The desert voice: priests that evangelize through music

When this priest comes to the stage, the electric guitar hangs on his shoulder and begins to rumble around riff The message of Christ: “Many people seem to associate the rock To something bad, but what we do is, through music, bring the love of God, ”says Fr. Curry of the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares (Spain) that together with Alberto and Julio – also priests – form the Catholic music group the voice of the desert.

His music – which also sounds like rebellion and protest – is not made for the liturgy, but to be heard in concerts. “Young people are always with a helmet (headset) in the ear.

Fascinated by the magnetism that generates among many young people this type of music that chant every lung, wants to use it to transmit to Jesus Christ.

Therefore, neglect the traditional organ of the Mass to interpret “rhythms with force” through which “to put religious content in the letters and reach the heart direct.”

The power of attraction of a stage

“Maybe I start talking in the middle of the street and nobody will listen to me, but on stage, with music, people approach,” says the priest. And that is when “the time to land” comes, to present the message of the Gospel.

It all started in Alcalá de Henares, where he was being formed as a seminarian with Julio. Alberto was a trainer in the seminar and found them playing the guitar in his room. Then he proposed to sing at the end of one of the diocesan days that are organized every year. “We prepare some songs and sing a little. People liked it a lot,” explains Fr. Curry.

This first concert was a small victory after which “they began to call us from the parishes of the people who had attended the diocesan day to liven up their own meetings with kids.”

They have recorded several CDs and were even touring in the United States. “In the end the voice of one another is passed and they call us to announce God,” he explains.

Nor are missing in the World Youth Days. Until now the voice of the desert has touched in Madrid, in Panama, in Lisbon and “in many other young people.”

Although during the jubilee of young people they have not given concerts, they have dedicated themselves to accompanying the groups of the parishes and the diocese, “encouraging the liturgy a little and sharing joy with young people.”

Confess after a concert rock

During the concerts, the group not only evangelizes with music and its lyrics, “we also explain what we do, what we live and the meaning of the songs,” explains Father Curry.

A kind of catechesis that viscerally shakes those who go to concerts. Between song and song, this priest usually asked the public: “But let’s see, since when do you not confess?”

One day something memorable happened to them. They were giving a concert in a town and “there was an atheist man, who had not approached anything from the church for years but the music caught his attention.”

“I was down there and at the beginning, he began to tell us something a little ugly. But suddenly something touched him in the middle of that concert, and at the end, as we went down, he approached me. He began to cry and said: ‘Father, could I confess to me?

A concrete example of how this music of high decibels can also be a mission powerful tool.

Also in places where pain is everyday

The desert voice has also taken its music to places where pain is everyday as prisons or hospitals.

One day they played in a prison of minors in Extremadura (Spain): a spiritual experience that reached the injured hearts of the young. “They were there, in the auditorium, moving with the rhythm of music and, in the midst of their suffering, we were able to announce a word of salvation,” describes this priest.

“It was beautiful. The kids, maybe other things are not attracted to them, but a concert like this … attracted them, and many came,” he says with emotion.

Another of the concerts took place at the Hospital of Paraplegics in Toledo, where it was also possible to take comfort and joy through music. “Imagine how hard, in such a place, announce to the sick this love of God,” he recalls. Music, he insists, “opens evangelization paths.”