Worship and Music

Pastoral Coordinator for Worship & Music Worship & Music

A Brief Introductory Note:

This article deals mainly with the impact of the pandemic on our Mass attendance, ministry involvement, and the needs for the future of our worshiping community.

Mass Attendance and Worship Practices

Attendance at Mass, active participation in the liturgy, and reception of the Eucharist are essential parts of our Catholic life when we gather inside the walls of our worship spaces. The numbers from this past year are both telling and encouraging. Following our re-opening in June of 2020, Mass attendance increased gradually during the summer and early fall months, before leveling off in November and actually increasing in Advent! Our Christmas Masses, however, were not very well attended, likely due to a number of issues with a spike in COVID cases in that time, a lack of family visiting our parishioners, et cetera. This was common not only in our parish, but throughout our Diocese, state, and nation. Attendance remained slightly lower throughout the winter months, increasing again in Lent to pre-pandemic levels. Our Holy Week and Easter services were very encouraging: not the same level as in previous years, but very well attended. The anticipatory Saturday Mass and 10AM Sunday remain popular and the most well attended of our weekend Masses. Weekday Masses followed a similar pattern throughout this time. The annual conversion of the parish hall to the Lenten chapel has remained a permanent fixture, allowing us to comply with physical distancing requirements and accommodate baptisms using our free standing baptismal font while communal Holy Water was not permitted in the church. This also grants the use of this larger space for the children’s Liturgy of the Word Dismissal, which is expected to reconvene in the fall or early winter. We have also modified our method of receiving the weekly stewardship offerings from passing of baskets to stationary collection receptacles. These accommodations have been generally well received. Additionally, the number of parishioners participating in online giving has increased.

Our Ministries and Members

Prior to our temporary closure in 2020, we had 162 active volunteers who gave of their time to serve in our various liturgical ministries at weekend Masses. At the time of this writing, that number has dropped significantly to 92! There are several reasons for this great decrease. Some volunteers have not returned since the reopening of our church nor since the ending of the dispensation. Others have retired from their ministries due to health, or have downsized and moved from Colts Neck. Some ministries, like the Liturgy of the Word dismissal for children had to be paused during the pandemic, but should be starting up again in the coming months, as mentioned earlier. Many of our volunteers work hard and often. And while this is certainly commendable, some individuals end up serving with much greater frequency than others; sometimes by choice, but more often by necessity. With weekly attendance just under 1,000, we should expect a volunteer base of about 20%, or 200 persons, yet we have considerably less than that. We are always in need of more volunteers in each and every ministry. Some have been hit harder in recent years than others in terms of retirements, but all ministries are in need of an increase in order to serve our parish well.

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

St. Augustine 3

A secondary issue compounding the first is the preference of volunteers to only attend certain Masses. As mentioned previously, the Saturday afternoon and 10AM Sunday Masses are generally the most well-attended, but that is not an accurate indicator of volunteer availability. In the past year, the following trends have emerged:  The 10AM Mass historically had the most amount of available Extraordinary Ministers, but now has the least.  The 8AM Mass was often the most difficult to schedule altar servers , but now we have several families who prefer that time. More weeks than not, there are none scheduled for the Noon Mass.  We previously had a large team of ushers; while our post-pandemic procedures require less commitment, we have seen a steep drop in the number of ushers available per Mass. In order to alleviate these concerns, it is recommended that volunteers consider attending different Mass times and signing up to do so with our scheduling software. At certain times of the year, volunteering for more than one Mass per weekend is encouraged. Finally, at certain points of the year, ministerial volunteers become more important than ever, and it is not a coincidence that these times are always busy times with family and out-of-church activities. The preparations of the campus for Christmas and Easter require a great deal of labor, not all of it physical, but volunteers are severely lacking during those times. The making of commitments to serve on Holy Days is also proving difficult. To use the same feasts and Solemnities as examples, there are 5 Christmas Masses, 6 Masses for the Triduum and Easter, plus the Good Friday service, each requiring many hands to function efficiently, and we often go with empty positions for many of those Masses. At these times, when Mass attendance is great as family, friends and visitors join us for worship, it is ever more critical to fully staff our ministries.

All Things Musical

Our music ministry continues to evolve as we strive to be more in line with the Universal Church, using guiding documents such as the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, with a focus on solid theology, well-written hymns and songs, liturgically accurate texts and the occasional challenge piece for the choir. Beginning Advent 2019 we adopted a new worship resource for the pews, The Book of Sacred Liturgy, which was selected after input from many parish members and stakeholders. It is a fine publication, containing readings, psalms, antiphons, etc. for every single day of the year, and a variety of hymns and songs, both new and old, to add to our worship experience. As with all of our ministries, we saw a small decrease in music ministry. Calling attention to our congregation size once more, our music ministry should have double the amount of members that it currently does, especially where the choir and handbell ensemble are concerned. As music is an integral part of the liturgical experience, we should strive to always offer our best to the Lord, and make music to his name. Our annual summer concert series which began in 2018 had to pause for 2020 and 2021, but we expect its return in 2022. We are also exploring other opportunities for the sharing of music outside of Mass. David Maliakel, our principal cantor for the last few years, pursued a career change in June 2021, and left his employ at our parish. We thank him for the countless contributions he made to the livelihood of our music ministry. We are pleased to welcome Mrs. Jill Russo as our new principal cantor, who will also serve as an associate organist when needed, and assist in other aspects of our music ministry. As always, the music ministry thrives with larger numbers and all who are inclined are encouraged to join.

Final Thoughts

We are a strong, prayerful, and active faith community. The challenge remains that a smaller than average percentage of active parishioners are engaged in ministry. In the fall or early winter, there will be a ministry fair in our parish. Representatives from each of our ministries will be on hand to answer any questions that parishioners may have about the intricacies and expectations of our many ministries. I encourage all of our members to prayerfully consider giving some of their time and talent to the community. Whether it be singing in the choir or ringing with the handbells, acting as a substitute usher on Holy Days, giving up a few hours to assist with the Christmas decorations, or wherever the Spirt directs you, the community is always grateful for the contributions of its members.