Ministry Monday

This past summer saw the second iteration of the One Call Institute for young pastoral musicians and their advocates. We are well on our way to planning next summer’s program, and we’re excited about new opportunities on the horizon. Specifically, we are pleased to offer short, local programs to train and form young people and those who work with young people in addition to our week-long summer institute.

In fact, a week ago, the first day-long One Call Institute was presented at a combined gathering of the Kansas City, Kansas and Kansans City, Missouri NPM chapters. There will also be a special pre-convention One Call experience for youth and adults this coming summer at the NPM convention in Louisville, Kentucky. If you are interested in finding out more about the One Call summer program, or about bringing One Call to your home community, you can visit the program website, onecallinstitute.org.

One of the most common questions we get asked is, “what music appeals to young people?” To address this question, we’re sharing with you today the music of One Call. The Open Your Hymnal podcast produced a special episode that explored the variety of musical styles and genres used at the 2019 summer program. You’ll hear much of the music used at prayer, at the end-of-week concert, and at the Sunday liturgy. In exploring this repertoire, we hope you’ll come to realize that the musical tastes of young people are wide and varied, from chant to contemporary, and hymnody to praise and worship. The common threads, however, are intentionality, relevance, and authenticity.

Today’s episode is about ministering in times of tragedy. In the past year, too many communities have been torn apart by violence, injustice, natural disaster, or other devastating events. In these times, words fail. No matter how well our liturgy or Scripture classes have prepared us, we can feel like we don’t know what to do. Yet, it is at these times that music can be the most transformative.

Today, we’ll hear from Peter Kolar. An accomplished pastoral musician and composer, Peter shares with us today his experience ministering in the aftermath of the recent mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.

This is a special rebroadcast of our episode from July, 2018.

In last week’s episode, we explored the concept of operational development with Kathy Bartlett. In that conversation, we examined how we in pastoral ministry should apply a strategic, organizational lens to the way we view our work in order to be both efficient and effective.

Today, we are continuing this thread of practical, strategic, and professional topics by discussing the concept of liturgical assessment. Now, before you hit the “skip” button or push “pause,” consider this question for a moment. How effective are your parish liturgies? If your response was negative, what high impact steps can your community take to address this ineffectiveness? If your response was positive, what objective evidence can you point to in order to back up your claim?

Liturgical assessment is NOT about imposing or challenging musical or aesthetic taste, it is NOT about evaluating the personal worth of you or your volunteer ministers, and it certainly isn’t about the style wars. It is about giving good, accurate, real information about the experience of those who participate in your liturgies so that you know what your community does well and so that you know exactly what to do about those things your community doesn’t do so well. To help us understand the process, we’ll speak with assessment expert Mike Novak.

We’ve been enjoying a little summer break here at Ministry Monday. It’s been a few weeks since we released a new episode. In that time, lots has been happening. The annual Guitar and Ensemble Institute just wrapped up. The second annual One Call Institute was a wild success. And, of course, the national convention was held in Raleigh, North Carolina.

That’s where I want to begin, back in Raleigh. There has been much ongoing conversation about this convention and, specifically, the roll-out of a new strategic vision for the association, branded as “NPM 2.0.” To say it plain, reactions were mixed. Some elements of the new vision were warmly received while others caused many questions (or even pushback).

So, our conversation today will explore this NPM 2.0 proposal a little more. What is being proposed? What will the process look like? How will we as members be involved? Is it a “done deal,” or is the vision still being shaped and formed? To help us out, we’ll speak with Jeremy Helmes, the current Chair of the NPM Board of Directors.

Parish and school communities throughout the country are in the process of sending out their young people. No, I don’t mean Confirmation rites or graduation rituals. I’m talking about the young people who will be attending any one of a variety of summer camps, programs, and institutes.

There is no shortage of opportunities for young people to attend formational programs with their peers. As someone who helps direct such a program, most of the questions I receive have to do with, “how can I get youth from my parish to go?” Finding youth to attend, however, is only part of the battle. Once a young person has experienced the One Call Institute, One Bread One Cup, NCYC, or any of the other national and regional programs that exist, what do we do with them now? We sent them, now do we welcome them back? Most importantly, how do we utilize and continue to develop their gifts, talents, and interest?

