That's a hard one. Do you have any influential people - as in money - in the parish who would support you? Those tend to get the pastor's ear faster than the poorer folks, sad to say. I would speak more with the DM and get a better feel for where he is and wants to go with music in the parish. You first are going to have to enlist some support. Be reasonable with your goals even if you do find the support you need. You may end up somewhere in the middle between good and worse music, but it sounds like that would be a better place to work from than where the parish is now. You know this can take years.

Hi Matt, as a fellow WCC graduate and catholic I suggest you learn to play the organ and start making a change in the church. God will lead you and open doors. The church needs musicians with a sense of vocation and talent, like you. I started as a pianist, but, at 30 I decided to become an organist and I could not be more grateful to God for leading me to this blessed career. Blessings!!

As a PARISHIONER, you're actually in a great place. Most priests are very sensitive to people complaining or being not happy. I'd approach the pastor and the music director both. If you happen to talk to other people and find they are not happy, encourage them to do the same. Be sure to mention to the pastor and music director the other people who aren't happy.

I am not a fan of OCP music. I think there are a few good things to come out of OCP. Bread For The World by Farrell, Bread of Life Hope For The World by Farrell, Supper of The Lord, O God, You Search Me and standard hymns are what I use the OCP hymnal for. We have RitualSong in the parish and I enjoy those selections much more. I don't use any of the old 80's contemporary hymns or the new stuff OCP puts out! I am a traditionalist when it comes to picking out my hymns! I do use contemporary settings of hymns, but nothing like Eagle's Wings, Here I Am Lord, Be Not Afraid, John Michael Talbot stuff. I never use any of those at liturgical weekend masses and I don't even use them at funerals cause I get to be in charge of the funeral list for the parish! I support traditional old Worship and RitualSong based hymns! Choir members have asked for more contemporary stuff and I just have to refuse to do it! I am looking to start using the Gelineau psalms series and some of the RitualSong psalms from 2013 onwards. The psalms from RitualSong are ones by Haas and Haugen and can be found in some of the celebration series books put out by GIA.

There are social and spiritual traps at every turn in a situation like this. There is certainly no single way to proceed.

In general changes will be perceived as rejection of the current offering, and implicitly of the taste, judgement, and piety of those who prefer the current offering.

Your own desire for better music might be served by starting a private group within the parish: the "garage schola" approach. Maybe that group would eventually be welcome to provide music at parish Mass sometimes -- and maybe not.

But consider doing: nothing.

For a member of the faithful in the parish having no office such as director of music, a suitable approach is to make an inward practice of offering to God the music and the hymns and even the liturgical question marks, as they are, sincerely and humbly, as part of the corporate worship. There may well be more spiritual value in doing this, for all concerned, than in trying to intervene.

When my parish went through a pastoral transition, there was a major change in music (from OCP exclusively to total hymnody and chant). I was the new DM after several years of being pianist. I was forced to learn to play organ (which I will NEVER regret....it's been wonderful and I am very grateful). The community made a VERY loud sound with regard to music changes. I lost most of my friends and 90% of the choir quit, including every musician (two guitarists, a flutist and a drummer).

That was 18 months ago. Since then we've changed hymnals (from Breaking Bread to St. Michael), I've introduced some chant (both Latin and Simple English Propers), and gone from "feel good, warm and fuzzy" music to total hymnody. While we lost a lot of our community, it is beginning to build up again and all the new parishioners have been extremely supportive. Christmas midnight mass was absolutely gorgeous and the people have sent several e-mails to that effect.

All I can say, is to take your time, talk with your Director of Music, and very HUMBLY, explain your thoughts. Keep your BM degree quiet for a while and just talk to him AND the pastor as a loving, concerned parishioner. Once you establish a relationship with both the pastor and DM, then give them your credentials and ask if there is anything you can do (either through a paid or volunteer position) that can be of assistance to the music ministry. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and His love and support, things will turn around slowly, but surely.

God bless and Happy, Blessed New Year.

Oh my......I think I may have misrepresented the changes in my parish. While we did go through a major transition and it did result in many changes, the fact remains that the church is strong enough to overcome the obstacles, many people remained (although many did leave), and the music program is more sacred and less "touchy feely". The musicians who left would have left no matter what. The former DM was very charismatic in her approach to sacred music and did not believe in traditional hymnody, let alone chant. When she resigned and I took over, there were many, many discussions among us as to what the vision for the parish should be. At no time in any of those discussions, did they concede that traditional hymnody and chant had its place in liturgical music. I think it's also important for you to understand that I was the "other" pianist.....the former DM had her favorite and used me only for slower masses. I never played for the choir masses. As a result, I had very little respect from the musicians from the start, and nothing I did or said would have changed their attitudes. I taught in the parish school and was considered the "children's teacher", not an important part of pastoral music, by the music ministry.

Our former pastor was very much loved and many people left because of their love for him, not because of changes in either liturgy or music. The fact remains that after 18 months, our little parish has grown, the music ministry is coming along, and the true sacredness of the Catholic mass has been restored.

The first thing you can do to improve parish music is have your Bishop declare an anathema on guitars, electric pianos and drumkits being used in churches.

(Said only a little tongue-in-cheek(