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Happy Easter! We hope your Holy Week and Easter Sunday celebrations were filled with music, prayer and joy at the Resurrection of our Lord. We know this episode comes to you on Easter Monday, a day where pastoral musicians are hopefully resting after Holy Week. We hope that this episode from the Ministry Monday archives allows you to strike while the iron is hot, whether that is today or later on in the Octave of Easter.
One of the best practices I learned from a fellow pastoral minister was to take the time to write down what went well - and what didn’t - almost immediately after a momentous liturgy took place. For events like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Triduum, it helped me to refine the following year’s preparations and made my work more efficient. If I needed an extra song at the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, for example, I knew to add another one just in case for next year. Truthfully, I also wrote down what didn’t work, and earmarked that for next year.
And so we listen into the episode. You’ll hear former Ministry Monday host Matt Reichert interview Mike about this topic, with the hopes that it helps you to pause, regroup, and prepare for next year.
SHOW NOTES
This episode was taken from Episode #070, broadcast on August 12, 2019.
You can download the three resources mentioned in the conversation using the links below.
NOTE: These were created by Mike Novak and are his intellectual property. The files are included here for your reference and your professional use. Please ensure that you properly credit the source of these resources.
Handout 1: Overview of the Parish Liturgy Assessment Process
Handout 2: Liturgy Assessment Tool
Handout 3: Sample Assessment Report
The recordings of "They'll Know We Are Christians" was produced by World Library Publications. "Give Us Peace" was produced by GIA Publications.
BIO: Mike Novak
Born in Clark, New Jersey, Mike Novak is a graduate of Georgetown University and Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. He is currently a production editor with Liturgy Training Publications (LTP) and section editor of Pastoral Music. Previously, Mike worked for eight years in the Office for Prayer and Worship of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and twenty-two years as Parish Resources editor with World Library Publications (WLP). He has been a cantor for over forty years, ministering in parishes in Washington, Maryland, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Illinois, and has conducted cantor workshops and classes at national and local gatherings of church musicians. Mike has directed parish choirs and children’s choirs, most recently the Men’s Choir at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, and is a past member of the national board of directors of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions. In the past few years Mike has enjoyed singing with his young grandchildren Teddy and Daphne.
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