WALTHAM -- Like a ghostly voice from a bygone era, swing music echoed gently from the basement of St. Jude Parish in Waltham on the moonlit night of March 14.

The music blared from two small speakers with a microphone in front of them, bouncing off white walls lined with crooked old portraits of saints, priests, and sisters. The parish hall had become a dance floor, with beaming young couples twirling their skirts, dipping their partners, and twisting themselves into pretzels. It was another meeting of the King David Dance Club.

"David danced before the Lord with all his might, and ladies and gentlemen, that is exactly what we're going to do tonight," Richard Silvio, serving as the evening's unofficial emcee, said before the dancing began. Holy Ghost Father Vincent Kafuuma then led the dancers in an opening prayer.

The club meets on the second and fourth Friday of each month, typically from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. For Lent, the start time has been pushed back to 8 p.m. to accommodate weekly Stations of the Cross. The club started on Valentine's Day as a way for young Catholic singles to get to know each other.

"It's an alternative way to come together and meet, especially Catholic young people, in a wholesome way that doesn't involve drinking or staying up too late, but still having fun," Father Jeremy St. Martin, parochial vicar at St. Jude's, said on March 6.

He said he hopes that the dances will lead to "real sacramental marriage, with the blessing of being open to new life."

Father St. Martin serves as chaplain at Umass Lowell, where Silvio studies history. Silvio wanted to help young people socialize and reconnect after the pandemic, so Father St. Martin enlisted him to help establish the club. The 20-year-old describes himself as "a fan of anything 1930s and '40s." For the March 14 dance, he wore high-waisted pants, a World War II-era necktie, suspenders, and spiffy spectator shoes. He loves to dance but has had little formal training.

"Growing up, I always liked to put together my own thing and just make it work and make it look good," he told The Pilot.

He said that swing dancing is "extremely popular with the young people" in Catholic parishes because it is from the same period as "so much rich tradition of the Catholic Church." Young Catholic adults view the swing era as a golden age when the church had much more influence in communities than it does now.

"Swing dancing is a really lovely way to have a type of physical intimacy between men and women that is not overtly sexual, like how society kind of pushes us to behave today," Silvio said.

On March 14, the members of the King David Dance Club were joined by Gabe, a swing dance instructor from Nashua, New Hampshire. He gave lessons, demonstrating to the guys how to properly dip their partners.

"Guys, if you drop her, you have to buy her something," he joked.

Sarah and Kyle Joy of Pepperell came to the dance with their four-month-old son Patrick. They decided to attend the King David Dance Club because their friends run it.

"I always liked dancing," Sarah Joy told The Pilot. "I have two left feet, but it's fun."

Father St. Martin rocked the baby in his arms while the couple danced. Sometimes, Kyle Joy danced with Patrick strapped to his chest.

"It's not easy," he said.

After Lent, the club plans to experiment with other genres, such as 1950s rock 'n' roll.

"It really warms my heart," Silvio said. "Let me tell you, when we first started out, we had a much smaller group. Only three dances in, and look at it, it's only grown bigger and bigger. To see the smiles, to see people off their cell phones, dancing with each other, talking to each other, getting to know each other. It kind of restores my faith in society and young people in general."