Ministry Monday

Today on the podcast, John speaks to us about the challenges he’s faced in establishing multi-lingual choirs, both in Spanish and Vietnamese, as well as the solutions he’s found to make the music program diverse, yet unified.

Lastly, John shares his connection to John Rutter’s “Candlelight Carol” and why John Rutter told him “no” the first time he asked to commission the piece! Listen on for the whole story, and enjoy.

If you are “in the trenches” in music ministry, you know that this week can be, in some ways, tougher than Christmas week itself. It’s the last week before Christmas, and you might be making last minute binders for your trumpet players….as you get an email from your chorister that says they have the flu, and won’t be making the last choir rehearsal before Christmas. At the same time, you must prepare music of your own! One year I sat down to play the 4 pm Mass on Christmas Eve and as I began to play the prelude, I realized that I never prepared a binder of music for myself.

Not only do we need to prepare binders, but we need to prepare multiple prelude and postlude selections….while still wrapping gifts and preparing for the non-liturgical part of the holiday itself.

How do we stay afloat? What can we do in a jam-packed week such as this?

We continue our Advent series of self-care by hearkening back to an episode from last Advent. To kick us off, we are beginning with Andre Heywood. An exceptional choral conductor and in-demand clinician, Andre will share with us his tips for choral vocal health during this time when extra singing meets “cold and flu season.” We’ll also hear an original Advent reflection from Luke Rosen in the form of a Ministry Moment. You’ll hear my colleague and former host of Ministry Monday, Matt Reichert, leading the interview from our 2018 Ministry Monday archives.

We have officially entered into the new church year, and with that, the beginning of the Advent season. Advent is, of course, a time of longing and expectation for the birth of our Lord, and yet it can be some of the challenging days of our year. From extra rehearsals to cold and flu season to preparing binders of music for Christmas musicians, Advent can be a very busy time for pastoral musicians.

At Ministry Monday, we know how you feel. That is why we are beginning the Advent season with one of the highest-rated “Key Changes” from this year’s NPM National Convention. What is a “Key Change”? A “Key Change” was a breakout option at the convention that was meant to refresh its attendees on a topic they may already know about, in a smaller time frame than a traditional breakout session.

We want to thank Tony for re-visiting his Key Change from this year’s convention and giving us a supreme recording of his talk, “Be Still- Silence in Life and Liturgy”. In the convention booklet, Tony described it as such:

“Most of us struggle to take the time for silence, and not in a peripheral way, but in an intentional way that clears the clutter from within and opens a portal for the voice of God in our lives. We often hear about taking time for contemplation, but we rarely consider it, much less make it happen. Be inspired to build a stronger connection with God.”

Just so you know, we will allow for several moments of silence at the end of the episode for you to meditate and act upon what Tony discusses. We will end the episode after these moments of silence.

The Catholic Church has a history of music that brings people closer to Christ. It’s what we hope to do. Stylistically, this music has changed over the last several hundred years, but especially since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s.

Similar to the revolutionary wave of folk-style music that pioneered the post-Vatican II musical culture, the Catholic Church has seen an evolution of a new genre of music, typically named “praise and worship music” or “contemporary music”. This music includes a wide array of instrumentation, from guitar and piano to percussion and a troupe of backup singers.

The contemporary music genre has received a lot of support and a lot of reservation from pastoral musicians in the Church. While some see this modern style of music to be a strong source of evangelization for the Church- especially with younger generations- some see it as a style too similar to pop music for use in the sacred liturgy.

And yet Pope Francis has been quoted as saying: "Gregorian chant, polyphony, popular and contemporary music resonate in the liturgy, bringing the past and present generation together in praising God."

How do we find common ground in the age-old “style wars”? What can we learn from more modern music in our ministry today?

Today I talk to the minds behind WorshipNOW Publishing, a new publishing company that created the WorshipNOW hymnal. If you haven’t heard of WorshipNOW, you will very soon. In many ways, their hymnal is revolutionary- as is their perspective on contemporary music in the Church today.

Whether you use contemporary music or not in your music ministry, take a listen to today’s episode. Today I speak to Gabriel Wanous and Chris Nolin, two of the minds behind WorshipNOW. We discuss what is the WorshipNOW hymnal, along with the mission and motive behind modern music today.

When we think of pastoral music composers, we think of David Haas. Marty Haugen. Dan Schutte. Tony Alonso. Jesse Manibusan. Ed Bolduc. Steve Angrisano. The list of well-known composers goes on and on. They are names that we see on our choral octavos, or on the composer’s credits of our hymns each week. In a way, we create this cultural divide between those who compose and those who take their songs into the churches for ministry. I’ve heard people say, “I can’t do what these ‘big name’ composers do.” And yet they arrange choral works for their choir, or write their own psalm setting to match the musical needs of their parish.

Some of us might feel a tugging on our hearts to compose, writing down a scripture verse or little segment of a melody that we keep thinking about. But how do we act upon that call? Even more, what if we don’t see ourselves as composers, and stop ourselves before we even put pen to paper?

As a pastoral musician, composing sacred music may seem daunting. Today David Kauffman and I discuss how to honor that call from the Spirit, and how any pastoral musician can grow such gifts.

