The Ministry of Cantors

The Ministry of Cantors has long been a valuable resource for music ministry formation. This new edition includes valuable insights from Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship. The revised edition addresses more fully the distinction between the roles of psalmist and cantor, suggests further concrete ways a paschal mystery spirituality must undergird both roles, and offers practical insights for helping one discern the call to be a cantor. New content also explores the power of the psalms to transform those singing into the kind of persons God is calling them to be.

As with the first edition, this new book does not present the "how-tos" of vocal technique, warm-up exercises, diction principles, etc. Instead, The Ministry of Cantors focuses on what the cantor is doing beneath vocal technique: surrendering self to the dying and rising of the paschal mystery. The aim of the book is to help cantors delve more deeply into who they are and who they are becoming through their ministry: the Body of Christ pouring self out in voice, breath, and prayer for the life of the world.

Kathleen Harmon, SNDdeN, is a noted liturgical theologian and musician, author and composer, presenter and teacher. Her numerous publications include Becoming the Psalms: A Spirituality of Singing and Praying the Psalms; The Mystery We Celebrate, the Song We Sing: A Theology of Liturgical Music; and The Ministry of Music. She is also a contributor to the Living Liturgy TM family of resources, published by Liturgical Press. She holds a graduate degree in music and a doctorate in theology.