Joy Bauman

     Her nickname around the office is “Joy to the world.”    
     Well, at least one person calls Joy Bauman, our music director, by that name.
     “Joy is always joyful,” said Tom Theis of our maintenance staff. “She always finds good in everyone. Joy’s glass is always full, not half full. She is a very positive person, and I believe her faith has a lot to do with it. She is just a real sweetheart.”
     As the fifth of seven children born to Wally and Vera Bauman, Joy grew up three blocks from St. Bernard. Her father was the mayor of Middleton from 1965-75.
     She went to St. Bernard School through the sixth grade and graduated from Middleton High School.
     “I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Middletonian,” she laughs.
     After high school, Bauman went to UW-Madison with plans to be a music major and eventually a choir director.
     “At the university, I discovered that music was more work than I wanted it to be,” she said. “When you are a music major at UW, you spend hours and hours in Humanities practicing. Music was becoming not so fun for me anymore.”
     So, Bauman decided to explore different classes at the university. But when she was 21, her father passed away.
     “I became aimless,” she said. “School wasn’t doing it for me, so I started working for a while.”
     Bauman also volunteered here at St. Bernard. She helped with Confirmation and the youth group and taught religious education classes.
     A priest friend suggested that she pursue a degree in religious studies. At the same time, she accepted the youth ministry position here at St. Bernard. So, she enrolled at Edgewood and finally got her undergraduate degree at the age of 35.
     She worked in youth ministry for 18 years, and “I just started burning out,” she said. “I still liked the kids, but my enthusiasm, my energy level, my recovery level wasn’t quite where it should be.”
     Since she was also playing the piano for the 9 a.m., Mass every Sunday, Fr. Doug Dushack offered her the music position when it became vacant in 2009.
     “Music has just always been a part of my life,” said Bauman, who started piano lessons in the second grade. “I certainly never envisioned myself as being a church musician. That was never a thought in my head – ever!  But I’ve always enjoyed it. I seem to have somewhat of a knack for it, I guess.”
     As the music director, Bauman is responsible for devising the music list for each liturgy in addition to playing for those Masses. She also plans and plays for weddings, funerals and other Holy Day and special liturgies. Bauman trains and schedules all the liturgical ministers. She directs both the adult and youth choirs. She also prepares the children’s Christmas choir which sings at the 4 p.m., Christmas Eve Mass. And finally, she puts together the presider book and the commentator notes for the weekend Masses in addition to playing for all three Sunday Masses.
     Her best Sundays are when she can hear the congregation really singing. “That kinda keeps me going … and if a person comments about how the music just uplifted them or if I get a random email from a visitor commenting on a piece of music.”
     Bauman said she especially loves working with the youth choir. “That is probably one of my favorite parts of the job, because it keeps me connected with the kids. They are just so much fun. I just love their spirit. I love my adult choir too, but I have a special place in my heart for my youth choir.”
     Helping to plan for funerals is a job that Bauman describes as “a real privilege.”
     “There is just something about being able to help people through a difficult time,” she said. “If it is a piece of music that is particularly meaningful … trying to help them navigate that challenging time and doing what we can. It is just a real blessing.”
     Bauman said it is not always easy. “There have been some meetings where I have had tears in my eyes. You do what you can to help them hang on to their faith and get them through. I would say that this is part of my job that really keeps me going.”
     In her 26 years here at St. Bernard, Bauman said one thing has not changed at St. Bernard: The goodness of the people.
     “The people have always been very nice and good to me … and kind and pretty easy to work with,” she said. “When you ask them for help with stuff, they do it. We are the ‘Good Neighbor’ city, but I really feel that there is a good sense of that here at this parish … a good sense of faith and helping others out has stayed here at the parish.”
     Bauman said her faith is very important to her, but “I’m not the best person in daily prayer, so I’m not sure my regular spiritual life is as on track as it should be. I’m a work in progress.
     “As I get older too, just having that faith … it’s one of those things that you just kind of count on. It’s a comforting thing to have.”
     After Bauman lost her mother last year, she began to contemplate her own life. “I thought: ‘I’m the next generation to die,’” she said. “It will be years down the line hopefully, but I have to have that faith that I will see them again someday. It keeps me from falling into depression. It keeps me hopeful. I still have moments of anxiety, but I like to think that anxiousness is kind of abating a bit each day.
     “I am more hopeful about what happens after this life I guess. I don’t really despair about dying. My faith tells me that this is just round one.”
     Bauman credits her family with keeping her in the faith. “We came to Mass every week,” she said. “I don’t remember it ever being an option for us to not come to Mass.
     “I went through a period when I really questioned stuff, especially when dad died I was like, ‘What the heck is this about?’ I was not separated from the church, but I was not totally engaged either.”
     At the suggestion of a friend, she attended all the Masses of the Triduum and “something just really clicked for me. I’m not sure why. There are always going to be times when you question your faith, but there is something about having that kind of foundation or root or groundedness.
     “I often wondered what people who don’t have faith do when they do have that challenging time with the death of a loved one or illness … like how do you cope with that? Not that faith gives you any answers, but it somehow helps you live with those questions and find some comfort.”
     When Bauman looks down from the choir loft on Christmas Eve, she loves to see everyone with their candles lit when the lights are turned out in church.
     “You look down and think these are the people of God. Everybody is united together. We are all here in this one space, worshipping this one God. It is a real sense of community. No matter where they came from or what is going on in their lives. We are all united in this one prayer.”