Smaller parishes

[THurifer2]

I live in Rural Midwest. My parish has around 400 Registered families.

I have a theory that since we are smaller and our resources are much smaller we are are somewhat shielded from the nutty things that happen with music in our liturgies.

We have a small volunteer choir made up of about 8-10 people. our Chior director is a volunteer with significant musical background…but she stays far far away from the Liturgy…she only manages the music and gets pastor approval for songs I am no the liturgy committee and she needs our permission as to which songs are chosen. Our liturgical commitee is a volunteer committee and anyone can join…we stick with the traditional hymns with a pipe organ. Our organist is not a Catholic and about 90 years old so things may be changing in the future.

 

[Phemie]

I live in Rural Midwest. My parish has around 400 Registered families.

I have a theory that since we are smaller and our resources are much smaller we are are somewhat shielded from the nutty things that happen with music in our liturgies.

We have a small volunteer choir made up of about 8-10 people. our Chior director is a volunteer with significant musical background…but she stays far far away from the Liturgy…she only manages the music and gets pastor approval for songs I am no the liturgy committee and she needs our permission as to which songs are chosen. Our liturgical commitee is a volunteer committee and anyone can join…we stick with the traditional hymns with a pipe organ. Our organist is not a Catholic and about 90 years old so things may be changing in the future.

I’m in northern Canada. Our parish is around the same size as yours. Unfortunately, we have nutty things happen here.

Our choir is volunteer, the person who started it is the director. She has no great music background but is gradually learning about liturgy and what is appropriate – although I’ve heard “I’m sure God doesn’t mind…” more times that I would wish. She can read music, which is more than most of the other participants. The pastor has a hands off policy about music – they can do whatever they want. There are no rules in our parish about music. Funerals are generally OK, with our choir singing but weddings regularly see the use of recorded secular music: Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, you name it. Funerals have been known to have the same problem when the family wants the funeral at a time when our choir is unavailable.

When we had a liturgical committee, it was volunteer and anyone could join. The parish sent several of to do courses in liturgy and we each earned a certificate in pastoral liturgy through the theology faculty of St. Paul University in Ottawa. The pastor at the time wanted people who knew what good liturgy was (no abuses, no weird stuff). When he left we went through a major change and were yelled at for daring to quote documents to support our contention that things required of us were against what the Church wanted: “We’ve never paid attention to documents and we’re not likely to start now.” Most of us quit. Now the priest does whatever he wants. Misuse of EMHCs is rampant, Redemptionis Sacramentum is ignored.

It’s been my experience that the size of the parish has little to do with good liturgy. It has everything to do with the pastor and how much he cares.

 

[THurifer2]

I’m in northern Canada. Our parish is around the same size as yours. Unfortunately, we have nutty things happen here.

Our choir is volunteer, the person who started it is the director. She has no great music background but is gradually learning about liturgy and what is appropriate – although I’ve heard “I’m sure God doesn’t mind…” more times that I would wish. She can read music, which is more than most of the other participants. The pastor has a hands off policy about music – they can do whatever they want. There are no rules in our parish about music. Funerals are generally OK, with our choir singing but weddings regularly see the use of recorded secular music: Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, you name it. Funerals have been known to have the same problem when the family wants the funeral at a time when our choir is unavailable.

When we had a liturgical committee, it was volunteer and anyone could join. The parish sent several of to do courses in liturgy and we each earned a certificate in pastoral liturgy through the theology faculty of St. Paul University in Ottawa. The pastor at the time wanted people who knew what good liturgy was (no abuses, no weird stuff). When he left we went through a major change and were yelled at for daring to quote documents to support our contention that things required of us were against what the Church wanted: “We’ve never paid attention to documents and we’re not likely to start now.” Most of us quit. Now the priest does whatever he wants. Misuse of EMHCs is rampant, Redemptionis Sacramentum is ignored.

It’s been my experience that the size of the parish has little to do with good liturgy. It has everything to do with the pastor and how much he cares.

Well, I guess my theory is out the window then.

I have a different approach. I would be a thorn in the dside of the priest

My parish does have two deacons and I am quite certain that has lots to do with it. One deacon is relentless when things come up. I have heard a shouting match between him and the priest. The shouting match ended when the deacon told the priest that he works for the bishop and not the priest. (which is true). Fortunately for us the deacon is about 10 times smarter than our pastor and by trade an attorney…which makes him very good at arguments. When thee is a dispute 99.99999999% of the time our deacon is correct and in line with the “official” church teaching on the matter. Strangely our priest is a canon lawyer and evidently not as up on stuff as the deacon is.

 

[markadm]

Well, I guess my theory is out the window then.

Yeah; sorry, I think it is too. Our Parish is smaller than yours; we have no Deacons, but our music is banal and awful. The organ has been “relegated” to the vigil Mass on a Sunday and guitars abound at the Sunday Mass.

 

[Guitar]

Phemie and THurifer2, would you be interested in answering my “survey questions” here?

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=208917

I’ve done both - tiny rural church and large-ish suburban parish. In the little isolated church you’re (in my experience) at the mercy of whatever you have locally. That was pretty dire in my case, but mostly through ignorance - good hearted folks were doing their best with what they had, didn’t know any better and had no resources. (Pre-Internet, no religious reading material on sale in the town, etc.) The priests could so easily have pointed people in better directions and they did nothing. How hard would it have been to point out that “we have this thing called the GIRM and you can write away to get it from these people here or even read it in the front of the Sacramentary that lives in this cupboard here at the back of the church”?

In the bigger church, same story - as Phemie says, the pastor’s attitude makes a big difference. I’ve seen the same parish where the pastor cared a lot and where the next one didn’t so much not care as just leave the base camp to maintain itself while he focussed on other things … he noticed when some things ran off the rails but cannot be moved into providing backup to the people trying to do something about it, There’s so much more you can do when everyone knows the PP cares about the state of the liturgy.