Sounds like you are dealing with "Susan from the Parish Council"!

AMEM!

I hope it works out!

ex-religious sister, retired principal and somewhat autocratic President of the Parish Council

Jes,

Is this one person or three?

Anyway, to the point at hand: your pastor (and boss) has demonstrated both his trust in you and his willingness to support you (his personal number). Cherish this. (Pastors who show this level of confidence are uncommon.)

In this woman's mind, however, you're the easier target, so you should expect her to look for an opportunity to divide you from the pastor, and to do what is necessary to make you look bad. (She can't very well attack the priest, so she'll do the next best thing, and impugn his judgment by showing how poorly he chose.) If you're lucky, she'll continue to be loud-mouthed. This won't endear her to anyone, so you will have less work to do. If she works quietly, however, just pray for her, and be sure to keep a civil tongue in your head. Ask St. Francis de Sales for the right words.

I am always prepared to tell such people where to go... but then again I have always been a volunteer!

Jes

The description of this lady's background included "parishioner kicked out from elsewhere", so it amazes me that such a person would be named head of a parish council.
My prayers for you in this situation. You are doing well with it!

She has historically "conducted" (yelled and waved a large knitting needle at) the choir for the past 10 years and I let her continue to do so.

Reminds me of one of the previous church's I worked at in grad school, where the DM conducted my hymn playing (seriously?!). Her tempos for fast hymns ("Gather A Sin," "All Are Welcome") were dirge-like, and her tempos for slow hymns ("O Sacred Head") were in the express lane!

We now live in the post Law-McCarrick-Wuerl Era...

Most dioceses have policies relating to grievances, bullying, professional standards (yes, even for volunteers) and more.

It never ceases to amaze me what kinds of behaviour church musicians have been conditioned to tolerate. There is no other non-profit area that would tolerate these levels of misconduct routinely.

Rise up, assert your rights, take the moral high ground. Everybody has a basic right to work and volunteer in an environment that is healthy and safe. Sticky taping a crucifix to the front of said work environment does not suddenly provide a waiver to those rights.

Abusive behaviour and bullying must never, ever be tolerated.

I am sorry that you had to go through that Jes, it reminds me of my past lives. I am currently taking a break to teach music in China. Though it has been a nice break, believe it or not, I am keen to get back into it as soon as possible.

G'day Friends,

Thank you for your support. Many things have gone on between that original post and now.

Father went on leave, and so did my 'knitting needle friend'. The priest who came to fill in at the parish (who is uncompromisingly vogue - usually ministering in the Casino - yes, he's the Casino Priest!) well, he, in the end, told the entire parish after mass that they need to pay a recording studio to record me and release a Truly Catholic Christmas Album (WHAT?) Anyway, during this time the choir flourished, rehearsals were reasonably well attended, that is, for what was a time with volatile weather. Father returned, and he was delighted with the music. I felt free, as did my beautiful group of dedicated singers. Then it was late September when her return was deemed to happen (doomed to happen as some might express). Instead of returning, all relaxed and ready to work together, she did not turn up to mass. Instead, she left an envelope on the organ for me to read and another on the lectern for Fr.

In the letter, she requested a meeting during my school holidays, where she could sort out a 'matter of concern' brought to her by a chorister. (It turned out some brave soul told her off for yelling at me and controlling the choir so none of my decisions could bear any fruit.)

My dear priest-friend and parish administrator sat down with me over a hot cup of tea, reading through a comedy script for a play he acted in during his seminary years, and then we tackled the complicated stuff.
1. What am I doing with my life next year?
2. Where is the church music in this parish going?
3. How's the love-life? (Because why not?
4. How do we deal with (dun, dun duh) the Chair of the Parish Council?

The priest himself confronted this lady to some extent. He put to her that he had even heard her yell at me with his own ears and seen her aggressive body language with his own eyes. She continued to threaten him with letters written to the Archbishop. He told me his hands were fairly tightly tied.

We made a plan, a somewhat cunning one, to give me a break and hope that the choir either gets its act together and flourishes or folds in a heap. Regardless of whichever direction the choir was to go, something good would surely have to be realised. The hope was that they would understand that they are aging and need to recruit younger choristers or fold and build a more youthful choir altogether. Not only this but the realisation that as long as there is an impervious chair of the parish council at the helm of the music, there would not be a healthy future for the choir. (A realisation they have made very recently.)

