CATHOLIC rock band emmanuelworship is “spicing things up” in Catholic high schools and continues to make its mark on the youth scene in Brisbane and interstate.
“Last year we began to accept invitations from a couple of schools to run a ‘Beat’ music workshop with the musicians in their liturgy band, just to spice things up and bring some fresh inspiration,” frontman Pat Keady said.
“At Padua College (Kedron) it went really well and we enjoyed doing it so we thought ‘let’s do more of these’.
“We ran a workshop for the girls at Mount Alvernia (Kedron) and recently the entire music class at St Teresa’s Catholic College, Noosa.
“It was a blast.”
Among the spice and inspiration has been attention to liturgy and the elements of the Mass.
“Firstly, we want to introduce ‘the average school muso with an electric guitar around his neck’ to some cool, new music which can coincidentally also be used in faith celebrations,” Pat said.
“Second, we wanted to introduce school liturgy bands to some new contemporary worship music and train them in basic worship-leading skills.
“This is the biggest trick – getting them to listen to each other and play with sensitivity to what’s going on in the Mass or the song.
“Lastly, we just want to support schools by building a culture of worship among staff and students.”
This “culture of worship” Pat said was “rare”, one that stands out “in a school that has broken through the ‘wall of silence'”.
“When (it’s realised) singing about God is not ‘just for the girls’ or the choir, but it’s the new normal and it’s done by teachers, boys, girls, everyone … it might even be enjoyable,” Pat said excitedly.
emmanuelworship leaves behind much of its material for continued faith-filled and dynamic worship at the school, with feedback from its visits described as “positive”.
“I think this is because our approach when we work with a group is to ‘reach them where their culture is at’,” Pat said.
“When we show them that we ‘get them’ musically they’re more willing to then learn to play some songs that aren’t their ‘normal diet’.
“It’s sometimes as simple as sitting with a large group of guitarists all strumming through the same four chords.”
Indicating that emmanuelworship’s approach “isn’t rocket science”, Pat said young people wanted to express their faith but often “are looking for permission to express it in their culture”.
His experience as a teenager was similar.
“When I realised that ‘Jesus didn’t hate my music’ it was a lot easier to let him into my world,” he said.
“Maybe God even thought I was okay … that’s the clincher right there.”
The author of Worship: The activity of disciples, Pat said he had written chapters about why young people don’t attend Church, adding that he had “so much to say on this topic”.
“For a start they do have a culture that is more actively evangelising them than their own Church is – and that’s a hard fact,” he said.
“You can’t speak for every young person out there but you do hear the reasons, ones which at one time, I gave myself, ‘Mass is boring, the music is outdated, it’s a drag’.
“Rather than reacting as the ‘grown ups’ in the equation, I think we have to read between the lines and hear what this generation is really saying: ‘Show me proof this thing you’re into is life changing’ and ‘Show me proof that your God is really interested in my generation and not just yours’ and ‘Show me proof that following Jesus might even be an exciting thing to do’.
“Like St Paul said, ‘Become all things to all people in order to reach as many as possible’.”
Next weekend emmanuelworship will headline Emmanuel Community’s Ignite 09 Conference at Clairvaux MacKillop College, Upper Mt Gravatt, an opportunity for young people to engage with each other and their God.
Pat encourages youth to come along and celebrate that “being Catholic is actually okay and we’re all in this together”.
The father of two “pre-teen girls” and a seven-year-old son said he and wife Kym planned to “expose them to as many positive faith experiences” as possible.
To book a “Beat” music training day with emmanuelworship or order the USB ministry resource stick visit www.emmanuelworship.com or call (07) 3217 5199.
