The Cluster Monster

I attended
our parish worship commission meeting last night.
There was a bit of tension during the meeting
As we discussed various topics.

But in all honesty,
I created some of that tension
With my brutal honesty.

You see,
I have made some decisions in recent months
In regards to my ministry.
And some of those decisions
Were already out in the open.
Some of those decisions
I had already discussed with the pastor.

But the last decision,
Well, let’s just say
I spilled the beans
at the worship meeting last night.

I won’t detail those decisions
Here on the blog
As those are topics best held in another forum,
Specifically, the parish setting.

But I think it is most appropriate
To share in this blog
One of the “whys” of my decision.
And I think it is appropriate
Because there may be other pastoral musicians
Who now find themselves
In the same situation that I do.

One of the reasons for the decisions I have made
Is greatly influenced
by this monster named “Clustering.”
In all honesty,
I think this is nothing more than semantics,
Nothing more than the ecclesial vocabulary for “Downsizing.”

In my opinion
Clustering is only a stop gap,
Something that will only delay dealing
With the inevitable problem:
The Clergy Shortage.
And in fact,
I believe that we are committing
A sarcedotal genocide
By giving these good men
Two or more parishes,
Which only increases stress levels,
That, in turn,
Leads to all sorts of health issues.

I have more views on clustering,
But I’ll stop with that one.
Whether or not I like it,
The Cluster Monster (see image above)

is visiting our churches.
And, somehow,
We must find a way to deal with it
All the while keeping the faith.

As a pastoral musician,
I find that I must find a way
To remain standing and active in ministry,
Regardless of who gets clustered with whom,
Regardless of which parishes close.

Jeanne Cotter,
Perhaps the greatest and best liturgical pianist
Of our time,
Once said,
“Sing as if your life depended on it.”
And for those who are musicians she said,
“Play as if your life depended on it.”
What wisdom.
For the fact is,
If you are truly a pastoral musician
Those words ring true.

But lately,
It gets harder to sing the song
With all the uncertainty of clustering.

Will the mass I sing for
Still be a part of the parish schedule?

Will the parish I serve in
Remain opened, or will it be closed?

Will I be singing in a different church,
A cluster partner church,
One year from now?

Will I be singing with the same choir
Or a different choir?

Will I be accompanying on the same piano?
An electronic piano?
A pipe organ?
An electronic organ?

Will I be singing from the same hymnal
Or a different hymnal?

Will I be preparing worship aids each week?
Or will I be preparing LCD projected hymns????

From the beginning,
I did not like the clustering process.
But in as much as it is a struggle we share,
I respected the struggle and the processes thereof.
After all, there is growth in struggle.
However, the process has not respected us.

Originally,
St. Helena in Wyandotte was our cluster partner.
The pastor was then assigned to St. Stan’s in Wyandotte
and the cluster shifted.
We lost our original dancing partner.
St. Helena was now to cluster with St. Stan’s
But rather than formally cluster with her new partner,
St. Helena was subsequently closed.
Yes, closed.

In all honesty,
This scared me.
But more on the illogical process of clustering. . .

Our current cluster partners are
St. Francis Xavier in Ecorse
And Our Lady of Lourdes in River Rouge.
However,
that process took a back seat as Fr. Charles
(Pastor, St. Elizabeth in Wyandotte)
is now involved with yet another cluster,
St. Patrick and St. Joseph, both in Wyandotte.
While we have respected the cluster process
With St. Francis and Lourdes
(joint religious ed, pulpit exchanges, parish directory, etc.)
The cluster process is not respecting us.

Five parishes are now dancing together
And least two of them are sharing a partner
(oops, I mean pastor!)

As one employed by the Roman Catholic Church,
I find myself asking the question,
“Where will I be when the process is completed?”
That is a very tough question to answer
When the rules of the game keep changing.

Many in the United States
Are worried about employment,
Have already lost employment,
Are struggling financially.

Serving as Pastoral Musician
Is not only my ministry,
It is my livelihood.
In this sense,
Clustering is a real life issue for me.

My sincerest apologies
To those who may have felt some tension
At last night’s meeting
Because of what I shared.
But I would rather be brutally honest
Than leave folks second guessing
Because that only leads to gossip
And untruths being spread.

And my apologies if my sarcasm offends you.

But I have always likened myself to the cactus,

standing tall, sometimes flowering,

with just enough pointy edges for protection.

(probably an image I picked up in my youth,

being the daughter of mexican immigrants and all. . .)

Anyway, The Fact is that
The Cluster Monster
Is not a fictional character.
He’s real, folks.
And he’s hiding under the pew.
I know.
I’ve been staring him in the face.

I thank God
For the many blessings I have received in my ministry.

And I remain ever grateful to the angel
Who teaches me to be proactive.

St. Cecilia, pray for us.
St. Helena, Pray For Us.
St. Stanilaus Kostka, Pray For Us.
St. Patrick, Pray For Us.
St. Joseph, Pray For Us.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Pray For Us.
St. Francis Xavier, Pray For Us.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray For Us.

Defining Quadraparroquial

After yesterday's blog entry,
several asked me what Quadraparroquial means.

Parroquial means "Parish."
Like, Parroquial School means a school run by the parish.

So, if I invent a word like Quadraparroquial,
what I am saying is that I feel at home
in four different parishes.

