Ministry Monday

In place of our customary interview, today we are bringing you an audio program from the Open Your Hymnal podcast. Open Your Hymnal, cohosted by Zack Stachowski and by me, is an independent project aimed at exploring liturgical music in the Catholic repertoire through interviews with composers and special guests.

Today, we’re focusing on the rich heritage of the Black sacred music tradition, and we’re blessed to be joined by two important voices: Leon Roberts (recorded in a presentation from 1985), and Lynne Gray. Leon and Lynne provide an exploration of the treasury of hymns, spirituals, and gospel songs. You’ll hear lots of standard and familiar music, and you’ll also hear selections from several contemporary composers.

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.

When we started publishing this podcast, our first guest was Steve Petrunak, the president of NPM. Now, we are ending our first year of weekly programs with another leader in our organization, our episcopal moderator.

What’s an episcopal moderator do, you ask? Great question. We discussed the role with Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, the current liaison between NPM and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. We also discussed the current credibility crisis facing the Church, sex abuse, and the role pastoral musicians can play in bringing forth healing. We’ll hear all of this in today’s interview, and we’ll also hear from author Bill Huebsch about teaching grace to others in this week’s “Ministry Moment.”

The most recent issue of Pastoral Musicmagazine is all about health. It contains perspectives on stress, finding and maintaining balance, forgiveness, healing, and more. I hope that, by now, you’ve had a chance to read through it.

To be honest, pastoral musicians are not known for effective health routines. We have stressful and emotionally-demanding jobs. We regularly spend hours sitting in meetings. Many of us don’t maintain regular or healthy eating habits. Even more of us find it difficult to find time to exercise. The list goes on.

Today, we’re focusing on physical health. It’s time for our collective trip to the doctor for our annual check-up. We’ll talk about maintaining healthy habits, balance, and the unique physical health needs of musicians. To do so, we’ll speak with Dr. Paul Schaefer. We’ll also hear about personal renewal from Matthew Walsh in today’s Ministry Moment.

This week, across the country, thousands of parish communities are celebrating Catholic Schools Week. My connections to Catholic school are many – an educator, administrator, graduate, current parent, and more. I know many of you have connections to Catholic schools, too, and at various levels. But what I’d like to focus on today is how our work as pastoral musicians and liturgists intersects with the work of Catholic education. In some communities, the connection between parish and school is close and cooperative. In others, the parish and school operate so independently of one another that, save for physical proximity, you’d never know they were connected.

I’m hoping to explore these complex realities directly and in depth in future episodes. Today, however, we’re starting with something more basic. How do we engage the children of our parish in worship? How do we invite youth to appreciate a variety of traditional and contemporary liturgical music styles? To address these questions, we’ll begin with some thoughts from Dr. Elaine Rendler. We’ll also hear from the Congregation on Catholic Education in this week’s Ministry Moment.

Some of the most common resolutions set by musicians have to do with rehearing: we resolve to rehearse more, to rehearse better, to develop better habits, and so forth. As directors and leaders of music ensembles, we have the added need to improve our rehearsal design, the skills of our ensemble members, and their rehearsal technique.

Today, we’ll hear a special workshop presentation from Michael Kemp. Offered at the 2018 NPM convention in Baltimore, Michael presented a workshop titled “Igniting Choral Rehearsals with Efficiency, Artistry, and Motivation.” In this session, participants learned how to prepare rehearsals in such a way as to inspire singers and increase the beauty of their sound. Participants also examined sample anthems with annotations that helped show how to attain dynamic improvements in their choirs, creating an intriguing experience for choir members, and a tremendous boost to skill-building.

Last week, our second installment of our “New Year Resolution” series explored liturgy planning with our guest, Christian Cosas. We are continuing that thread today, but we’re moving to a deeper and more specific application.

While we’ve only been officially out of the Christmas for a matter of hours, it’s time to think about Lent and Easter. To assist with our resolution of planning ahead, and planning strategically, we’re bringing you a rebroadcast of our episode with Diana Macalintal. Originally published in April of 2018, our conversation explored ways to effectively evaluate and plan for the marathon days of Triduum. It was one of our most popular conversations of last year. So, sit back and enjoy this rebroadcast. We’ll be back with a new episode next week.

Today we are continuing our series for the New Year. Traditionally, at the end of December, we set resolutions or goals for the new calendar year ahead. Over the next few episodes, we’ll be looking at ministerial resolutions to help inform your own goals and targets. Last week we spoke with Timothy Johnston about setting goals for professional development. If you haven’t listened to that episode, I encourage you to check it out.

Today, we’ll hear from Christian Cosas about a new way to think about – and to track – your liturgy planning. Plus, we’ll hear some thoughts about the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord from Rory Cooney in this week’s Ministry Moment.

Before we begin, let me wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. I am sure that some of you are still recovering from last week. Know that your work is greatly appreciated. Each of your communities is blessed with your efforts, your dedication, and your leadership. So on behalf of all of them, and on behalf of NPM, thank you!

While we still have plenty of Christmas season remaining, today we are turning our attention to the New Year. Traditionally, at the end of December, we set resolutions or goals for the new calendar year ahead. Over the next few episodes, we’ll be looking at ministerial resolutions to help inform your own goals and targets. We’ll focus on formation, planning, and health.

To kick us off, we’ll speak today with editor and liturgy consultant Timothy Johnston about setting a vision for professional development. We’ll also hear some New Year’s resolutions from Pope Francis in this week’s Ministry Moment.

With only one calendar week to go before Christmas, we thought we’d provide an opportunity for a little stress break. There are lots of things to be done this week and errands to be run. Today’s show, providing both conversation and musical selections, is something perfect to listen to while you fold worship aids, make those final copies, wrap your gifts, and so forth.

In place of our customary interview, today we are bringing you an audio program from the Open Your Hymnal podcast. Open Your Hymnal, cohosted by Zack Stachowski and by me, is a special project aimed at breaking open the best-loved and most-common liturgical music in the Catholic repertoire. Each episode explores one song and features conversation with the composer and, sometimes, special guests.

We are pleased to present today our interview with composer Carol Browning about her song “Creator of the Stars of Night,” incorporating one of the best-loved melodies of the Advent season. Composer Bob Moore stops by to talk about Carol’s music, and Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, gives some historical background to the 1,000-year-old chant hymn at the core of this piece. Plus, you’ll hear a bunch of great additional music in the OYH Playlist.