For a while we had our parish staff behind locked doors. It was so the people who kept dropping in all day long would stop interrupting them while they tried to work. Naturally people with legitimate business issues got to see them.
I am mildly offended by that statement. The concept of paid DREs is fairly new in the Church and yet catechesis isn’t exactly moving in a positive direction. I have met many of the “professional” DREs at Catechist events and they are not exactly a group known for orthodox transmission of the faith.
That is simply false. Just because the laity aren’t singing does not mean a piece may not be sung. where, pray tell, did you get that idea? One of the two forms of music mentioned by most of the musical church documents as ideal is sacred polyphony, and that is most certainly not congregational.
??The most ideal form is the chanted Mass. Sung but no musicians.
Well, obviously that fact that you pay someone is no guarantee he will do better than an unpaid volunteer. But that paycheck is also an accountability check. If a Church employee is hired as an “at-will” employee then a musician or DRE who doesn’t cut it on the job can expect to get cut from the payroll.
No choir. We don’t have a choir, we are a very small parish. Father sings his part and the congregation sings the responses. It’s not “technically advanced” as someone mentioned but it is quite nice, especially for special occassions.
In the “old days” when actual catechesis took place, there was no such thing as a DRE - nuns/brothers or the curates handled the matter - at least that was my experience. That the Church would expect volunteers to handle such an important matter, while not shocking, has had the expected result…sorry.I am mildly offended by that statement. The concept of paid DREs is fairly new in the Church and yet catechesis isn’t exactly moving in a positive direction. I have met many of the “professional” DREs at Catechist events and they are not exactly a group known for orthodox transmission of the faith.
In our own parish we have a very invovled and faithful pastor who personally selected the DRE for her faithfulness to Church teaching which he observed when she was a catechist. How does her pay (or lack thereof) translate into mal-catechesis? How would putting her on salary fix it?
True. How many times have I’ve heard priests or music directors say they would love for a certain volunteer “musician” to just quit because they felt bad about letting him/her go since he/she was a volunteer? i’ve worked with really awful organists/pianists and singers, some volunteer, some paid. The ones who were paid were usually let go fairly easily once they were given a chance to improve their skills either through more practice or lessons and still didn’t improve. The ones who volunteered continued to play no matter how awful the playing was and not helpful for the congregation. They weren’t taken to task for their lack of ability because they were doing it for free.
You just don’t get it, and your snarkiness is not necessary. You are being extremely insulting.I get it now. We have ‘a people of God’ and then there are the professionals.
If you can do something well, and use your talents for the church, make damn well sure you get paid for it. The comment about a Catholic that played for the Lutherans because they paid and the Catholics didn’t just underscores the weakness of such a mentality. That’s just a lousy attitude. The argument abounds that there’s a large workload, that just means one person is taking on too much, if they cant cope with a normal work/life balance. Maybe concentrate on Sunday liturgies.
Maybe greater collaboration could work, but then that would mean letting go and trusting another mere mortal, non-professional, in the sphere of religion. A travesty to be sure.
Come to think of it, I think I’m pretty good at the old praying, maybe I should charge for my services at assisting at mass. I wonder what the going rate is:thumbsup:
And then what happens to the funerals and weddings? Your musician has to say, “Sorry, I work that day - tough luck.”I get it now. We have ‘a people of God’ and then there are the professionals.
If you can do something well, and use your talents for the church, make damn well sure you get paid for it. The comment about a Catholic that played for the Lutherans because they paid and the Catholics didn’t just underscores the weakness of such a mentality. That’s just a lousy attitude. The argument abounds that there’s a large workload, that just means one person is taking on too much, if they cant cope with a normal work/life balance. Maybe concentrate on Sunday liturgies.
Odds are you get paid for a forty hour work week. However, I’m going to assume that most of that time you don’t actually do anything, and therefore you should just volunteer your services. If you have a family or whatever, they’ll be okay starving, I’m sure.I get it now. We have ‘a people of God’ and then there are the professionals.
If you can do something well, and use your talents for the church, make damn well sure you get paid for it. The comment about a Catholic that played for the Lutherans because they paid and the Catholics didn’t just underscores the weakness of such a mentality. That’s just a lousy attitude. The argument abounds that there’s a large workload, that just means one person is taking on too much, if they cant cope with a normal work/life balance. Maybe concentrate on Sunday liturgies.
Maybe greater collaboration could work, but then that would mean letting go and trusting another mere mortal, non-professional, in the sphere of religion. A travesty to be sure.
Come to think of it, I think I’m pretty good at the old praying, maybe I should charge for my services at assisting at mass. I wonder what the going rate is:thumbsup:
This entire post is very sad to me. It really demonstrates a lack of understanding. For music preparation alone, many instrumentalists I know will practice 6+ hours a day. This is not the kind of work which can be delegated. You can’t delegate the practice and preparation to another person. You, alone, have to do it. It has nothing to do with taking on too much. It is very individualised, requires hours and hours of practice and training and prayer. The collaboration comes from other musicians doing their part by their own individualised preparation. For one example, even if you delegate someone else to research music, you still have to go through the music yourself to be sure it can work, thus, still doing the work. Another example, most musicians who work another job during the week can’t do any of the funerals and special events since they can’t take off. So, no delegation there either. It’s all on the music director. You really can’t delegate and share most of these responsibilities.I get it now. We have ‘a people of God’ and then there are the professionals.
If you can do something well, and use your talents for the church, make damn well sure you get paid for it. The comment about a Catholic that played for the Lutherans because they paid and the Catholics didn’t just underscores the weakness of such a mentality. That’s just a lousy attitude. The argument abounds that there’s a large workload, that just means one person is taking on too much, if they cant cope with a normal work/life balance. Maybe concentrate on Sunday liturgies.
Maybe greater collaboration could work, but then that would mean letting go and trusting another mere mortal, non-professional, in the sphere of religion. A travesty to be sure.
Come to think of it, I think I’m pretty good at the old praying, maybe I should charge for my services at assisting at mass. I wonder what the going rate is:thumbsup:
I would appreciate some clarification. I’m trying really, really hard to hear what you’re saying, but I think I’m misunderstanding you.I get it now. We have ‘a people of God’ and then there are the professionals.
If you can do something well, and use your talents for the church, make damn well sure you get paid for it. The comment about a Catholic that played for the Lutherans because they paid and the Catholics didn’t just underscores the weakness of such a mentality. That’s just a lousy attitude. The argument abounds that there’s a large workload, that just means one person is taking on too much, if they cant cope with a normal work/life balance. Maybe concentrate on Sunday liturgies.
Maybe greater collaboration could work, but then that would mean letting go and trusting another mere mortal, non-professional, in the sphere of religion. A travesty to be sure.
Come to think of it, I think I’m pretty good at the old praying, maybe I should charge for my services at assisting at mass. I wonder what the going rate is:thumbsup:
Supply, demand, and production costs.I think this is one of the big reasons to pay someone too. If you are paying someone you can expect them to give up every holiday to play/sing for 8 Masses or to give up every Saturday in May for First Communions or to drop everything for a funeral, or three, in the middle of the week. You can try asking this of volunteers, and a few may do it, but most will have other things going on in their lives, like a job, and just not be able to give the time that is needed.
