Director of Liturgy Description

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OrganistRob

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Can anyone on here please explain the duties of a “Director of Liturgy” in a Parish setting?
From what I gather it involves scheduling and training of lectors, altar servers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and planning special liturgies throughout the year such as Mass of Anointing of the Sick. What else is in the job description?
 
The director of liturgy normally has extensive skill at propagating liturgical abuse. This has been my experience at least.
 
The person with the authority to direct liturgy in a parish is the pastor. Sometimes that pastor delegates some of the authority to one or more people to handle for him. What that person’s responsibilities are is completely up to the pastor. It is different in practically every parish.
 
While director of liturgy is a valid position, and they can do much good, especially in a larger parish, most of the time, they spend their entire workweek rewriting the Mass. 🙂
 
OrganistRob said:
Can anyone on here please explain the duties of a “Director of Liturgy” in a Parish setting?
From what I gather it involves scheduling and training of lectors, altar servers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and planning special liturgies throughout the year such as Mass of Anointing of the Sick. What else is in the job description?
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Corki said:
The person with the authority to direct liturgy in a parish is the pastor. Sometimes that pastor delegates some of the authority to one or more people to handle for him. What that person’s responsibilities are is completely up to the pastor. It is different in practically every parish.
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By way of example, in our parish, the pastor trains the EMHCs, readers and altar servers himself and one of the ladies in the office does the scheduling. The Liturgy Coordinator is responsible for coordinting the music, the church decorations, scheduling substitute priests (when needed), and organizing funerals. Most of the special liturgies are planned by committees which may or may not include the Liturgy Coordinator while others are planned by the DRE (May Crowning, First Communion Masses, Quincianera Masses, RL Mass).
 
CB_Catholic said:
Totally unnecessarily and uncharitable comment.
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Actually, it’s quite true. That is what often happens. There’s no way to deny it. The so-called “director of liturgy” is should often be called “the distorter of liturgy.”
 
[edited]

As to the OP’s question. As liturgy director I coordinate the parish section of EM and Lector training (they have to go to diocesan training first - which I also do for the diocese). I have a volunteer do the scheduling for EMs and Lectors. I supervise the music director and coordinate all liturgies except the religious ed ones. I write the petitions. I supervise and coordinate communal baptisms, including interviewing parents. I coordinate RCIA including the catechetical sessions. If anything special is happening at Mass I usually am in charge of that, including locating the proper prayers or blessings. I put together the presider’s, lectors and deacon’s books. I have to be available at all but the early morning and evening masses on Sunday. I also coordinate our Ministry of Consolation and funeral masses.

Also I have been working on catechizing the parish on the revised texts for the past year and a half. Most of the liturgy coordinators in our diocese have pretty much the same description as mine although I don’t think all of them are as up to date on the new missal.
 
Joannm said:
[edited]

As to the OP’s question. As liturgy director I coordinate the parish section of EM and Lector training (they have to go to diocesan training first - which I also do for the diocese). I have a volunteer do the scheduling for EMs and Lectors. I supervise the music director and coordinate all liturgies except the religious ed ones. I write the petitions. I supervise and coordinate communal baptisms, including interviewing parents. I coordinate RCIA including the catechetical sessions. If anything special is happening at Mass I usually am in charge of that, including locating the proper prayers or blessings. I put together the presider’s, lectors and deacon’s books. I have to be available at all but the early morning and evening masses on Sunday. I also coordinate our Ministry of Consolation and funeral masses.

Also I have been working on catechizing the parish on the revised texts for the past year and a half. Most of the liturgy coordinators in our diocese have pretty much the same description as mine although I don’t think all of them are as up to date on the new missal.
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Thank you for the good work you do. Keep to the letter with the GIRM. [edited]
 
TheMc said:
Thank you for the good work you do. Keep to the letter with the GIRM. Most DoLs that I’ve met play it fast and loose with the rubrics.
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I quit being the Chair of the Liturgy committee because the priests refused to abide by the GIRM. It came to a head when I protested that no priest should be sitting while EMHCs gave out Communion. One priest replied ‘RS hasn’t been implemented in this diocese’. I replied that doing so flew in the face of 3 other Vatican documents on the topic at which point the other priest present stood up, red as a beet, shook his finger in my face and yelled “We’ve never paid attention to those documents and we’re not about to start now.”

That’s when I decided that using my holidays in the summer to attend school and earn my certificate in pastoral liturgy, with the bishop’s blessing, was for naught and I didn’t need the head/heartache that went with this ministry since nobody wanted us to use what we’d learned.

I’ve since been slapped in the face with the realization that some priests don’t want to read documents and will not thank you for referring to the documents when preparing liturgies. I saw that first hand when attempting to prepare for the Triduum using “Paschale Solemnitatis”. The priest was furious that we wanted to follow what it said and categorically forbid things like emptying the Tabernacle for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
 
OrganistRob said:
Can anyone on here please explain the duties of a “Director of Liturgy” in a Parish setting?

. What else is in the job description?
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short answer
the priest is the director of liturgy. period. so his job description includes those duties. He may delegate some tasks such as training lectors to someone else [edited]
 
[edited]

The Director of Liturgy should be well versed in these documents:

Sacrosanctum Concilium
Musicam Sacram
Ecclesia de Mysterio
Liturgiam Authenticam (insofar as choice of musical settings for the Mass is concerned)
The revised GIRM for 2011 (which takes effect now)
Redemptionis Sacramentum

This is vital for anyone engaged in liturgy.
 
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