Music Mosaic

Click here for music

Artist Statement:

"Wow, preaching the gospel in the heart of the Roman Catholic church is gonna be rough for you!"  This was a common phrase I heard for months as I waited for my departure day to arrive when I would become a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy.  I started to believe what was being said to me and my cheeks began to tighten, contemplating the immense challenge that awaited me.  Not everyone believed, or at least didn't want me to be discouraged, that it would be impossible to baptize Italian Catholics though.  My father and my bishop were quick to counsel me that no matter where I would go, people will be searching for the truth.  I took faith in their words and boy were they correct. 

I soon found out that in Italy that not every Catholic was as devout to their beliefs as the world thinks.  We quickly realized in trying to cite the Bible, that most the people we met, had never even read the Bible outside of when then were young and attended hobby classes or day care at the nearby Parocchia.  What was once a large staple and foundation of the Italian culture is now fading.  For thousands of years, lives were lost, cathedrals constructed, frescoes were painted and statues molded as by products of faith in something divine.  I have never before seen so many beautiful buildings, attention to detail, and jaw-droppingly large centerpieces constructed on behalf of faith (no, not even in relief society).  Now, merely incense covered antiques, these masterpieces are just history; a history that many Italians wouldn't rather care about.  

Coins slots line the chapels so one can pay for a candle to light which will bring them blessings.  Gift shops, nestled in the corners of the entrances also quickly show the incredulity and confusion that has come over the years, corrupting what so many ancestors held dear and sacrificed greatly for.  It is sad to see how convenient and faithless, faith has become in mainstream Italy.  Out of tradition, they attend twice a year, on Christmas and Easter, dressed in the fanciest of European fashion, wine bottles in hand for the after-mass parties.  This is the why I have posted the pictures I have posted with the accompanying music.  The song. "With a Purpose" by John Seehan features the typical organ riff one might hear in mass but with more hip hop beats than organ.  In my mind, I saw the organ as a symbol of worship and devotion which was sharply, but tastefully combined with the flashiness of today's music.  I imagine that this is how many Italians view the traditions of there fathers; looking past the seriousness and right to the partying and worldly attractions that is turning into the modern universal symbol of worship and sacrifice.