Today I listened to something I’ve known intuitively for some time. The faith is so beautiful that there simply must be absolutely captivating Catholic music out there somewhere, but I never knew where. And at the same time there were 3 songs on my computer that were just that, but I didn’t know if they were Catholic and who sang them. Yesterday I found out by accident. His name is John Michael Talbot.
I’d heard of him somewhere and I was quite surprised to learn he’s a monastic Catholic and that there were no huge controversies about him (at least Wikipedia didn’t mention any:). Well listen to some more of his songs and let me know what you think.
And this one is famous, we’ve even sung it in Finland…
Emil Anton 
If you want some more good Catholic music, somewhat similar to JMT, check out Michael John Poirier. Here’s his website:
http://www.holyfamilynow.com/
And you can order his music or listen to samples here:
http://www.wlp.jspaluch.com/wlp/bios.asp?find_category=&find_description=&find_part_desc=&personid=PRSN00000694
”Be With Us Today” is his latest CD. It’s all good, but my favorite songs are ”I will renew your heart” and ”Light a fire”.
most of Christian bands in my country are Catholic,but I don’t know if they’re captivating enough for you ;), for example there is a band called Pokoj i Dobro,I even went on their concert- it was pretty cool to see franciscans playing electric guitar xD- unfortunately it’s very hard to find their music on the net,. and here is a sample of what we listen to in ”oaza”, just simple, amateurish music and powerful lyrics, for me it is captivating :D http://mielonkajol.wrzuta.pl/audio/ljUbFYxSkg/
And the song ”Catholic Church” was simply brilliant!
Dear Kinga of cooourse Poland is a totally different issue! And the song you linked to is very familiar from pilgrimages:) But good point, I forgot to mention Poland, I had the same experience on pilgrimages, a lot of gooood Catholic music and yes, captivating indeed. Yest the Catholic Church song is good, but its real name isn’t Catholic Church though, it’s just the name of the youtube video. Glad you liked it:)
There is a website devoted to contemporary Catholic music known as GrapeVine at http://www.gvonline.net. GrapeVine is kind of a repository for anything to do with Catholic music. There’s a podcast with about 100 episodes where Catholic artists are interviewed and their music played. And there are videos, articles, blogs, all kinds of stuff. If you’re interested in Catholic music, check out http://www.gvonline.net.
Another interesting site is TopCatholicSongs.com. It’s a blog with lists of songs that fit certain themes of the liturgical calendar. Good stuff there too.
The most beautiful Catholic music is that which corresponds best to the ethos of the Catholic faith. And that music is without a doubt Gregorian chant.
There are also many polyphonic masterpieces that are spiritual and cultural treasures of the Catholic church and reflect the true nature of the Catholic liturgy. The works of Palestrina fall into this category but one of my all-time favourites is the composer Vittoria, who was also a priest and a confidant of St. Teresa of Avila. His music has a transcendent and ageless quality that is simply out of this world.
Unless you make yourself familiar with the kind of music I’ve mentioned – which is the music that popes actively promoted, even writing documents about it – you will never really understand what real Catholic music is about.
>Beautiful Catholic music – JMT
>Today I listened to something I’ve known intuitively >for some time. The faith is so beautiful that there >simply must be absolutely captivating Catholic music