Transgender Composer’s Music Brings Life, Joy, and Faith to Her Catholic Parish

To Rachel Burckardt, the music she composes for St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church, Boston, is not unlike the feelings that led her to come out as transgender at 57. “It starts off in unison,” Burckardt says, “and breaks into these not too difficult, but just unexpected chords.”

Rachel Burckardt

Now 71, and a civil engineer by day, Burckardt has been composing music for St. Cecelia’s since before coming out. As her friend of many years, Mary Casiello, tells The 19th, Burckardt was hesitant about coming out at church, even when church closures in Boston’s South End brought a large community of LGBTQ+ Catholics to St. Cecilia’s. “I know Rachel was very scared when she came out about losing her position,” Casiello says. But the other members of the music ministry welcomed Burckardt as she was, saying, “this is who you are, and you’re such a huge part of this community.”

In fact, the entire church community at St. Cecilia’s wanted Burckardt to be herself. Burckardt’s priest told her only to be “sure she knew what she was doing.” Other friends “affirmed her and encouraged her to listen to God.”

Burckardt also had support from her family. She was married, with two sons when she decided to transition. She and her wife, Rosie Delacruz, were both musicians; when their children were young, they “traded child care responsibilities so that one could play music in the day at church and the other could do so at night.” 

Burckardt brought up transitioning with her wife 25 years into their marriage. “At that point, you develop a relationship and a collaboration,” Delacruz said. “You can’t easily walk away from it….I think we both admire each other mutually.” Their two sons were also supportive of Burckardt’s transition.

Since transitioning, Burckardt has continued making music for St. Cecilia’s that is “bright and whole.” But what makes her music truly good, she believes, is “an element, maybe a minor chord or note, that hits the ear differently, that gives it depth or sadness.” 

In 2022, Burckardt and conductor Elijah Langille formed the Tutti Music Collective, which showcases the work of LGBTQ+ composers and performers of color. It is not affiliated with the Catholic Church. 

But when creating Tutti, Burckardt and Langille decided to do away with sorting singers based on their gender. Langille says they asked themselves, “What if we just let them, you tell me what’s comfortable for your voice, and you just go sit where you want to sing? What if we had high musical standards, but we also supported people, believed what they said?” This concept was “tremendously relieving” to the choir’s LGBTQ members, and also freeing to its other members. The singers have fun, Langille says, “because they get to be themselves.” 

This freedom of expression, as well as a life of deep faith and trust in God, is perhaps key to Burckardt’s success. Her music premiered at Merkin Hall in New York City in March of 2026, drawing friends, family, and colleagues from every phase of her life. The New York Concert Review wrote: 

“Given her decades of experience as a church musician, her deep understanding of sacred music was evident throughout. The work powerfully conveyed the devotional spirit of the texts.”

To Burckardt, her own story should not feel as extraordinary as it is. The acceptance of her church community should be how religion works. “Jesus went out to people on the fringes,” she says. Faith, she believes, is about “loving other people as they are.”

—Lynnzee Dick, New Ways Ministry, April 27, 2026