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Music Ministry Newsletter
A resource for all serving in parish music ministry
National Association of Pastoral Musicians 
Grand Rapids Diocesan Chapter

August 2014
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Summer is flying by and it's been jam packed with good times.

Here are a few highlights:

  • The annual Convention in St. Louis was amazing! The hospitality shown by the local committee and volunteers was wonderful and a good time was had by all!
Whitney Richer (Ss. Peter & Paul, Ionia) and I also took some time to take in the sights!
  • The core committee for next year's Convention has already started meeting. We're hard at work on planning special events (including the organ crawl and space tours) and finalizing a logo.
  • The chapter board has been hard at work, too! As you'll see below, we have a great year coming up with lots of opportunities for learning, networking and socializing. We hope that you'll join us as often as you're able!
I hope that you've had a wonderful summer (and had a chance to enjoy some of the wonderful weather)! As the school year begins, may you have a renewed sense of purpose and direction in your ministry.

As always, feedback and contributions for this newsletter are welcome. Simply reply to this email.

Mary Harwood
Editor
St. Paul the Apostle, Grand Rapids
From Our Chapter Director...           

 

The time is now!

 

Approaching the new season is a good time to consider taking out an NPM-Grand Rapids Parish Membership. Getting straight to the point, your $150 annual membership makes your parish a sponsor and benefactor of the work of NPM-GR. The amount is not huge -- it's the cost of dinner for four at a nice restaurant (if the wine is inexpensive!). Yet, when enough parishes step up, it provides significant support for the work of our chapter. For example: it enables us to present some events without fees, and for events with a fee, this enables us to waive or reduce the fee for those for whom it is a hardship. Actually, no organization of any kind can function without funds to cover all the little things that cost. Our membership fees provide our single most support.

 

With a parish membership you are entitled to enroll as many persons as choose, as regular voting members of out NPM Chapter. In our parish, for example, the NPM members are our pastor, our music director, his assistant (me), our brass ensemble director, and our music secretary. Beyond that, as a parish member, everyone in our music ministry receives this monthly newsletter.

 

If you are one of our seventeen parish members, please be sure to renew. For the other 65 parishes in our diocese, please give this request your serious thought. (Any current dues already paid will be applied to the parish membership.) Click here for all the details.

 

Bob Batastini
Chapter Director
event2014-15 Chapter Events
  • September 17, 7:00 p.m. Blessing of Musicians 
    • Cathedral of St. Andrew, Bishop David Walkowiak presiding
    • Every member of the music ministry from every parish in the diocese is encouraged to come and renew their commitment to the music ministry: music directors, choir members, cantors, instrumentalists, and pastors, too!

      The blessing takes place in the context of sung evening prayer, and uses a form similar to the renewal of baptismal promises. In this case, participants renew their commitment using their talents in service through the parish music ministry.

  • April 9, 2015, Annual Banquet 
    • Pietro's Italian Restaurant 2780 Birchcrest Dr, SE (just west of 28th & Breton)
  • May 7, 2014, Second Annual Festival of Congregational Song 
    • Cathedral of St. Andrew
  • July 6-10, 2015, 38th Annual Convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians 
    • Grand Rapids, MI
Thank You!

Thank you for putting Dick and myself on the prayer list.  I would like to share with you that it has been about 11 weeks now since Dick's surgery and he is doing very well. Dick has been back to work at Holy Family for over a month now and he is feeling stronger with each passing day.  We appreciate your kindness in putting our name out to the membership for prayer and are very grateful.  We are now offering prayers of thanksgiving!  

Your friends,
Eileen and Dick Hoogterp
Congratulations!

Congratulations to Kathleen Lally who recently accepted the position of Music Director at St. Dominic in Wyoming. In addition to her new position, Kathleen will continue her duties as Pastoral Musician for Aquinas College. Best of luck in your new job, Kathleen!

Meet Me in St. Louis!




Long time friends, Paul Westermeyer (2014 Jubilate Deo Award) and Bob Batastini
Chapter Dinner at Mango!
Representing Grand Rapids at the Convention Liturgy
Cake, Big Band and Lights of the City w/ Msg Rick Hilgartner
Chapter Members (and Peter Maher) after receiving the banner from the St. Louis committee
Membership Information

Over the past year, the two-tiered NPM-Grand Rapids membership program has efficiently evolved.

 

Parish Membership:

  • The parish joins the Chapter at the $150 level, becoming a sponsor/benefactor of the Chapter. Anyone in the  parish who chooses, may register to become a regular voting member of the Chapter at no addition cost*. Moreover, every member of the parish's music ministry: choir members, cantors, instrumentalists, will receive the monthly newsletter, announcements of events, and be eligible for member discounts at Chapter events.

Individual Membership:

  • Pastor, Music Director, or any other member of a parish music ministry is eligible to join as a regular voting member of the NPM-GR Chapter. The annual dues is $20, renewable annually on the anniversary of joining. You will receive our monthly digital newsletter along with all the benefits of full membership.

 

All memberships renew on the 12 month anniversary of their being established. Become a major supporter of the work of our chapter in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

 

Click here for membership application.

 

*Voting membership is recommended for, but not limited to, pastor, director of music ministries, assistant directors, accompanists, and anyone with a leadership role in the parish music ministry


Mentoring Program

 

Parish musicians...

