COMMAND PERFORMANCE; VALLEY CHILDREN TO SING AT VATICAN ON JAN. 1, 2000.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Inside the cavernous sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, the sounds of 43 high-pitched voices searching for words to Christmas carols filled the air.

This was more than just a rehearsal for the choir's recent full schedule of holiday shows. The youngsters already were thinking about the new notes, new words in English and Latin and new musical phrasings they will need to learn next year for the ultimate in command performances.

They have been invited to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican to be among 8,000 young vocalists from around the world who will sing the first Sunday Mass on Jan. 1, 2000.

Their host: Pope John Paul II.

``It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's not just another concert,'' said Marissa Jenrich, 9, who is in her second year in the children's choir.

``You're sort of nervous, but you know you won't mess up because we practice a lot,'' said Chris Schellenbach, 12, who's been singing with the children's choir for four years.

The immediate challenge is raising the $2,600 each child needs to pay for the Roman holiday, including air fare, accommodations and some meals for the 13-day trip.

``For a group of kids to take a trip to Rome, it's extremely tough. I don't think anybody from an average family has a couple thousand dollars just to go to Rome,'' said Patrick Flahive of Azusa, president of the American Federation of Pueri Cantores and the Our Lady, Queen of Angels, choir director.

Fund raising is important in the Tujunga parish, where many children come from middle-income families.

``All of our families send our children to private school. For some of these families it's a hardship to meet tuition, let alone pay for this trip,'' said Janie Plance, the parish parent leading fund raising.

So far there have been candy sales and holiday pie sales. Last month, the children began selling long-distance phone cards, and families are collecting goods for a spring rummage sale. They've also set up a Web site.

``Our goal is to pay for every choir child's trip. So that would at least help every family,'' Plance said. Paying their own ways, some whole families plan to go. In all, more than 100 from the parish hope to make the trip, Plance added.

More than a dozen youth ensembles from Catholic churches and organizations across the United States will make the journey to Rome. Four are from Los Angeles County, including three from the Valley.

St. Mel boys choir and children's choir of Woodland Hills, and St. John Baptist De La Salle children's choir of Granada Hills have been invited from the Valley, in addition to Our Lady of Lourdes youngsters. Also making the trip from Southern California will be the youth choir of Our Lady, Queen of Angels, representing 15 parishes in the San Gabriel Valley.

Pope John Paul II has called the pueri cantores - Latin for ``young singers'' - the papacy's little ambassadors for peace.

``I thought it was a beautiful thing that he wants the children, because they're the future,'' said Gerry McGrath, musical director for St. John Baptist De La Salle Church.

Flahive said there is plenty of incentive for parents and children to go.

``It's a momentous event. It's the very first Sunday of the year 2000, the dawning of the third Christian millennium,'' Flahive said.

``It pulls us all up out of our regular level of singing. We will all come out of this changed. We will be singing a much more advanced repertoire than we've ever sung before. We will be stretching ourselves to be able to sing carols in the languages of people from all over the world.''

Choral directors will get the music for the events in a few months. Most, including Kevin King of Our Lady of Lourdes, already are sprinkling Latin into songs to make the young singers familiar with the universal tongue of the Roman Catholic Church.

``It will give them a little feel for pronouncing the vowels and things,'' King said. ``I've never tried teaching languages to kids before, so this is going to be new for me too.

``It's a lot of work, but this is a great group of kids.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) The children's choir at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Tujunga is getting ready for the first Mass at the Vatican in 2000.

(2) Children take turns giving each other light back chops to ease the tension coming in a year of raising money and rehearsing to sing at the Vatican.

David Sprague/Daily News