‘Sounds of Peace’: A music project to console others

Whether she’s singing, praying the rosary daily with her daughter on her YouTube channel or giving inspirational talks about faith, singer/songwriter Kitty Cleveland knows she’s on a mission to save souls for God.

Cleveland considers her music ministry a “divine mandate,” inspired by the Holy Spirit during eucharistic adoration in 1998 during a time when she was struggling in life. Her first CD was “Surrender” in 2000, a love project for her father.

Constant requests for her to sing about a particular topic have resulted in 10 CDs filled with music that has touched hearts, given comfort to the grieving and helped the dying “pass peacefully into the arms of God when it’s time.”


Her latest project is a nonprofit work titled “Sounds of Peace,” a compilation of her music on an MP3 player made available to the sick and dying by donation.

“It’s such a gift,” Cindy Nicaud said of “Sounds of Peace.” “Even people with mental illness have found a grace from this. They will listen to her chant music and find peace.”

“This is completely gratuitous,” Cleveland, 55, said about not profiting from the work. “God has blessed me so much over the years. I have been able to make a living from selling CDs and traveling and speaking. Now, all of that has shut down (with COVID). … And, the Lord says, ‘Now it’s time to give it all away. Just trust me to provide for you.’ That’s what I am doing.”

Heavenly inspiration
The seed planted for this project began Aug. 28, 2018, when Cleveland sang at a Mass commemorating the 30th anniversary of Marian apparitions by Our Lady, Guardian of the Faith to Patricia “Pachi” Talbot in Cuenca, Ecuador. Cleveland asked Pachi why she was selected when many other talented, faith-filled singers lived in Cuenca.

“Because Our Lady loves you so much, and because you have a mission to save the world with your voice,” Talbot told her.

“I started crying,” Cleveland said. “I didn’t even know what that meant. I committed it to prayer. I knew I had these gifts that God has given me to use for the kingdom and bring souls to him.”

Fast forward exactly a year, and Cleveland had her answer. As she drove across the Causeway on Aug. 28, 2019, from a funeral where she sang, a voice in her soul articulated, “Give your music away to the poor, the sick and the dying. No one should suffer or die without consolation.”

“It was like my heart was on fire,” Cleveland said. “I could see the whole thing. By the end of the Causeway, it was done. … I was so excited.”

That inspiration had her immediately buying 1,000 digital music (MP3) players, downloading them with 8 1/2 hours of her music (from nine CDs) and donating them to the poor, sick and homebound.

Two months later, COVID hit.

“People were dying in hospitals,” she said, asking herself what she could do. “I needed to prepare people to die well.”

“Sounds of Peace” includes the digital recorders, earbuds, a USB charging cable with a wall plug, a bookmark with a tracklisting, the giver’s name and player instructions tucked inside a blue velvet gift bag with a logo designed by her daughter Cecilia.

The project has been well-received. A letter sent by an elderly man who couldn’t visit his dying wife said, “I took great consolation in knowing that she was listening to your voice and to the consoling message of God’s great love for her when she died.”

Teaching Catholicism
While arranging her CDs on the recorder, she realized that they sum up the heart of the Catholic faith – encompassing the Eucharist, confession, the rosary, Divine Mercy, the rosary, sacred arias, the chants.

“It’s much of the rich heritage, musically speaking, and prayers that so many Catholics don’t know anything about,” Cleveland said. “Mary is Our Lady, Guardian of the Faith, and so many people are losing their faith. This keeps it alive.”

The “Sounds of Peace” begins peacefully with Cleveland welcoming listeners to an examination of conscience and asking them to forgive those they need to forgive.

“We must forgive if we want to receive God’s mercy,” Cleveland said.

Cleveland sings the Divine Mercy chaplet with students of St. Joseph School in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. That is followed by her CDs:  “Sublime Chant,” recorded at Dunblane Cathedral in Scotland; “Be Not Afraid”; “Hail Holy Queen”; “Surrender, Sacred Arias”; the “Miracle of Love Rosary” (and the children’s rosary version); her testimony about faith; and “O, Holy Night.” It also has a song index so people can easily scroll to a specific song.

Mary instructs her heart
Already, 2,000 digital recorders have been donated – several hundred to Notre Dame Hospice residents. To donate, visit https://givebutter.com/soundsofpeace or make checks payable to Sounds of Peace, P.O. Box 843, Madisonville, LA 70447. Cleveland said 100% of donations are tax-deductible.

Cleveland also encourages people to send letters to their neighbors and invite them to pray the rosary with “Kitty’s Morning Glories” online group, an outgrowth of a daily livestreamed rosary that Cleveland and her daughter Cecilia “Ceci” have prayed at 6 a.m. weekdays during the last 18 months of the lockdown. “Kitty’s Morning Glories” has attracted approximately 1,000 people of all faiths worldwide.

“One of the things Pachi said is that there are big hardships coming, and we will need our neighbors and our community,” Cleveland said. “Mary keeps asking us over and over again to form small prayer communities where we can come together and pray the rosary and Lectio Divina together. … The way we show our love for God is loving our neighbor. … There are going to be people despairing who will be praying with us, and they’re going to find hope again.”

Cleveland said she is gratified to know that she consoles others through “Sounds of Peace.”

“I can be with people in their darkest moments,” she said. “I may never meet them, but I can do one little thing for the Lord – bring healing and consolation, even when I can’t be there. You can’t put a price on knowing you have a part in bringing consolation to people during this difficult time in human history, with so many people alone.”

For details, visit https://www.kittycleveland.com/soundsofpeace-faq/.
 
Cleveland prays the rosary with her daughter weekdays at https://www.youtube.com/kittycleveland or www.instagram.com/kittycleveland.

On weekends, the rosary is prayed by guests at 7 a.m. on Facebook at “Kitty’s Morning Glories” page.

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