Scott Battaglia is an accomplished musical journeyman in the Catholic Church, having served as the music director for eight different churches — one in Manhattan and seven in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

For the last four years, he’s been the music director at Our Lady of Angels Church and recently took on the same position at another Bay Ridge church, St. Anselm’s.

Battaglia’s music ministry began at age 12 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Woodhaven. He inherited a love for music from his father, who was a musician. He recalls attending a family Mass when a parishioner heard him singing in the pew and told him he should go over and sing with the choir.

“Looking back, I’ll never know for sure if she meant that as a compliment; that I had a good voice and should be in the choir or ‘Hey, you’re making too much noise behind me, why don’t you go over there,’ ” Battaglia recalled, with a laugh.

So, he joined the St. Thomas the Apostle youth choir. He also learned to play the piano and organ. Eventually, his love of church music led him to study organ performance at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College in what he called “a wonderful time and very fulfilling decision.”

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Battaglia’s first music director gig was at St. Martin of Tours Church in Brooklyn in 1994. A year later, he moved to St. Gregory the Great Church in Manhattan, and then onto St. Rose of Lima Church in Rockaway Beach in 1996.

He then moved on to St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Bay Ridge in 2003, where he remained for three years. It was there that he met his wife Marie, who was a flute player in the church’s music ministry. They married in 2010 and have daughters Lyla and Eden.

In 2007, Battaglia moved on to the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brooklyn Heights, where he served under Father Michael Carrano and later Father James King, who married him and Marie. He remained there until 2014.

“When he would go away on vacation, Father [King] would invite Father Kevin Abels to celebrate Mass there,” recalled Battaglia. “Father Kevin said that ‘one day if I ever get a parish, I’m going to take you with me,’ and I’ve been with him ever since.”

Making good on his promise, Father Abels brought Battaglia to St. Sebastian Church in Woodside when he took over in 2014. And after the pandemic, Battaglia served double duty by also working as music director at St. Joan of Arc Church in Jackson Heights under Msgr. William Hoppe.

“Then Father Kevin invited me to come to Our Lady of Angels,” he said. “And the invitation was very exciting and also a blessing because my wife’s family is from Bay Ridge and they live around the corner from OLA.”

Father Abels called Battaglia a very talented musician and a man of faith.

“Scott loves what he does, and he puts his heart and soul into it,” Father Abels said. “And he provides great music to our parishioners so that, as St. Augustine said, ‘When we sing, we pray twice.’

“We’ve become friends over the years, and he’s extremely committed to the Church’s heart and mind when it comes to the liturgy.”

Battaglia lives in Broad Channel. When asked about some of his proudest accomplishments in his music ministry, he said that the most significant part is doing it in the service of the Lord.

“There are things I’ve done on a large scale and others on a smaller scale, but I would say the youth ministry music programs at St. Rose of Lima and St. Andrew the Apostle were especially rewarding by sharing the faith with the kids,” Battaglia said.

Among his notable accomplishments are performing Handel’s “Messiah” with a 100-voice choir and 20-piece orchestra, and working with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. He was also part of the Eucharistic Congress in the Rockaways in 1999.

This past year, he has prepared music for the Corpus Christi processions at OLA and is currently working on building a cantor program at the parish.

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Battaglia said there are still many challenges ahead to bring parishioners back to the church since the pandemic. Still, he believes music is a significant contributing factor to helping fill the seats.

“At the Last Supper, Jesus sang a hymn with the apostles, and people should follow His example and make their voices heard for the Lord,” Battaglia said. “I tell people when they tell me they can’t sing, ‘Listen, the Lord gave us all the gift of our voices, and to those he gave a beautiful voice to, you give it back in thanksgiving; and to those he didn’t, you give it back to get even.’ ”