But it's slowly growing to five.

My first home is
St. Elizabeth Parish in Wyandotte, MI
I'm the music director there
and have been at this parish for 3 years now.
St. Elizabeth - My Primary Parroquial Home.

My second home is
St. Alfred Parish in Taylor, MI.
I lead the music for the afternoon Spanish mass
twice a month.
I've been here for about 3 years now as well.
Bi-Parroquial Defined.

My third parish home is
St. Gabriel Parish in Detroit, MI.
(turn your speakers up if you click the link.
Fr. Jaime is a professional musician!)
I subbed for a musician about 2 years ago
while he was out of town.
This was for the 7:00p.m. Spanish Mass.
Then I stepped in when their parish organist died,
but only for a mass or two.
And then I got called back during Lent
to lead for the Spanish mass again.
Tri-Parroquial Defined.

During the school year on weekdays
I can sometimes be found,
not at the organ bench
or piano bench,
but in the pew at
St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Allen Park, MI.
My son attends high school there,
and well,
I just sometimes worship there because I'm there!
I started attending daily mass when my son
was in middle school.
He would read or be an altar server
and I was just the mom showing some love and support.
Quadra-Parroquial Defined.

Lately, however, it would seem I need to add a 5th parish to the list:
St. Hedwig; Detroit, MI.
I'm still not quite as comfortable here as in the above parishes.
But I've certainly been called to serve as a musician
for special masses (Weddings and 15eras).
I'll be at St. Hedwig twice in July.
. . .and becoming Quinte-Parroquial!

You know,
I have to admit that it really feels good
knowing that I can feel at home
in a number of different places.
Would that all parishes could be as welcoming
as the ones mentioned above.

God's Work of Art

This summer I had the opportunity to participate in a most wonderful event in the city where I live. Wyandotte’s Crafter’s Alley is an event sponsored by the Wyandotte Business Association and runs at the same time as the Wyandotte Art Fair. Although this event took place in July, I thought I’d share my experience as well as some photos here.

Artists and crafters lined the streets at Wyandotte’s Art Fair and Crafter’s Alley. The finest works of art I experienced during the festivities weren’t sold by any artist, crafter or vendor. The finest form of art I experienced was in the form of body art: tattoos.

Personally, I’ve never given tattoos much thought, however, I must say that it is an art form I admire. I am a musician and while I have never particularly cared for opera I appreciate and respect all of the preparation and talent needed to sing opera, to compose opera. In much the same fashion, I appreciate and respect the art and talent in every tattoo.

Words have power. If a mother yells at her six-year-old daughter, “you’re stupid. You’re ugly,” those words are not uttered without effect. Those words carry impact. But what if words are part of body art?

I met a young man at the event with a very elaborate and ornate tattoo. Amidst the designs of his tattoo was the word, “hate.” Another young person had the words, “infernal confusion” on her arm. I wonder how seeing those words every day effects these young people. I wonder how it is that they came to choose these particular words for their tattoos. The irony is that these young people were browsing the rosaries I made.

I have always had a great love for popular religiosity, those faith expressions that are born at the grass roots experience, born from the living experience of the populace. Quite often, these expressions of faith aren’t recognized by the church or are even shunned by the church. The tattoo has certainly not been widely accepted as the only “mark” or “seal” is the one given at baptism.

Personally, I have seen that popular religiousity finds expression in many forms. Popular faith truly finds expression in art.

I also had the opportunity to meet a young man who shared the story of how his father had a great devotion to Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos. As he embraced his young child he told the story of how his father had hopes of one day traveling to San Juan de Los Lagos to “pagar una manda.” In Mexican faith expression, a “manda” is where the faithful publicly thank God, Our Lady and the Saints for prayers answered. Pilgrims travel many miles, often doing the last stretch on their knees as they approach a specific sanctuary. Sadly, this young man’s father died before he could fulfil his “manda.”


He further explained that he was going to do what his father didn’t get a chance to do: publicly make a “manda” at Our Lady’s shrine. He said that he, too, had a great love and devotion to Our Lady. The procession to Our Lady’s Shrine that this young man will make in his deceased father’s honor will begin at Detroit Metro Airport. More specifically, the procession has already begun in his heart.

He then told me had Her tattooed on his back. Although the tattoo was still a work in progress, he permitted me not only to see it but also to take a photo. I never would have thought that a tattoo could be used for evangelization, but this young man taught me a lot that day. Now that was, without a doubt, the most affective and effective piece of art I witnessed during this particular event. In fact, that art witnessed to me!

A young lady who browsed and then purchased a rosary wore the fourth tattoo that caught my attention. Perhaps the rosary she wore as body art on her wrist and the back of her hand expressed her devotion to Our Lady much more than the rosary she purchased from me. This young person was also gracious enough to permit me to photograph her tattoo. Have you ever thought about how often you use your hands, about how you use your hands? Every time she pays a cashier, every time she shakes someone’s hand, every time she waives she has a prominent tool for evangelization available. Every time she uses her hand she gives witness.

My time at Wyandotte’s Art Fair and Crafter’s Alley was truly blest by those who not only had art on their bodies, but art in their heart. I’d like to thank these young people for what they brought to me. You, my friends, are God’s work of art.

Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos, Pray for us.

Español Aquí

Spanish Here