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Conner D. McCain, Ph.D. (cand.), Director of Sacred Music
Conner David McCain is a New York-based composer and a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition, with a concentration in Sacred Choral Music, at the University of Aberdeen. His research focuses on the musical tradition of the Church, particularly Gregorian chant, and religious imagery and inspiration in contemporary art music, especially minimalism as the “sound of eternity.” He holds an MMus from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and an MA in Philosophy and French from the University of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland.
As a composer, his works have been performed in Italy, the United Kingdom, and across the United States by ensembles such as Voces8, the Red Note Ensemble, and the Choir of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. Of particular note, his song cycle for tenor and organ titled, Three Meditations on Holy Saturday, an extra-liturgical setting of selections from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s mystically rich Heart of the World premiered at a memorial concert for Fr. Denis Farkasfalvy, O.Cist. in June 2022.
Active as an organist and liturgical musician since his freshman year of high school in Dallas, Texas, he has given concerts and recitals in New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., and the United Kingdom. The repertoire of these concerts has ranged from Mendelssohn and Franck to Philip Glass and Louis Vierne, and he is often found collaborating with singers and instrumentalists in repertoire from the early Baroque, such as Tomaso Albinoni and Carlo Lonati to the contemporary, such as Sir James MacMillan and Pēteris Vasks.
Conner and his wife, an Assistant Professor of Theology at Mount Saint Mary College, and their baby girl, due February 2023, live in the beautiful Hudson Valley.
More information about Conner’s work can be found at connermccain.com."
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Rev. John P. Cush, S.T.D.
Fr. John P. Cush is a priest for the Diocese of Brooklyn, having grown up in Windsor Terrace and Park Slope. He attended Cathedral Preparatory Seminary for high school and St. John’s University, where he earned a B.A. in English and Philosophy. Fr. Cush studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and earned an S.T.B and S.T.L. from the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 2013, Fr. Cush completed his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) in the field of fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
From 2004-2012, Fr. Cush was assigned as a full-time teacher at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, Elmhurst, where he taught Italian, English, Fine Arts, and Religion and was the spiritual director. During these years, he also taught at the Brooklyn Diocesan Diaconate Formation Program, the Diocesan Pastoral Institute for Lay Formation, the Diocesan Liturgical Ministry Training Workshops, the Diocesan Pre-Cana Program, and as an adjunct professor for pre-theology at the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation, Douglaston, New York. Additionally, Fr. Cush was a part of the Brooklyn Diocesan Ecumenical Commission and served as a censor librorum.
In 2015, Fr. Cush joined the faculty at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy as an assistant vice-rector, and then as an academic dean. He has been an adjunct associate professor of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, an adjunct associate professor of Church History and Social Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and an adjunct professor of Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. In 2016, Fr. Cush had the opportunity to study for certification as a seminary spiritual director at the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska.
Fr. Cush is a regular contributor to the Tablet, The Evangelist, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, National Catholic Register, and Church Life Journal. Fr. Cush authored The How-to Book of Catholic Theology, as well as two books on priestly formation forthcoming from Word on Fire Press and the Institute of Priestly Formation Press.
Fr. Cush joins St. Joseph's Seminary as a full-time professor of dogmatic theology and external formation advisor. In the 2022-2023 Academic Year, he will be teaching classes both in dogmatic theology and sacramental theology.
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