991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-music","category-television","tag-advent-at-ephesus","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-amazon","tag-andrea-bocelli","tag-barnes-noble","tag-billboards-classical-chart","tag-de-montfort-music","tag-decca-records","tag-fifty-shades-of-grey-classical","tag-monastic-sisters-of-benedictines-of-mary","tag-monica-fitzgibbons","tag-placido-domingo","tag-queen-of-apostles-in-rural-missouri","tag-the-itunes-store","tag-the-london-symphony-orchestras-christmas-classics","tag-the-mormon-tabernacle-choirs-once-upon-a-christmas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Singing nuns still flying high as &quot;Advent at Ephesus&quot; tops Billboard&#039;s Classical Chart for fifth consecutive week<\/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\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/12\/singing-nuns-still-flying-high-as-advent-at-ephesus-tops-billboards-classical-chart-for-fifth-consecutive-week.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Singing nuns still flying high as &quot;Advent at Ephesus&quot; tops Billboard&#039;s Classical Chart for fifth consecutive week\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today&#8217;s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Singing praises. Congratulation to the monastic sisters of Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in rural Missouri. For five weeks now their CD album Advent at Ephesus (which debuted on Nov. 20th) has topped\u00a0 Billboard magazine\u2019s Classical Traditional Music Chart. That put singing nuns&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/12\/singing-nuns-still-flying-high-as-advent-at-ephesus-tops-billboards-classical-chart-for-fifth-consecutive-week.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-28T14:07:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-28T14:15:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. 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Congratulation to the monastic sisters of Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in rural Missouri. For five weeks now their CD album Advent at Ephesus (which debuted on Nov. 20th) has topped\u00a0 Billboard magazine\u2019s Classical Traditional Music Chart. That put singing nuns&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/12\/singing-nuns-still-flying-high-as-advent-at-ephesus-tops-billboards-classical-chart-for-fifth-consecutive-week.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2012-12-28T14:07:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-28T14:15:45+00:00","author":"John W. 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Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2991"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2993,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions\/2993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}