Ministry Monday

Today's Ministry Monday episode explores the changes to the Rite of Baptism, which went into effect in spring 2020, during the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. Michael Ruzicki is the Director of Sacred Music and Liturgy at St. Mary of the Lake and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Chicago and is also the Training and Events Manager at Liturgy Training Publications.

This episode of Ministry Monday is sponsored by the Liturgical Music Institute, taking place July 24-29, 2022 at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, 40 miles east of New York City. This 5-day immersive experience combines prayer, learning, liturgy, and music for a retreat-like experience for all pastoral musicians to experience. For more information about the Liturgical Music Institute, vis...

NPM is blessed with a rich community of Asian/Pacific American pastoral musicians that support their parishes and the NPM community at large. Ariel Mayormita, Jose Gallardo and Maria Nieva are all pastoral musicians across the United States. They each demonstrate hospitality, kindness, and a deep Catholic faith in their lives. Today's episode highlights the deep faith and profound hospitality foun...

This is our 200th episode of the podcast! Today’s episode includes colleagues and clergy, leaders and laypersons, fellow pastoral ministers who are actively supporting the Church today. As this podcast is produced by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, I’ll admit that some of our topics are more NPM-centric today, but are no less centered on discussing the needs of pastoral music. In f...

Next week Ministry Monday will celebrate its 200th episode! As we prepare for that 200th episode, we look back at Ministry Monday's 100th episode. Released on April 19, 2020, the 100th episode was produced as we stepped newly into the pandemic. We were a month into a jarring Lenten and Easter season, with many of us not leading our parishes in music ministry in a “normal” way. Pastoral ministry ha...

Today’s episode focuses on an exploration of our Baptism. We may feel that our baptismal calling is fully expressed in pastoral ministry, and in many cases, it might. But what if the Holy Spirit has different plans for us? What if we feel our baptismal calling change? How can we reflect and truly listen to the calling of the Spirit?   Brother Louis Canter from the Diocese of Orlando, Florida,...

Ministry Monday has returned from its Holy Week and Easter break! We hope that your Triduum celebrations were prayerful and filled with song, prayer and the joy of the Resurrection. We also hope that you’ve found some rest after Holy Week as well! Today we continue the topic of sequences. Fr. Michael Joncas began our examination of the Church’s current use of sequences before we journeyed through...

Today is the last episode Ministry Monday will be airing before a two-week Holy Week and Easter hiatus. We wanted to leave you with an episode that would provide a prayerful pause as you wrap up the last rehearsals, make the last binders, and write the last “thank you” notes to your Holy Week musicians. Today we begin a conversation focusing on the sequences and hear from Fr. J. Michael Joncas. Wh...

Today’s episode comes as a listener request, and a very appropriate one at that. Allow me to read a portion of an email I received from a listener: Dear Ministry Monday, I hope this message finds you very well!  I am writing to you today as I feel you are the perfect person to receive this idea.  I wanted to suggest an inclusion of Dr. Lynn Eustis’s Ministry Monday presentation...

Well, I want to thank everyone for listening to the last 3 weeks in our Exsultet mini-series. It has been very well-received, and it was equally a treat to produce the episodes. It’s clear to us at NPM that there is a definite desire to learn more about the liturgical prayers and nuances that we experience in our faith today. Stay tuned for more episodes focusing on music, ministry and, of course,...

This week Tony Alonso (composer and Director of Catholic Studies at Emory University) reflects on the cultural and linguistic needs in a bilingual community: What is the best solution for the Exsultet when a parish speaks both English and Spanish? What are some of the things we need to consider? How do we truly include all who worship in our Church?

Today begins our second episode focusing on the Exsultet. Last week we featured a conversation with Fr. Paul Turner about the historical context of this sacred chant. If you missed it, it can be found wherever you listen to podcasts and at ministrymonday.org. This week we speak to Nicholas Will,  Director of Liturgical Music, Organist & Lecturer at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg,...