  • Are you new at your job?
  • Are you trained in another area of music, but have no church music experience?
  • Are you an experienced church musician who has never before served in a     Catholic parish?
  • Are you simply struggling with certain issues related to your job?

Friendly, competent, help is at hand. Read more

catecheticalDiocesan Ministry & Catechetical Conference

Save the date: Diocesan Ministry & Catechetical Conference on September 27 at West Catholic High School.
 
Dr. Steve Janco will be leading an all day Institute for pastoral musicians and liturgists entitled: Singing for Discipleship: Liturgical Music and Catholic Identity. 
 
As we worship, liturgy little-by-little shapes our identity as Christ's disciples. How can the music we sing (and the way we sing it) help to shape a well-rounded Catholic sensibility and inspire us to step out of our comfort zones and serve others with generous and loving hearts? This institute will explore in practical ways how the choices we make about musical styles and genres, texts, modes of performance, frequency of use, etc., contribute to liturgy's long-term effectiveness in form in disciples who are ready to embrace the challenges of our diverse and changing world. 
 
Steve Janco is Associate Professor and Director of the Rensselaer Program of Church Music and Liturgy at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana; and part-time at St. Eulalia, a multicultural parish in Maywood, IL. Steve is also a well-known composer of liturgical music and the author of numerous articles on liturgy and liturgical music. 
 
Click here for the registration form.
From the Office of Liturgical Music 
  • In late June-early July, the choirs of Catholic Central High School had the opportunity to tour Italy and Vatican City. The choir sang two beautiful concerts: the first in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi and the second in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome. Both concerts were well attended and were met with standing ovations and appreciative applause. In addition, the CC Choirs had the distinct opportunity to sing with the Sistine Chapel Choir for the Papal Mass celebrating the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul on June 29 in the Basilica of St. Peter. Singing in the mass with Pope Francis celebrating was a big highlight of all the choristers. With 140 people on tour from Grand Rapids, it was a great experience with many wonderful memories.
  • A new entry in ArtPrize will be sponsored by the Diocese of Grand Rapids: Voices of the City. This will be a sacred music concert featuring local faith-based high school students and local church choir singers beginning in the Cathedral of Saint Andrew and culminating in a musical procession into the Piazza in front of the Cathedral. The Voices of the City concert will be on Sunday, September 28 at 3:00pm in the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. Admission is free. More information will be available in the September issue.
  • The Diocesan Choir will begin rehearsal on Monday, September 15 at 7:00pm in the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. This fall season will consist of singing two works by John Rutter: Requiem and Magnificat. The Diocesan Choir is always looking for new voices. Consider being a part of this exciting musical venture of the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Contact Dennis Rybicki for more information. 
Dennis Rybicki
Director of Liturgical Music

Gaudium et Spes/Joy and Hope*

  

"Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served." (Gaudium et Spes; Preface, No. 3) 

 

*In the past year we have run a series of excerpts from the 2007 document of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship. In this issue we begin a new series of excerpts from the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes/Joy and Hope, promulgated in 1965 on the last day of the Council. Click here to read the entire document. This document has been chosen as the inspiration for the 2015 NPM Convention in Grand Rapids, 50 years later, and this series will continue throughout the year. 

Prayer List

Karen Smith, Cathedral of St. Andrew
Michelle, St. Simon, Ludington
Nate McKenzie, St. Stephen
 

Is there someone in your music ministry who we should lift in prayer?  Please send the person's name and parish to Mary Harwood.  Names will be listed for one month unless otherwise specified.
Upcoming Events
  • September 8: Prayer of Peace
    • Ecumenical sung prayer in the style of Taize
    • 7:30 p.m. | second Monday of each month
    • St. Mary's Church, Grand Rapids
    • Singers and instrumentalists are welcome to participate, please contact Larry Barton for info   
  • September 8: WLP Reading Session
    • Free reading session for music directors, choir directors, etc.
    • 7:30 p.m.
    • Catholic Central High School, Grand Rapids
    • RSVP by August 25
  • September 10: Prayer of Peace
    • Ecumenical sung prayer in the style of Taize
    • 7 p.m. | second Wednesday of each month
    • Dominican Chapel -- Marywood
  • September 15: Diocesan Choir begins
    • Singers from any parish are welcome!
    • 7 p.m. | Mondays (no rehearsal on second Monday of each month)
    • Cathedral of St. Andrew
  • September 17: Annual Blessing of Musicians
    • Evening prayer and hospitality for anyone involved in parish music ministry (singers, instrumentalists, directors, cantors, liturgy councils, pastors, etc.)
    • 7 p.m.
    • Cathedral of St. Andrew
Save the Date!

 

It's never too soon to mark your calendar for the NPM National Convention in Grand Rapids MI -- July 6-10, 2015!

Coda: Quote of the Month

"One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the LORD'S house all the days of my life, To gaze on the LORD'S beauty, to visit his temple. For God will hide me in his shelter in time of trouble, Will conceal me in the cover of his tent; and set me high upon a rock. Even now my head is held high above my enemies on every side! I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and chant praise to the LORD."
Psalm 27:4-6 
You are receiving this email as a benefit of your membership in your parish music ministry. 
 The Grand Rapids Chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians exists to support all music ministers as they seek to utilize their art to enhance worship and prayer throughout the Diocese of Grand Rapids.  Questions, comments, concerns?  Let us know!
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