The PDF document may be downloaded here: David Sinden 2017 Salary Guide for Musicians in Religious Institutions
Labels: church musician employment, organists
When talking to a group of organists who had registered for an American Guild of Organists (AGO) regional convention, I borrowed some language from the mission of the AGO itself to explain why we should engage with social media: to share knowledge and inspire passion.
The mission of the American Guild of Organists is to foster a thriving community of musicians who share their knowledge and inspire passion for the organ.
One of the ways in which I think organists owe it to themselves to live out the mission of this organization is to not keep our knowledge a secret.
We all have unique interests and experiences, and one of the joys of getting together at conventions like this is sharing our stories with each other.
But while we might be able to attend a conference only a few days a year, the web affords us an opportunity to have these conversations year round.
Furthermore, we are all passionate about the organ. It does our organization and our profession no good to keep this passion under a bushel. We should unashamedly demonstrate our passion by letting our social media mirror the things we are excited about.
I always consider Halloween to be peak organ evangelism time. It's sort of like, Christmas and the church. Here, let me do one of those SAT analogy thingies:
Halloween : organ :: Christmas : Church
People who would never otherwise think about the organ are Googling words like Bach, organ, Toccata, D minor, and BWV 565. Some of them might even consider going to an organ recital for the first time.
And while interest in the instrument is always at a peak at this time of year, there is a certain level of curiosity about the organ year-round.
Organists would do well to help people find us and the organ online year-round because someone is always looking.
If your early fascination with the organ was anything like mine, you were just as fascinated with the instrument itself as with the music written for it (if not more so!).
So one of the things I think is of great value to share through social media is our instruments themselves. Photos of the console, the pipe chambers, the blowers. Videos of the stop action, the swell shades. Recordings of the individual stops themselves (in fact, one of my so far unrealized projects is an "interactive stop list" where you can click each stop name to hear a short sample of that rank of pipes).
There are so many things that are worth getting out, and so many people live more and more of their lives online.
If you're an organist who is not already on the web and social media, why aren't you? If you are already on social media, do you think you share enough about the organ?
My co-presenter Mary Stutz and I created a handout which you can still access at bit.ly/SocMedOrgan. It's a Google Doc so that it can be continuously accessed by you and updated by us.
In my remarks I tried to get at something that concerns me about all this social media stuff: it doesn't last.
This is by design. Now there are even "stories" on several platforms that are only available for 24 hours, and then they disappear.
Social media is meant to be very much "in the moment", but this kind of brief shelf-life isn't entirely worth our valuable time, I would argue.
Besides, organists tend to like stuff that lasts. We play a lot of music from the eighteenth century, and some of us have had the good fortune to play organs that are older than that.
So here is my advice to organists (and others) for a digital life that has some longevity and lasting value.
- Have a basis in a website (possibly a blog)
Your footprint on the web should be permanent, and it should be as accessible as possible. If the goal is, in fact, to be social, you don't want a "login barrier" between you and your potential audience.
Content on Facebook and Twitter are not easily indexed by Google; public web pages are. If you want others to find your content, tomorrow, next week, next year, make sure that you post it to a blog (or another website) first. Then use your social media channels to point to that content.
You can always send out a new Facebook post pointing back to an essay that you wrote a year ago. Jonathan Aigner of the popular Ponder Anew blog is really good at this. His articles repeatedly spike in popularity as they make the rounds and go "viral" time and time again, sometimes years after the initial post.
Tangent: I couldn't help but notice that Aigner's latest post is about how the new anthem from First Baptist Church, Dallas, "Make America Great Again" is now licensed by CCLI, further proof that that organization is concerned with copyright but not Christianity. But I digress.
- Use social media, but make it visible on the web
Don't keep your social media presence a secret! If you use various social media channels, especially as an organization, make them visible on your website.
There's a famous English choir that does this well. King's College Cambridge embeds their Facebook page on their choir website, and their music list Twitter feed on their music list page (see links in the bit.ly/SocMedOrgan handout).
Two personal examples: 1) when I first signed up for Twitter in 2006, I thought that its key value would be embedding it on my website so that there would be something current (and timestamped) right there on my home page. Twitter and I have changed a lot in the interim, but I still keep Twitter embedded on this blog.