To provide some context before we begin, David Kauffman is a composer and creator of Good For the Soul Music, a sacred music company based out of Texas. David, along with Bill Gokelman, composed the “Mass of Renewal”, which won NPM’s national contest to vote for the best new or revised Mass setting in light of the Roman Missal changes implemented in 2010. The membership voted, and their “Mass of Renewal” was chosen.

David joins us today from San Antonio, Texas.

Today on the podcast we speak to the women who minister in today’s church. We, as women, lead some of the most critical aspects of church life….although we do not lead in some of the highest forms of responsibility and influence. This is not an episode that will debate whether this is right or wrong, but it is a challenge that women face in ministry, among other things.

Enter…Sister Joan Chittister.

Sister Joan Chittister is a Benedictine nun from the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania. Sister Joan is an international lecturer on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues, justice, and contemporary culture.

I find no better way to introduce Sister Joan than by our guest today, Jessie Bazan. Here are the words from the introduction of her book, “Dear Joan Chittister”:

“Halfway through the inaugural Joan Chittister Institute for Contemporary Spirituality (JCICS), ten millennial Catholic women crammed onto a raised platform for a panel discussion on hopes, struggles, and the future of the church. We traveled from across the country—and even Australia—to learn from Joan Chittister and connect with other women asking similar life questions. The two weeks we spent with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie ignited our hearts—and the publication of this book.

On the first day of the Institute, Joan mandated us to “speak our truths.” As we grappled with our truths and found the courage to speak them to ourselves and then to each other, we began to dream of offering them to you. This book, Dear Joan Chittister, is a collection of our truths.”

(Chittister, Joan. Dear Joan Chittister: Conversations with Women in the Church. Twenty-Third Publications.)

Today we talk to Jessie about “Dear Joan Chittister” and what we, as women in the church, can take as hope and inspiration from a lady like Joan.

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated the canonization of five new “blesseds” into the sainthood, one of which was Saint John Henry Newman, Cardinal of the Church. Saint Newman was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland in 1854, which, in time evolved into University College Dublin, today the largest university in Ireland.

Saint John Henry Newman’s life has impacted countless people across the world, but today we speak to Steven Warner, who works at the Notre Dame Newman Center for Faith & Reason in Dublin, Ireland.

Steven began working at Notre Dame University in 1979, serving as a Campus Ministry staff member. He founded the Notre Dame Folk Choir the following year and served there until 2016. In September 2016 he and his wife, Michelle, moved to Dublin, Ireland, where he began working at the Notre Dame Newman Center for Faith & Reason.

In his blog, Steve described his decision to move this way: “I said yes – yes to the chance to work in downtown Dublin, Ireland, in an historic church whose founder I have admired for most of my ministerial career. I've studied his words, even put his poetry to music. It took very little convincing to sign me up, that I might walk and work in the church built on the legacy of John Cardinal Newman.”

Today on the Podcast, we ask Steven: What are the cultural differences between the Church in Ireland and the United States? And how does St. John Henry Newman still lead & guide the faithful to this day? Today we’ll explore Steve’s experiences in the Church and how we can bring those experiences to our own churches in ministry.

Steven joins us today, early in the morning from Dublin, Ireland.

Today’s show is all about transitions. I’m happy to be joined by Amanda Bruce, the new Interactive Media Director for NPM. We’ll hear from Amanda about her new role within the association and the important work she will be doing.

But first, and on a more personal level, this will be my last episode as host of “Ministry Monday.” Hosting this program has been a unique honor and privilege. It has allowed me to hold conversations with pastoral ministers, composers, teachers, authors, and witnesses from across the country. It has allowed me to help animate the importance of NPM in a new way using a new medium. Most importantly, it has allowed me to connect with so many of you, our faithful listeners. It is my sincere hope that, in some way, this program has been able to serve as a “ministry companion.” At a time when serving in ministry can feel lonely or isolated, I hope that these conversations have helped you feel connected, appreciated, and valued.

I am overjoyed that NPM will be continuing “Ministry Monday,” and that Amanda Bruce will serve as host. The work of NPM is more important than ever because your work – the work of pastoral ministry – is more important than ever.

And so, before we get to today’s interview, I want to share with you two important thoughts from two different voices – one from the very beginning of NPM, and one from the more recent past. I hope that they can serve as both a reminder and a challenge as we all continue to work and serve.

This is a special rebroadcast of our episode from February, 2019, in honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, we hear that “there is a season for everything: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to laugh, and a time to mourn.” As pastoral ministers, we know that there is a need for pastoral ministry in all seasons of life. Our work calls us to be attentive and present in times of great joy and celebration as well as in times of great sadness and mourning. Sometimes we do better with the celebrating than the mourning.

Today, we’re discussing ministry to those who know the pain of loss. Specifically, we are talking about ministry to those who have struggled with the inability to conceive, who know the pain of losing a child before birth, and those who have faced their child’s death at the time of birth. How are we present to them? How do we minister in this time of deep and, often, isolated sadness? How can we accompany them on their grief journey? To explore these questions and more, we’ll speak with author and editor Kate Williams.