What to do when the pastor really is interested in good music...
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,199
    It is no secret to those who are close to me that throughout my 30 years as a RC musician, most of the clergy that I have worked for have either 1) had a vague indifference to the music at Mass or 2) had no clue and did not want to learn or 3) rarely even showed any interest and was happy that it was there and that was about it.

    So when I received the new pastor in June, he said to me,"good music is absolutely paramount to the liturgy." Ok, I have heard that before and it turned out that meant " I expect you to do your job" and that was about it. I would ask for meetings and sometimes got them and sometimes did not get them. In the end, it was the same old same old...

    Lo and behold, my new pastor sat down with the other priest and myself today and said,"lets make a plan for improving the music here." I asked him to unpack that statement and he proceeded to outline a plan for hiring singers, looking at new resources and asking for time at rehearsals to encourage the choirs and talk to them of excellence. He knew that I had a grand plan for working on all these things, but he wants to expedite certain aspects.

    You would think this would be the arrival of the angels for me, but in a certain manner, I am still in shock and a little bewildered. The old adage " sometimes you get what you pray for, but be careful" is at play for me. I know its good, but I also know that it is new territory for me.

    The end to this cautionary tale: be prepared to do well and to want to do well. You just might get a priest who wants the same.

    From the bourbon lands....
    Thanked by 10Andrew Motyka Kathy CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn Gavin Adam Wood kenstb Blaise BruceL Aristotle Esguerra
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Very awesome!
  • Jani
    Posts: 441
    Lucky. :-)
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    It probably feels like the pressure's on, but really it's just the opposite.

    The sky is the limit.

    Very happy for you!!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    If I can beat Melo to the punch -- even though I don't know how to make purple bold --

    Make sure you report the pastor to the diocesan ordinary, so his programming can be corrected?


    No longer purple bold:


    I'm very pleased to hear that you have good news. I understand your caution, but I will pray that the land flowing with milk and honey is, actually, flowing with milk and honey.

  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,198
    Many here would be thrilled to have your problem. Congratulations on your good fortune.
    Thanked by 2francis Ben
  • donr
    Posts: 971
    '<' font color="purple" '>' for purple text '<' /font '> minus the single quote marks
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    Rejoice greatly! These are astonishingly good tidings! I hope that you are gleefully offering up repeated Te Deums. Here is a wonderfully good man actually doing what he was given the authority to do.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    imaginary relevant text tests if I have done this correctly
  • francis
    Posts: 10,847
    Blessed are the patient. We are very thrilled to hear this. Enjoy!
  • kenstb
    Posts: 369
    This is the answer to your prayers and ours! Congratulations!
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Congrats, Kevin. This is such a great opportunity. You have the two pieces necessary: the pastor and yourself. He sets the goals (in this case it sounds like he's up to it!) and you put them in an achievable form that is sensitive to what the parish needs/can handle. So happy to hear this happening.

    For what it's worth, here in Alabama, we have the opposite problem. We are starting to get more priests, many of whom want much better liturgy. They see what has happened at our cathedral with the ceremonial being tightened up and combined with excellent preaching and good music: our membership/tithing/general mood has improved! Their problem is that the parishes are either too small or too poor to have any full-time staff, and this is not an area with a large group of Catholics to draw upon. So, there is some difficulty finding musicians. I imagine that might be an issue in parts of Kentucky, too, so please pray for that!
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,199
    @ BruceL I know your area quite well as I grew up in North AL. That can be the same difficulty in KY. But remember that this part of KY is called the "holyland" for all the Catholics who do live here. One can pass fields of corn and see statues of Mary floating above the stalks. It can sometimes be amazing here.

    Yes, I do pray for that part of the world.
    Thanked by 2BruceL CHGiffen
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