Dear Stephanie
I had to respond to this because I an aware of atleast one parish that definitely pays its choir director, and that is a good thing. He does it for the love of God, and he gets paid because "every laborer deserves his wage". As for chorale music, there are ways to integrate traditional choral music with the chant of our church and not lose congregational participation. At our parish the choir sings about every other week, which allows the cantors to have complete voice on the choir's off weeks. Also, when the choir sings, it doesn't sing the entire liturgy chorally, but only some of the more major parts of the liturgy. True, the people need to be formed that they should not be merely listeming to the choir, but praying with the choir. In our parish, some choral arrangements have become so familiar to the people that they sing along with the choir! Which I think is wonderful! I must agree with you, though, that cantors in our tradition who don't follow the printed rhythms are the greatest reason why people do not sing along. Rhythm has be woefully neglected in the "old school". However, the new RDL could do much to improve this situation.
