Staff Member: Ms Mary Palmer
Ms Mary Palmer
Music Director-St. Peter Parish (Both Sites)
Phone: 716-754-4118
Email: Click Here to Email
Mary Palmer is a frequent sight at special Masses and presentations throughout the diocese. She is the director of choirs at West Seneca East Middle School, former director of music for Our Lady of Pompeii Parish and Niagara University, and now the Director of Music for St. Peter RC Parish (Both Worship Sites - St. Peter-Lewiston & St. Bernard-Youngstown).
She holds a bachelor of arts degree in Music Education, a master’s degree in Music Education, and is a New York state-certified teacher. Her comprehensive master’s project centered around music for children with special needs and emotional disturbance. In this project, she created a K-5 curriculum specifically geared toward minority children from the inner city. Music as empowerment, emotional awareness, and structure has become the backbone of her role as educator and music minister.
Her early dreams of being a professional mainstream musician took her to Las Vegas, where she studied voice with Deborah Lobe, personal voice coach for Bette Midler. During her short stint there, Palmer was privileged to sing at the Stratosphere, Las Vegas Hilton and Flamingo Library, among other venues.
“I started out in Vegas. I was going to be a rock star,” she said. “I had a beautiful conversion out there, and when I came home, the only job I could find was in a Catholic Church. I didn’t want to play music anymore. I just wanted to be the DRE and youth minister.”
She found herself back at her childhood parish. Her pastor knew she played guitar and piano, and told her to learn the organ. Soon, she found herself providing music at weddings and funerals around the diocese.
After learning contemporary music by the likes of Matt Maher, she became a traveling troubadour for the diocese.
“It was just word of mouth. All of a sudden, I’m playing at all these different churches and I love it because it’s all for Jesus,” she said.
Some of her musical adventures led her to sing for Masses at parishes throughout Dublin and Galway, Ireland, chapels and churches throughout Poland, St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy, St. Mary Our Lady Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, and at the tomb of St. John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
