Salt + Light Blog

We are all familiar with award ceremonies –the Oscars, the Junos, the Grammys, the Genies and Geminis – there are also Catholic film and TV awards, the Gabriels – for the last two years S+L TV has won the award for TV station of the year – but have you heard of Catholic music awards? They are the Unity Awards and this year the ceremony will take place in Calgary, August 27th and 28th.  Listen to a recent S+L Radio interview with event organiser Denis Grady:

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There are some 30 categories and among the Canadian (and S+L Radio guest) nominees are, Critical Mass, for group of the year, their song Tantum Ergo, for Devotional Song of the Year, and their song Devotion, for Liturgical/Sacramental Song of the Year; Janelle for Female Vocalist of the Year, and her song What I Gotta Say, for Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year; Chris Bray for New Artist of the Year, his album The Worship Album for Praise and Worship Album of the Year, and his song Called, for Praise and Worship Song of the Year; Critical Mass’ album Body Language and David MacDonald’s album He Rose Again for Modern Rock/Alternative Album of the Year; David MacDonald’s song Oui Je le Veux for International Song of the Year and his music videos Life is the Only Choice and Holy of Holies for Music Video/DVD of the Year. Good luck to all the nominees!

For more information on the Unity Awards conference and Gala, go to www.ucmva.com and I promise a full report when I return- the days will be jam-packed with concerts, workshops and networking. For-sure-highlights are to be Tony Melendez, Ceili Rain, Jerry and Cricket Aull, Fr. Bob Mitchell, OFM, and the Priests Panel.

And look for me, if you’re planning on attending. Would love to say hello.

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Pedro Guevara-Mann

Tonight’s edition of Perspectives features an interview segment with Sparrow Records’ newest gem, Audrey Assad.

A recent convert to Catholicism and a New York City suburb native, Audrey told us about her vision for Catholic music and about how we should not be afraid to set the bar high.

As mentioned in a previous post, her newest album, The House You’re Building, is proof of her strong convictions.

The album has been eagerly received by Catholic and non-Catholic fans alike (the album’s first single received one of iTunes strongest debuts on the Christian/Gospel Singles chart) and having toured already with the likes of Matt Maher and Chris Tomlin, it appears that Audrey will be sticking around for a while.

“A lot of new artists come and go in this business,” says Charlie Lowell of Jars of Clay, “Audrey Assad will not be one of those- she’s a refreshing artist- a voice comforting and challenging together. Her melodic sensibilities are infectious and she communicates God’s caring and creative hear in a way that cuts through the day-to-day mess of life. It will be a privilege to share the stage with Audrey, and to watch her grow as an artist over the years.”

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with Audrey about her art as vocation, about her convictions on the nature of “Catholic” music and about her dreams for the future.

Below is a complete transcript of our discussion.

S+L: Audrey, thanks so much for agreeing to speak with me today. This is a really big deal; your first Nashville-produced CD especially given that your producer actually works with Marc Broussard, Natasha Beddingfield and Brooke Fraser to name a few…and the album’s first single did so well on iTunes when it first debuted. I can imagine it must feel kind of surreal for you. Can you tell us a little bit about the path that led you to where you are now and how you feel about making the journey?

AA: I’ve been a musician my whole life but I’ve always kind of had it as a hobby until I was 19 which was 8 years ago because I’m 27 now. And I had this sort of awakening at 19 to many things particularly in a spiritual way to Jesus. But also, I think I figured out that music was sort of my gifting and not just something to do on the side. So since then, I’ve literally for 8 years just been writing and singing and plugging away kind of with no strategy per se. The only think I knew was that eventually I needed to make a record which I ended up doing independently in 2008 .That was the beginning of the process with all the record label stuff and that was what got the attention of the people I work with now (that 5 song EP that we put out independently with some friends of mine that worked on it with me). That whole project cost about $7000 and then a week later, Sparrow records was on the phone and two years after that, here we are. Read more…

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Jenna Murphy

Listening to these people on the streets in Whitehorse made me think a lot about why we celebrate fathers (and mothers) and why it’s important to do so. Not so much that I have to thank my own father for what he’s done for me, my brother and our sisters, what he sacrificed for us (although that’s important too), but to celebrate fatherhood in general.

It’s around this time of the year that we hear (mainly from groups like Focus on the Family) about the “crisis of fatherhood.” I mentioned this to a friend the other day and he sarcastically threw it right back at me, “Crisis?” as if I was making a big deal out of nothing.

