UCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A blast of festive trumpet flourishes and guitarrón bass breaks the solemn hush of Mass on a torrid August desert morning. Decked out in gold-embroidered suits, nine musicians pick, strum and trumpet the entrance hymn under tall stained-glass windows.

After more than a year of silence due to the pandemic, mariachis are back playing Sunday services at Tucson's St. Augustine Cathedral, where the colorful and sonorous tradition dates back a half-century and fuses Roman Catholicism with Mexican American pride.

For the hundreds of worshippers gathered in this Spanish colonial ch...