Is the regular mass hymn singer paid by the church?

[johnnyjones]

Is the individual that sings at the mass compensated with a weekly or monthly salary? Also, I understand a priest receives a salary, but does a deacon who is preparing to be a priest? Most church duties are volunteer, I was also curious what other functions within the church (not diocese) are salaried.

 

[Crumpy]

I’m not saying that they are paid, and I ain’t sayin that they ain’t paid.

But, I am sayin that I think that mostly they ain’t paid.

 

[The_Curt_Jester]

It will vary church to church. In most places I’ve been, they’ve all been volunteers.

 

[Elisabeth51]

Until I moved here to where I am now, I had never heard of a cantor—the person leading the singing at Mass—being paid. They were always volunteer even the highly trained and skilled ones. Here they seem to think it’s right up there with mortal sin not to be paid.

 

[NiceMimi]

Until I moved here to where I am now, I had never heard of a cantor—the person leading the singing at Mass—being paid. They were always volunteer even the highly trained and skilled ones. Here they seem to think it’s right up there with mortal sin not to be paid.

I see you live in California, and living there can be pretty pricey… That is why perhaps the cantor is paid.

 

[Cat]

Are janitors and other housekeeping staff for the parish paid?

How about repairmen? The heating and cooling people? The people who install the sound system? The piano and organ tuner?

The secretary? The receptionist?

Music is a skill that people have paid tens of thousands of dollars to acquire, and a skill that they have to continue to practice in order to retain.

Why should all those other service people be paid a salary for their services, and the musicians volunteer?

I am not paid in my own parish for playing piano, BTW, but I am allowed to practice the organ, so I am satisfied. I think it’s a fair payment, since I really don’t have to do a lot of prep or practice to play the piano for Mass.

 

[1ke]

Cat,

The answer to all your questions at my parish is NO.

We do not have any paid positions. Everyone volunteers and pitches in to shovel snow, cut grass, fix things that break, clean the buildings, provide music, do the altar linens, flowers, sacristan work, etc.

I run CCD, RCIA, do altar work, am on Parish Council, and take care of all the sacramental records and parish bookkeeping acting as a “parish secretary”.

Oh, and I work a full time job.

Of course, every parish is different. In my old parish all of these things and more were paid positions. It is a very large parish in the city. the one I am in now is a very small parish in the country.

 

[Cat]

Cat,

The answer to all your questions at my parish is NO.

We do not have any paid positions. Everyone volunteers and pitches in to shovel snow, cut grass, fix things that break, clean the buildings, provide music, do the altar linens, flowers, sacristan work, etc.

I run CCD, RCIA, do altar work, am on Parish Council, and take care of all the sacramental records and parish bookkeeping acting as a “parish secretary”.

Oh, and I work a full time job.

Of course, every parish is different. In my old parish all of these things and more were paid positions. It is a very large parish in the city. the one I am in now is a very small parish in the country.

It sounds like a lovely parish with a family-feeling. You’re blessed.

I’m at a city parish of 7000 people. Although everyone has their own little group of friends and family, most people know very few parishioners. Although there are various committees that help with the cleaning, gardening, etc., the daily “heavy” work is done by a paid staff. The lawn is very large. The building is huge, and there is a parish school. The secretary and receptionist have a heavy workload and some potentially-grave responsibilities (e.g., dealing with inquirers, cranks, despondent people, etc), not something that a volunteer should be responsible for. The music minister/organist has a lot of responsibility–9 Masses on weekends with two choirs (contemporary and traditional), the parish school music program, all the liturgy to know and carry out, and whatever involvement with the community music that he can squeeze in (he’s considering offering a parish concert series, which I think would be great and I’ve volunteered to help).

All these people deserve their paychecks.

 

[ProVobis]

The secretary and receptionist have a heavy workload and some potentially-grave responsibilities (e.g., dealing with inquirers, cranks, despondent people, etc), not something that a volunteer should be responsible for.

???

My then-wife, a CPA, used to do a lot of pro bono accounting work for the local parish. We never thought of accepting money from the church. I know of several lawyers who also do pro bono work for the church.

The idea is to tithe to the church, whether by cash, rumage sales, or time. But you know that as the piano player.

 

[Elisabeth51]

I see you live in California, and living there can be pretty pricey… That is why perhaps the cantor is paid.

It is pricey! Honestly, I think I was more shocked by the attitude I encountered than I was the fact they are paid.

 

[KCT]

I’m a full time Coordinator of Religious and am paid.

Our cantors are paid for special occasions, such as First Communion. I don’t know about Sundays.

 

[The_Curt_Jester]

Are janitors and other housekeeping staff for the parish paid?

How about repairmen? The heating and cooling people? The people who install the sound system? The piano and organ tuner?

The secretary? The receptionist?

Music is a skill that people have paid tens of thousands of dollars to acquire, and a skill that they have to continue to practice in order to retain.

Why should all those other service people be paid a salary for their services, and the musicians volunteer?

I am not paid in my own parish for playing piano, BTW, but I am allowed to practice the organ, so I am satisfied. I think it’s a fair payment, since I really don’t have to do a lot of prep or practice to play the piano for Mass.

I’ve found this to vary parish to parish. The larger it is, the more likely staff are paid. The smaller, the more likely they will be volunteers. Where I currently work, aside from me and one other person, everyone is a volunteer. Where I used to work, there were more paid positions, but still not too many.

I hate to say it, but in the churches in which there were more volunteers, it seems that things got done faster and better. I think this is not because they were necessarily more skilled or motivated, but because in the parish with mostly volunteers, many people would pitch in to help. In the parish that had lots of employees, there were very few volunteers, and thus less people overall to do the work.

 

[CB_Catholic]

My parish has about 3200 families. The music director most certainly is paid, as he spends a great deal of time at the church and is responsible for all of the music, the choirs, etc. His is nearly a full-time job at my parish, and he deserves every penny. I don’t believe the cantors are paid, although they all are trained in voice. However, they probably receive money for weddings, funerals, etc. The finance director is paid, and the books are open for anyone to examine. We have a lot of volunteers to help out, but we do have a paid maintenance person for the parish complex and school, and much of the general cleaning of the church used to be done by a mildly mentally disabled woman who was paid and thus able to earn a living.

When the parish is so large and involves a school, it is necessary to have paid positions for a lot of things because the workload is full time. They physical plant itself is large and requires much care.

 

[Corki]

It really depends. Our music leaders and musicians are paid on a per diem basis. They get extra for playing for weddings, Sacrament days, etc. The choir members are volunteers.

As for other jobs, we have a paid secretary but the other office positions are volunteer. We have a paid cleaning service but the lawn and gardening are done by volunteers. The Religious Ed department is all volunteer.

 

[Cran]

We have a paid cantor, but his duties do exceed “singing at mass”!
He plays the organ, cantors, teaches organ, oversees several choirs, gives concerts and also teaches at university.

The volunteers who sing at mass when he isn’t available are not paid, neither are lectors.

 

[YoungCanRCMale]

I Think at my home parish the two main cantors are paid, because their duties exceed just Sunday Masses. This includes weddings and funerals so it’s almost 4-6, even 7 days a week sometimes. However we have a young cantoressa who does the 515pm masses and one of the sunday choirs but I’m sure she isn’t paid.