This is our first new episode back for the podcast in quite some time! The podcast was on a brief hiatus as I enjoyed the first weeks of parenthood. I was blessed to welcome a son this past fall, but I’ll admit to you listeners that his arrival into the world did not come as planned. He came seven weeks early and had to be in the NICU for a month in order to facilitate more growth. As I made my maternity leave schedule – including the list of wonderful episodes I was going to record for the podcast – I didn’t anticipate such an early delivery! And so I am thankful for your understanding for this short break of episodes as I brought baby home and found a new level of sleepiness – and joy – in my life.
Our first episode of 2023 starts with a question that I believe is truly pastoral. Our work in ministry is so unique because we seek to bring the highest music as praise to God, while making sure that all who is called to share these gifts uses them well, with all levels of ability. Maybe it’s a choir member who can’t read music or someone who struggles with the aging voice, or it’s a young guitarist who is still learning but is so eager to participate, our role is to guide those who are offered to us by Christ for praise, using the gifts that were given to them.
Today I speak to flutist, composer, writer, and mother Kathleen M. Basi, or Kate for short. Kate shares the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic brought an opportunity for her family to minister together in her parish, and how important it is for all people of God to be recognized, valued, and included in our ministerial efforts.
SHOW NOTES
Bio: Kathleen M. Basi
Author and liturgical composer Kathleen M. Basi is mother to three active boys (read that: always breaking something) and one chromosomally-gifted daughter. A proud native of flyover country and an honest-to-goodness farm girl (as in cattle, hogs, chickens, grain bins and a combine), she spent her childhood climbing trees, jumping off hay bales and chasing cattle back into their pasture when they broke through fences. (But she never once tipped a cow.)
Road trips are familiar territory for her, as she took several 3-week RV trips with her grandparents. She saw more national parks in her first 10 years than many people see in their entire childhood, and she loves exploring new places. (Especially the food.)
Her degrees are in flute performance, and she has been involved in music for Catholic worship since she was ten years old. She’s been writing stories even longer than that. (School bus. First grade. Orphan Annie fanfic.) She believes the written word and the sung note should make the world a better place. That doesn’t mean pretending ugliness doesn’t exist. The world is messy, and pretending otherwise just makes it harder for everyone. She aspires to acknowledges the reality of the world while pointing toward what makes it most beautiful.
Her nonfiction has appeared in a number of magazines, Chicken Soup for the Soul and on NPR’s All Things Considered. Her fiction is represented by Sonali Chanchani and Claudia Cross, and her novel, A SONG FOR THE ROAD, was released by Alcove Press.
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