Cathedral Organists

Sister Mary of Holy Hope, SOLT, Principal Organist
Born and raised in Canada, Sister Holy Hope is a fully professed Sister of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT Sisters).  Her two main instruments are organ and harp, but she also enjoys playing the viola and fiddling.  She received her Doctorate in Chemistry from Dalhousie University in 2005 and her Master’s in Church Music from the University of Kansas in 2020, where she studied organ with Dr. Michael Bauer and improvisation with Dr. Kevin Vogt.  Sister serves her community as the director of the SOLT Sisters’ Choir and curates the 1874 Hutchings-Plaisted organ at Our Lady of Corpus Christi, in Corpus Christi, Texas, which she helped install in 2019. 

While assigned to Kansas City, she founded a benefit concert called “The Joy of Music,” which she organized and performed in for seven years before being reassigned.   She also served as an organist for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and as a cantor and organist for Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church, both in Kansas City, Missouri.  In 2020, she was sent by her community to Phoenix, and is thrilled to serve at St. Simon and Jude Cathedral as an organist.  Sister Holy Hope is also the music teacher at Most Holy Trinity Catholic School, where she teaches music fundamentals, choral singing, piano, classical guitar, and bell choir.

Richard Waters, Principal Organist
Richard served as accompanist for Congregational, Lutheran, Baptist, and Methodist churches in semi-rural Illinois communities for 15 years before his conversion to the Catholic faith in 1997 while serving as assistant organist at St. Mary Catholic Church in Woodstock, IL, where he also directed the Spanish choir and led the “teen” Mass. In 2003, he became the choir director and music teacher for St. Joseph Catholic Church in Harvard, IL
  
After a brief stint in seminary in 2006, he earned his BA in philosophy from Rockford University in 2009 and began working as music director and teacher for St. James Catholic Church in Belvidere, IL. He became the music director for St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic Church in 2013 and subsequently moved to Arizona.

Richard currently serves St. Simon and Jude Cathedral as assistant Spanish organist; St. Louis the King as parish organist; and music teacher for Queen of Peace Catholic School in Mesa.