‘We’re in Unknown Territory’: Uncertainty Follows Parish and Diocesan Employee Layoffs, by Mary Farrow

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By Mary Farrow, CNA, April 2, 2020

– Dawne Mechlinski was a parish music minister for 41 years.

When she was 12 years old, when she was asked to be the organist at her parish in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. She agreed, and added organ lessons onto her piano lessons. After attending Westminster Choir College, she’s been a full-time director of music since 1988 in the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey.

Mechlinski, now 53, is the kind of parish music minister who sticks around – she’s only ever served at three different parishes, including her childhood parish. She’s been at her current parish, St. Mark’s in Sea Girt, since 2006.

That is, until the coronavirus pandemic struck.

At first, Mechlinski said employees of the parish took their own social distancing and health precautions, but for the most part, “everything was normal. Then on the weekend of the 14th and 15th (of March), I had questions from parents of choir members.”  ….

Read more here:  catholicnewsagency.com/news/were-in-unknown-territory-uncertainty-follows-parish-and-diocesan-employee-layoffs-69931