But the reality that an estimated 23.6 million children, 32.3% of the world’s population, live in the absence of their biological father, cannot be ignored. Note these other statistics:

• Children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor.
• Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.
• Children from single parent homes have more physical and mental health problems than children who live with two married parents.
• Boys in single parent homes have more illnesses than girls in single parent homes.
• Children in single-parent families are two to three times as likely as children in two-parent families to have emotional and behavioural problems.
• Three out of four teenage suicides occur in households where a parent has been absent.
• Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.
• Adolescent females between the ages of 15 and 19 years reared in homes without fathers are significantly more likely to engage in premarital sex than adolescent females reared in homes with both a mother and a father. (source www.fathers.com)

The list goes on. Whether causation can be proven or merely correlation, I don’t think these statistics can be ignored.

On April 9th we aired a Perspectives: The Weekly Edition episode on men. Our guests were Fr. Chris Valka, Jason Genaro and Jay Wall. We spoke a lot about the intrinsic God-designed differences between men and women. Afterward, Jason and I continued our conversation (for about another couple of hours) with respect to fatherhood. Jason was very clear about why God is Father. That is not a coincidence. Jesus was very clear about calling God “Father: – that’s not because of the patriarchal society of the day. There is something very male and very fatherly about God. But what is that? (I’d love to hear your comments on that.) What I do know is that there is something about fatherhood that’s important, not just that we all need fathers, but there’s something Godly about it.

Read more…

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Pedro Guevara-Mann

Unbelievable, but true, last week, Salt + Light Radio turned 50. We’ve been doing this program for a year now and it’s time to thank you all for being with us, for listening, for sending your comments (we love comments) and for supporting us through your words and prayers.

To commemorate our “golden anniversary,” for the next two weeks (January 2nd and January 9th) we are playing highlight interviews of this past year. So, if you’re new to S+L Radio, it’s a good chance to get to hear what we do best. If you’ve been with us for a while now, we invite you to remember and celebrate with us.

Remember, Saturdays 10pm (ET) on the Catholic Channel, Sirius 159 and XM 117 and podcasting at www.saltandlighttv.org/radio.

Thanks for being with us and may you be open to embrace God’s grace this new year!

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Pedro Guevara-Mann

It seems that every year we have the same discussion around this time: what is the real meaning of Christmas? and let’s keep Christ in Christmas. There are even campaigns to boycott department stores that refuse to acknowledge the “reason for the season.” It’s so easy to jump onto that band wagon.

To add to this, “Christmas” starts right after U.S. Thanksgiving. In Canada, some stores already have Christmas merchandise and decorations after Halloween. On my street we’ve had houses with lights for a month already; some of my neighbours have had their tree up since the end of November. I am of the belief that the lights should be lit on Christmas Eve, and then we celebrate Christmas during the Christmas season, not during the Advent season.

There are at least two radio stations that claim to be Toronto’s Official Christmas station. For a month now they’ve been playing Christmas music exclusively. In previous years I could not stand this. Nothing spoils your Advent as having to listen to Wham’s Last Christmas every day starting on December 3rd!

But while driving home the other night I realised something quite profound: at no other time of the year will radio stations play Christian music. What I mean here is that Christmas music is Christian music. I don’t mean Mariah Carey singing All I Want For Christmas is You. I mean the Barenaked Ladies and Sarah MacLachlan singing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I mean David Bowie and Bing Crosby singing Little Drummer Boy-Peace on Earth. Regardless of the intent, these lyrics are helping us focus on the reason for the season and proclaiming Jesus Christ.

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Pedro Guevara-Mann

Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of El Salvador who was assassinated in 1980 and was an incredible witness to human rights, had a heart that was always drawn to the poor and neglected.

On December 24th, 1978, three years before he was killed, he writes:

This is the Christian’s joy: I know that I am a thought in God, no matter how insignificant I may be – the most abandoned of beings, one no one thinks of. Today, when we think of Christmas gifts, how many outcasts no one thinks of! Think to yourselves, you that are outcasts, you that feel you are nothing in history: “I know that I am a thought in God.”

Would that my voice might reach the imprisoned like a ray of light, of Christmas hope – and might it say also to you, the sick, the elderly in the home for the aged, the hospital patients, you that live in shacks and shantytowns, you coffee harvesters trying to garner your only wage for the whole year, you that are tortured: God’s eternal purpose has thought of all of you. He loves you, and, like Mary, incarnates that thought in his womb.

No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God – for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God.

This Christmas season, take the time to remind yourself over and over again, why you need God.

This is one of nine reflections that are accompanied by music for the S+L Radio show program’s Saturday, December 26th edition. This regular weekly program airs Saturdays at 10 pm ET/7 pm ET on the Catholic Channel, Sirius Satellite Radio 159 and XM Radio 117. For podcasts, or for more information on S+L Radio, visit HERE.

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Mary Rose Bacani

As many of you know, we’re spreading our Catholic message of hope to listeners of XM and Sirius Satellite Radios. In case you didn’t know, through a partnership with the Catholic Channel (Sirius Satellite Radio 159 and XM Radio 117), Salt +Light Television has a weekly program, Saturdays at 10pm ET called, appropriately enough, S+L Radio!

