AUSTRALIAN audiences will see a different style of Gospel preaching when Fr Stan Fortuna, the rapping priest, performs free concerts in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney from March 29-April 1.
Fr Fortuna, a Franciscan Friar of Renewal from the US, will be in Brisbane on March 31 as part of the World Youth Day Activ8 National Tour Program.
His concert will be held at Clairvaux MacKillop College, Upper Mt Gravatt, from 6pm-8pm, following the first Brisbane archdiocesan World Youth Day Training Day.
Fr Fortuna is internationally known for his distinctive music, preaching and work with the poor.
He has proclaimed the gospel via musical performance at conferences, retreats and youth prayer gatherings around the world.
In a recent interview with the National Catholic Reporter in the United States, Fr Fortuna said his vocation to the priesthood took a distinctive turn when he heard rap music for the first time on the streets of New York.
“I was passing through Spanish Harlem and I thought ‘holy smokes, these guys are phenomenal’,” Fr Fortuna said.
“I was deeply moved by the spontaneity of it.
“Thank God for my community, because when I started experimenting with it they said ‘God gave you this gift, so use it’,” he said.
In 1987 Fr Fortuna established Francesco Productions, a non-profit organisation, to help further this particular style of ministry.
The organisation was established to evangelise Christ’s word, and all proceeds from the sale of the music goes to the Franciscan community’s hands-on work with the poor.
Fr Fortuna has seen the benefits of communicating with young people in a language and a medium they understand.
The songs convey sermons in story form and reflect the world he experiences around him.
While that world includes violence, addictions and family breakdowns, he balances the ledger by including songs of spiritual uplift.
To any detractors he points out that Jesus descended into hell in order to reach people.
“Yes it’s rap music, but it’s really the message of the gospel wrapped up in music,” Fr Fortuna said.
His visit to Brisbane will come at the end of the Lenten season, one he feels great affinity with.
“This Lent our Holy Father Benedict XVI wants us to ‘learn to stay close’.
“He tells us ‘Lent is a favourable time to learn to stay close to him who on the cross consummated for all mankind the sacrifice of his life’.”
Fr Fortuna will perform in Adelaide on March 29, Melbourne on March 30 and Sydney on April 1.
For more information about the Brisbane concert on March 31 visit www.wydbrisbane.org.au or phone (07) 3336 9341.
