Director of Sacred Music (Part-Time)

Sacred Music Director Position

The primary objective of this position is to maintain and grow a high-quality sacred music program at Our Lady of Good Counsel parish. This program is to be rooted in the sacred music tradition of the Church, most especially through Gregorian chant, polyphony, and to a lesser degree, hymnody.
Our Lady of Good Counsel is a parish of the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph located in the Westport District in the heart of Kansas City, MO. Built in 1907, it is a beautiful church of traditional sacred architecture that seats roughly 330 people and is home to a total weekend Mass attendance of 600-650 people.
Over the past 20 years, Our Lady of Good Counsel has become a place known for liturgical beauty and reverence. We have over 20 boys regularly serving as altar servers at our Sunday Masses, make use of a communion rail for the distribution of Holy Communion, celebrate all of our liturgies exclusively ad orientem from a high altar, chant Latin ordinaries when Mass is sung, and utilize incense throughout the entire calendar year at our principal Sunday Mass.
Additionally, our parish was erected in 2006 as the Diocesan Shrine to Divine Mercy & St. Faustina, and there is a thriving Chesterton Academy located on the parish premises.
Our Lady of Good Counsel boasts a solid sacred music tradition stretching back 25+ years, with a choir that has consistently sung polyphony and, more recently, easy to moderate Gregorian chant propers (both English and Latin). Our congregation currently sings Mass VIII on most Sundays of the year, Mass XVII during Advent and Lent, and, at the principal Mass, Credo III.
Currently there are two choirs, one at each Sunday Mass. The early Mass is a lower-commitment parish choir which sings simple motets and simple English chant propers. The later Sunday Mass is an auditioned choir, including four paid section leaders, which practices for ~2 hours per week and sings more complex polyphonic pieces, including most of the Gregorian Propers from the Graduale Romanum (except the Gradual and Alleluia). That being said, starting with the new choral season in August, the two choirs will be combined into a single choir due to a change in our Sunday Mass schedule.
Finally, I (the pastor) have a deep love and appreciation for sacred music, so my plan is to be as involved and supportive as possible in the development of the sacred music program here at Good Counsel.
Essential duties include:
Choral conducting
Rehearsals
Building up the parish choir
Administration
Organ accompaniment
Other
Knowledge, skills, abilities required:
Choral conducting
Individual vocal training
Personal vocal ability
Knowledge of the Church documents on music
Knowledge of the Church's music tradition
Basic qualifications:
Undergraduate degree in music, musicology, vocal performance, organ performance, or another related field is required.
At least two years of experience leading and conducting sacred music is preferred.
Practicing Catholic with ethical standards, personal integrity, and conduct consistent with the morals and teachings of the Catholic Church; includes faithful obedience to the Magisterium.
Note: All employees are required to consent to a background check, commit to our Code of Conduct policy, and complete online and in-person trainings prior to hire.