It was 2003, the first day of a LifeTeen conference held in Arizona, and whose focus on the Eucharist and outreach to teenagers had reached my own parish in Castle Hill.
Sponsored by the parish priest and generous parishioners—and only four years after my baptism—I remember feeling deep gratitude to have arrived at the home of this global ministry, St Timothy’s Parish, Mesa.
While I was also a little overwhelmed by the scale and energy of all that was on offer, it nonetheless confirmed the centrality of the Eucharist, the Mass and adoration in Christian life.
Here at St Tim’s was a living example that the revitalisation of parish life and the conversion and discipleship of our young people was not only a possibility but a reality that could be brought to life by prayer and those who give of themselves wholly to Christ.
It was at lunch on that first day of the conference that I sat down next to a parishioner who also turned out to be the parish music minister. His name was Matt Maher.
Matt served at St Tim’s parish for more than a decade and would go on to release 13 albums, including hit singles, receive nine Grammy nominations, five Dove Awards and a worldwide following, becoming one of the most influential Catholic artists of our time.
Throughout these years Maher’s love of Christ and the church, and his ecumenical friendships have remained defining qualities of his Catholic apostolate. Those early years of parish-based ministry have grounded this global evangelist in the heart of Christ, Jesus who is encountered not only, or even first and foremost, in stadium events or the stages of World Youth Days or festivals but in the Eucharist we receive each weekend.
Asked about his hopes for young people at the National Eucharistic Congress, on the eve of a night of Adoration before a 50,000 strong crowd, Maher shared:
“We are going to have to contend with the fact that we are going to go home on Sunday… and the very thing that we were adoring we are now receiving. We become living tabernacles.”
“So my hope is that young people and everybody would walk out of here going ‘Oh man, I’m a living tabernacle.’
“Now I have to wrestle with that. Now I have to let the indwelling Christ examine my life and as the Psalms say, ‘search my heart oh Lord (Psalm 139:23).’”
Now living in Nashville with his wife Kristin and three children, Maher has long sought to bring the treasures and beauty of the Church’s tradition to contemporary audiences through his music, with the ultimate end of leading listeners into the very presence of the Lord who calls us to himself.
It is this gift for mediating between the abiding Gospel and a changing culture that has enabled Maher to continue to produce music that continues to speaks to multiple, overlapping generations. It is a craft and sensibility that has seen him recently release five Eucharistic hymns he composed for the Hallow prayer app, whose team is also at the Congress.
Outlining his creative vision, Maher shared “Growing up I’ve always had a deep fondness and sense of awe for sacred polyphony.
“I think when done well, I don’t think there’s a type of music that comes close to it in terms of its transcendent nature.
“However that being said, I do agree with the documents of the Second Vatican Council that talk about the need for inculturation, and the need for songs that rise up out of culture that help give voice to people’s faith. I don’t think it has to be an either/or; I think it should be a both/and.”
Maher concludes that it would be “a travesty” if we were to forget the tradition of sacred polyphony in the church and yet affirms a place for contemporary forms of music that support evangelisation, the great commission given to us by Christ.
“I want my kids to know how to sing [sacred music]. I want them to look at Latin and know how to pronounce it, because it’s beautiful. But I don’t think it should come at the expense of them also not knowing and learning modern expressions of faith, prayer and worship.”
As a Eucharistic revival continues to reshape the church in the United States, it is creative artists such as Maher who are leading the way in this renewal within the church, one that demands the humility to receive and gaze upon Christ alone and the apostolic courage to give voice to him whom we have encountered.