The Who taught me a lot about life through their songs—and I’m grateful to the Jesuit priests at Marquette University High School who introduced me to the band in the 1970s.
Music
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Finally, a pop star who understands Catholicism: Rosalía’s triumphant new album ‘Lux’
On “Lux,” the divine and the human are inextricably linked: Rosalía talks about the world by talking about God.
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Taylor Swift has run out of things to say
What happens when the person who’s been yearning for the whole nine yards finally gets everything she wanted?
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The unlikely hip-hop duo performing at a historic Vatican concert
The brothers in the hip-hop duo Clipse are known for rapping about the luxurious highs and the destructive lows of selling cocaine. Not exactly standard homily material.
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Fifty years later, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run’ still speaks to young people
When Bruce Springsteen wrote ‘Born to Run,’ he was only in his 20s, and at a major crossroads in his life.
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Listening to the Gospels—in the voice of Johnny Cash
When I encounter the Good News as read by Johnny Cash, I encounter it as a living proclamation—not as a dead letter.
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A Jesuit music ministry travels from Hiroshima to Rome to sing for peace
For this Japanese choir, to sing at this memorial for St. Ignatius Loyola was to bring their own prayers for peace as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Twenty years on, Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Illinois’ is still telling an American story
“Illinois” describes a state and a nation in motion, full of complicated human beings who do bad things and good things.
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‘A singing church is a praying church’: The East Brothers’ gifts of faith and music
For Monsignor Ray East and his brother Nathan, their faith feeds their music and their music feeds their faith.
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Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and the Communion of Saints
Bob Dylan, more than anyone, fused the pop cultural and the religious experience into one.