At the heart of Sinéad O’Connor’s new memoir is her sense of transcendence and her longing for it, as well as the depth of her religious imagination since childhood.
Music
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Mandolinist and singer-songwriter Chris Thile writes psalms for those who struggle to believe — or belong
In “Laysongs,” mandolinist Chris Thile lays theatrics and sea captains aside and sings simply and honestly about his struggle to believe.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
‘Donda’ review: Kanye West is our generation’s Richard Wagner
Like it or not, Kanye is our Wagner—a master architect of pure spectacle and a man whose unhinged brilliance confronts us all.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Covid-19 took music from our Masses. Now it’s (slowly) coming back.
As vaccination rates permit the lifting of some Covid-19 restrictions, congregations are easing back into singing. Here’s what music ministers have learned over the past year.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
A new book examines Sting’s enduring Catholic imagination
Evyatar Marienberg, a historian of religion at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, has written a book about Sting’s Catholic imagination and how it fueled his creativity.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Whatever and ever Amen: Two Gen-X Catholics remember classic retreat songs.
Did the singer-songwriter era come about specifically to fill a demand by retreat directors for a poignant soundtrack to accompany the spiritual epiphanies of 16-year-olds?
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
St. Augustine meets America’s Got Talent: The spirituality of Nightbirde’s viral hit “It’s OK”
Nightbirde recognizes the habit of trying to fix things on one’s own. She sings, “Don’t know why I take the tightrope and cry when I fall.”
Posted inArts & Culture, News
Famous German Catholic boys’ choir to add separate choir for girls
One of Germany’s most famous Catholic boys’ choirs, the Regensburg Cathedral Choir, plans to establish a separate choral group for girls for the first time in its more than 1000-year history.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Túpac Shakur at 50: Remembering an underdog prophet
Túpac Shakur is widely recognized as a musical pioneer. On what would be his 50th birthday, it is time to recognize him as a prophet as well.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Happy 80th birthday, Bob Dylan, teacher of the American soul
Bob Dylan, who turns 80 on May 24, expanded my musical and conceptual horizons from my college days onward.