Greetings from Fr. James –
- Father James Liebner SVD is the new Pastor of St. Anne of the Sunset. James was born in Stamford, CT, but grew up in Long Island, NY, and in New Jersey. He was ordained March 16, 1985. He is fluent in Spanish, and speaks Mandarin at an intermediate level. His first assignment was a Spanish-speaking parish in Chicago for nine years. He then taught for 18 years in universities in Taiwan, China and Macau. Since returning to the US, Fr. James has served here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco at St. Philip’s parish for five years, and then for one year at Star of the Sea in the Richmond District. He enjoys photography and his photos have been published in various magazines and calendars. He has written the lyrics to two musicals which have been made into movies and can be seen on his YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@fr.jamesgerardliebner/playlists
Look All Around You is a musical on the life of Blessed Mary of the Passion, foundress of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. She was a French missionary to India. The tension in the story is that her French religious community was contemplative, but when she and the Sisters got to India and saw the need to be a missionary among the people, she started her own religious community to be active in care and evangelization among the poor with the encouragement of the local bishop. Mother Teresa said that Blessed Mary of the Passion was an inspiration for her to leave teaching and work with the poor. You can view the musical here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yCjDF3guhc
The musical begins at 3:35 after a spoken introduction. It has been viewed 14,000 times on my Youtube channel. The lead singer is very accomplished and is a music teacher at the high school. Almost all of the others in the musical are high school girls. All are non-native English speakers.
In the notes on the YouTube page a viewer was kind of enough to mark the songs, so if you just want to click around on the list of songs, here it is:
00:00 Spoken introduction
In France
03:25 Difficult Times
06:49 I Had a Dream
08:56 Is There Someone for Me?
12:53 Childhood Memories in France
16:44 My Dream Does Live
19:15 “You Will Never Love Me as I Love You.”
26:20 Helen Bids Farewell to Her Aunt
In India
29:40 Look All Around You
34:40 How to Live a Life of Mission?
37:18 The Colors of the Rainbow
39:02 Memories in India (reprise)
41:50 Journey to France: Till We Meet at Last
43:43 I Gave My Heart and Don’t Regret It.
46:18 Sister Clara…Sister Mary
50:08 Once Again I Turn to Jesus
57:20 Chinese Language Learning to Go on Mission to China
59:23 I See a Light O’re the Distant Mountain
1:03:48 “You Will Never Love Me as I Love.” (reprise)
1:06:58 We See a Light O’er the Distant Mountain (reprise)
1:07:26 Look All Around You (reprise and finale)
A second musical I wrote is A Mother’s Heart: A Musical about the Apparition of the Blessed Mother in Fatima, Portugal, 1917. A Mother’s Heart, A musical about Our Lady of Fatima (with subtitles) HD 720p
The musical itself begins at: 7:15 after an introduction by the composer, Aurelio Porfiri. At 56:27 the composer will speak about the process of composing and some of the Sisters and staff from Our Lady of Fatima School, Macau, China, will speak of their religious charism as well as the successful musical.
Fr. James Liebner, SVD