2) For the past two years or so I've been using SoundCloud to upload audio recordings from St. Peter's, St. Louis. I want to widen the audience beyond SoundCloud users, so we have embedded a SoundCloud widget on the church's music page along with our Twitter timeline.
How do you do this? Each particular social media service will provide you with a block of code that you can cut and paste into your website. It's that easy. For example, here's the info on how to embed a Twitter timeline.
- Automate and Integrate
My favorite social media service is Buffer. If you don't know about it, check it out. It's especially useful for managing multiple accounts.
Buffer allows you to distribute posts over specific times that you schedule. You can place general posts in your "buffer, " and each one can be sent out sequentially, or you can schedule specific posts to be sent at specific times. I think I probably use both features about equally.
If I find an interesting news story or blog post that I want to share on my own Facebook page and/or Twitter account, I'll put it in my buffer, and it will be sent out in the order that it was added.
I suggested that organists could even use the scheduling feature to "narrate" their organ playing during a service or recital on Twitter. In fact, I was tweeting about every five minutes during my presentation Tuesday morning through the magic of Buffer.
Another nifty service (which you just need to check out so I don't have to try to explain it) is IFTTT (If this, then that).
Finally, don't overlook basic integration features offered by various social media channels. If you upload a file to SoundCloud, for example, take advantage of the option to share that new upload automatically on Facebook and Twitter.
- Engage
I think that automation is probably the tool that a lot of organists need to get into social media a bit more. They might think "I don't have time to Tweet every day." That's fine, but if you work for a congregation, you're probably used to a particular weekly "product", so why not start with one tweet a week? And why not load all of those weekly Tweets into Buffer at one sitting and then forget about it for a while?
This is a great way to get started.
But a word of caution: if you only automate, and then utterly neglect your social media channels it's much more "media" than "social media". Check in occasionally and be friendly. Thank people for engaging with your content. Share other content that you find interesting.
Do you have to check your Twitter account every minute? No.
But is it nice to make new connections online? Yes.
This is the fun part.
- Be yourself, and have fun!
Be authentic. Use your own voice.
And don't assume that the social media landscape is fixed.
New innovations to existing services are rolling out all the time. And live video, while not exactly new, has all kinds of potential for musicians.
New services will probably roll out immediately after you finish reading this. Try them! Sign up! Explore! Be creative. You might be the first to discover a really neat application for a new service.
I'd love to hear what you are doing with social media. You can comment on this blog post below (I'm using Blogger, by the way). Or if you got here from Facebook or Twitter, you can find me there too.
What did I miss? What other ways can organists be using social media to be awesome on the web?
Labels: AGO, organists, social media, web
A lot of people wonder what it's like to take a new job as a church organist.
It's exactly as you see in this wonderful 44-minute independent film on YouTube: The Organist.
Enjoy. Oh, and happy Halloween.
Labels: church music, organ music, organists
A recent "Church Wellness" email from Tom Ehrich needs addressing.
I've met Tom Ehrich, and heard him speak. I think he has some great ideas. But I found the content of this email troubling and its tenor disturbing.
The title of the email: "Tips on resolving the musical conundrum"
Music itself -- or so it seems -- is a problem that needs solving.
"I went [to church on] Sunday for one reason: a bluegrass group would be leading a sing-along before worship and 'country Baptist' songs throughout."
He goes on to say that we need to be open to diversity in music, so why is this decidedly uniform musical display his example about church music? This isn't a "country Baptist" church I take it, so the exclusive use of this type of music in a liturgy must qualify as some kind of special event, or a stunt.
And let's do address musical stunts for a minute. Let's say that this bluegrass group got Tom Ehrich really excited to go to church, which he says it did. What's going to get him excited about going to church next week? The same bluegrass group? Well, let's think about bluegrass like we do blue bleu cheese. It's delicious, but is it all I want to eat? No. And in fact, Tom is about to make this argument. We know that variety is the spice of life. So, what "stunt" does this church provide next week? Swiss? Pepper Jack? A fondue melting pot?
"Line up 100 faithful Christians, and you'll hear 100 different stories about church music." I disagree. You'll hear at least 200 different stories about church music. Probably way more than that. And if these are faithful Christians standing in a line, it won't be long before they start to sing together, thereby generating additional stories.