So, today, we’re exploring strategies, tips, and approaches that can help your community better utilize the experiences and formation of the young people in your community. To help us out, we’ll hear Zack Stachowski, co-director of the One Call Institute. We’ll also hear one of Zack’s compositions in this week’s “Ministry Moment.”

This is a special re-broadcast of our episode from May, 2018.

Here we are, back in Ordinary Time. The color green once again graces our sanctuaries, and the rhythm of our ministerial calendars seems to slacken a bit (unless, of course, you include weddings). The very inclusion of the word “ordinary” is misleading. The season is anything BUT ordinary, filled with parables and miracles. And, let’s not forget, there is nothing ordinary about the Eucharist - every celebration is remarkable, every celebration is transformational.

On a practical level, it is us who put the “ordinary” in Ordinary Time. Following marathon celebrations of the Lenten, Triduum, and Easter seasons and First Communions, Confirmations, and Ordinations we often tone down our celebrations. Coinciding with the arrival of summer, we pare down our music and liturgical ministries to accommodate vacations and travel. Now, these are understandable adjustments. But, often, the change in our practices during Ordinary Time can result in missed opportunities or self-fulfilling prophecies. Sometimes, it seems, we forget that “ordinary” is not exclusive of “transformation”.

Today, we’ll hear from Msgr. Ray East. Recorded at the twenty-fifth NPM national convention in 2001, Fr. Ray speaks about the transformative nature of the liturgy. With his customary spirit-filled preaching, Fr. Ray reminds us how our ordinary, day-to-day work as pastoral ministers has the power to transform our communities, ourselves, and our world.

It’s summer, but what does that really mean for pastoral musicians? A change of pace, sure, but that doesn’t always mean slowing down. It means busier schedules, covering more liturgies with fewer musicians, weddings, and so forth. For many of us, there is also the added dimension of an increasingly transient congregation – the regulars go on vacation, and the increase in visitors is palpable.

So, today, we’re going back to the beginning – the gathering rite. Why? Because it’s good to reexamine our practice from time to time, and because the summer is a great time to be even more intentional than usual about how we gather as a worshiping community. To help us out, we’ll hear from an article written by Sr. Mary Jo Quinn, SCL. We’ll also hear a selection from composer Judy Hunnicutt in this week’s “Ministry Moment.”

Today we are pleased to bring you the first in a series of episodes meant to highlight the various interest sections of NPM. There are eighteen of these groups, gathering together pastoral musicians around a common area of interest, such as chant, music education, campus ministry, technology, and more.

I’m joined today by Chris Ferraro, chair of the pastoral liturgy interest section. Chris will share information about what the pastoral liturgy interest section does, who should join, and why the work of the interest section is so important. Chris will also share information about the Liturgical Music Institute, a summer formation program he directs in New York State.

This is a special re-broadcast of our episode from May, 2018.

The celebration of Pentecost demands that we consider not just the ways in which the Spirit is at work in our lives, but also what unique gifts we possess and how we are called to use them in service to others. To paraphrase the reading from Corinthians, there are many different gifts, and we have each received them for some benefit.

But, though the spirit is a great gift-giver, we aren’t always great gift-receivers. It is more natural for us to covet the gifts and talents of others than to see the value of what we ourselves possess. It’s hard to see how our strengths fit into the talent matrix of our families or the communities to which we belong. Yet, these strengths are, indeed, unique to us, and the employment of these talents is critical for the realization of the work of the Spirit.

In today’s episode, we explore the concept of strengths, what they are, how to identify them, and how an authentic understanding and stewardship of strengths can engage our entire parish community. To do so, we’ll speak with stewardship expert Leisa Anslinger, and we’ll hear again from Pope Francis in this week’s Ministry Moment.

I once heard someone describe working with volunteer ministers in parishes as “concentric circles of challenge.” The first challenge is to find a way to engage potential volunteers. But, once you’ve found a way to break through, you’re met with the challenge of training them. Once you’ve found a way to navigate the difficulties of formation, you’re met with the challenge of scheduling them, and then of retaining them, and so forth.

Today, we’re journeying head-on into these concentric circles to explore what works, and what doesn’t, when it comes to engaging, recruiting, and retaining parish volunteer ministers. To help us out, we’ll speak with Patti Such, who will offer a host of information to help frame our views and approaches toward volunteer recruitment and management. We’ll also hear from a recent blog post written by Diana Macalintal in this week’s “Ministry Moment.”