The first encounter I remember having with praise and worship music was in the summer of 1993 during a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Denver.
I recall a few first impressions. I wondered why the people in front of me were putting their arms in the air as they sang. I had seen crowd surfing at music festivals, but this was something else. I was also struck by the instrumentation and quality of the music. It was driven by the same guitars, bass, drums and impassioned vocals as the music I liked on the radio. Indeed, it was very different from the kind of music I heard at my home parish.
Perhaps most surprising, for a teenager who had been drifting away from the Catholic faith, I felt my heart moved by the words of the songs. They addressed God with an intimacy I was not used to, almost the way one friend would speak to another. Singing and eventually praying those words was among the many graces that would help keep me in the church and introduce me to God in ways I never would have imagined.
Fast forward a few decades to July 2024, when I found myself in a congregation of some 50,000 people at the National Eucharistic Congress, praying similar songs (and maybe some of the same ones) during evening Eucharistic adoration at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. I was at exactly the midpoint of the end zone, in the first row of the upper deck, with worshipers stretching out behind, on the field below and to either side of me in the dimly lit arena. The gentle roar of voices immersed me in praise music, as thousands of hands reached out toward the Eucharistic Jesus on a small, spotlit altar in the center of it all.
From that first encounter in Denver until that moment in Indianapolis, this genre of church music has played a role in my own personal prayer and in my ministry. At times I pray with worship music in recorded audio and video form. I participate in prayer gatherings featuring worship music and sometimes help lead these sessions. On an amateur level I can also play and sing some of these songs myself.
In recent decades praise and worship has also continued to be part of the soundtrack of the U.S. Catholic Church. Across all Christian denominations, worship music can be found both in Sunday morning church services and on Spotify playlists. Worship artists often record studio or live versions of their songs, which can find a place streaming on someone’s phone as well as on their lips at church. As the cultural and linguistic face of the church changes and develops, praise and worship music is being creatively adapted to remain an important part of music for the journey.
What Is Praise and Worship Music?
Contemporary worship music arose during the latter part of the 20th century, primarily in non-Catholic churches, in both white and Black communities and then moved into Latino and other recent immigrant communities. One way praise and worship music came more widely into Catholic circles was through ecumenical and Catholic charismatic events and groups. The embodied expressions of prayer common in these settings—such as the raising of hands in prayer—was sometimes passed along together with the music. In many church settings, praise and worship is often used alongside other forms of sacred music, such as traditional hymns, gospel and congregational songs. At times, songs originally written in these other genres are recast in full or in part in a more contemporary worship style.
Most worship music is written in a more or less pop, folk or rock style and is played with the corresponding instrumentation. Guitar, keyboards, bass, drums and individual lead singers using simple harmonies are common. Jeff Rice, who for years served as a parish music director in the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., says the genre broadened over the years “to include more sophisticated songwriting, arranging and production.” Modern worship can vary from a full-on electric and amped sound to a more pared-down acoustic vibe. Often the same songs are adapted in turns to those different arrangements. Acoustic arrangements can sometimes veer in a chamber folk or bluegrass direction, including instruments like the violin/fiddle, cello or mandolin. Some millennial or Gen-Z groups bring electronic pop and dance sounds into the mix.
Lyrically, praise and worship is typically known for intimate prayer from the heart of the believer to God. Sometimes, especially in songs from several decades ago, the words might be taken almost completely from Scripture. More recent songs often still have some scriptural basis but are also what Michael Magree, S.J., a theology professor and musician at Boston College, calls “devotional poetry.” It shows the influence of both the 1980s and ’90s contemporary Christian music scene and pop music in general, blending older worship music styles into a kind of love-songs-meets-praise. These songs are often written in the first-person singular, sung directly to God (sometimes specifically to the Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit). Less frequently, songs are in the first-person plural: “We” sing to God together, or horizontally—believers singing to each other words of encouragement and faith.
As a young adult, I was immediately struck by the intimacy with God modeled by worship songs, a closeness I was invited to enter into by singing these words of simple and direct communication. This is the ultimate goal of worship music. Dave Moore, who founded the Catholic Music Initiative with his wife, Lauren, and also served as director of music for the 2024 Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, puts it this way: “It’s not about loud drums and guitars. It’s not about performing like a secular rock band. It’s about creating an atmosphere that leads hearts to be vulnerable with God. It’s about using the tools and instruments you have to help people pray and encounter God.”
Discerning Devotion
In a Catholic context, discernment is often needed regarding when and how to pray with contemporary worship music. According to Rice, “Pastors and musicians should analyze lyrics to determine if they are theologically worthy of putting on the lips of the assembly and are relevant to the particular celebration and part of the liturgy.”
