Anything but Ordinary...

Yesterday, the Church returned to Ordinary Time, but this liturgical season is anything but what we may consider "ordinary."  The recent issue of Liturgy Line, published last week, which includes many resources, liturgical formation opportunities, and information about feasts and rites during this liturgical season, signals toward that reality.  This is a time when we experience order in the liturgical year, a time when we experience Christ walking among us and transforming our lives. Anything but Ordinary.

Score

I'm no expert quite yet, but thanks to yesterday's brief training from a colleague at the Chancery who is also a musician for Village Theatre and accompanist at a North Seattle parish, I have some basic knowledge, tips and tricks on using Finale (a well-known music software that was recently installed on my computer).

In playing with the software again this afternoon, just to familiarize myself with it more, I scored Tamtum Ergo from scratch. I did have my user guide and notes from my meeting with Joseph handy, but didn't need to refer to them all that much. (That, and the CTRL + Z undo shortcut was ready at hand.)

The one thing I'm still trying to figure out, and might need to call more expert help on, is how to get rid of the annoying indentation in front of the first measure.

Liturgical (Musician) Nerd status is almost achieved.

NPM ministerial position

The search for a new President and CEO of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM) has begun. Here is a link to the job description. Please spread the word if you know of someone who may be interested.

Greetings from the NPM Convention...

...sort of anyway. 

If I were really in Washington, DC for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM) Convention, I would be blogging about it more than just this one post.

This picture is from the NPM Facebook page.

And so are these video clips from the opening ceremony of the NPM Convention (just a warning that the young lady in the beginning is just a little bit too excited for Convention, but then again, I probably would be too!)

Earlier today I was in touch with one of the music directors from Tacoma who is in attendance at Convention, and invited her to write an article for our next Liturgy Line newsletter about her experience. I'm very excited to read it! In the meantime, I'll stick to following posts on Facebook.

More Musings

The long-awaited arrival of the new Archdiocesan Director of Liturgy is here! Andrew was in the office for a few hours last Friday morning to get his id badge, parking pass, finish signing papers with HR, get his computer and email set-up, etc. Tomorrow he'll begin his new ministerial position full-time. But I can already tell why he was the unanimous choice of the search committee! He is a great person and I look forward with even more joy, hope, and excitement in ministering together. Now the real time of transition begins...prayers are appreciated!

But on a lighter note, last Saturday morning we had a moving party for Andrew and his family. We're ever-so grateful for those who took a few hours to babysit his two beautiful children and move furniture, boxes, toys, and some other items. This is just a sneak peak into the "other items" we unloaded off the moving truck and into his family's new home in Shoreline. Pretty neat stuff, if you ask me!

                         



This week is the NPM Convention in Washington, D.C., in which three people (that I know of anyway) from the Archdiocese are in attendance. Please hold them, and all participants in prayer. For those of us who wish we could participate in this national gathering, the Pray Tell blog will be live-streaming some of the sessions.

Here's a very informative summer issue of the liturgy newsletter from Diocese of San Jose Worship Office. I think I have some ideas for the next issue of our very own Liturgy Line. A fun note, last Sunday the 21st, the director of worship for San Jose, Diana Macalintal, made a surprise visit to the Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle. She is the same Diana Macalintal that I had the grace-filled opportunity to have breakfast with one day when at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim last February.

In the newsletter included a pretty neat podcast from Diana providing a run-down of Pope Francis' encyclical Lumen fidei and what may be important for all who prepare liturgy to know about the document.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Emmett Carroll, SJ, Pastor of St. Cecilia on Bainbridge Island, who died unexpectedly last week. His Funeral Mass will be tomorrow evening, 7:00pm at St. Cecilia. Archbishop Brunett will be the main celebrant and Father Patrick Howell, SJ will offer the homily. Eternal rest, grant unto the soul of Father Emmett, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Monday musings

A sneak peak at the worship aid, or shall I say "libretto" for Pope Francis' installation mass, in case you wish to stream live in the early hours of tomorrow morning and follow along. Or in case you can't stream live in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

A sneak peak at another worship aid...this one for Thursday's Chrism Mass for the Archdiocese of Seattle, where the oils are blessed by Archbishop Sartain and the Church celebrates priestly unity. At this Mass, the 100+ priests will make a Renewal of Commitment to Priestly Service. Also, after the Prayer after Communion, a monstrance will be blest by Archbishop Sartain, which will be used throughout the Archdiocese for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life. This Mass is one of the highlights of the liturgical year for me (in addition to Priest Ordinations) and all are welcome. Parking will be free and available to all wanting to attend, at the Cabrini Parking Garage off of Marion Street (but fair warning, the lot fills up pretty quickly.)

