I’m going to out myself. I’m a convert.
Well, not exactly. I’ve been a Catholic all my life.
But I recently completed a conversion of a different sort, to contemporary Christian music and radio. And, in the process, I discovered some important things about my family’s Catholic prayer life.
As a typical kid growing up in the Eighties and Nineties, my music preferences were always on-decade. Lots of rock and pop, with U2 holding a special place in my heart. By late high school, though, my sometimes-attendance at church youth group meetings brought me into contact with Christian radio.
Two songs in particular made a lasting impression: “Awesome God” by the late Rich Mullins (and covered by Michael W. Smith and many others) and “Shout to the Lord” by Darlene Zschech. I’d perk up whenever these songs were played. And despite hearing them often, I found myself–even as a sixteen-year-old–getting choked up whenever I heard those lyrics. While I moved on to college and mostly left Christian radio behind, I think those two songs sparked within me an early awareness: truly great music didn’t just make you want to dance, tap, or sing along, it moved something in your soul. And, after college, this realization led me to country music. George Strait. Alan Jackson. Brooks & Dunn. And while I still occasionally enjoy some Luke Combs and Chris Stapleton, I discovered that even country music was not going to sustain me. My search for something more enduring continued.
Years later, after my wife and I got married and had our three daughters, the two of us began to more purposefully consider what was on the radio. We were becoming painfully aware that whatever we were listening to wasn’t just filling us up, it was filling them up. It was during those years that my wife discovered K-Love, America’s premiere Christian radio station. Owned and operated by a non-profit Christian ministry, it broadcasts Christian music to over 2 million listeners every week and happened to be the very same radio station where I had first heard Michael W. Smith and Darlene Zschech as a teenager.
All of us have now been listening to Christian radio for more than a decade. And, last spring I completed my conversion when I took my two oldest daughters to their first Christian music concert. Now, I’ve seen a lot of concerts over the years–some really great ones across a wide variety of genres—but the show put on by Chris Tomlin and CAIN in Boston was easily one of the most memorable of my life. The same was true of the concert that my two oldest daughters and I attended recently, which featured MercyMe with TobyMac and Zac Williams.
Being a Catholic and a contemporary Christian music radio fan is a strange thing. At least where I live in New England, it feels a bit like no one understands you. The popular culture folks think you’re a nut. While they will shell out thousands of dollars to cram into a stadium so they can swoon for Taylor Swift, they think it’s completely “weird” (to use a word that is enjoying a recent resurgence in popularity) to go to a concert where the performers deflect attention away from themselves so that the audience can collectively swoon for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
On the other hand, many Catholics who admittedly aren’t crazy about the idolization of pop stars, also look skeptically at Christian music. They realize that most Christian music performers are non-Catholics whose idea of church is quite different from ours. Mostly evangelicals, many Christian musicians differ from Catholics on important aspects of faith, including things as central as Scripture, salvation, and the sacraments (not to mention the Pope!). These are no small things. And I do understand why some Catholics worry sometimes that Christian music fans may be a Sunday Mass or two away from bolting the pews for Joel Osteen.
But I’m not one of them. And neither is Jonathan Roumie, the now-famous actor who portrays Jesus in “The Chosen.” Nor is Matt Maher, the highly-popular, platinum-selling Christian music artist. Both are very entrenched in the Christian music scene having even appeared together at the K-Love Fan Awards this past year and make no apologies for their Catholic faith.
All of this sets up the discovery that my two oldest daughters and I made one recent Sunday afternoon. While listening to music around the backyard fire pit after Mass, we were reflecting on our family’s prayer life and realized that Christian radio awakens within us an overwhelming desire to worship and praise God in our daily lives. It is a primal need. And while specific songs may tap into these desires in different ways, the overwhelming commonality in all of this music is that worship and praise—two forms of prayer discussed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church—are central to everything played on Christian radio.
