TM24, I had to write my own contract when I retired from public school to go FT at the parish in ought five. It will in no ways help or hinder whatever duties or expectations, opinions or attacks that will come your way as you go your way. We all serve, if paid, at someone's pleasure.

List the duties you will be expected to perform, such as the Sunday mass you will play/sing, Holy Days, special events, etc. If it applies, you may want to list procedures for weddings and funerals, too. Salaries can be written into contracts, but not everyone does that. The chain of supervision is good to have in writing. Vacation time - how many Sundays off you will get a year. How will they be covered? Melo is correct in his implication that contracts are often not worth much, since most musicians can be dismissed at will.

I have to agree with melo and charlesw, most Catholic churches that I have had experiences with, could care less if you had a contract or not. In many instances, such as the state I live in, it is a "at will" work state, meaning an employer can just terminate you with no cause. It really stinks, because it isn't right, and yet most get away with it. They only time an employer is reluctant to dismiss here in this state, is if there is a workman's comp claim, evidence of discriminatory conduct (though this seldom goes anywhere these days), or some other Equal Employment Opportunity violation. I have had friends with contracts terminated without cause. The headache to fight it, along with the money to sue, makes it cost prohibitive.

Yes, that is all I am looking for so maybe it's more a "job description" than contract. I hope it will help clarify matters instead of relying on assumptions. Maybe that's wishful thinking but hopefully we can address a couple of trouble spots. I want to assume ignorance at this point, rather than ill-will, and would like to believe all parties want to do what is best for the parish and the Church.

TM, no need for apology at all. In fact, I'm going to remind myself of this reality: there have been so many times over 43 years, even recently, I've come to the razor's edge of "walking away from the job" because of the politicking and calumny that seems to attend working in a parish. And every time I'm in that space, I have to remember that what or whomever has prompted me to that minor despair, there are still hundreds of people who depend upon my presence in the program, and want what I bring to the job to remain. A contract does codify that reality. For every attack sheep, there are likely 10 shepherds in house, and One who carries a big staff! Yahoo.

In my experience, there's really no major negotiation to be done with a contract. I think most people just enjoy feeling safer with one. But if you have to negotiate....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8AgUXPpLM

Clear definition of who you are responsible to and a covenant with the staff right out of When Sheep Attack.

Dennis Maynard told me last week a new edition is coming out that includes a section on...church musicians.

"Geezers got game"

From now on, I will begin interjecting that phrase randomly into threads.

Where I think it's easy to get off track is forgetting whom I ultimately work for, not the shepherd of the parish, but The Shepherd of us all. Thank you, melofluent, for that reminder. This whole matter is much clearer for me now.