This morning I picked up the flowers for the Chrism Mass at Northwest Wholesale Florists on behalf of our interim director, and earlier this afternoon he complimented and thanked me for picking out a great selection of flowers. "Great job picking out the flowers for Chrism Mass" were his almost exact words. Although he was the one to pre-order what kind of flowers our office would purchase and the quantity, if you know Fr. Steve Sallis, this is a pretty big deal that he thinks highly of my selection of the flowers. I'm putting that compliment into my jar of blessings, that's for sure!

For the second year in a row, the newly named Office of Youth and Young Adult Evangelization (formerly known as the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry) will hold the young adult pilgrimage on Holy Thursday. My sister and I participated last year, and it was a great witness to the faith as people would ask questions of the group and when hundreds would sing together and pray together during the holiest times of the liturgical year.

An exciting reflection/announcement regarding the feast of Corpus Christi at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma by their pastor, Father Jacob Maurer.

Lastly, I just finished putting mailing address labels on invitations for the NPM Seattle Chapter's pastor and pastoral musicians dinner (save the date: Friday May 3 in Seattle.) They will be in tomorrow's mail. Here's a picture of the cover of the invite and I'm hoping that many of our pastors and pastoral musicians will be able to attend.

"Participation: Liturgy, Life, Mission"

Join the Seattle Chapter in attending the National Association of Pastoral Musicians' national convention in Washington, DC from July 29 to August 2.

Come renew your ministry, deepen your understanding, sharpen your skills, pray and sing with others who share your commitment, be nourished by fine performers and thought-provoking speakers, and discover new music and resources. (if I were a pastoral musician, I'd attend this convention!)

 

Register before March 15th and save up to $100.00! Early bird deadline has been extended from March 1st, so on the flyer below when you see March 1st, it has actually changed to March 15th.

 

More information and to register

More pictures

As promised in my last post, here are additional pictures from a busy MLK weekend:

Mass for Life (St. Martin University - Marcus Pavillion)

NPM Seattle Chapter's Choral Reading Session presented by Michael Connolly

slight tangent - I posted some pictures from last Saturday's Mass in Thanksgiving for the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (celebrated the day after the reading session, two days before I left to start setting up for the Mass for Life) but those pictures don't compare to the ones taken by Maria Laughlin of St. James Cathedral...they're posted on the Cathedral's website, and if you look closely, you'll see my sister and me.    (pictured with Deacon Lamar during the gospel procession)

GIA choral reading session

 

The Seattle Chapter of NPM is sponsoring a choral reading session this Friday the 18th. This is an opportunity to experience seasonal choral offerings as well as take a sneak peek at the content of the next generation of GIA hymnals. Please join us and invite your fellow music leaders!

Fri, Jan 18th at 7:00pm

St. Ignatius Chapel at Seattle University

Music directors, choral directors, accompanists, choir members, instrumentalists - all are welcome! 

Pre-registration is encouraged by emailing Paula Schmitz, secretary of the Seattle Chapter of NPM.

 

For more information on the Seattle Chapter of NPM, including pictures from their previous events, check out their website.  They do wonderful work and are open to suggestions for events, resources and their arms are always wide open for new members and ideas!

Music and the Rites of Holy Week webinar

The National Association of Pastoral Musicians is sponsoring a series of webinars on Music and the Rites of the Church. The next one is being offered on Thursday, January 24 on the Rites of Holy Week.

The webinar will be presented by Mr. Paul Inwood, Director of Music and Liturgy for the Diocese of Portsmouth in England on Thursday, January 24, at 2:00 pm et, 1:00 pm ct, 12:00 noon mt, 11:00 am pt. 

You may register online this one session for just $25. You may also take advantage of generous discounts for groups. 

Can’t view the webinar at the scheduled time? No problem. Take advantage of the option to purchase a recording of this and other webinars. See www.npm.org for more details.

St. Cecilia Sing!

Two weeks ago, the Seattle Chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM) hosted their annual St. Cecilia Sing! This event, which is held near the Feast of St. Cecilia -patron saint for musicians- gathers pastoral musicians throughout the Archdiocese to celebrate the great gift of music and join together in fellowship and prayer.

Although not a pastoral musician myself, I continue to find myself inspired and renewed in ministry with the work that this group does. St. Cecilia Sing! especially moves me because as each of the participating choirs and ensembles sing their piece(s), I enter into a deep joy and peace where all stress and worry disappear for just a brief couple of hours. Many find this feeling watching movies or theater.

Wanting to support and encourage pastoral musicians in their ministry and to spread the word about the chapter, I began taking pictures at their events which may now be found on their website. There is also a lot of helpful resources and information such as job openings and information about musicians salary.

Let us continue to be inspired in ministry through the art of musical liturgy. Thank you to all of the pastoral musicians for their dedication and service to the Church of Western Washington!