Members of the Vigil Project are seeking to do just that. Founded to “collaborate with musicians around the world to make music for every moment of the Catholic journey” and to support Catholic musicians, the organization records and leads prayer with music in multiple genres. Vigil Project leaders have pointed out that while some praise and worship music can appropriately be used in parts of the Mass, perhaps more often it can be helpful in Catholics’ devotional and prayer life outside of Mass, in those other important parts of our faith life between Sundays.
“It seems the Holy Spirit is re-awakening Catholics to the nature of devotion,” says Andrea Thomas, the project’s co-director, “To the reality that our personal prayer flows from, and back to, the sacred liturgy—the source and summit of our faith. Music is meant to serve these many different moments of the life of a Catholic from the pew to our homes and the many moments in between.”
“The praise and worship style, seen from a Catholic worldview, is well suited to this devotional expression of the everyday, and we need Catholic music makers to chase excellence in this arena just as much as in the liturgy,” she added.
Some local music leaders are leaning into developing that kind of excellence in Catholic devotional spaces. In November 2024, I attended an event for Catholic musicians in the Baltimore area, organized by local parish music leaders and the recording artists Corrie Marie and Clint Felts. The presentations offered spiritual and practical tips for leading music in a contemporary worship style during an hour of Eucharistic adoration. Much of the content was focused on helping Catholic musicians hone some of the elements of the craft that have long been done with high quality in many non-Catholic congregations. For example: Get a good sound system, and a skilled sound tech to run it; try using projected lyrics on a screen; as a band, defer to and follow the singer in the lead role for each song.
Music Methods
If training is needed for some Catholic musicians to skillfully lead music in the praise and worship genre, it can also be an adjustment for many Catholics when most of their experience of music in church has been that led by a choir or cantor at Sunday Mass. When comparing the experience of a church choir leading a congregation holding hymnals to the experience of a small band leading praise and worship music with lyrics projected on a screen, I have often used the analogy of comparing a classical symphony to a jazz quintet.
Both the choir (with choir director) and symphony (with conductor) tend to follow the music note-for-note and word-for-word from sheet music, moving from verse to verse or part to part with precision and predictability. When done well, the result is beautiful, inspiring and (arguably in both cases) prayerful.
With both the contemporary worship band and the jazz quintet, the flow of the music can be, at least at times, more spontaneous. There is a basic melody line, and some set lyrics or notes. But each time a song is played (or prayed), the musicians—often led in a more informal way by one of their own instrumentalists or singers—can “riff” on the theme. The jazz musicians add innovative solos, extend this or that section, and the audience often applauds solos during the songs. The worship group repeats or loops back to a previous verse or chorus, and the leader sings or speaks additional impromptu words of prayer to God, sometimes directly addressing those gathered and encouraging them to join in the song of prayer.
Here one can note a parallel between both jazz and contemporary worship and the tradition of Black spirituals and Gospel music, with their interaction between audience or congregation and musicians. Again, when done skillfully the results can be aesthetically pleasing and deeply spiritual.
With a balanced combination of musical prowess, good liturgical training and a gift for leading more spontaneous prayer, Catholic praise and worship music leaders discern and distinguish when best to use or not use these various elements. For example, when using a contemporary worship piece appropriate for the opening song of the Mass, the music leader will often follow the verse/chorus pattern of the song as written and not attempt to lead the congregation into extended spontaneous praise as the presider is waiting at the chair to begin Mass. In an extended period of Eucharistic adoration, however, the same music leader can spend more time with the song, adding extended instrumental moments, encouraging people to speak to God from their hearts, and repeating a verse multiple times to allow for a more contemplative prayer experience.
Gathering Genres
Even though many capable church music leaders can make these discerning adaptations, it’s no secret that there is sometimes passionate debate over the role of contemporary worship music in Catholic liturgical and devotional life. In some U.S. Catholic parishes and organizations, it is never heard. In others, it is a staple both during Mass and in other contexts. In a growing number of Catholic settings, both parishes and church movements alike, praise and worship is intentionally being incorporated with other genres such as traditional hymns and post-conciliar liturgical compositions.
One parish now well known for use of contemporary worship music is Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Md. Nearly all Masses at the parish feature music led by a worship band while also incorporating traditional Latin chant for many of the Mass parts. Tom Corcoran, a longtime lay leader at the parish, says, “There should always be the creation of contemporary songs of praise and worship because as Psalm 33:3 says, ‘Sing a new song to the Lord.’ The psalms invite us to write new songs that praise and worship God. If we are going to reach the next generation, we must continue to create music that will resonate with them. Contemporary worship music is successful as long as it continues to use Scripture to teach us about the Lord and remind us of the intimate relationship he wants with us.”
