SCHENECTADY — Although Andre LaPointe doesn’t speak a word of Spanish, he’s shown up for Schenectady’s Spanish-speaking Mass every Sunday for more than 10 years now.

His pastor, the Rev. Michael Hogan, asked him to switch from the English-speaking Mass because the Hispanics needed a guitar for their more upbeat music. None of the congregants in the Spanish-speaking Mass could play, so LaPointe hesitantly volunteered.

Eleven years later, LaPointe is so dedicated to the Mass that he plans to keep playing guitar when the Hispanic congregation is moved to a new church. They now meet at Sacred Heart-St. Columba’s on Stanley Street in Hamilton Hill, but the church will be closing this summer.

“This is my Mass now,” LaPointe said. “I found out not knowing the language made me a better Catholic. A lot of them can’t afford a dollar, but they have such faith in God. Their faith has kept me going.”

It’s been a long, strange journey for LaPointe.

The 52-year-old air traffic system specialist spends his days at Albany International Airport. He learned the guitar more than 40 years ago, and even though the instrument wasn’t commonly seen in Catholic church services, he wished he could play at his church.

“I said, I have a talent, maybe I can use it for God,” he said.

But he knew it would never happen at Sacred Heart-St. Columba’s English-speaking Mass, which he attended every week.

“At Sacred Heart, they have an organist. It’s very, very good and it fits the music very well. It wouldn’t work out well,” he said.

Even so, when Hogan offered him the chance to play at the Spanish-speaking Mass, he nearly chickened out.

“I wanted to play the guitar for church, but I don’t speak Spanish,” LaPointe said. “I waited about a month because I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it or not because of the language barrier. I made up 50,000 excuses not to do it. Then I got up the nerve.”

They offered him no money, no sheets of music and a sermon delivered in a language he can’t understand.

He persuaded himself to try by reassuring himself that he wouldn’t ruin the service if he made a mistake.

“I went in and listened in the back. They had a group of singers then and their music was very good. I thought, ‘They don’t need me. They don’t need any instruments. If I was bad, it wouldn’t matter because they’re very good.’ ”

Thus fortified, he showed up for rehearsal and found he would have to memorize the songs.

“I didn’t know any of the songs and they didn’t have any music. So I had to learn it all by ear,” he said.

The music has changed since then — the band of singers was replaced by just one singer, Norma Cortes, and in 2005 a second guitar player joined the group.

Cortes, from Puerto Rico, is the music director. She admits she keeps LaPointe on his toes by sometimes changing her songs mid-Mass. She tries to inspire the congregation, searching for songs with lyrics that can reach every member.

“That’s the way I can speak with my Jesus,” she said.

The newer guitar player, Byron Cortez, joined up while he was still in high school. Now 21, he is graduating from Fulton-Montgomery Community College in May and is transferring to Union College to finish his bachelor’s degree in theater arts and business.

Cortez, who immigrated to Schenectady from Ecuador when he was 14, said he wanted to play in church from the moment he first heard LaPointe’s guitar.

“It always caught my attention, every time I went to Mass,” he said. “I always loved, loved the music. It was just beautiful. So I said I want to play my guitar in church.”

Like LaPointe, he is a volunteer, but he too said he’s not walking away empty-handed.

“The main thing is the connection I got with my religion. I wasn’t fully committed to it. The music inspired me,” he said. “The lyrics are so intense. They made me want to come back again.”

They’ve made LaPointe come back for 11 years now, even though he still knows so little Spanish that he can’t understand the homily.

He reads the Gospels in English during the week, but the only Masses he now attends are in Spanish.

“If you told me 20 years ago, I would say you’re crazy,” he said with a laugh. “You never know which way God will lead you.”