"Professional church musicians often consider themselves an embattled species, called to preserve classical hymnody and organ music and to resist all other forms." I'll take issue with this too, but only a little. It's called professional survival. If I go to school and study hard to be a chef, and then I am gainfully employed by a restaurant who, in an effort to be more diverse, wants to also provide sushi, I may resist making sushi or even have sushi introduced at the restaurant.
"Look," I would say, "I spent my whole life studying this, and becoming really good at this. You hired me to do this, and now you want me to do something else that I'm not good at. One of the reasons that I enjoy my line of work is that I have literally tens of thousands of hours doing what I do. I have mastered my craft, and I am proud to offer this to my employer."
"Not only that," I would continue, "But this is a great French restaurant because we have committed to being a really great French restaurant. What does sushi have to do with it? Can we really make sushi as well as the place down the street?"
So, am I embattled? Well, a little perhaps, but not any more than anyone else who is having to change horses in midstream while having said horse put through a meat grinder.
Do I feel called to preserve classical hymnody and organ music? No.
I believe these things have genuine merit as pieces of art and devotional piety.
The organ music of J. S. Bach in particular doesn't need me to preserve it. In fact, my shoddy playing probably does more harm than good to that hallowed oeuvre.
I don't preserve organ music. I don't put it in a jar and screw the lid on tight. On the contrary, as a classically trained musician I take it out, bring it into the light, and share it with others. I draw deeply on the well of tradition, the heritage of my craft, and the lineage of my pedagogy (which, why yes, does go back to Bach himself) to create something real for a congregation that engages with this sound in different ways.
Some hear the logic in the notes. Some hear and marvel at the engineering and artistry in the instrument I play. Some hear a sound that signals that they're in a church (a kind of sonic incense, if you will). Some hear a music that is completely different than anything else they've heard that week, and they remember that they are in a holy space about to engage in holy things.
But none of this is "preserved". I couldn't play the notes the same way twice if I wanted to. And even if I could, subtle variation in humidity and barometric pressure would create tiny variations in the way the pipes of the organ decide to speak that day. And surely no one hears the piece the same way twice -- not the same way after the death of a parent than as after the birth of a child.
None of this is pre-served. All of this is fully incarnational. It's served. And if I've done my job right, it's served piping hot, right out of the oven.
"1. If you want to nurture a diverse congregation, you need to offer diversity in music. Music plucks the strings of our hearts. If we don't hear ever music that touches us deeply, why bother with this church?" I don't know any musicians who don't enjoy diversity. No one wants to hear a service led exclusively by handbells, or sung only by women with red hair. The organ, on the other hand, has an "internal consistency" of diversity. No other single instrument is capable of these lowest lows and these highest highs. Even your most basic church organ descends lower than the left end of the piano keyboard, and most organs extend far above it's right end too.
But I'll assume for a moment that Tom is not talking about pitch. Then, let me turn it over to Erik Routley, the eminent hymnologist and church musician of the last century:
The glory of church music, now that in [the twentieth] century the whole treasury has been made available to all, is its diversity. A single service can contain the "Old Hundredth," "Ye Holy Angels Bright," and "For All the Saints," and bring, by way of utterly familiar texts and music, six cultures into one act of worship (the Genevan, the Scottish and English, the puritan, the Handelian eighteenth century, the Victorian, and the early twentieth century). A church blessed with such diversity of heritage should welcome a diversity of people.Routley, Erik. Church Music and the Christian Faith. Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1978. 136. Emphasis mine.
Furthermore, the idea that music must constantly tug at our heartstrings is not the aim of worship. We worship because God's very being draws praise from our lips. Surely some of that music will move us, but that's a byproduct of what we do.
As Lutheran theologian Marva Dawn puts it, we must not rely on church music to be merely a "device" that produces a "commodity" of good feelings. We are used to music doing this in the secular world, but the aims of worship are different, and clergy and musicians together must teach this distinction.
"2. Diversity in music needs to be wide-ranging. It isn't as simple as pipe organs vs. guitars. It's black Gospel music, Hispanic music, contemporary Christian music, 'country Baptist' chestnuts, Taize chants, Celtic songs, African call-and-response, as well as the European music that shaped Protestant worship in the postwar era."
The pursuit of diversity for its own sake is akin to any other kind of idolatry. And incessant diversity throws our congregations into unfamiliar waters that are too far from shore. Churches need to maintain a connection to Christian tradition for practical reasons: they have to have a shared repertory in order to function. Otherwise no one knows the song, and liturgical music-making becomes exclusively the domain of the expert sight-reader.
