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Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University

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THE PSALMS

The Psalms, divinely inspired, are universal in their message. Frances Hogan's insights into some of these sacred songs throw light upon the spiritual life, and upon the difficulties of human experience. People who lived 2500 years ago can still share the riches of their lives with us.

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 ENCYCLICAL LETTER
DEUS CARITAS EST
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS
PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON CHRISTIAN LOVE
INTRODUCTION

1. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us”.

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APOSTOLIC LETTER
THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT
OF THE HOLY FATHER
JOHN PAUL II
TO THOSE RESPONSIBLE
FOR COMMUNICATIONS

1. The rapid development of technology in the area of the media is surely one of the signs of progress in today’s society. In view of these innovations in continuous evolution, the words found in the Decree of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Inter Mirifica, promulgated by my venerable predecessor, the servant of God Paul VI, December 4, 1963, appear even more pertinent: “Man’s genius has with God’s help produced marvelous technical inventions from creation, especially in our times. The Church, our mother, is particularly interested in those which directly touch man’s spirit and which have opened up new avenues of easy communication of all kinds of news, of ideas and orientations.”[1]
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Apostolic Letter The Rapid Development to those Responsible for...

 

Inside the Vatican Magazine

Inside the Vatican is the world’s most well-informed, comprehensive monthly magazine on what is going on inside the Vatican, at the heart of the Roman Catholic Church.
Produced by journalists and scholars with many decades of experience reporting from Rome, Inside the Vatican attempts to "think with the Church" (sentire cum ecclesia) but is not an official Church publication. This magazine is Catholic but editorially independent of any faction or interest group, in or outside of the Church.
Inside the Vatican magazine is both a window on Rome, and a doorway to the Vatican itself. It is a window through which you can see the day-to-day activities of the Vatican; it is a door you can enter to encounter a fascinating variety of people and ideas.

www.insidethevatican.com

Singing priest with the voice of an angel

Fr Liam Lawton’s music has consoled survivors of Omagh, 9/11 and the tsunami and he believes his music has spiritual power. By Sinéad Flanagan

Fr Liam Lawton’s music touches people’s hearts. His songs have consoled survivors of the Omagh bombing, the 9/11 attacks in New York and victims of last year’s tsunami in south east Asia.
The young priest has a great belief in the spiritual power of his music. “Music has a great ability to heal and transcend barriers,” he says. And he has had various reactions from people about his music to prove this.
His song ‘Silence and the Sorrow’ has been associated with the Omagh bombing. He recalls one night in Donegal when “a man approached me after a concert crying. He was the brother of the man who lost his wife, daughter, her unborn twins and his grandson at Omagh and he wanted the words of the song.”
The song had touched his heart deeply and the words offered special comfort. On another occasion a woman whose husband was buried in rubble under the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 listened to his song ‘The Cloud’s Veil’ and she put it on repeat for seven hours. “She kept listening and believing, and her husband was miraculously pulled out alive.

Inspiration is one problem that many writers have experienced from time to time but for Fr Lawton this has never been a problem.
He says his greatest source for this is “human interaction”.
Writing songs is not just about putting emotional words on a page, however, he says. “For me I have to have a reason behind them”.
Around the time of the tsunami RTÉ’s Joe Duffy Show invited him to write a song to help survivors. “I had only one day to do it so I turned on the television and there was a Sky News report on. It showed a man looking for his ten year old boy and the camera was following him.
Then he came to a bank of photos and sees a picture of his son and calls over to the camera crew.”
He realised then that he wanted to emulate the emotion that had been brought into his sitting room in those few seconds through his music. And so he sat down and began to write.
He has progressed from being a singer and songwriter to a double platinum selling artist over the last 18 months, having sung with top-name stars and for Pope John Paul II.
Along with this he has just released his 10th album ‘Time’ and began a Christmas tour last weekend throughout Ireland which has left him with little time for contemplation... only inspiration.
‘Time’ was recorded both here and in Prague alongside the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra which was conducted by Arnie Roth, who has mastered the music soundtracks for many films.
With the help of Gary Fry an arranger who Fr Lawton had met in Chicago, the songs included a string arrangement and have a more contemporary twist than those in many of his other albums.
Other voices on the album include Roisin O’Reilly, Aoife Ferry and Nigel Connell who joins with him on a number of the songs. Mick Lally, former star of Glenroe also gave a hand as he read a monologue on one of the tracks.
Fr Lawton’s music caught the ears of EMI in March last year when he signed a contract with them.
His first album with them had a more upbeat, modern style than his previous music and had many other Irish artists performing on it also.
These included the likes of Brian Kennedy, Moya Brennan, The Celtic Tenors to mention just a few.
He wrote the songs specifically to suit each one of their voices and this was a significant
factor in its success.
Another factor is his ability to pull out all the stops when making his music. He admits he is a “perfectionist”.
To ensure he gives the music his best he employs the best directors and orchestras that he can get and the combination of these factors along with his own talents has made his music what it is today.
His Christmas tour which began in Kilkenny last weekend is due to play throughout the country both North and South of the border with the finalé on the 19th December in the National Concert Hall.
Fr Lawton has a wealth of experience of being on the road as he has performed in Australia, the US, the UK and across Europe.
Having performed in the Vatican last year at the memorial to Pope John Paul II, many expect to see him there again in the future.
Fr Lawton has been making music since his childhood days in Edenderry in Co Offaly where he grew up with three brothers and one sister although he only came to prominence in the last decade.
His grandmother on his father’s side was a traditional Irish singer while his grandmother was a concertina player while several of his uncles played in The Cunningham Brothers.
So having come from a musical background the transition into music came naturally to the young priest.
He began in the NUI Maynooth studying Arts and then theology which led him to the seminary.
In 1984 he was ordained and served in Carlow Cathedral Parish and Knockbeg College where he did a H-Dip and progressed to teaching.
However, while he enjoyed this he realised his true calling was to make music and so he pursued his spiritual sound. As a child the fact of having an identical brother drew the limelight to him as their antics made them somewhat of a “novelty act” in their area.
His last album ‘Another World’ sold almost 40,000 albums and great things are also expected from the latest release.
While he is aware that he has gone a different route to traditional Catholic priests he says “you can minister to people in many different ways. People will find words that will console them (through music) and inspire them rather than telling them what they should do. I’ve taken a sacred space and presented it in a new way. People are hungry for spiritual music. I’ve had standing ovations at all my concerts in the past two years.”
He believes instead of preaching “the way forward is to walk with the people and talk and reach out to them.”
Fr Lawton is optimistic about the future and is aiming to produce a new liturgical album in the spring.
He plans also to continue raising money for various charities through his music and hopes his songs will reach out to people the way they have done so in the past.

www.liamlawton.com