Ministry Monday

We are past the half-way point of summer. In many parishes around the country, the pace of liturgical life slows a bit during these traditional vacation months. While we hope you are all enjoying some well-deserved vacation, or, at least, a lighter rehearsal schedule, we also hope you are able to take advantage of these months for some professional reflection and development.

Last week we gathered in Baltimore for the 41stNPM national convention. Almost two thousand participants spent five days learning, praying, and networking in the historical birthplace of American Catholicism. Like any convention, there were repertoire sessions to introduce new music, concerts, keynote presentations, and workshop sessions to both introduce new concepts and practices and to revisit the basics. Many of these sessions were recorded, and we look forward to bringing you some of this captured content in future Ministry Monday episodes and in the member’s only section of the NPM website.

Today, we’ll hear an archived presentation from one of this year’s NPM presenters, Dr. Elaine Rendler. Recorded at the twenty-fifth NPM national convention in 2001, Dr. Rendler breaks open the rite of gathering and the liturgy of the word. In doing so, Elaine reminds us of the structure of the liturgy, the theological and liturgical underpinnings, and challenges us to look closely at our own practice. For some of our listeners, this might be new information. For others, this will be familiar content. Regardless, we hope that today’s episode will encourage you to take some time to evaluate your community’s practice of gathering and welcoming, and that you will be able to take away some practical steps for when your full liturgical ministry returns at the end of the season.

It’s convention week, and today Ministry Monday is coming to you from the exhibit hall at the 2018 NPM national convention in Baltimore, Maryland. The convention started literally minutes ago with the ringing the NPM bell and the official welcome from NPM president Stephen Petrunak. The energy level is high, and participants are meeting friends old and new.

For me, this week will bring a marathon of interviews future episodes of this podcast, the Open Your Hymnal podcast, and live broadcasts of convention plenum addresses and keynote sessions. Of course, like any good convention, I am sure there will be times for reuniting and socializing.

Today’s episode features a conversation with Amanda Plazek Bruce. Amanda is the chair of the NPM technology interest section, and one of the live broadcast cohosts for the week. In addition to her work for NPM, Amanda is an example of how important conventions like this can be, both in terms of professional learning and in terms of mentorship and invitation.

With the Independence Day holiday coming up this week, many of us are thinking about a day off. For me, I’m not thinking about a day off on Wednesday, I’m thinking about today. We have just finished our inaugural One Call Institute for young pastoral musicians and their advocates. An outstanding group of young people, adults in ministry who work with young people, and team members gathered for an incredible week of learning, prayer, formation, and fellowship on the campus of Saint John’s Abbey and University in Central Minnesota.

I come away from the week inspired, filled with hope for the future, and – needless to say – exhausted. So, 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 Jesse Manibusan about his song “Open My Eyes.” This song has been a staple of parishes around the world. Yet, though you may know the song well, there are new corners to explore and messages to consider.Jesse was able to join the One Call Institute community this year as a guest artist for a special evening of song, celebration, and discipleship formation.

I am willing to wager that all of us engaged in pastoral ministry would consider ourselves to be disciples – believers of the Good News, followers of Christ. I’m also willing to wager that, just like the first disciples, we are imperfect – sometime stumbling, sometimes second-guessing, sometimes fearful and unsure.

Ministry is never easy, and it is made all the more difficult in challenging times like these. We are called to accompany those to whom we minister as we all traverse the rocky road of politics, of interpersonal relationships, of messy life events, and more. We are called to help make sense of what all seems, at times, to be senseless. We are called to express the Truth with love and honesty.

In today’s episode, we discuss how to think about the ways we can – or should – acknowledge and respond to the issues happening in our nation and our world. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, as we’ve seen news stories and social media commentary about immigration policy and strategy, especially on our southern border. To help frame these issues, we’ll hear from Rory Cooney. I have long admired Rory for his beautiful compositions and profound texts. More so, I marvel at Rory’s ability to speak so well about how the Gospel meets real life. Today, he will share some of his wisdom, his study, and his experience.

Today’s episode is a continuation of an earlier episode of Ministry Monday. Way back in our sixth episode, we featured an audio program produced by Saint Meinrad’s Seminary titled, “Drinking God Straight.” This program explored the evolution and status of English language chant following the Second Vatican Council, giving particular focus to the work of Fr. Columba Kelly.

Sadly, Fr. Columba passed away earlier this month. We are celebrating his life today, not by giving extended commemorations or reflections, but by doing what he would have preferred - exploring the importance of chant in our liturgical celebrations. So, today we are brining you “Drinking God Straight, Part II.” If you haven’t listened to Episode Six yet, I’d encourage you to go back and give it a listen. There, you’ll hear from Fr. Columba himself.

To continue the conversation, our guest is Fr. Anthony Ruff. A Benedictine monk of Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, Fr. Anthony - like Fr. Columba - is a fierce advocate for chant in the liturgy. Today, we’ll examine the misconceptions about chant, the richness that it contains, pastoral advice for implementation, and mistakes to be avoided. Whether you think you like chant, or not, or if you think your community will sing chant, or not, today is an important conversation to help expand your understanding and challenge your reservations.

We are entering the busiest time of year here at Ministry Monday. We are making final preparations for two national conferences, both taking place in just a few weeks. So, today we are again dipping into our archives. This time, we’ll hear from Dr. Tony Alonso. I have to say, this is one of the best, most honest, and authentic plenum addresses I’ve heard. Tony speaks about issues that face those of us who work in pastoral ministry, directly addressing the conflict, competing vision, and sometimes contentious attitudes that can impede our unity.

Recorded at the fortieth NPM national convention in 2017, you will hear Tony speak about the obstacles and opportunities toward expressing the fullness of who we are as a Church musically and theologically, and Pope Francis’ image of the Church as “field hospital” as a metaphor for how our work might serve better as a medicine of unity rather than as a weapon of division.

It can be hard enough to juggle one calendar, but those of us in pastoral ministry juggle three – yearly, liturgical, and fiscal. What’s more, each has a unique beginning. We celebrate the yearly New Year on January 1, the liturgical New Year on the first Sunday of Advent, and the fiscal New Year on July 1.

Today, we’ll focus on fiscal time. With just a few weeks left before July 1, parishes and pastoral ministers around the country are preparing for transitions. Some pastors will begin new assignments, some ministers will begin new positions, some communities will begin new partnered or clustered relationships, and so forth. Navigating our experience of these transitions can be challenging, especially if you are someone changing positions. Even if you or your community aren’t experiencing changes, at some point, you surely will. So, whether your July 1st New Fiscal Year will see new changes or not, it is important that we cultivate an informed spiritual and tactical mindset. Tom Franzak will help us frame how we think about and approach these transitions, and we’ll share some of his music in this week’s Ministry Moment.

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.

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.

In our recent conversations with Fr. Michael Leonard Hahn about marriage preparation and Fr. Jim Martin about evangelization, both guests referenced the apostolic exhortations of Pope Francis. Many of our listeners were familiar with these documents, but the discussions in these episodes prompted more than one listener to write in and ask, “where do I find out more?” and “how should I be reading and studying these documents?” and even, “what the heck is an apostolic exhortation?”

In today’s episode, we explore Pope Francis’ newest Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exultate.In addition to surveying what it says, we will also consider its pastoral implications, and why all of us in pastoral ministry should pay attention to these types of documents. To do so, we’ll speak with an expert on this subject, Bill Huebsch, and we’ll hear from the document itself during our Ministry Moment.