“I’ve always loved music. I can’t remember a time not loving music,” Emily Schmid says fondly, reflecting on the formative experiences that shaped her into the music minister she is today. Growing up in the small town of Red Oak, Iowa, with two musicians for parents, Emily was heavily involved in liturgical music from a young age. Contributing to the liturgy developed her sense of identity within the Church and fueled her love of music ministry. “It gave me a sense of belonging in the Church,” she said. “I knew where I belonged. I knew what my gift was. I knew what I could do.”
Emily’s professional career in music ministry led her to serve as director of music for St. Francis of Assisi, the largest parish in the Diocese of Des Moines. In her free time, Emily completed a faith-formation program called the Catechetical Institute, and the experience left her with a strong desire to dive deeper into her faith. She prayed that God would present her with an opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in theology, and her prayer was answered. St. Francis, overwhelmed by the number of liturgies, decided to expand her role to director of liturgy and music, and encouraged her to pursue her master’s degree so she could develop a strong foundation in both liturgical music and theology. Studying at Saint Meinrad allowed her to dive deeply into the two subjects that her ministry revolved around.
“It’s made me more confident in my role in making decisions for my music ministry,” she explained. “I can now intentionally look at and assess with the tradition of the Church and the knowledge and understanding that I have of the function of music within Catholic worship, and I can make more intentional decisions with that information. And I can better present and communicate it to the people it’s impacting like my musicians or the parishioners.”
Though half of Emily’s experience in the Graduate Theology Program took place virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, she described the sense of spirituality and peace she felt when she was able to come to classes on campus. “It was like the hundred years of monastic prayer seeping into the soil. Everything that grows then from that soil has that in it, that spirituality,” she said.
Emily’s advice to prospective students discerning graduate studies at Saint Meinrad is to embrace the hospitality. “I think the defining characteristic of Saint Meinrad is its hospitality, and in a sense it is very radical, because sometimes you’re just not used to being loved in that way,” she said. “Don’t be scared to let the Saint Meinrad community love you and welcome you in that way, and be ready, willing, and eager to live out that hospitality while you’re there and outside of that, too.”