Isn't it enough to have modern Christian music? Why do we need music that's specifically Catholic? There are a lot of “Christian” bands out there.

    Often times, the message preached by these bands is one that can be embraced by all Christians. There are times, however, when the message is at odds with the Catholic teaching, this is not frequent enough to warrant Catholics having their own distinctive music culture. The reason Catholics need their own music culture is that the Catholic faith is richer then the generic or nondenominational Christianity and we need artistic expressions to represent that richness. It's not that nondenominational Christian music is evil or should be avoided, but that we also need music that's specifically Catholic.

    What does having distinctively Catholic music do for us? What good does it serve the Church or Christ? First of all, having Catholic musicians, who are proud of their Catholic Faith, gives Catholic youth and adults positive role models. In a lot of parishes the only Catholics people see active in their faith is their priest and maybe a couples people involved in the Sunday school or the youth ministry program. They don't have a chance to see Catholics doing “big things.” It's important for people to see Catholics doing things with their faith outside their parish community. It's important to see Catholics doing lay ministry. This is not to downplay the importance of the priesthood or religious life, but the fact is that the majority of Catholics will not become a priest or enter a religious community. It's also very likely for the reason that they were not called to this kind of ministry. This majority needs to be inspired to become more active in their faith. They need to see how other Catholics are using their gifts to serve God.

    Second, by having music that is specifically Catholic, Catholics grow in their faith by listening to the message. But aren't the people who will actually listen to Catholic music, the most likely the good Catholics anyway? The importance of the message is not just that the message teaches, but that it reminds and inspires us. If all we needed was to hear the Christian message one time, we wouldn't need to regularly read the Bible, the Catechism, hear homily's at Mass. Hey just think, we could cut down on our time in mass just be leaving out the liturgy of the Word.

    Third, it shows other Christians that Catholics are active and interested in sharing their faith. Many non-Catholic Christians see the Catholic Church as dead. They don't see us as active in spreading our faith to the world. This is a hindrance to anyone considering joining the Catholic Church. It's hard to convince people that our doctrine is right if we don't show faith with our actions.

    Finally, by having modern Catholic music, we can reach out to non-Christians. This may not be a St. Paul style conversion. The effect may be more subtle. It may not be the case that someone will hear a song written by a Catholic band and then jump up and say, “wow, now I want to be Catholic.” However, generally we don't see this rapid conversions in any style of evangelism. It's more like this: non-Christian at a party. Someone pops in great Catholic CD. Non-Christian says, “hey, they sound pretty good ; who are they?” The Catholic answers, “they are a Catholic band, called Cheer up Charlie (or whatever).” Now, at this point the non-Christian is probably not going to convert, but it probably made him question his stereotypes of Catholicism.