Musings from the Editor: Catholic music is getting noticed!

Was I ever excited today to see these two articles in the National Catholic Reporter! Editor Sr. Rita Larivee, whom I had the pleasure of meeting last year at the Gather Us In Women's Conference in Worcester, MA, was gracious enough to grant me permission to post portions of the articles with links back to the full articles.

I think coverage in the National Catholic Reporter is very exciting. To me, this shows a couple of things. First of all, the National Catholic Reporter appeals to a different group of Catholics - equally faithful, but looking at issues from a more liberal perspective. I have not seen much, if any, coverage of Catholic music in this demographic. Now that the National Catholic Reporter, a fairly prominent publication, is taking notice, this bodes well for the future of Catholic music.

Secondly, if anyone had any doubt about the ability of Matt Maher's recent success to open doors for Catholic music, you can lay those doubts to rest. He is opening doors and the National Catholic Reporter is the perfect example. And it's funny how success outside of the Church is now making those inside the Church take notice. Like the scripture says (to paraphrase), "a prophet is never recognized in his own hometown."

GrapeVine was referenced several times and until I got an email just now from the author, I had forgotten that he had called me for input for this article!

Enjoy! Susan

Catholic music:
Rockers moving to the beat of a new evangelization
By GREGORY RUEHLMANN Prescott, Ariz.
Publication date:
August 22, 2008

There is a black sports utility vehicle idling in the parking lot of Yavapai Community College here that features, across its passenger side, an enormous picture of Pope John Paul II. His image rises up above the back wheel well and stretches his arms toward the front door, culminating, near the rooftop, in a radiant golden monstrance that the late pope lifts above his head. Beyond the makeshift popemobile, a faint thump of bass escapes the campus arts center, where the Matt Maher Band plays music for a darkened auditorium packed with college students and youth ministers. The audience raises hands and shouts along with the lyrics, as the air swells with the sound of Maher’s band. From outside, the noise sounds like a pulse. But inside, to both the musicians and the crowd, it’s modern Catholic worship in action, and the heartbeat of a movement championed by a pope who remains their inspiration three years after his death.

It’s late May in this small town in northern Arizona, where a youthful crew of the faithful convenes every year with a purpose, and where the soundtrack is largely provided by a bespectacled, unassuming Canadian who happens to be the biggest young Catholic songwriter in the United States. Welcome to ARISE 08. Welcome to the new evangelization.

This is a story about contemporary Catholic music -- its principal figures and its pioneers, its defenders and its discontents. It’s a story about Matt Maher and musicians like him, along with their publishers and producers, who see their work as one part of a larger effort to convert hearts and minds. It is, finally, a story about what the future church could look and sound like in America and beyond, both during Mass and outside the parish walls.

Youth rising
Most contemporary Christian music has an instantly recognizable sound. The songs are generally guitar-based, up-tempo and heavily produced, with a repetitive, frequently scriptural chorus. Since catching on in evangelical circles in the early ’90s, contemporary Christian music has become a lucrative industry, with radio stations proliferating nationwide.

It has also spilled over into Catholic worship. By the start of this decade, the genre underpinned the repertoire at most youth Masses in U.S. parishes. It has become integral to rallies, retreats and conferences like ARISE 08 -- the gathering at Yavapai run by Youth Arise North America, an evangelical Catholic organization that focuses on outreach to college students, primarily through the annual conference in Prescott. The four-day event features Masses, witness talks and a heavy dose of loud, enthusiastic contemporary music. When I arrived, over 340 people were in attendance, most in their early 20s.

Many of the young participants and volunteers at ARISE have been involved in Life Teen, a youth ministry program founded in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa in the mid-1980s that has expanded to hundreds of parishes. In the last 20 years, Life Teen has developed a track record for producing youths active in their own communities, as well as in programs like Youth Arise and the Steubenville youth rallies sponsored by Franciscan University.

“The way I see it, there was a point when our beautiful church needed to be reminded there were young people who felt very disconnected and weren’t coming,” recalls recording artist and music minister Tom Booth. “And Life Teen sprang up.”

The 46-year-old Booth is something of a godfather figure in contemporary Catholic music, thanks to his two-decade career as a recording artist, producer and guide to countless younger artists. From 1985 until 2005, he ran Life Teen’s music program nationally and at St. Timothy, the program’s original parish in Mesa.

A brushfire movement
The musical repertoire at Life Teen Masses incorporated popular, Catholic-friendly contemporary Christian songs that, as they had earlier in evangelical circles, energized and came to characterize the program, both in and outside Sunday-evening youth Masses. Soon, a remarkable number of Life Teen participants were pursuing and writing music themselves.

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To read the longer web version, click here: http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/1656

Music can launch faith journey
By Rita Larivee
Publication date:
August 22, 2008

The cover story this week is about contemporary Catholic music and its popularity among a younger generation of Catholics. Whether one enjoys this type of music or not is the least important part of the story. What matters is the powerful role that music has played in all our lives. Every generation has its own music. Whether one generation’s taste in music offends or inspires others, we have all known the positive and lasting effect of songs that speak to special moments in our lives. As we grow older, the music changes and the old albums are lost in boxes stored away in basements and attics, but nothing erases the memories, the moments and the songs that shaped our lives.

Author Greg Ruehlmann introduces us to the music’s principal figures and its pioneers, its defenders and its critics. He offers us a wonderful narrative about the people closest to the evolving reality of this genre. I cannot help but wonder about the young listeners of this new music. Who are these young people who are bringing such love of life to Catholic worship? It is as though they are discovering church for the first time. What is attracting their participation in this kind of community? What are they looking for that conventional parish life and worship are not offering them?

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