Cantors and Choir Members: Share Talents to Draw Us Closer to the Word of God

Music affords us a beautiful opportunity to participate fully in the liturgy. In singing at Mass, we engage communally and spiri tually with one another. In our Antigo Area Catholic Churches, we are blessed to have the members of our Music Ministry, who share their talents to help us draw closer to this communal prayer each Sunday. Barb Payant is one of the cantors you might recognize who provides beautiful music to us on a regular basis.

“Music has been a part of my church life forever,” Barb says. ”It inspires me, and I have always felt that connection. I like that I am able to proclaim in music the Word of God.”

Barb is one of seven cantors on the music schedule in our community. The cantors share the responsibility of leading the responsorial psalms and Gospel acclamation at Sunday Mass and other Holy Days in our parishes. Barb mainly cantors at SS. Mary and Hyacinth, but also helps out at the other churches as needed.

“We try to work out the schedule as well as we can so that the Masses are covered,” she says.

The cantors in our church communities are supported by the choirs who also lead the congregation in song. Barb has been a cantor for more than 20 years here in our parish community, but her musical roots reach back much further to her early days at St. John. Barb grew up at St. John but switched to SS. Mary and Hyacinth after marrying her husband who was a parishioner there.

“I remember when I was in grade school at the Catholic school in town, I was probably middle school age when the nuns decided to have a children’s funeral choir,” she says. ”I remember going to church to sing funeral Masses. I remember having a children’s choir at Christmastime, at midnight Mass, walking to church in the late evening to be part of that midnight Mass children’s choir. In high school, there was a choir at our church that invited me to sing along. So I have been a member of church choirs for as long as I can remember.”

Music has a powerful way of connecting us. When the members of a congregation lift up their voices in prayer, there is a strong sense of community and togetherness. Barb hopes that in leading the congregation, she’s able to help create a more prayerful Sunday experience for parishioners.

“I hope that it helps our parishioners to be more prayerful and to get more out of the Mass, to understand God’s Word a little more,” Barb says. “I’m hoping, through song, we are able to make a connection. It’s always nice when someone comes up to you after Mass, and says they really liked the song at Communion or they say, “We love hearing the choir sing.” It makes Mass a better place.”

“If we can inspire our church community to be a more prayerful place, that’s what we strive for,” she adds. “I have a great accompanist who helps me with that. And by working together with them, we try to make the mass a more prayerful experience for everyone.”

Serving in the Music Ministry has also helped Barb to grow in her own spiritual life. Each week, she reads through the psalm and Gospel acclamation to familiarize herself before preparing the music. If she finds herself looking for their context, Barb will go through the readings for the day to gain a deeper understanding.

“By making myself familiar with the Sunday readings and emphasizing those readings, I think I have become a more prayerful person just by adding those steps,” she says. “I’m listening to the Word of God and making sense of it. The ministry is important to me because it’s a way for me to help others learn more about the Word of God. Through song within the Mass they will understand the readings, the Gospel, to understand God’s Word and God’s teaching that we can all be better Catholics and better people to the world around us.”

Anyone interested in joining the Music Ministry, either as a cantor or in the choir, is encouraged to contact their respective parish office or approach a Music Ministry member after Sunday Mass. All are welcome and training is available for newcomers.

Barb Payant has been a cantor for more than 20 years in our parish community. She recalls singing in a middle-school choir at St. John in her school days.