"3. The music minister, then, needs to be more than an expert in European hymns and organ playing. He or she needs to be an impresario who brings in diverse music leaders, a teacher of unfamiliar music, an enthusiastic presence, affable, as comfortable with a praise song as with an anthem of civil rights."
The image of an impresario is an intriguing one, but Ehrich's expectation that every organist is also an affable cult-leader (he has the same expectation for clergy, by the way) is completely off-base. Has he actually met any organists? If I may speak for my species, we are a pale, nerdy people. Public speaking is hard, as is finding socks that match. And the jack of all trades is an expert in none.
The examples here are odd choices. The praise song has largely run its course, even the evangelicals are realizing this (in their own way), and civil rights anthems are speaking mostly to a rapidly graying segment of the pews.
"4. The music minister must leave the organ bench and stand in front of the congregation to lead singing. This will be profoundly uncomfortable for some church musicians, but I think it must happen in spite of their discomfort."
With not a little snark, I will fight fire with fire here and offer my own No. 4.
"4. The priest must leave the prayer desk and sit on the organ bench to lead the hymn. This will be profoundly uncomfortable for clergy (more so for the congregation), but I think it must happen in spite of their discomfort."
Let me say that I do get in front of the congregation from time to time to teach music. I think I know what Mr. Ehrich means here, but I think it's unwise to give these kinds of dictums to musicians who have a myriad of strengths. This would be very foreign (and completely unnecessary) in many hearty-singing congregations.
"5. Longtime members who resent musical diversity need to get over it. If they want their congregation to have a vibrant future, they need to loosen their grip on music and allow all voices to sing."
This is a persistent theme of Ehrich's -- that the old guard need to let said guard down. The problem, of course, is that it jettisons the gifts that our older parishioners have. Rather than making the elderly parishioners pine for the days when their favorite hymns were sung, what if we actually asked them what their favorite hymns are, and record their stories, shared them widely, and together rediscovered a gift from the heritage of our faith.
"6. Clergy must become cheerleaders for diversity in music. Not as a champion against the musical establishment, but as an ally who celebrates musicians' willingness to broaden their range."
I suspect that if clergy had to broaden their ranges as much as Ehrich has in mind for the musicians we would have Pentecostals leading solemn processions and high church Anglicans handling snakes. Our denominational identity has evolved for particular reasons and in particular ways. Just because we can be said to be living in a post-denominational era does not mean that each parish must be a microcosm of that wider reality.
“This is how we roll.”
I had the very good fortune to take part in the Royal School of Church Music Carolina Course in Raleigh, North Carolina earlier this month. Our course culminated in a Eucharist at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Raleigh. I will remember for a long time Father Greg Jones, the rector of the parish, who at the time of the announcements stood, gestured to the choir, and said, "as Episcopalians, this is how we roll."
It was an affirming moment for the choir. The girls and adults, and the many hours of work we had put in that week, were valued. The congregation too was affirmed. This is what we do. This is our gift. This is our calling. To sing with "spirit and understanding" in this particular way -- no one else can do it for us.
Furthermore, the church has an enormous wealth of diverse music, and new music is being written all the time. It is a rare musician indeed who does not already keep abreast of the latest threads in the musical universe.
If clergy truly want to be cheerleaders for musical diversity, they, in consultation with their musician, could commission new pieces of music from a composer whose music they enjoy, or from a composer who has not yet written for the church. For hundreds of years the church has fostered some of the greatest art in the Western world. We should not abandon this legacy.
I want to go back now, at the end of this already lengthy screed, to point out one key line that I omitted: The most common source of leadership conflict in a church is a battle over music, often a duel between an entrenched music minister and a new pastor.
This, says Ehrich, is "the musical conundrum".
Who is Ehrich preaching to here? I'm guessing it's not the choir.
And his points are his suggested ways to win this duel.
He suggests we are entrenched.
". . . a battle over music . . ."
It's a fight.
This, my dear reader, in very plain language, is an Episcopal priest perpetuating the "worship wars" on the front lines.
This is the last thing we need.
When will Tom Ehrich come down off his soapbox and actually talk to church musicians rather than fanning the flames of already unsettled clergy -- clergy working in a time of decline in the church, clergy who generally have a very poor grounding in music. Why must he pit them against their musicians?