The Catechism refers to prayers of worship as prayers of “Blessing and Adoration” (CCC 2626). Through such prayer, we exalt God’s greatness and acknowledge our dependence upon Him. Our Catholic Mass, of course, is rich with these types of prayers. Throughout the Mass, we humbly acknowledge that we are creatures before the God who created us. We are blessed and we bless. We are, of course, called to continue these prayers outside of Mass in our private prayer lives.
Praise “lauds God for His own sake and gives Him glory, quite beyond what He does but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart who love God in faith before seeing Him in glory” (CCC 2639). Because we are joined with the Holy Spirit through praise, we are called to praise Him through song and psalm in our daily prayer lives.
Beyond prayers of “Blessing and Adoration” and prayers of “Praise”, the Catechism reminds us that there are three other forms of prayer essential for living a faithful life.
Prayers of supplication call us to “ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out and ‘struggle in prayer’” (CCC 2629). “Petitionary” prayer humbly seeks first forgiveness from God and then participation in God’s plan and collaboration with Him. We offer petitions at Mass and a lot of our private prayer life is probably full of prayers of petition whereby we’re asking God for help.
One special type of petitionary prayer—a prayer of “Intercession”—is so important that it is understood to be a separate form (CCC 2634). Intercessory prayer is when we intervene through prayer on someone else’s behalf. We sometimes use Intercessory prayer to ask the saints to intervene. When we pray the “Hail Mary,” for example, we ask Mary—as the mother of our Lord—to “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” Catholics particularly appreciate the role of the saints in intercessory prayer in ways that other Christians often say they themselves do not, thus making this type of prayer especially Catholic.
The last form of prayer is “Thanksgiving”. These prayers remind us that God is the source of all that is good and, like St. Paul in his letters, we should turn to Him always. By doing so, the Church becomes “more fully what she is” (2637). Again, while our celebration of the Mass brings us in communion with this and all of the other four forms of prayer, we are called as Catholics to integrate each of these forms of prayer into our daily lives.
That Sunday afternoon, as my daughters and I reflected on our family’s prayer life, we realized that while we were purposefully and mindfully integrating certain types of prayer into our family life, we weren’t doing the same with others. Yes, of course, we were going to Mass and participating in liturgical life. And the extraordinary nature of the Eucharist is such that it very uniquely captures all forms of prayer. But beyond that and what we were each individually doing in our own prayer lives, we weren’t really practicing all forms of prayer in our family life. We prayed before meals and before bed and we tried to regularly take time to say the Rosary together. But, overall, our family prayer life leaned very hard on prayers of “Thanksgiving” and prayers of “Petition” and “Intercession”. We seemed to be neglecting prayers of “Adoration” and prayers of “Praise”.
Or so we thought.
That afternoon, we had the realization that Christian radio was saving us. With it in our lives, we were doing something we didn’t realize we were doing. With every song and every lyric, we were worshipping God. Adoring Him. Praising Him.
What a powerful—and humbling—realization. Left to our own limited understanding, we turn to certain types of prayer thinking they will suit a particular need or season. But God finds a way to help us pray every prayer in every season. Just as we should.
Shout to the Lord. Our God is an awesome God.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
My wife and I both enjoy listening to country music (the true country music, that is and not the country/hard rock kind that’s corrupted the genre). While living in South Carolina for 18 years (we’re originally from NYC), we were able to get the Bill Gaither Worship and Praise TV programs that aired on PBS. We loved listening to their music. But since moving to VA where the culture is woefully more woke, there’s no more Gaither on PBS (although still avilable on YouTube). But to listen to Christian country music means listening carefully to the lyrics and for those occasions when the theology is out of synch with the true teaching of the apostolic Catholic faith (of course, you have to do the same thing when listening to our current Pope). I’ve often thought that Catholics ought to take a page from the Protestant pastoral playbook and have Wednesdays set aside for an evening community supper with Worship and Praise a la Bill Gaither being provided (with lyrics scrutinized for orthodoxy).