Every week host Pedro Guevara-Mann brings you inspiring messages, insightful interviews, interesting commentary and music! Kris Dmytrenko and Mary Rose Bacani join Pedro with news updates and Catholic events listings of the Church in Canada.

This week we’re doing something a little different. John Michael Talbot is probably the most successful Catholic artist in the world, with over four million albums sold world-wide. This week we offer listeners a special edition of S+L Radio: music and reflections with John Michael Talbot. (on a side note, you’ll also want to watch for John Michael’s Advent Reflections on our network beginning next week)

You can also listen to previous episodes and podcasts on our radio page HERE. You may want to check out last week’s episode. For the third time, a private members bill is being presented in the Canadian Parliament that would legalise assisted suicide. On the November 21st episode, Michèle Boulvà, of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, explains what it would mean if this bill was passed. Our featured artist of the week is singer/songwriter Tony Melendez.

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Pedro Guevara-Mann

If you turned your Sirius radio dial to the Catholic Channel a week ago Saturday, you were privy to an exclusive preview of Joe Zambon’s new album “There and Here”. As S+L Radio’s featured artist, the Ottawa-based singer-songwriter shared three tracks from his third release, which officially dropped the following day. Host Pedro Guevara-Mann accurately described him one of the “newest, freshest sounds on the Catholic music scene”.

Having gotten to know Joe and his music this past year, I joined four enthusiastic friends for a road trip to Ottawa for the CD release. A near-capacity crowd at the Bronson Centre delighted in Zambon’s performance, shared with his characteristic warmth, sincerity and humility. Highlights included the poignant opener “On the table” about a breakdown caused by living apart from God and the meditative track “God is love”.

If you missed the October 3rd S+L Radio program, you can download the podcast for free on iTunes. (Pedro’s telephone interview with Zambon occurs at the 32:00 mark.) “There and Here” is selling now at Salem Storehouse in Ottawa and will be available for purchase on iTunes and CD Baby by Thanksgiving.

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Kris Dmytrenko

Salt + Light Radio returns for a second season after a bit of a change of pace with the Summer Edition. Kris Dmytrenko returns as our news producer, keeping us up to date with everything that’s of interest to Catholic Canadians – this week he will focus primarily on the reactions to the Kennedy Funeral. Michele Nuzzo also returns as our events producer. She takes us across the country looking at any events that may be of interest to Canadian Catholics (you can let Michele know about any event you want us to know about – just email us at radio@saltandlighttv.org)

Our feature interview is with our very own movie nun, Sr. Marie-Paul Curley, of the Daughters of St. Paul. She has just returned from the Montreal World Film Festival and is now at the Toronto International Film Fest. Basic question to her: what is a nun doing at a film festival!?

And our featured artist is Filipina-Canadian soprano, Lilac Caña, who is releasing two new albums this coming week, Blossom and Believe: Songs of Worship and Praise and will be having a CD release concert on Sept 19th.

And we’re giving away a copy of Sarah Hart’s new album SaintSong. So tune in and find out how you can win this wonderful new album, with songs based on the writings of the saints.

So that’s airing Saturday, September 12th on the Catholic Channel, Sirius satellite radio #159 and XM Radio #117, and on the Internet right here at www.saltandlighttv.org/radio. The program is also available as a podcast on itunes, so go ahead and subscribe!

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Pedro Guevara-Mann

As many of you already know, S+L Radio has been taking a bit of a break this summer and have been digging into our archives to bring you some of the best of S+L programming. We are proud to be able to bring you, for the next three (and final) weeks of the Summer, three selections from Nothing More Beautiful.

Nothing More Beautiful is a series from the Archdiocese of Edmonton with a catechesis and a witness talk that aims to renew the faithful’s relationship with Christ. We begin this week, August 22nd at 10pm ET, with the first of the Nothing More Beautiful sessions withArchbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton and Lea Singh of the Ottawa-based Canadian Organization for Life and Family. The topic is In the Image and Likeness of God.

Next week, September 1st, we continue with Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver and S+L TV Producer Mary Rose Bacani who speak on the topic Our New Life in Jesus Christ.

On the week of September 7, S+L Radio: The Summer Edition concludes with our final selection from Nothing More Beautiful. Bishop John Corriveau of Nelson, BC and Patrick Stewart of the Marian Centre in Edmonton, speak on the topic Towards a Culture of Life.

These Catechesis sessions and witness talks are extremely interesting, insightful and entertaining. Remember you can listen to them at www.saltandlighttv.org/radio or download them for podcasting.

S+L Radio returns with its second season on the week of September 12.

Enjoy the rest of the Summer!

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Pedro Guevara-Mann