Rory Cooney is the director of liturgy and music at St. Anne Catholic Community in Barrington, Illinois. Previously, he served as director of liturgy and music at St. Jerome Catholic Community in Phoenix, Arizona, for eleven years. Composer of a dozen recorded collections of liturgical music published by Oregon Catholic Press, World Library Publications, and GIA Publications, he gives workshops around the country with Gary Daigle and Theresa Donohoo on musical liturgy. In addition, he works on various institutes of the North American Forum on the Catechumenate on initiation rites and issues of reconciliation in the Church. Rory also has published articles in Modern Liturgy, Today’s Parish, Hosanna! and Pastoral Music on practical and pastoral aspects of musical liturgy. His work is represented in the latest editions of the popular Glory and Praise hymnals, as well as in the 1994 editions of the Gather hymnals and newer editions of Breaking Bread and Music Issue. Recently, he has collaborated with his daughter Claire on an album entitled Keep Awake (2001, World Library). Some of those songs appear in World Library Publications youth hymnal entitled Voices as One. Rory is married to Theresa Donohoo.
One of the loveliest voices in the world of recorded liturgical music belongs to Theresa Donohoo. For fifteen years the distinctive voice that brings the music of Rory Cooney to life on eleven recordings, Theresa has also recorded the music of Marty Haugen, Dan Schutte, the Dameans, Tom Kendzia, and Liam Lawton. Often a featured soloist in churches throughout Chicagoland, Theresa travels with Rory and Gary Daigle giving concerts of sacred music throughout the United States. The trio has performed England and Ireland as well. Her collection, One Heart, is a collaboration with Donna Peña and Pamela Warrick-Smith, and her own recording, On Christmas Day in the Morning, was released in fall of 1998. Her latest solo effort, Family Resemblance, was released in late 2003.
Theresa has a degree from Harper College and is currently studying at Northern Illinois University. She is a certified Montessori teacher. She and Rory were married in 1994, and they are the proud parents of Desmond James.
Gary Daigle's first compositions for musical liturgy were collaborations with the Dameans on the collection Remember Your Love (1978). Gary continues to work with the Dameans as a composer, arranger, and producer. In 1993, he released Praise the Maker’s Love, his first collection under his own name. More recent collaborations have been with Rory Cooney. Gary has produced all of Rory's most recent collections and he has set a number of Rory's texts to music. He has also produced recordings by Donna Peña, John Foley, S.J., Jaime Cortez, Liam Lawton, and the GIA Choral Subscription Service recordings. Gary received his Bachelor of Music from Southeastern Louisiana University and has worked as a campus minister at the Catholic University of America. From 1985-1991, he was Director of Music Ministry at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. Gary has given workshops and shaped ritual for national and regional conferences throughout the United States such as The East Coast Conference for Religious Education, the Hofinger Conference, the Gathering, and The National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Gary is married to Maria and the father of three children, Erin, Paige, and Grant.