St. Gerard’s planning new music program

Amid widespread fears that there would be no music for Christmas following the sudden ouster of popular music director Greg Paré, leaders at St. Gerard Majella Parish in Canton have indicated that a new music program is indeed in the works and that music will still be a part of the upcoming holiday masses.

Source: St. Gerard's on Facebook

The decision to cut Paré’s position, reportedly for financial reasons, created quite a stir among parishioners when it was announced by St. Gerard’s pastor, Father Jack Sullivan, at an impromptu meeting on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Paré, a classically trained musician, oversaw the entire music ministry — including the choirs, cantors, and ensembles — for the past decade at St. Gerard’s.

“There is no music anymore,” declared one distraught parishioner. “It’s dead.”

However, in a joint interview last Friday, business manager Greg Pando and head of youth ministry Mike Mahan — two of the church’s most influential leaders — both made it clear that a new program, complete with choirs and various ensembles, will be in place in time for Christmas and going forward.

“We’re going in a new direction,” said Pando. “It’s not an end; it’s a new direction.”

Pando stressed that the new program is still very much in the “formative stages,” adding that Father Jack was still conducting interviews as recently as last weekend.

Pando was not sure whether the new program would be led by another paid director, a volunteer director, or some combination of the two, although there would presumably be some cost-savings involved given the state of the church’s finances.

According to the October 14 meeting minutes of the Parish Pastoral Council, Pando had informed council members that the church was looking at a deficit of approximately $59,000 in the current fiscal year. Pando had also suggested reducing the music director from full to part time as one possible way to close the budget gap.

Ultimately, Father Jack made the decision to eliminate Paré’s position entirely — a decision that was met with widespread disapproval and disbelief from the estimated 150 parishioners who attended the post-Thanksgiving meeting.

Lora Thompson, a popular singer and member of the adult contemporary ensemble, said the meeting lasted almost three hours, during which time parishioners pleaded with the pastor to reconsider his decision.

“It was a very heart-wrenching thing for a lot of people,” said Thompson. “We were kind of blindsided by the whole thing.”

Thompson, who now attends St. John the Evangelist, said there was no discussion at the meeting about a replacement program, nor did there seem to be any room for negotiation — even as a few parishioners offered to pay Paré’s salary through the end of the year.

As Pando explained afterwards, such an offer, although “wonderful” in spirit, would have served to undermine the pastor’s decision and would have effectively amounted to a quid pro quo — in other words, a church member offering money in exchange for the right to make a personnel decision.

Mahan also defended Father Jack’s handling of the meeting, even as he made it clear that he “completely disagreed” with the decision itself.

“I think there were two terrible decisions: [dismissing Paré] and the timing,” said Mahan. “But there was one brilliant decision that Father Jack deserves credit for, and that is he brought everyone together. The man deserves all the credit in the world for that.”

Mahan said there were also many positives that came out of the meeting, which he described as “energetic and forward thinking,” as well as “shocking and very emotional.” He further noted that Father Jack has been willing to talk to any parishioner at length about the program changes and has also welcomed people’s suggestions and feedback.

Then again, other parishioners described a very different experience, both during and after the meeting. Lifelong parishioner Kathy Riordan, whose children were part of the youth choir and also took private music lessons from Paré, said she has tried repeatedly to get an explanation from the pastor and still has not received a response from him.

“Perhaps myself or any parishioners are not entitled to a conversation on this matter,” Riordan wrote in an email to the Citizen, “but I am still trying to figure out how such a drastic decision on the total elimination of the music program was the best and only solution for our church.”

Jack Rozanski, who played piano with Paré for over nine years, expressed similar concerns. He, like Riordan, fully acknowledged that the church was having financial difficulty, but he questioned why the music program had to bear the brunt of the cuts, or why Paré was not even offered a part-time position.

Rozanski characterized his friend’s dismissal as “unfair and unjust,” adding that the way it was handled has led to a lot of suspicion as to the real motive behind the decision.

Many parishioners seem to think that the cuts were Pando’s call, although Pando himself disputed this claim last week.

“The only person who can do that is the pastor,” said Pando, who attributed the rumors about his involvement to his “highly visible” position within the church.

But regardless of who made the decision or even why it was made, the bottom line for many parishioners is that the church has lost a talented music director as well as a highly regarded program.

“It’s like a big open wound right now,” said Thompson, adding that St. Gerard’s had become well-known locally for its diverse array of music offerings.

Reached by email, Paré said the program had grown “quite a bit” over the past decade and most recently featured six ensembles, including everything from an adult choir to a “middle school girl rock band.”

He said that approximately 50 people, ranging in age from 8 to 93, were involved in the different music groups, with musical styles ranging from “classical to folk to bluegrass to gospel to contemporary rock.”

“The music has been very well received over the years,” noted Rozanski, who has personally witnessed the program’s evolution “from an organ player playing church songs to the kind of contemporary music that we hoped would inspire the younger parishioners to want to be a part of the church.”

As for the pastor’s decision to dismiss him, Paré said he was certainly surprised and upset, although the hardest part was having to break the news to his fellow musicians.

“Picture a child holding a guitar limply in her hands with her eyes fixed on the floor, having just learned that her group was not going to meet anymore to play music at the church,” wrote Paré. “It’s sad.”

One thing is apparent in light of this shakeup at St. Gerard’s: Paré is not short on supporters.

“I’ve been simply overwhelmed at all of the support from the community,” he said. “It’s an amazing one. And I’ve been taken aback by their tenacity and ability to organize and let their feelings be known in a thoughtful manner.”

In the meantime, the beat will apparently go on at St. Gerard’s, beginning this weekend with a variety of musical performances planned for the masses on Christmas Eve.

“It was a difficult decision, but the music will be there,” insisted Pando. “It’s just going in a different direction.”

Check out From One Citizen to Another to read “voices from the parish.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Dec 21 2011. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.