Welcome, Nicole!

I feel excited and blessed to be joining the community at Our Lady of Lourdes. I grew up attending Holy Family Church in St. Louis Park, and it was there that I began my path with church music. I started out playing flute for the adult choir there along with my two older siblings, who are also musicians (horn and violin). We are all pianists as well, since my mother is a piano teacher, so eventually, we also began to play organ for the liturgies. My primary instrument then was the flute, and the orchestra was my first great love. I pursued a career in an orchestra, first in an undergraduate degree at Boston University, then a Masters from Boston Conservatory. 

After graduation, I was auditioning for orchestral jobs, but continued to play at Holy Family….and the organ grew on me. I fell in love with the relationship the organ has with the congregation in the prayer of the Mass. Eventually, I had to acknowledge the path God was laying out before me, and I began to formally study the organ and also develop my singing abilities. My pursuits lead me to study liturgy at St. John’s University at the School of Theology. The more I learn about theology and the relationship between how we pray and what we believe, the deeper I fall in love with the beauty and wisdom of our Holy Mother Church. After my graduation, I served as the Director of Liturgy and Music at the Church of St. Peter in North Saint Paul, and more recently, I have been at Nativity of Mary in Bloomington. I learned a lot in each of those positions and am grateful to those communities.

Outside of the church, I’m blessed to have a wonderful family, both near and far. I’m a proud “Auntie” to my godson, niece, and another nephew in Denver. Thus far, I’ve been lucky enough to get out to Denver to make many elaborate birthday cakes for my godson (he gets to pick the theme!). I love to bake, and tend to do so for important people in my life—generally the more extravagant or experimental, the better! (I may or may not have a photo album dedicated exclusively to my baking creations….) I'm grateful that, due to the Denver archdiocese's "restored order" of the sacraments, I was able to be present for both my niece's and nephew's/godson's confirmations before the pandemic, and especially grateful that I was able to also be my godson's confirmation sponsor! I also have two nephews in Innsbruck, Austria. My father is actually from Austria, so half of my family lives there. Having grown up with lots of exposure to my Austrian heritage, I developed a strong interest in languages and all things linguistic. I speak German fluently (preferably in the Austrian dialect of my father!), but have also dabbled in a number of other languages, including French. Thus, I am looking forward to the French/European facet of Lourdes! When I get the chance, I love to travel and have spent quite a bit of time in Europe. I also have two birds--indian ringneck parakeets--whom I find to be pretty hilarious. They are both named after French Catholic organists and composers: "Marcel" after Marcel Dupré and "Ollie" after Olivier Messiaen. Alas, they haven't learned to whistle any works by their namesakes just yet, but there is still time...!

I'm really looking forward to getting to know the community at Our Lady of Lourdes. My devotion to the Blessed Mother is particularly dear to my heart, so it is an honor to serve at a Marian parish. I mentioned earlier that the orchestra was my first love, but the organ has surpassed that in many ways: I have a veritable orchestra at my fingertips, and my greatest joy in my job is when the congregation sings out with full heart and voice, with the organ supporting and surrounding the voice of the people. Pope Emeritus Benedict spoke about the theology of the pipe organ and how it so beautifully reflects the Body of Christ: the organ has many pipes that make many different types of sounds, and yet together it can create this majestic sound. And so it is with the voices of all the people of God: we are all unique and have our own voices, but united in mind and heart in song, we offer our glorious sacrifice of praise to our Lord. I am so excited to minister to a community that so very recently has invested in such a beautiful organ for the liturgy, and to be able to use it to help inspire and elevate the prayer of the people. Soli deo Gloria!

Please feel free to come up and introduce yourself after Mass! I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Nicole Millner