I’m guessing you aren’t in Southwest, VA Deacon Edward. Gospel music’s still alive & well there.
🙂
I love real country & gospel music, too. Are you familiar with Larry Sparks?
mrscracker: No, we’re in woke Northern VA where just about everyone works for Big Government (for now, at least) or for a company under contract with the Feds. We love SW VA and a few years back went to the fiddling convention down in Galax which we loved. I’m unfamiliar with Larry Spatks.
I also am a Catholic who listens to K-love daily! I feel the songs help to center me and helps me draw closer to my God! Thank you for writing this article!
Amen! I realize that many Catholics are truly blessed by listening to Latin chant (Gregorian, etc.) and pipe organ music and that’s beautiful! I am a skilled pianist and a not-so-skilled but capable (with lot of practice!) organist and I have played in Catholic parishes ever since my conversion from Evangelical Protestantism in 2004. I enjoy the great composers (Bach, Buxtehude, Widor, etc.) who wrote so much organ music that is played in large Catholic churches. But I also love the Christian contemporary music that is played on Catholic radio stations (and also on Protestant radio stations) and I think many Catholics also enjoy it.
What I DO NOT ENJOY is the weak singing or the complete lack of singing or even opening the missalette to at least follow along with the words of the Mass hymns in the Mass! This is when I miss the Evangelical Protestant churches that I grew up in and was part of until I converted to Catholicism. I miss the glorious, or at least the enthusiastic, congregational singing! I can’t get that on a radio or any other type of recording. I can only sing with others when others sing.
If someone is emotional and cannot sing because they are choked up with tears over the beauty of the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, that’s wonderful. But if someone just hates singing and thinks the hymns are too “modern” or “jazzy” or “boring” or “ancient” or feels that the hymns “do not speak to me personally”, or any of the other many excuses (e.g., “I can’t follow the organist!), I say, “Wait just a minute! The hymns are part of the liturgy in the Mass.” If the priest chooses to eliminate hymns and say the Mass without them, that’s his prerogative and it makes sense for early morning weekday Masses when people are attending before driving to work.
But in a Sunday morning or Saturday evening weekly Mass, when the instrumentalist (and if you are lucky, a choir!) have practiced the hymns and the cantor is gesturing for the congregation to join in, and the hymn is in the missalette, then SING! If you can’t read the words of the hymn in the missalette, go buy a pair of readers and SING! If you can’t sing because of a sinus condition or onset of a sore throat, at least mouth the words silently. If you absolutely have decided that “No, I will not sing these banal hymns!”, then at least follow along with the lyrics in the hymnal and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the meaning of the lyrics and how they apply to your life. And if you think all hymns are banal and that we should return to the Latin Mass and Gregorian chant, then seek out a parish that utilizes the Latin Mass and Gregorian chant! And good luck learning that Gregorian chant–it’s not as easy as the skilled singers make it sound!
But don’t just check out during the Mass music and stand there in silence. Always remember that the early Christian martyrs sang hymns as they were being marched into the arena to their painful death.
And if the priest is a trained vocalist who castigates the congregation/cantor publicly for singing off key? Our parish is fortunate to even have someone who is willing to be a cantor after that temper tantrum.
As a convert to Catholicism crossing the pews to see a heretic like Osteen is not in my heart. However, there is some great Christian rock and metal being played by some bands with deep theological lyrics.
I’m not especially fond of contemporary Christian music but I did used to enjoy Christian radio programs like Dr. Dobson & Chuck Swindoll. They shared some great insights. Really good commonsense stuff.
Sadly, the drive thru car wash knocked the antennae off my truck a while back & minus that I can only occasionally pick up the local Christian radio channel.
