"SOMEONE'S HOLDING YOU BACK!"

That's exactly what my wife said to me last Tuesday when my rejection letter (just as I had predicted) came in from the Worcester County parish. There was no reason explained in the letter. Just a "thank you for your interview", "at this time we cannot consider you", and "best of luck" type of letter - you know, the usual BS.

I'm willing to bet that it's due to one of two people, whose names I will not mention, however I will drop a hint that it's one of two former bosses of mine (no, not my favorite pastor who had hired someone else at his parish as I had just found out - explanations for that deduction in a minute).

As Jesus said in the Passion about his betrayer: BETTER FOR HIM THAT HE HAD NEVER BEEN BORN!

As for my favorite pastor - if anything, he wrote me a very beautiful letter of recommendation last summer, and I got his OK to use it as needed quite some time ago (I can't thank him enough!). I'm still surprised he didn't call me, as he has my e-mail and my phone. I'm guessing that he probably figured I was doing OK as a Schwan's salesman. I did mention months ago that it would take a lot to get me out of there. At that time, there was already a music director, and I didn't feel right stepping on anyone's toes by saying, "by the way, I'll bite a bullet to work for you" (and I would have, for him - I can't say that for much of any other priests in this hellhole area). Not to mention, the American Guild of Organists frowns on such things.

The good thing is that my favorite pastor DID hire someone good. The guy that tipped me off about the position two days before being crushed called me a week later to tell me who they hired. It's a gentleman that I heard before - he's quite good. He ran into some real misfortune with that last pastor change in his last parish (he cut his pay big time). I really think he'll steer this parish in the right direction.

Yes, I do believe that the right parish will hire me. Hopefully it won't be posthumously.

Peace,
BMP