During the week of July 15th the Diocese of Raleigh hosted the 42nd annual convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM). Over 1200 musicians from Catholic churches around the country and even some from outside the US, assembled here in Raleigh at the convention center for a week of learning, fellowship, singing and praying together. The theme of the convention this year was, "That you may be healed," from a verse of the Letter of James.

A group of nine of us from the diocese formed the local "core committee" and we spent the better part of the last two years preparing for the convention. Over 70 volunteers, including many from St. Raphael, were essential in making the convention run smoothly and showing our guests great North Carolina hospitality. The lead-up was long, sometimes frustrating and a lot of work and the week itself was exhausting, but welcoming music ministry colleagues and pulling off such a beautiful convention was worth it. Although I didn't get to take part in a lot of the convention sessions as I was busy running around making sure vendors were happy and attendees' questions were answered, there were still a number of consolations for me from the week.

The opening plenum event was amazing. Our own St. Raphael "Ensemble" (our 9:30 music ministers) provided "warm-up" music praise and worship music. After a video about the diocese and a procession that hearkening back to the one from the Cathedral at its dedication in 2017, we moved into a celebration of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, with reflections provided by Fr. Michael Joncas. Fr. Mike is particularly known as the composer of "On Eagles Wings" among many other wonderful compositions, but on this occasion he shared his experience of Guillan Barre syndrome, which causes full body paralysis for a period of time. He spoke of how the prayers and experience of being anointed helped him maintain hope through a frustrating, frightening ordeal and how the combination of the suffering he endured with the experience of the sacrament changed his perspective. As part of the service, several hundred were anointed and our own Fr. Adam Rosinski was one of the priests who administered the sacrament. It was powerful.

Celebrating Eucharist together is always part of the convention. Usually the Mass takes place in the ballroom of whichever convention center we're in, but this year with our new Cathedral able to accommodate all the participants, we were able to celebrate there. After the brass and organ played the fanfare to the opening hymn, the entire Cathedral began resonating with the voices of more than 1000 and it was breathtaking. Bishop Zarama remarked in his homily that his one wish as a priest was to celebrate a Mass in a church where literally every person was singing and now his wish had come true. For me, it reinforced my desire for St. Raphael to be known as a parish where everyone sings. There are few experiences that compare in terms of making the presence of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit evident, than when every person is moved to sing together.

Finally, although, as I said, I didn't get to experience many of the events, I was out on the convention "floor" almost the whole time and had countless conversations with folks from all over, working in various pastoral situations, and of different generations. At my stage in life I find myself "in between" many of the folks with whom I spoke. So some conversations were with younger colleagues, maybe at their first convention, looking for someone to give guidance and encouragement. And other conversations were with more "experienced" colleagues who were happy to share their wisdom and experience with me.

In the end, though, my greatest consolation from all of this are the bonds formed between those of us on the "core committee", Anne, Bonnie, Diane, John, Lynn, Mike, Peggy and Wayne. Working together the past two years brought our team together in a special way, with lots of hugs and laughter and a bond of trust that has only grown stronger. This is the same basic group that began our local NPM chapter only four years ago and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we turn our focus again to supporting the music ministers in our local diocese.