CW book winner, next giveaway

Congrats to Corey Masters for winning the copy of Christopher West's book, "The Good News About Sex and Marraige."

Our next giveaway is a copy of Franciscan Father Stan Fortuna's first rap CD, "Sacro Song." I've had the blessing of interviewing Father Stan before and serving on a Youth 2000 retreat team with him, and he is a powerful evangelizer. Unlike so many artists who try to reach kids with a Christian message with secular means but come up with generic product, Father Stan knows a good beat and is uncompromising in his message. There's also an element of humor in his music at times. "Sacro Song," to me, was the first Catholic rap CD to "get it." This friar reaches youth and young adults like nobody I've ever seen. Particular favorites are "Zipper Zone," "F.A.M.I.L.Y." and "Lord Have Mercy."

Like most hip hop, some of it sounds a little dated nearly 10 years after its release, but much of it still holds up. Father Stan was smart and took rappers, singers and musicians from the projects surrounding his friary in the Bronx and used their talents to proclaim the Gospel. And he's a heck of a musician and has some excellent jazz and funk records (he was a professional musician in NYC prior to joining the Friars of the Renewal).

At the time, I thought this was the beginning of a new Catholic musical revolution, but sad to say, I haven't seen much else out there worth checking out. I've lost touch with Crispin, whose first couple of records of acoustic, funk and jazz music were excellent. Another band I've pushed here is The Innocence Mission. The musicians are Catholic, not preachy and share beautifully of the joys and sorrows in the little moments of everyday life. They're so good that they have won a fan base among the cynical, relativistic indie rock world. They're almost like a guilty pleasure for some artists. I'd say they're my favorite Catholic artist, even though they don't promote themselves that way. The guitarist, Don Peris, just released an excellent instrumental acoustic record of Christmas hymns, with proceeds benefiting the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Gotta love that.

So, e-mail me at editor@coloradocatholicherald.com if you would like to be in the drawing for this CD. Past winners of Herald contests are not eligible for the rest of 2007, unfortunately.