Some people develop into a difference maker while others are ready to make a difference from the moment they are born. Debbi Scairato falls under the latter category. From a young age, the Marconi resident wanted to be a part of something bigger than her, and she found it in gospel music.
Scairato joined the Saint Richard’s parish music ministry at the age of 13 and has been involved with the church ever since, finding a sense of family there beyond her own.
“I joined in 1973-’74 and I’ve been there ever since, I’ve played the organ, I had the choir and I taught general music at the school. I’ve been pretty involved. I met my husband there, and we got married at St. Richard’s,” she reflected.
When she and her husband started a new family, their children became part of the parish also. “My children went to Richard’s school, and that’s how I got involved with the school. I was the homeroom mother there and taught music for five years when they were younger,” the organist said about her family’s continued connection to her parish.
Scairato’s musical talent has been the multidimensional skill that has seen her work within Saint Richard’s in a variety of ways, and those abilities were fostered by her grandmother, as she went on to say, “My maternal grandmother was a piano teacher, and she was my first teacher, and I started learning from her when I was 5. Then I went on to Bregy School, where I was in the orchestra and played violin”.
The longtime South Philadelphia resident has had a variety of roles at Saint Richard’s and now with its parish school, Saint Pio Regional Catholic School, with her talent leading her to provide music for weddings, funerals, and school masses. While dealing with the highs of weddings as opposed to the lows of a funeral can be difficult, her kindness and experience shine through as she said, “You have to remember it’s a ministry and either way you’re celebrating a marriage or helping and comforting a family through a funeral with your music.”
Even the strongest person can be apprehensive to minister at funerals, and Scairato did have her doubts, at first; nonetheless, as a strong catholic woman, she knew her sense of duty trumped all negative thoughts. She continues to work to strengthen the people around her with music while proceeding with her faith and knowing her fellow parishioners have the same faith in her. -J.F.
