St Brendan the Navigator is a vibrant, growing Parish in Cumming, GA. We currently serve nearly 5,000 families with dynamic programming and special events designed to bring our families closer to God and fully live their Catholic faith. In addition to our Parish services we operate a one of the largest Preschoools in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and fully support our volunteer-driven Food Pantry that serves more than 100 clients in Forsyth County.
Below are our currently available paid opporunties; however, there's always a place for you to lend your time and talent to our Church. Various volunteer opportunities are available on our Ministry pages. If you have any questions or need more information email us at info@stbrendansatl.com. We'd love to hear from you!
Music Director
St. Brendan the Navigator is a close-knit, rapidly growing parish of approximately 5,000 families in the suburbs of North Atlanta. We are seeking a Director of Music who understands music as a ministry of prayer and evangelization and who can inspire a diverse congregation to share this spirit in building a music program that supports liturgical worship with reverence, beauty, and pastoral charity. This is an opportunity to drive and shape the parish’s worship experience for years to come.
The Vision
The vision for the music program at St. Brendan is to build a traditional, sacred, and always reverent music program that faithfully serves the liturgy and fosters prayerful participation by the congregation. The primary goal of the music director is to grow a thriving music program, pulling in choral and instrumental parish volunteers at all ages and levels of expertise. The new director, together with a supportive staff, will have the autonomy to preside over the expansion of the existing program and create new choirs and ensembles. To achieve these goals, the ideal candidate needs to be a skilled choral director and technically proficient in one or more of the following: organ, voice, piano and choral directing. This is a broad portfolio of skills, knowledge and experience and we are open to strengthening any areas that need additional training.
What Makes This Role Unique
- The Pastor, leadership team and parishioners are committed to building a thriving music program.
- Program-building role: This is an opportunity in a growing multi-cultural parish to build, grow and lead music across six weekend English masses, two Spanish masses, major feasts, and key parish celebrations.
- The Director of Music requires both musical excellence and inspiring pastoral leadership, especially in recruiting, forming, and managing volunteer singers of various ages and levels of expertise.
Core Responsibilities
- Oversee the planning and execution of a diverse repertoire faithful to Catholic liturgical norms.
- Personally lead and/or provide accompaniment for several English Masses on Sundays. The 9:00 and 11:00 Mass(es) features a pallette of liturgical music spanning Latin chant through Renaissance composers (eg: Palestrina), standard 20th Century hymns from St. Gregory and St. Basil hymnals, and post-Vatican II composers (eg: Hurd, Rutter, Schutte, Alonso) in these periods to the present. Much of this music is found and used in Gather 3rd Edition and Spirit and Song, in addition to a full selection of octavos.
- Coordinate a cantor or be a cantor for all English weddings, funerals and provide and/or schedule instrumentalists and vocalists as needed for special feasts and other special events.
- Continue a close collaboration with the Spanish Music Ministry.
- Coordinate music for all weekend Masses and special celebrations by collaborating with part-time staff, contract musicians, and trained volunteers.
- Partner closely with the Spanish Music Ministry to support a unified vision, including bilingual collaboration for major feasts and parish celebrations.
- Ensure appropriate coverage for holy days, weddings, funerals, and special events; communicate well with clergy/staff and steward ministry resources.
Spanish Language Music Ministry
- St. Brendan has a dynamic Hispanic Ministry, with many singers and instrumentalists ranging from 9 years of age into their '30's and '40s.
- The majority are fluent in English as well as Spanish and proficient with the English liturgy.
- The Spanish Ministry is led by an experienced fully bilingual contract pianist/organist with pre- and post-Vatican II English and 25 years of Spanish choral experience. He will report to the Music Director.
- There are two Spanish Masses on the weekend. Both Masses use the same music and all members attend the same single weekly rehearsal.
- Spanish music is drawn from most of the leading published late 20th-early 21st century composers (eg: Cortez, Cortes, Gabarain, Montgomery) with unpublished music from well-known
Latin-American composers. - Several members of the English choirs join the Spanish members to provide bilingual music liturgies for special feasts including Holy Thursday and Thanksgiving. The Spanish Music minister and a Spanish-language cantor cover all Spanish-language weddings, funerals and quinceañeras.
- The new Music Director is responsible for continuing and expanding the tight collaboration with the Spanish Music Director.
- The Music Director shall work with the Spanish Music Director to continue the recent formation and training of core chamber choirs formed from members of both the English and Spanish choirs.
Qualifications
Practicing Catholic with love for the sacred liturgy and understanding of Catholic history, principles and music theory.
Graduate degree in Music preferred (or equivalent professional experience), strong organization, communication, and leadership skills
Please submit links to video/audio recordings (YouTube/Vimeo/Dropbox/Drive) demonstrating organ/piano/choral conducting.
Current Summary of Music Program
- Plan to acquire a new 3-manual digital organ for the main church.
- Excellent 2-manual 36-stop digital organ in the Resurrection Chapel.
- Baldwin grand piano in main church. Roland FP-30X keyboard in chapel.
- Although the music program has not historically been a high parish priority, the new pastor, leadership team and parishioners are extremely excited about making the music program a major priority at St. Brendan.
Application
Submit a resume, brief cover letter, and three references to Dennis Mallon at dmallon@stbrendansatl.com or call 770-205-7969.
Substitute Preschool teacher
We're seeking on-call substitute preschool teachers. Immediate positions are available for caring, enthusiastic, and responsible individuals to assist with the care, learning and supervision of children in our programs. Our preschool provides a faith-based, warm environment for children 15 months to five years old. Candidates should possess a love of early childhood education and exhibit a positive, nurturing attitude. A degree or certification in education, childcare or child development is preferred but not required.
To apply, contact Julie Aleksandrowicz at jaleksandrowicz@stbrendansatl.com.