National Search: Director of Music
St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Parish | Cumming (Forsyth County), Georgia
Archdiocese of Atlanta | Pastored by the Legionaries of Christ | Mission: Go, Baptize, Teach!

Overview
St. Brendan the Navigator is a close-knit, rapidly growing parish of approximately 5,000 families in the suburbs of North Atlanta. We are seeking a Director of Music who understands music as a ministry of prayer and evangelization and who can inspire a diverse congregation to share this spirit in building a music program that supports liturgical worship with reverence, beauty, and pastoral charity. This is an opportunity to drive and shape the parish’s worship experience for years to come.

The Vision
The vision for the music program at St. Brendan’s is to build a traditional, sacred, and always reverent
music program that serves the liturgy faithfully and fosters prayerful participation by the congregation. The primary goal of the music director is to grow a thriving music program, pulling in choral and instrumental volunteers from the parish of all ages and levels of expertise. The new director, together with a supportive staff, will have the autonomy to preside over the expansion of the existing program and create new choirs and ensembles. To achieve these goals, the ideal candidate needs to be a skilled choral director and technically proficient in the organ, voice and piano.

What Makes This Role Unique
• The pastor, leadership team and parishioners are committed to building a thriving music program.
• Program-building role: This is an opportunity in a growing multi-cultural parish to build, grow and lead the music across six weekend English masses, two Spanish masses, major feasts, and key parish celebrations.
• The Director of Music requires both musical excellence and inspiring pastoral leadership, especially in recruiting, forming, and managing volunteer singers of various ages and levels of expertise.

Core Responsibilities
• Oversee the planning and execution of a diverse repertoire faithful to Catholic liturgical norms.
• Personally lead and/or provide accompaniment for multiple English Masses on Sundays. The 9:00 and 11:00 Mass(es) features a pallette of liturgical music spanning Latin chant through Renaissance
composers (eg: Palestrina), standard 20th Century hymns from St. Gregory and St. Basil hymnals, and post-Vatican II composers (eg: Hurd, Rutter, Schutte, Alonso) in these periods to the present. Much of this music is found and used in Gather 3rd Edition and Spirit and Song, in addition to a full selection of octavos.
• Coordinate a cantor or be a cantor for all English weddings and funerals.
• Schedule instrumentalists and vocalists as needed for special feasts and other special events.
• Coordinate music for all weekend Masses and special celebrations by collaborating with part-time staff, contract musicians, and trained volunteers.
• Partner closely with the Spanish Music Ministry to support a unified vision, including bilingual collaboration for major feasts and parish celebrations.
• Ensure appropriate coverage for holy days, weddings, funerals, and special events; communicate well with clergy/staff and steward ministry resources.


Spanish Language Music Ministry
• St. Brendan has a dynamic Hispanic Ministry, with many singers and instrumentalists ranging from 9 years of age into their '30's and '40s.
• The majority are fluent in English as well as Spanish and proficient with the English liturgy.
• The Spanish Ministry is led by an experienced fully bilingual contract pianist/organist with pre- and post-Vatican II English and 25 years of Spanish choral experience. He will report to the Music Director.
• There are two Spanish Masses on the weekend. Both Masses use the same music and all
members attend the same single weekly rehearsal.
• Spanish music is drawn from most of the leading published late 20th-early 21st century
composers (eg: Cortez; Cortes; Gabarain; Montgomery) with unpublished music from well-known
Latin-American composers.
• Several members of the English choirs join the Spanish members to provide bilingual music.
• Liturgies for special feasts including Holy Thursday and Thanksgiving. The Spanish Music minister and a Spanish-language cantor cover all Spanish-language weddings, funerals and quinzeañeras.
• The new Music Director is responsible for expanding the tight collaboration with the Spanish Music Director.
• The Music Director shall work with the Spanish Music Director to continue the recent formation and training of core chamber choirs formed from members of both the English and Spanish choirs.

Qualifications
• Practicing Catholic with love for the sacred liturgy and understanding of Catholic history, principles and music theory.
• Graduate degree in Music preferred (or equivalent professional experience), strong organization, communication, and leadership skills.
• Please submit links to video/audio recordings (YouTube/Vimeo/Dropbox/Drive) demonstrating
organ/piano/choral conducting.

Current Summary of Music Program
• Plan to acquire a new 3-manual digital organ for the main church.
• Baldwin grand piano in main church.
• Excellent 2-manual 36-stop digital organ in the Resurrection Chapel.
• Roland FP-30X keyboard in Resurrection Chapel.
• Although the music program has not historically been a high parish priority, the new pastor, leadership team and parishioners are extremely excited about making the music program a major priority at St. Brendan’s.

Compensation and Benefits
• Salary range: $65,000-$85,000, commensurate with skills and experience, with a full benefits package.
• Additional stipends for weddings and funerals.
• The candidate shall be instrumental in the acquisition of a new organ and enhancing the audio system.

Application
Submit a resume, brief cover letter, and three references to Dennis Mallon at dmallon@stbrendansatl.com or call 770-205-7969.