This week begins a 3-part series on the Exsultet. The Exsultet, the sacred chant sung at the start of the Easter Vigil, is such a distinct moment in the Triduum journey: covered in darkness, punctuated by candlelight, the Exsultet is a 9-minute chant prefacing what is about to happen in the Easter Vigil liturgy: Christ, returning "from death's domain", grants us all eternal life through His resurr...

Today we feature a replay of an episode that was one of our most-watched and listened-to episodes in 2021. Today on the podcast I have the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Mickey Thomas Terry.  Dr. Terry is a lecturer at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and Dr. Terry has also taught on the faculty of Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Dr. Terry speaks about the presence - and, until rec...

As we look toward the spring, I can’t help but stop and think about the upcoming season in pastoral music: Lent, Easter, and of course followed by, wedding season.  Now, prior to being a full-time staff member at NPM, I was the Director of Music at a church for 13 years that hosted 65-70 weddings per year. And during my time there, I met with every couple, helped them plan their music, and pl...

Today we are happy to share an episode of "Meet Father Rivers" on the podcast today. Author and musician Emily Strand examines the life, legacy and her own brief, personal encounter with a little-known but essential figure in American Catholic history: Black liturgist and composer Fr. Clarence Joseph Rivers. In this episode of “Meet Father Rivers”, podcast host Emily Strand tells the story of...

You voted and we listened! The most listened-to and voted-for episode was "A Historical Intervention on the Basis of Chant" with Fr. John Glasenapp. Brother John’s viewpoint on chant in the Church is deeply rooted in a full historical context, which is what we’re to discuss today. Why can chant be challenging to today’s pastoral musicians? What are the roots from which chant was created? What...

Today continues our series on continuing education. There are many music degrees available across the country at respected colleges, but what about music ministry-specific degrees? How can we combine the experience of a college education with high-level musical, theological and liturgical educations as well? Today on the podcast I discuss the unveiling of a brand-new program available at Duquesne...

Today continues our series on continuing education. Gail Hartin, chair of the Cantor Certificate Committee, talks with us about the benefits of achieving each level of the Cantor Certificate process. Why is it important? Why should a cantor commit to a Cantor Certificate? This is a great episode to send to your cantors who are considering working towards a certificate in 2022! 

Before we begin our first episode of 2022, we want to take a moment and ask for your vote on the best of Ministry Monday episode in 2021. From Gregorian chant to live streaming, the Exsultet to the liturgical prayers, improvisation to the public domain and everything in between, it’s been a busy year for Ministry Monday. This year we produced 47 episodes of topics on music, ministry and liturgy, a...

This week is the last week in our Advent series of episodes. We know that you have endured countless rehearsals, questions from your choir members about what time to show up for Midnight Mass, a few run-ins with sick volunteers, and maybe fighting a cold yourself. You’ve had concerts and prayer services, reconciliation services and extra staff meetings…the list goes on. This week’s episode is mean...

The next episode in Ministry Monday’s Advent series features part two of my conversation with Dr. Benjamin Cornelius-Bates, Professor of Musicianship at Duquesne University. Last week Dr. Cornelius-Bates shared some basic tips on how to improvise on traditional and contemporary Advent hymn tunes this Advent and Christmas season. If you haven’t listened to it, I strongly encourage you to! This week...

The next episode in Ministry Monday’s Advent series features a conversation with Dr. Benjamin Cornelius-Bates, Professor of Musicianship at Duquesne University. Dr. Cornelius-Bates shares tips on how to improvise on traditional and contemporary Advent hymn tunes this Advent and Christmas season. Ben’s tips are practical for well beyond the Advent season, but I hope that they spark some creativity...

Ministry Monday will be celebrating the Advent season alongside you through the Advent Series of episodes. The next four weeks of episodes are designed to provide you, pastoral ministers, with added support during, quite frankly, one of the most stressful times of our year. Please also know that we are praying for you as we all journey through Advent and Christmas together! Each week in the Advent...

Today we speak to John Angotti, composer and music director in the Nashville, Tennessee area. John's passion is truly fostering the youth of today, and it shows: this episode is a great framework for how to attract youth into a music program, and how to establish a foundation of prayerful, intentional music ministry. John is a fabulous, self-proclaimed “music missionary”, and this interview was ju...