Children must be taught (in words and example) to love what is good and wholesome and develop their consciences to be uncomfortable with that which offends God. Fill your house with joyful music and your children will develop proper musical taste. Be sure to have a healthy mix of secular and sacred music, so that your children are exposed to a wide variety of musical styles. You should also network with other parents about what their family has enjoyed.

A: Who are some of Cousins influences and favorite recording artists?

One of our favorite artists is John Groban. We are all Grobanites and just recently went to his concert in Chicago. He is an amazing vocalist and performer. Cecilia Bartoli, an opera mezzo-soprano is a favorite of girls, while guys like Celine Dion-along with many other artists. We’ve also performed in many musicals and have a great appreciation of Broadway and Big Band Era. We’ve been greatly influenced by our good friend and fellow Catholic artist Mary Anne LaHood. We like to sing and perform numerous oldies, especially music from 50’s. Other favorites include many Catholic and Christian artists.

We’ve also been greatly influenced by wonderful voice teachers we’ve learned from over years. Q: O Night Divine is such a beautiful Christmas gift! How did you decide to record a Christmas CD and how did you select songs for CD? A: There are so many beautiful and joyful Christmas songs that we couldn’t resist!

Christmas has become secularized over years, yet airwaves are still filled with joyful news of birth of Savior – in song! We saw an opportunity to expand our music ministry to a wider audience and to attract more teens and young adults to good news of Christ!

Each of Cousins picked personal favorites for solos that showcased his or her voice. As a group we selected some longtime family favorites, and some traditional Latin tunes. We had a lot of fun composing harmonies, resulting in fresh new renditions of old time carols. O Little Town of Bethlehem has a jazzy/pop element; Joy to World is a bold, upbeat, and driving rendition, while Acapella Dona Nobis Pacem reminds us of how angels must have sung of Peace on Earth at Jesus’ birth.

O Night Divine was a completely different experience compared to other albums. First of all, this is only CD that we, Cousins, co-produced. We were involved in every step of its creation, while on other albums we merely sang. Just recording experience itself was incredible. It had been years since last album we had recorded together and we had a totally different mentality. We wanted to create something different and something that expressed how we had matured from last album. We tried multiple new ideas, like idea of a pop version of O Little Town of Bethlehem. After multiple attempts, we were ready to drop idea. At this time, is where our amazing friend and producer Gary Loizzo came into play. Gary is sound producer for group “Styx” and is incredibly talented with music. He saw something in this song that we had missed. We should have known that this is what decades of recording experience will get you. Despite Rose’s requests to just can idea, Gary insisted that we continue, promising that song would be great. He really is responsible for outcome of that song. Just experience of this song alone was worth recording session. Each of other songs has their story, and while it might not have been as significant an event as O Little Town, each of us really enjoyed and grew not only as performers, but also as persons from this wonderful experience.

Reflecting on this album has led us to realize that with three other CDs behind us, O Night Divine might be seen as perfect ending point. But we all see it as beginning of a new twist to Cousins in Christ music collection. We had so many other songs we would have liked to have recorded. We’ll have to save those for next Christmas CD!

Q: Do you have any future projects in works?

A: The future includes many live performances both individually and as a group. We’re often asked to sing at conferences, conventions, fundraisers, weddings and special Diocesan occasions. We feel more and more called to produce secular music, in addition to religious, to influence general public as good role models. We believe Christmas CD will reach a wider audience as we are working with major distributors and nationwide chain stores for first time. We believe a Broadway CD is in future, but have not set a timeframe for it yet.

For more information on Cousins in Christ visit them at www.roseofsharonmedia.com

Lisa M. Hendey, webmaster of CatholicMom.com, writes from Fresno, California.

Jealousy of Jewish successes and wealth is another commonly offered explanation of anti-Semitism. As a scattered and shattered people, our choices of employment were few in Diaspora. Throughout middle ages, excluded from feudal and manorial systems, they were relegated to be artisans, traders and moneylenders. In a forced separation of Jews and secular world, Jews developed high intellectualism in study of Holy Torah, sole survivor of our former glory. This penchant for developing intellectualism in isolation is, at once, our strongest and weakest characteristic. Nonetheless, Jews developed economically valued skills by virtue of our intellectualism and our forced experiences as moneylenders. This accounts for our disproportionate contributions and participation in lucrative economic realms.

Finally, we deal with anti-Semitic accusations that Jews are of a 'lesser' race. This is best exemplified by Hitler's use of Hegel's precepts of euthanasia. Hegel mutated Darwin's work to allow for application of 'natural selection' to human populations. This pseudo-scientific theory allowed Jews to be viewed as 'less fit' than other races, and horrors of Second World War that followed. To any rational being, any such race based attacks fail immediately, since Jews are a people encompassing many races. However, purpose of anti-Semitism is to allow for a scapegoat people. In order to do that, humans must circumvent their natural empathy for fellow humans, by reducing them in status. Thus it is necessary to see Jews as a lesser race in order to make way for blaming them for any conceivable need. Thus when it comes to categorizing a people, it is necessity, rather than logic, that is mother of invention.

Another cause for anti-Semitism, not commonly discussed, is historical disadvantage. As far as labels go, they tend to stick. If "all world is a stage" as Bard suggests, then Jews are typecast as underdog. This suggests that were we able to remove all multi-causal causes of anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism would persist due to a deep-seated societal need for underdogs, with Jews as long favoured choice. It will always be possible to find reasons to hate underdog as long as need for underdog exists.

Thus, only solution to anti-Semitism is to eliminate societal need for an underdog. How does one eliminate need for an underdog? I leave you to privacy of your own thoughts where answer resides.