Indeed, contemporary worship music is common in many movements and organizations dedicated to ministering with teenage and young adult Catholics. It has been a staple for decades in youth conferences sponsored nationwide by the Franciscan University of Steubenville, which now regularly draw many thousands of participants each summer. Damascus, a Catholic ministry that sponsors camps and missions for young people, has its own musical arm, Damascus Worship, which composes, leads and records original music. The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (Focus) also incorporates praise and worship into its popular conferences and campus ministry.
In these youth spaces, as well in some parishes, there is a frequent combination of contemporary worship with other liturgical music and traditional hymnody and chant. A common example are holy hours of Eucharistic adoration that include the traditional Latin hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas, “O Salutaris Hostia” and “Tantum Ergo,” during the opening exposition and closing benediction with a series of contemporary songs (and, often, times of silence) in between. This pattern was on display at the Eucharistic Congress in 2024.
Some artists also blend original worship compositions with elements of ancient hymns or well-known Catholic liturgical songs. Matt Maher, arguably the godfather of Catholic contemporary worship, has recorded a full-band cover of “Come to the Water” that adds an original praise-style bridge to the 1978 song by John Foley, S.J. On a 2013 album recorded live in large part, his song “Adoration” includes verses of the “Tantum Ergo” in English.
Dave and Lauren Moore, while releasing and leading music in the praise and worship genre, also intentionally offer original Mass settings with the easily singable melody recorded and released (in Spanish and English) in a variety of arrangements, such as organ/choir, orchestral, contemporary and acoustic. The online albums of their “Mass of Peace” and other settings are organized according to these languages and genres, to make it easy for church music leaders to find the sound they are looking for.
“We lost our preference for the style of music,” says Dave Moore. “Everything became about how we could make the sacred text come to life today through music; it became about how we could make it the most beautiful, simple expression so people could remember it and sing it with ease.”
This balanced and holistic view of music for Catholic liturgical and devotional prayer is, in my opinion, one of the most hopeful and fruitful approaches being led by some of the current generation of Catholic musicians in the United States. It seeks not just to thread the needle of the “liturgy wars” among camps preferring traditional chant, standard Catholic songbook liturgical songs, or praise and worship music, but also to sew together the best these styles have to offer into a tapestry (or maybe more of a quilt) that can amply cover and warm the hearts of a wide variety of worshipers to an encounter with God.
Multicultural and Multilingual
Sometimes, Catholic spaces that are already diverse musically because of ethnic or language diversity can help lead the way in finding this beautiful balance. I was blessed to serve for a time in a large, multicultural parish of the kind becoming more common in many places in the United States. This type of parish dynamic can provoke both challenges and a potentially helpful impetus to break people out of the mold of church music genres they are accustomed to. The ubiquitous drum set and other percussion at a lively Spanish-language Mass can get other Mass-goers to think about adding some rhythm to their organ/piano and cantor format, while the traditional hymns at an English-language Mass might introduce these richly theological texts to some Latino groups for the first time.
Contemporary worship music, which itself is increasingly multilingual and multicultural, can enrich these interactions and foster cross-cultural prayer. Indeed, many worship music artists and groups, including Catholic groups like the Moores’ Catholic Music Initiative and Thomas’s Vigil Project, now often write and record music in both English and Spanish, sometimes in collaboration with other musicians.
Dana Catherine, a Catholic musician originally from North Carolina now based in Nashville, and the Argentine singer Athenas recently collaborated to release a bilingual song based on the two great Commandments: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. The song’s writing and production also included partnerships of native Spanish and English speakers.
“I love that creating a song for both Spanish- and English-speaking communities can bring us together,” says Catherine of the partnership. “Often, we can be very separated in our worship due to language and cultural differences, but our hope is that through this song and others like it, we can come and worship God together.” Athenas adds: “I think working together with Dana and sharing different backgrounds, styles and even languages is a great way to give testimony to how we are one big family in our Catholic Church.”
As a young kid I grew up singing both traditional hymns and ’70s and ’80s Catholic liturgical songs at church. As a young adult, contemporary worship music helped draw me back into the relationship with God that is both the source and the goal of all these genres. Ministering and praying in Spanish as well as English has helped expand my horizons of prayer and music still further. Thanks be to God we all have such a rich and varied soundtrack to draw from for our continuing journey as American Catholics, “singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in [our] hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).
Correction, Nov. 25: This article has been updated to clarify that Dave Moore was the director of music at the 2024 Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.
This article appears in January 2026.
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