African American Sacred Music in Catholic Worship
By Kevin P. Johnson D.M.A.
(Article: Page
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Professional Music Ministry
Churches must find ways to offer a living wage to music ministers for our church. The twenty-first century problem with the music of the African American Catholic worship experience lies in the Church"s inability to attract and retain competent musicians familiar with liturgy and with an appreciation for the unique treaure of the African American Catholic worship experience. To quote Rivers again:
A parish music program is not a
part time job, when viewed both from the perspective of the
musical needs of the parish, and from the perspective of the
musicians" need to constantly keep their skills in readiness
by rehearsing and drilling themselves in those skills: and also
from the perspective of the musicians" need to constantly
enlarge their skills so that they may become more professionally
catholic and thereby become more capable of serving a community
that must be catholic, i.e., universal, open to all men of all
cultural preferences. As long as the parish musician is thought
of as a part time employee and paid accordingly, we will have
great difficulty in convincing potential Church musicians to
consider this field for their life"s work. And we will
always have the problem every few years of trying to find a new
director because these musicians will soon move on to greener
pastures; and their stopover in Church work will merely be a
temporary expedient.
Pastors who understand the role of music in African American Catholic churches do not pastor dead and dying churches. They understand the priority of worship and put in place music ministry that continually grows congregations and church memberships. Every successful mainstream black church with growing congregations has a well-paid music staff. In this hip-hop generation, if the Catholic Church is to attract and keep its young people, pastors must hire music ministers who are intent on building a music ministry. Once black Catholic churches find a way to hire professionally trained musicians to lead their music ministries, they can get in the business of training young black Catholic girls and boys to be church musicians.
Opportunities for training
Black Catholic churches must train their own musicians. Young people need to be mentored by music ministers to be the next generation of Catholic musicians. Many Protestant churches in the twenty-first century have adopted a music-institute model; this model serves as an ongoing musical training program for youth housed within the church and directed by the music ministers of the church. When the Archdiocese of Atlanta closed Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church dedicated the entire third floor of the school building to what it is calling “The Drexel Institute for the Arts,” named after St. Katharine Drexel, the founder of the school. In addition to providing a leadership model in the arts in Atlanta, the Institute trains the young people in the parish to be the next generation of Catholic musicians. The institute also serves the adult population through ongoing private musical instruction and music minister training for the parish. This program was born out of a school closing that devastated the parish community. African Americans have always been able to overcome adversity to create something out of nothing. This program can happen when a church understands the role of music not only in liturgy but the importance of music in African American life.
The Black Catholic Church of the twenty-first century must proactively encourage music ministries to create and or participate in Diocesan, Archdiocesan and National conferences, mass choirs and projects that expose regional musicians to high quality examples of the possibilities for music ministries. National workshops that draw from the best and the brightest African American Catholic ministries have to offer must be funded and offered on an annual or semiannual basis. Pastors must make dollars available and encourage or require their musicians to attend these conferences. A new standard of excellence in music ministry must once again be put in place in order to fill the void left by the passing of some of our brightest Black Catholic musical leaders.
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