During the month of March NPM celebrates the women that shape us and love us into being. Those who fight against the injustices of our society today. Women in religious life who are our spiritual guides. And those among us who lead and serve the Church in lay ministry. We are honored to celebrate you! And today we offer a replay episode that celebrates some of the strong women in our Church’s history. We hope this episode inspires you, and maybe prompts you to learn more about these holy women- and more.

Today we speak with Irish composer Dana Scallon (known professionally as DANA) about the life of Saint Brigid, patroness of Ireland. Dana was inspired to write a hymn reflecting the life of Saint Brigid, celebrating the 1500th anniversary of the saint’s death, and she was gracious enough to sit down and share her inspiration for the piece today. Dana joins us today from her home in Ireland.

For more information about St. Brigid and St. Brigid's Song, check out the show notes of this episode at ministrymonday.org.

We’re in the small window between the Christmas and Lenten seasons, which means it’s time to plan. Lenten music, Triduum music, and Easter music are in its final stages of planning. How can we stretch our dollars in our music ministry budget to add new variety, new depth, into our chosen music?

Today we feature an episode from 4 years ago that explores the music available to us in the public domain. Public domain music can be somewhat work-intensive, as it’s not regulated in the same way as a published piece, but the efforts to sift through the selections can repay you in spades. This free music has lovely arrangements to embrace the liturgical seasons in renewed ways, all for free.