Would Ehrich consider that we church musicians are not a "conundrum", but rather fellow Christians who are on the same journey he is?
Again, I defer to Erik Routley:
The [church musician] is to exorcize as far as possible divisive attitudes and thoughts, and to celebrate that which is really the common music of as many kinds of people as possible. This is not pop or trendy music; it is not ephemeral, posturing music. It is precisely the "Old Hundredth," "Ye Holy Angels Bright[,]" and "For All the Saints"--nobody need claim to be too cultured to respect those, and nobody does claim to be too uneducated to enjoy them. In choral and organ music, the trained musician knows where to find authenticity whether it is English Anglican, German baroque, verse-anthem, Howells, Britten, or the fine clear stream that is flowing through modern American music. The musician must not yield to pressure and set aside his knowledge and the conscience and discernment he or she has developed. Blessed, remember, are not the peace lovers, but the peacemakers.
I'm raising the white flag.
I hope Tom Ehrich will too.
Labels: church music, hymns, organists, Routley
Rosa Rio, who has died at 107, had a remarkable career as an organist which evolved from silent films, to radio, to television.
In Miss Rio’s career one can trace the entire history of entertainment technology in the 20th century. After all, she was alive, and playing, for nearly all of it.
While at NBC:
On Sept. 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland, she was summoned to work at 2 a.m. For the next 10 hours, she performed somber music between news bulletins.
" Rosa Rio, Organist From Silent Films to Soap Operas, Dies at 107." New York Times 14 May 2010.
Labels: organists
I love the "Readers' Photos of G.M. Cars" feature on the New York Times website.
One in particular, from Fenner Douglass of Oberlin, Ohio, caught my eye.
The elder Fenner Douglass (who took this photo?) was the famous organist, scholar and teacher.
Labels: organists, transportation
President-elect Barack Obama worshipped at Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. yesterday. Word got out that he was going to be there, and seats for the 11:00 a.m. service were claimed quickly.
At 9:15 a.m., a Secret Service agent announced to a disappointed crowd that the church had reached capacity, with the exception of the members of the choir and church officers. A light moment occurred when presiding usher Gerald Young asked the crowd where the organist was and 15 hands immediately shot up.Wright, James. "Final Sunday before Inauguration Obamas Worship at Black Church in Washington". Afro News 18 January 2009
Organist Cameron Carpenter's CD "Revolutionary" is among those improv-tinged records that make up NPRs list of the best classical CDs of 2008.
Labels: improvisation, organists
Speaking of ST MAGNUS (written by Clarke, you know), there's the St. Magnus Festival in Orkney (where?).
Gillian Weir played, and wouldn't you know it
. . . a sour note on the organ - a crucial one in Messiaen's Dieu Parmi Nous - rather hampered her performance. Intended for BBC Radio 3's festival coverage, it will have to be re-recorded if it is to be broadcast.Smith, Rowena. Music: St Magnus Festival, Orkney. The Herald 23 June 2008.
So, that means the organ was out of tune? I find that easier to believe than Gillian Weir missing a note.
In an article that references the "slow death of organ music", the New York Times profiles the 50-year veteran organist of the College World Series.
And "French pipe organist" Michel Bouvard plays the largest pipe organ in Asia.
Labels: organists
Yesterday, Christoph Bull accompanied Safety Last for a full house in Los Angeles, and organist Clark Wilson performed an accompaniment to Metropolis Tonight in Toronto.
Labels: organists
The result of a recent tribunal probably means that organists in the Church of England will gain "full employment rights".
You know, like parking spaces and coffee privileges.
Organists across the pond evidently constitute their own religion:
Of the estimated 30,000 practising organists in Britain, only about 100 are full time. The majority have other jobs and can expect to take home about £40 a week for their services.Nugent, Helen. "Church told to play pipes of peace as organists get workers' rights" The Times (London), emphasis added
I like the phrase "practising organists", and I imagine large late-night bonfires and Messiaen.
How do "practising" organists contrast with North America's "practicing organists?"
Do the latter play better?
Labels: organists
If church music and Super/Fat Tuesday were to intersect, Sinden.org would be the one to bring that convergence to you.
From the two political donors who have identified their occupation as "organist", Barack Obama has received $250, while Mitt Romney has only received $225.
