Welcome to the National Association of Pastoral Musicians Worcester MA chapter's website. Worcester, pronounced Wuh-ster (the 'rce' are all silent), is the second largest city in MA and about 40 miles west of Boston on the Mass Pike. 

There are just over 100 parishes in the diocese of Worcester with an estimated 1,000 directors, choir members, cantors, organists and instrumentalists spread throughout central MA. Our chapter, in operation since 2011, strives to conduct a program of skills development, musical enrichment and fellowship for parish musicians for a diverse community of Catholic followers of Jesus Christ. We suffer from all of the weaknesses and trials of the Catholic church in America. Underfunding, limited time, language and cultural barriers, history, excellent instruments in some of the wrong places. Poor instruments in others. We also benefit from many of the strengths of the Catholic church in America too. Our spirit. Our persistence. Our love for the liturgy and for the people of God.

More than anything, our belief and energy comes from knowing that music in our diocese is a lot like music anywhere. Practice, practice, practice, translates for our chapter as doing, doing and doing. But we have something special too.

Our music is a holy music. It is prayerful. It is sacred. It is uplifting and refreshes the soul. That's why we are so willing to come together and share our experiences and help each other be better musicians and better Christians with initiatives like cantor workshops, choirs-in-the-round bootcamps, musician appreciation encounters and publisher showcases.

The thinking is that doing these excellent programs again and again reaches more pastoral musicians. For example, the cantor workshops in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018 were each well attended, but not by the same people! This works to spread the message of Hope and Love that fellowship and musical fellowship in particular provides. 

Significantly, our chapter has also earned national recognition for 2018! Our website and Facebook page has been recognized for "excellence in site design, editorial and member engagement. Embodies chapter Best Practices."