This episode of Ministry Monday is brought to you by CLEF – Catholic Liturgical Ensemble Formation. 

CLEF offers in-person and online resources for ensemble musicians, including the annual CLEF Summer Program. Join us July 26-31, 2026 in Ohio for an immersive week of music, prayer, and community specifically designed for ensemble musicians. Experience vocal and instrumental ensemble sessions, clinic day breakouts, private coaching, and more. Visit clef.life for details.

Pastoral ministry seeks to include all those who feel called to offer their talents for praise and service to the Church. Music is a unique ministry in that, while we want all to join us, those who participate must have some sort of experience in music. It doesn’t necessarily need to be professional experience - singing in the shower can count as experience for a new potential choir member, and a simple handbell workshop can familiarize a music minister with starting in the handbell choir. But when it comes to instrumental ensembles, how do we make sure that all those who join us with their instruments in hand feel rooted in an ensemble and confident to work within it?

Today we speak to Luke Rosen about just that. Since 2019, Luke Rosen has served as the Director of Choral Music at Evergreen Local Schools, where he has taught middle school and high school choir, music theory, songwriting, and voice class. For 15 years before that, he served as Director of Choral and Liturgical Music at St. John’s Jesuit High School. In addition Luke is a published composer with multiple companies, including ECS, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, OCP, Liturgical Press, and GIA/WLP. Today we speak from compositional, directorial, and ministerial viewpoints, all focused on arranging for the unexpected. It’s a great conversation as we approach Holy Week.

Even at a young age music was very important in our house. As my father was once a live and radio DJ, I spent many nights in my father’s game room, (gently) dropping the needle onto an album with him, discussing the historical and cultural importance of music from the 1960s and 1970s in particular. One of the most impactful albums in my memory was the Moody Blues’s “A Question of Balance”. Now, the Moody Blues were a mainstay in our musical repertoire. “Days of Future Passed” were on regular rotation. But there was something about “A Question of Balance” that has always stuck with me. The album discusses finding the balance within societal unrest, technological advances, and humanity in the late 1960s into 1970, but the phrase, “a question of balance,” is deeply etched in my guiding principles. I’m not necessarily good at it, but it’s something I try to improve on every day.

I’ll confess to you, listeners, that I think music ministry sometimes becomes a question of balance. The demands of music ministry and balance are sometimes, in my opinion, mutually incompatible. With parish mergers increasing nationally, we sometimes find ourselves doing more Masses across more church sites, sometimes with no discussion of pay increase despite the additional workload. (I know a pastoral minister who had 9 Masses across 4 locations each weekend, not mentioning funerals and weddings!) It is, of course, part of our ministry to be fully present on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, often with 3 hours of sleep in between. If a parish requests music for any additional occasion- a Mission Mass for Lent, Stations of the Cross, a Lenten penance service, you name it- music is very often requested, adding to the commitments, spiritual, and musical demands of a season. And yet in the midst of these challenging commitments, there are beautiful moments of God’s presence that we find in our music ministers, our parishioners, and the community at large. It’s a divine calling to be sure.

In the midst of this calling are the practical realities we face every day. We must make ends meet, which can at times be challenging on a parish musician’s salary. Furthermore, the National Office has seen a trend of job listings that ask for 4-6 Masses/weekend covered, 2 choirs to direct, covering all weddings and funerals, as a part-time position. These are the realities many ministers face. And while some work to re-establish a music ministry’s value with their clergy and church leadership, others seek another career path, leaving church ministry less and less covered than it used to be. This is not a new story to many of you listening, I’m sure.

But if we were open to this conversation, how would it go? If we cannot maintain a full-time status for our Directors of Music, how can we invite more music ministers to serve, knowing that they have jobs somewhere else? That, dear listeners, is a question of balance.

Today we chat with Sean Holland, a part-time music minister in Kansas City, Missouri, who also works full-time as a manager of the largest garden store in the city. Sean discusses the things he does in both his part-time and full-time jobs to balance the two, both prayerfully and practically.

This episode of Ministry Monday is sponsored by ONE LICENSE. Now is a wonderful time to take advantage of ONE LICENSE’s Single-Use and Event Licenses for the Lent and Easter seasons! If you plan to use copyrighted music in your midweek or Triduum worship services, or for a spring confirmation or graduation services, a Single-Use or Event License can be a great fit - especially for those who do not already participate in an Annual Reprint License. These licenses can also be bundled with our Podcast / Streaming License. Learn more about your licensing options at www.onelicense.net.

Ministry Monday is back with new episodes, new topics, and a new video intro and outro! If you haven’t seen our podcast in its video form, check it out. The links are in the show notes of this episode at ministrymonday.org and at our YouTube page, youtube.com/npmlivestream. It’s been a true joy to take a few weeks off of the podcast to gather these new conversations for upcoming episodes. I think you’re going to like it. I’d also like to thank those who reached out asking why we hadn’t returned yet from our Christmas break! It shows that you listen and enjoy the podcast, which is great news to us. We hope you keep listening this spring.

Today we begin season 9 of the podcast. Our season begins with a conversation with Fr. Roc O’Connor, a Jesuit priest and founding member of the St. Louis Jesuits. Since October 2021, he has served as a staff member at the Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington, Illinois. Our conversation today centers around the Word of God. Fr. Roc’s initial reflections to start our interview best reflect where we begin: "The Word is spoken. It can elicit feelings from attraction to aversion. These locate adults in relation to God, to Christ in the moment. It's how we become present to the Word." Fr. Roc joins us today from Barrington, Illinois.