Expand the criteria to those who identify as "music directors", and there's a lot more money involved:
- Ricki Byars Beckwith, who lists herself as music director at Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, has given a whopping $2,300 to Barack Obama.
- John Demain of Madison, Wisconsin has given $500 to Obama.
- Karen Pieper, music director at All Saints Lutheran Church, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, has twice donated to the Obama campaign. Her contributions total $650.
- Robert Lansell, of Springfield, Virginia has given $350 to John McCain.
- Charmaine Nygaard, music director and liturgist at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, Greenlawn, New York, has given the unusual sum of $292 to Obama.
- Amy Lepak, music director at St. Anselm Catholic Church, Sudbury, Massachusetts, has given $250 to Obama.
- Adam Waite directs seven different ensembles at the Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township in New Jersey. He has given $250 to Obama.
There you have it. "Music directors" have given $4,242 to Barack Obama, and $350 to John McCain.
How do you like them pancakes?
Labels: church music, organists
On the front page of the Arts section of today's New York Times is an article about the sudden departure of the director of music and organist at Trinity, Wall Street: "Director of Music at Trinity Steps Down".
Owen Burdick's departure is rather abrupt, leaving the Trinity choir and Rebel Baroque Orchestra leaderless for their upcoming Monteverdi Vespers performance at the end of the month.
In the Times article, Linda Hanick, vice president of communications at Trinity is quoted as saying "We’re going to be looking at how we’ll restructure the music program."
Churches of Trinity's caliber don't often use the word "restructure" in regard to the music program; usually, they just want to keep it going. But Hanick is blunt: she doesn't say the church will be looking at if or when they'll restructure the music program. Those two questions are implicitly answered in her statement. Yes to restructuring, and now! This led the staff of Sinden.org to speculate that some forces in the church are eager to depart from the professional chamber choir model.
So how will the Trinity program be "restructured"? Perhaps the Trinity Choristers, currently under the direction of Rob Ridgell, will have a more prominent role in the music of the church. Or perhaps their will be an increased focus on liturgical music rather than afternoon concerts.
There is also speculation about what this may mean for the organ in the church, which is a Marshall & Ogletree digital prototype dubbed a "virtual organ". Last summer Burdick wrote an "Open Letter to the Organ Community" in defense of the instrument.
Labels: church music, churches, organists, organs
Organists everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief: a man who killed two organists is not going anywhere soon.
Suspect charged, 26 years after Mishawaka man's murder
Labels: organists
On YouTube you can watch bridal processionals from recent decades. It's interesting to note the variety in the processional music.
1999 - Edward and Sophie - Herbert Brewer's "March Heroique"
1986 - Andrew and Sarah - Elgar's "Imperial March"
1981 - Charles and Diana - Clarke's "Trumpet Voluntary"
So why, then, do modern, non-Royal American brides feel that they have but only one option? (At least in my experience. I have never been asked to play anything other than the Clarke.)
Among their myriad tasks, organists unwittingly carry on Diana's memory everytime a Jane Schmoe walks down the aisle in a white dress.
A young organist in Charlotte, North Carolina speaks for a whole profession when he says:
I thought for the longest time that it would be neat to be able to play that thing with all those keyboards and all those knobs.
and
"That's what I like about playing the organ -- especially in church. When you're playing the hymns ... you get to lead everybody," he says with a laugh. "If you take it slow, they have to follow you. I like having that kind of power."
Organist senses power of music... and of politics
Labels: organists
And now the latest installment in the ongoing battles between pious clergy and dirty, hippie-liberal musicians: St. Joseph's Catholic Church in New Franken, Wisconsin has removed their organist for selling sex toys.
This story has been picked up by the Associated Press.
Linette Servais, had been serving St. Joseph's as organist and choir director for 35 years (since she was 15 years old?). She was not salaried, and it sounds like she volunteered her services. Linette also "says she started selling sex toys after treatment for a tumor left her experiencing sexual dysfunction". She feels that the sex toy business is her "ministry".
Sounds like wrongful termination to me. Though, I must wonder how much of a "ministry" musicmuzak-making can ever be in the Roman Catholic church.
(via Boing Boing
And of course, leave it to CBS News to come up with Musician Canned For Focus On Wrong Organ
Labels: organists, Roman Catholocism
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