Armed with guitars, drums, bass and a microphone, bands comprised of local priests rocked out in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary on May 20 at Pearl Street Warehouse, a live music venue on The Wharf in Washington D.C.’s waterfront neighborhood. The concert was held on feast day of Mary, the Mother of the Church.
The event description promised, “a mix of alternative, pop, and indie rock was brought to you by nine Catholic parish priests and young adults throughout the Archdiocese of Washington.”
Abbey Schieffer, who came to support the event with friends, is a member of St. Peter’s Young Adults, a group that meets at St. Peter’s Parish on Capitol Hill every Monday night. The group alternates between Bible studies, Eucharistic Adoration, speaker events, and social activities. Schieffer shared why having different events that unite the community is important to the faith.
“It's things like this that allow us to congregate or meet outside of church on Sundays,” Schieffer said. “Sunday is not the only day we could get together, congregate, and enjoy each other’s company.”
Parishioners and fans filled seats and lined the balcony as Father Brendan Glasgow led the crowd in praying the Hail Mary before the first band, Foundation, took the stage with a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling,” followed by Train’s “Drops of Jupiter,” and Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” among other covers the crowd cheered and sang along to.
That band of St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill parishioners included Anebi X. Adoga Jr. on vocals, while Annie Vogel played the keyboard, Elizabeth Mount sang and played guitar, and Cromwell Enage was on drums.
“I think people don't understand that Catholics are just everyday people. I really take pride in having a balanced life. My faith as a Catholic is the source and summit of everything I do. There’s nothing more that I love than participating as a parishioner with the Catholic faith,” Vogel said. “I love having a community to come home to.”
Foundation is typically a praise and worship band, and they changed their usual setlist for the event. They met through St. Peter’s Young Adults.
Father Brendan Glasgow, who organized the event for the second year in a row, said it was important to do something “fun as a Church,” as a community. Father Glasgow – a parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth Parish in Rockville who in July will begin serving as the formation advisor at the Saint John Paul II Seminary in Washington – is the percussionist for Upon This Rock, the event’s headlining act.
The band Upon This Rock includes his brother, Father James Glasgow, Father Nicholas Morrison, Father Patrick Agustin and Father Alexander Wyvill. Father James Glasgow, now a parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Parish in Rockville, will begin serving in July as the Catholic chaplain at the Newman Center at George Washington University. Father Nicholas Morrison is serving as a parochial vicar at St. Peter Parish on Capitol Hill. Father Patrick Agustin, now a parochial vicar at St. Martin of Tours Parish in Gaithersburg, in July will begin serving as the administrator of St. Cecilia Parish in St. Mary’s City and St. Peter Claver in St. Inigoes, Maryland. Father Alex Wyvill is serving as a parochial vicar at St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda. Accompanying that band of priests on guitar was Jamie Ascenzo, a layman.
“We love playing music, my brother (and) my priest friends. The way we enjoy being together is we like to play music. By putting on an event that was also a way to motivate us to make that happen,” Father Brendan Glasgow said. “Last year, we did it with the young adults at St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill. That was a great introduction. Now a lot of us have different assignments, we’ve kind of just expanded it to really just invite everybody.”
The priest added that, “I think it shows maybe a different side of the priesthood in a way that hopefully kind of just expresses joy and fraternity and friendship, and then that you can use all things to glorify God. Hopefully this music can be a little bit a part of that, glorifying God, through our voices, through the songs, but also just (to) have fun.”
Iter, a band also known as Priests in Concert, was up next playing songs such as “Learn to Fly” by the Foo Fighters, “Alive” by Pearl Jam, “Caraluna” by Bacilos, and “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi.
Father Saulo Vicente, the vice-rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Hyattsville, Maryland, sang and played tambourine. Another singer in that band, Father Daniele Rebeggiani, serves as a secretary at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. The band’s guitarist, Father Phi Ilg, serves as the pastor of Holy Family Parish in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland, and the drummer, Father Jan Pietryga, the drummer, is a parochial vicar at Our Lady Help of Christians in Waldorf, Maryland. The keyboardist for Iter, Father John Benson, has recently served as a parochial vicar at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, and in July he will begin serving as the administrator of St. John Vianney Parish in Prince Frederick, Maryland. Also accompanying the band that evening was guitarist Gabriel Barbieri, a layman who is the brother of Father Rafael Barbieri, the spiritual director of Redemptoris Mater Seminary.
“I’m very excited, very happy to be here with the young adults of the Archdiocese of Washington, to put on a show, make them happy, make them inspired, and always dedicating this show to our Mother of God,” Father Vicente said.
Band members throughout the night showed their versatility as they swapped instruments or took on vocals for different songs.
“[We picked] ‘Caraluna’ because we wanted something Latino that would move the crowds, and it’s a super happy song, and we just wanted to give a chance for people to dance and be happy,” Father Rebeggiani said. “I think happiness has a lot to do with what we are about. Christians are fundamentally happy people.”
On stage, Father John Benson spoke about how he started to experience the church when he felt very “alone.” He felt God’s love and was impacted by Pope Benedict’s visit to the United States in 2008. He said the band name Iter means “the way” and refers to the Neocatechumenal Way, a Catholic movement dedicated to adult and family faith formation.
The name of the band Upon This Rock, references how Jesus told St. Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18)
Cover songs by Upon This Rock included “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World, “The Dog Days Are Over” by Florence & the Machine, “One Love” by Bob Marley, and “Awake My Soul” by Mumford and Sons with an encore appearance of Matisyahu’s “One Day.”
