This episode of Ministry Monday is sponsored by ONE LICENSE. Did you know that ONE LICENSE offers comprehensive options for posting your worship services online during COVID-19 and has brand new blog resources on virtual choirs, practice-tracks, and updating your backdated reporting? For more information, and to view their blog, visit news.onelicense.net. ONE LICENSE — inspiring congregational song!

Today on the podcast we speak with Holly Mohr, Director of Religious Education for the South Side/Mount Washington Parish Community in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Holly has the gift of seeing the sacred in the chaos which we all need during this pandemic year. If you’re feeling even a bit of uncertainty in your ministry or just in life this Advent season, this episode is for you.

As Kate Basi discussed in last week’s episode, 2020 has cracked open our world and the things we expect within it. But is there a small sliver of positivity in the midst of this waiting? Can we use this time as space to truly center ourselves this Advent?

Today on the podcast we feature a replay from Dr. Tony Alonso. Tony’s Key Change from the 2019 focuses on finding stillness and silence in our world as Catholics, and we believe it is a perfect way to begin the Advent season filled with waiting in our world.

This episode of Ministry Monday is brought to you by Ministry Scheduler Pro. Your volunteer needs may be changing rapidly. Ministry Scheduler Pro can help you accommodate volunteer preferences and create fair schedules quickly and easily. Learn more at ministryschedulerpro.com .

As we start Thanksgiving week in the United States, we ask: Is there space for gratitude, in the midst of division, chaos, and overcrowded hospitals? How can we pause for Thanksgiving when so many lives are at stake?

The truth is, we can’t. At least, we cannot to the fullest expression of Thanksgiving that many of us are used to. And yet, in the midst of the chaos, the uncertainty, and the awful virus that plagues our country, there might be a way to express gratitude. There might just be a silver lining.

Today I speak to Kate Basi. Author and liturgical composer Kathleen M. Basi is a mother of three active boys (read that: always breaking something) and one chromosomally-gifted daughter. Her books on faith formation are available from Liguori and Our Sunday Visitor, and her music for Catholic worship is available through WLP/GIA as well as Simply Liturgical Music.

I asked Kate to sit down with me and chat about the lens of gratitude she discusses in her most recent Liturgical Singer article, an NPM-created publication for cantors and other singers alike. Kate’s perspective is honest and real, filled with motherhood and ministry, and is just the thing I needed to start this week’s unconventional Thanksgiving.