Bob Batastini is Vice President / Senior Editor Emeritus of GIA Publications. His tenure at GIA began on November 1, 1967, and his editorial expertise helped to form the leading publishing company we know today. Bob served as the music director at St. Maurice Parish in Chicago (1955-1965), St. Barbara Parish in suburban Chicago (1965-1987), St. Dennis Parish in Chicago (1987-1988), St. Joseph Parish in the Joliet Diocese (1991-2002), and in retirement, has been the “associate” music director at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Holland, Michigan since 2005. He also directs the 70-voice Holland Ecumenical Choir consisting of Protestants and Catholics from 20 area churches.
Bob is a past-president and a Fellow of the Hymn Society and serves on the boards of CUSP (Christians Uniting in Song and Prayer) and Hymnary.org. He was a member of the Music Subcommittee of the U.S. conference of Catholic Bishops that developed the document Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship. Bob is married to Doreen and has four children and ten grandchildren.
Bob writes, “Being a pastoral musician is not a job or even a profession. It is a vocation. It’s not what you do, it’s who you are, and ‘retirement’ notwithstanding, you continue as long as you can.”
To that end, in retirement, he still consults regularly with members of the GIA team and takes on the occasional project.