The ins and outs of copyright licensing can be difficult. How do we declare what music we are using, especially across print and streaming mediums? How do we report, how often do we report, and what do we report? These were just a few of the many questions I found myself scouring the internet for as I live streamed liturgies at my parish for the first time last year. And so I called Katie Deaver. Katie is the assistant manager of ONE LICENSE and was gracious enough to sit down and answer questions about copyright licensing that I hope will help many other pastoral musicians as well.

It goes without saying that we, as pastoral musicians, have experienced a world of change in our ministries in the last year or so. The things that we never second-guessed, such as congregational singing, the incorporation of hymnals and choirs into our liturgies, became health risks. As we hopefully look towards a re-introduction of the elements that we so cherish in ministry, many of us are re-examining how we execute these elements. Now, we started this conversation 2 weeks ago when we spoke with Kelly Barth from Simply Liturgical Music. But today we shift the focus from technology to the physical, internal instrument so many of us value: the human voice.

As pastoral ministers, many of our cantors and choir members have not sung in over 15 months, at least not at the same level and frequency that they did pre-pandemic. How do we guide their voices with an even stronger sense of pastoral care?

It’s summertime, which means that many of us might be traveling, or just have a little bit of free time on our hands. Here at Ministry Monday we are pulling out a book that made a big impact on us: “Dear Joan Chittister”. “Dear Joan Chittister” is a collection of letters to its namesake, Joan Chittister, a Benedictine sister in Erie, Pennsylvania. Joan Chittister is known for her advocacy on women’s rights, peace, human rights and the renewal of the Church.

We spoke to Jessie Bazan, the editor of “Dear Joan Chittister”, in November of 2019 about the book. It was a short but sweet episode, and we think it’s a perfect interview to replay. And if you haven’t added it to your short stack of summer reading, we highly recommend it!