So, in late September, I hung up my "kiss marked organ shoes" put on my ballet flats and began to kneel among as many different Catholic congregations as I could. Call it an organist holiday if you will. This situation is not the first time I have had to escape annoying politics, but I sincerely hope this is the last time. Much like my previous 'holiday', I have been inundated with sacred music work and invitations to various liturgical rites. It's been an honour to work in some fascinating settings.

I am not overstating this when I say a LOT has transpired since even taking this break. I have received parcels and letters in my mailbox. I've received deliveries of flowers, emails, phone calls and cards all asking me to return to the parish. I never in a million thoughts imagined the parish would actually miss me, and certainly not this much. Our chair of the parish council friend has taken over the choir. It appears to be holding the fort much better than imagined on that front, however; the congregation are being driven out, and some members of the congregation have flirted with the idea of even leaving the church. THAT is a disaster? That she would leave because I took a holiday. That she would go all because of this offensive behaviour demonstrated by this woman.

Two weeks ago I received a call from another 'councillor' who is fed up by this woman's antics and is seeing the dwindling congregation numbers and the dwindling hopes/health/condition of the choristers. He called me with a solution. "We shall lovingly confront this lady; she needs our help to be humbled. You and Father need our help and support to inform her that this behaviour is unacceptable." A meeting will happen in early December, and some relatively permanent decisions will be made about the music at the parish. Some which will benefit way beyond the choirs and musicians but also all parish groups. It may blow up, but it may also bring about some peace. Our priest will be free to preach the Gospel without looking behind his back for the knife. (Or complaint letter sent to the bishop.)

It has crossed my mind; why doesn't my priest stand up to the lady? Why won't he defend me? He could with one fell swoop end this council business, why doesn't he? Well, as for his support, it turns out he has been highly supportive, and quite publicly so.

Here I attach his Homily given just this most recent feast St Caecilia and also a homily given back in 2018 concerning sacred music. I think these are articulately written, they leap to my defence in a rather heroic way, and they propose sound arguments which may prove useful to anybody dealing with a similar battle. The more notable of the homilies is his most recently found on page 4 of the document.

I hope that by mid-December this melodrama comes to a swift halt! Please pray for my friends and me.

God Bless,
Jes

Very happy for you, Jes, and just the tiniest bit worried too:

the music must use less than all eight notes in an octave.

;-)

Read Snow White. The poison apple trick still works.

Wonderful sermons. I can guess why he has to watch his back from the Bishop as most Bishop's are very suspicious of Priests who preach sermons like that( not part of the "get along go along" principle they so sadly often enforce). This also shows the danger of not bouncing "Susan" from her role as director and even from President of the Council back when she (I am sure) was still yelling at everyone, but before it could be associated with the introduction of the "dreaded" Latin by the young "arch traditionalist". Never let a problem person like that fester. Your Priest still may have taken a few arrows in those prior years, but not as many and a bit more likely to be backed up by the Bishop I would imagine.

Limited terms are a very wise provision, but not universally applied, unfortunately.

@drforjc That's Canon Law in fact! Furthermore, they should be appointed by the pastor at his sole discretion, not by elections as is seen in some places. He's not even required to have a pastoral council (though he must have a finance council). I think many pastoral councils exercise more power than they actually have a right to.

I should actually say too. Please pray for our president of the parish council. She needs to lower her anxieties else I fear she may make her heart fail with the stress. I do want her to be safe.

The pastor should be solving all of these problems. If he will not stand behind proper Sacred Music, your cause is lost.

Waddaya mean, "must?" Which weekend is the weekend with all the volunteers? I bet attendance drops that weekend when Left-Foot Lucy is hacking her way through "We Remember" for the umpteenth time in a row because she only knows 6 songs.

I don't know, I kinda like #4! If you have the chutzpa to do it!

leave the melody line out in protest?!

all kidding aside, I too would have to check with the pastor on this one. His response will tell you what you need to know.

Might be distilled down to: Neither sing nor play the final notes of any phrase - just speak them.