Group That Transformed Catholic Music Is Back on Tour

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The St. Louis Jesuits are back. Although they’ve been called a religious version of the Beatles, there’s a good chance most people haven’t heard of this liturgical musical ensemble. But anyone attending a Roman Catholic Mass since the mid-1970s has probably sung more than a few of their well-known […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The St. Louis Jesuits are back.

Although they’ve been called a religious version of the Beatles, there’s a good chance most people haven’t heard of this liturgical musical ensemble.


But anyone attending a Roman Catholic Mass since the mid-1970s has probably sung more than a few of their well-known songs, including “Earthen Vessels” and “Lift Up Your Hearts.”

Susan Sarandon sang their memorable song “Be Not Afraid” just before Sean Penn’s character was to be executed in the movie “Dead Man Walking.” And their music was performed both at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration and President Ronald Reagan’s funeral.

Now, for the first time in nearly 20 years, the St. Louis Jesuits _ the young seminarians who in the mid-1970s transformed Catholic liturgical music, culminating in the album “Earthen Vessels” that sold a million copies _ are back with a tour that stops in Washington, St. Louis, Anaheim, Calif., and St. Charles, Ill.

The group also has produced its first recording since that era, a 12-song collaboration titled “Morning Light.”

On Saturday (May 13), the group’s members will be heralded as “the fathers of contemporary American liturgical music” when they receive honorary degrees at commencement ceremonies at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.

The original St. Louis Jesuits _ Tim Manion, Dan Schutte, John Foley, Bob Dufford and Roc O’Connor _ began their musical careers at Jesuit-run St. Louis University, where they composed and sang liturgical music while studying to become Jesuit priests. Beginning in the 1970s, the group produced more than 100 songs in a 10-year span, producing “Earthen Vessels” and other albums that included “A Dwelling Place” and “Gentle Night.”

The group’s members would write independently, coming together occasionally to practice and record. Recognized as a musical powerhouse, the group was cited by Cashbox for “significant and lasting contributions to gospel music over the last 20 years.”

The group produced its final album, “The Steadfast Love,” in 1984, then split up to pursue solo albums and religious careers. Manion dropped out of the seminary and married, Schutte left the Jesuits to pursue a musical career, and Foley, Dufford and O’Connor worked in campus ministry and academics at Jesuit colleges across the United States.


Still, liturgical music was in their blood: Foley churned out well-known songs such as “The Cry of the Poor” and “For You Are My God”; Schutte wrote “On Eagle’s Wings” and became composer in residence at the University of San Francisco.

The notion of a group reunion probably never would have emerged except for a music convention where four of the St. Louis Jesuits got back on stage for the first time in 17 years.

The 2001 convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians in Washington “was the seeding moment for our tour,” Schutte said in a phone interview. “We were asked to be part of that retrospective of music in the church, and at the end of the conference, they announced that the St. Louis Jesuits were here to help celebrate.”

Schutte said they were deeply moved by the convention-goers’ response to their performance of his song “City of God,” with everyone in the audience standing and singing along with him, Foley, Dufford and O’Connor. “A lot of the people there were baby boomers who grew up with the wonderful moments following Vatican II, where the church’s doors were opened and liturgy was being fashioned that would connect with people’s lives.”

The music written and performed by the St. Louis Jesuits served as a kind of anchor for that liturgical renewal, Schutte said.

“At that point, we began to think we ought to consider doing something more together,” he said. “It took us a couple more years to actually get together to meet, which we did in 2003 in San Francisco. We spent a week trying to discern for ourselves whether this was a good idea. Should we just leave the experience in 2001 alone as one of those special moments? We asked each other if we had anything at this moment in history to say to people on their journey of faith.”


The result of that reflection was their seventh recording, “Morning Light,” the fruits of a gathering in Portland, Ore., where each man brought new songs he had written. After recording 20 tunes, the group settled on the final 12 pieces that went onto the CD.

The current tour, which ends this month, highlights both revered songs from the St. Louis Jesuits’ original repertoire as well as new works.

Will they continue to work together?

“I think there was a vacuum of (liturgical music) material when we first got started,” Schutte said. “But that’s not true today. There is plenty of new music available today. So, as to the future, I think it’s wait and see for now. My life is full without the St. Louis Jesuits right now, as it is for all of us. It would be important to see if anything beyond (the new CD and current tour) would fit into what we already are doing.”

KRE/PH END O’CONNOR

Editors: To obtain photos of the St. Louis Jesuits, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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