Church Musicians

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7_Sorrows said:
Sorry you had such a bad experience. You must have felt like you were taken for granted. I can’t believe they complained the one Sunday there was no music and you had lost your husband.
That is really terrible… It sounds like you had a full plate doing everything and not being appreciated for what you did.
I think church musicians should be paid. They make a commitment every weekend and I know Christmas and Easter must be brutal. They definitely work hard!
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Thank you.
I means a lot to me.
 
In my parish, the music director is paid because he is expected to be at all Masses, be available for funerals & Holy Days of Obligation, and teach music at our school. It is a full-time position. The other musicians and singers are volunteers.
 
Of course Church musicians should be paid. I was looking just now on a job website. I saw a part-time job in the South, for a mainline Protestant church. 2 services a week, pay was $1000 month.

All the good organists go to the Protestant churches, where musicians are actually paid a decent amount of money.
 
27lw said:
Of course Church musicians should be paid. I was looking just now on a job website. I saw a part-time job in the South, for a mainline Protestant church. 2 services a week, pay was $1000 month.

All the good organists go to the Protestant churches, where musicians are actually paid a decent amount of money.
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that is good for a part time job!
 
27lw said:
Of course Church musicians should be paid. I was looking just now on a job website. I saw a part-time job in the South, for a mainline Protestant church. 2 services a week, pay was $1000 month.

All the good organists go to the Protestant churches, where musicians are actually paid a decent amount of money.
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FWIW, the FSSP Mass I attend pays $300 from its collection to cover the parish organist who plays for the weekly EF, among his other Masses. I’m not sure if anyone else collects part of that.
 
Until you can convince 80% of Catholics to drop more than $2-5 in the collection plate, no small parish will be able to pay for musicians.
 
Short answer: yes. Long answer, it depends!

Most organists where I am get something - even if it’s only petrol vouchers - because they’re in demand and often won’t actually reside in the parish(es) where they’re playing. Our cathedral employs two organists and a music administrator but then they can afford it (and rightly place a significant degree of importance on music and liturgy) - a rural parish can’t. If somebody in the parish is simply playing an instrument (or cantoring) on Sundays (and yes, I know they have to practise during the week) then they shouldn’t expect to get paid but should get a donation of gift from the parish at least every year to acknowledge their efforts. However, if they’re being asked to contribute a considerable number of hours during the week (over and above what’s required for practising) then the parish needs to either pay them or reduce their workload. The same applies to non-musical ministries such as sacramental programme co-ordinators.
 
27lw said:
Of course Church musicians should be paid. I was looking just now on a job website. I saw a part-time job in the South, for a mainline Protestant church. 2 services a week, pay was $1000 month.

All the good organists go to the Protestant churches, where musicians are actually paid a decent amount of money.
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At 8 services per month, that is one hundred twenty five dollars per service.
If I were paying for a special family service (wedding funeral) 125 dollars would seem like a pretty good deal. After all, there will be considerable practice ( several hours likely) prior to the event.
I’m not convinced that this Protestant organist described here is making all that much-after practice is taken into consideration. I’m also unsure that s/he is making much more than a Catholic counterpart.
A relative of mine plays for a parish and chooses to consider this a portion of tithe.
the parish is blessed to have this shared gift, but I also understand that some musicians can not give up remuneration for their services as tithing-their gift of music is also their means of supporting themselves and their families.
Some parishes may be able to afford this; others will not be so fortunate. May all parishes be blessed.
Amen.
 
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