Wonderful article….I have been listening to contemporary Christian music since 1973 when I got saved during the Jesus revolution….it kept me from listening to secular music’s mix of vulgarity and impurity…I converted to the catholic faith in the late 90,s….I still have our local Christian radio station on all the time…..I since have been listening to country music as well…I will occasionally listen to 60,s and 70,s oldies but I love Christian music….I recognize it’s part in my spiritual live as is the beauty of the mass and old hymns, chant etc. ….a time and place for everything…..
I would rather listen to just about anything on Family Life Radio than in the typical Novus Ordo parish.
Dear Dr.
You admitted on two occasions in your article that it was about feelings and emotions. You emoted and you liked it, and it pleased your daughters as well. Is this where you are going to stop? Is this the end of your prayer, or just a means? Or are you open to something infinitely higher?
It made you feel good about a song about Jesus. If I were to return to the Jericho of rock music ( including Christian rock), it might be a flood of emotions. Pricking the emotions is addictive and I sincerely question whether people are seeking the emotional high or some other more lofty goal.
So-called Christian rock music is a living dichotomy as the syncopated beat and emotional rap or
song style moves man to his loins and passions, but the words are supposed to move him to prayer. It makes
no sense.
It is the classic syncretism that we will condemn so quickly in other avenues such as liturgical dance or centering prayer. However, enmeshing rock music into the Praise and Worship of the One True God, present in every Tabernacle of the world, is amazingly applauded.
Like a few other topics among practicing Catholics, this take is guaranteed to offend many. Of more concern to me than hurting your feelings is asking the question whether rock music ( so-called Christian included) is offensive to God and whether it is ever a fitting form of worship.
For the rest of Advent, I challenge the author to give up all forms of popular(Christian included) music. Listen to all the O-Antiphons instead.
May God richly bless the rest of your Advent!
Ave Maria!
the problem I have with Christian music is as you stated; most of it is about being saved or is worship music. I only know of a few Catholic groups that sing non worship music and it is beautiful! Catholics need a music radio station or music segment of local Catholic radio. In the meantime we can pick out a few gems like Awesome God.
I love this “coming out” of closeted Catholic Klove listeners! True confession: since the pandemic I’ve also been a monthly supporter. The music, brief meditations and dj reflections were a lifeline during that extended period when I was in a highly stressful situation back home with a mentally ill family member. Listening in the house was prohibited, but MUCH Praise and at times the prayer of tears flowed easily in the car (safest when parked, of course!) as the Lord fed my perseverance through song. Now back in Europe with my Italian husband, we enjoy the energy of klove online and imagine doing an evangelizing, music-based summer beach outreach, blasting these positive, encouraging tunes to Italy’s vast numbers of disaffected, spiritually alienated youth. Our other new favorite musical prayer partners are the Hillbilly Thomists, a highly talented bluegrass band of Dominican friars – definitely worth bringing into your home as you make your Catholic family way through the day! “SALUTI di Buon Natale” from monika and domenico and the Rachel’s Vineyard Italy Mission!!
I have been listening to Christian contemporary music since the mid 80’s artists back then were Kayhy Troccoli, Bryan Duncan, Larnelle Harris and The Winans and more.Being a musician myself I have also written Christian contemporary tunes. Sirius XM The Message is a great station.My daughter and I almost every Sunday when I see her for mass listen to this station or Enlightenment station on XM on the way to mass and when we get our coffee after mass.Matt Maher is awesome.We often go to a Catholic mass that has Fr.Charles Mangano presiding.He will sing a song and play his guitar after his awesome homilies that’s related.He has many albums out with his sister Lori and all the proceeds go to charity.They often do praise and worship nights in different Long Island NY parishes.These concerts are very uplifing.Also The Franciscan Friars of the renewal have what’s called the “Catholic Underground” in NYC and have praise and adoration of the blessed sacrament and after have contemporary praise and worship bands and solo artists perform in the basement of the church,they also provide refreshments and we do night prayer after.So many young and young adults attend including other clergy from other catholic churches.We are lucky to have all this in NY.