• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Members of the St. Agnes Cathedral Chorale of Rockville Centre, N.Y., sing as they participate in a Eucharistic procession in New York City Oct. 11, 2022. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Eucharistic Revival songwriting competition seeks to inspire Catholic music

January 18, 2023
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News
Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Bishops, Feature, News, World News

A songwriting competition aims to inspire new Catholic music as a part of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Eucharistic Revival initiative.

The Eucharistic Revival Musical Competition, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis, seeks entries from Catholic composers, poets and songwriters for Catholic music, with a particular emphasis on texts that focus on the Eucharist or the church’s unity as the body of Christ, according to a Jan. 17 announcement from the USCCB.

“Music has this really unique ability to really capture the heart of the mystery of the Eucharist,” Marilyn Santos, associate director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis, told OSV News.

Bishop Thomas R. Zinkula of Davenport, Iowa, carries the monstrance with the Eucharist over the Mississippi River on Government (Arsenal) Bridge from Davenport to Rock Island, Ill., Oct. 8, 2022, during a bistate eucharistic procession. (CNS photo/Jennifer Willems, The Catholic Post)

Throughout the ages, music has been a beautiful way of “expressing our faith,” she said.

The people of God have always sung, she said. “If you think back in the Old Testament, David danced and the Israelites sang their praises.”

Launched last year, the National Eucharistic Revival is a three-year campaign by the U.S. bishops to increase the Catholic understanding of and devotion to Jesus’ real presence in Eucharist. It was prompted by studies showing that only 30-40 percent of Catholics profess that belief, and that only 15 percent of Catholics go to Mass every Sunday.

Santos said music can help the faithful carry the mystery of the Eucharist “with us in our hearts and in our heads.”

In announcing the contest Jan. 17, the U.S. bishops said they are seeking submissions for hymns and a theme song. A winning submission in each category is expected to be featured at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, as well as at diocesan Eucharistic Revival events. Winning composers will receive a $2,500 cash prize. A $25 entry fee per submission will offset some logistics-related expenses, such as travel costs for volunteer judges, Santos said.

Submissions will be judged on “poetry, musicality, creativity, theological and doctrinal soundness, beauty, appropriateness for liturgical use, and expression of the mission of the Eucharistic Revival (as applicable),” the announcement stated.

They will be considered by a panel of judges, including representatives from Oregon Catholic Press, the Society for Catholic Liturgy, Source and Summit, the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, and GIA Publications/World Library Publications.

Tim Glemkowski, executive director of the National Eucharistic Congress, said in a statement that the contest “is just the beginning of a number of initiatives on the horizon for the Revival in 2023 that celebrate the beauty and mystery of the Eucharist.”

“Beauty is the mark of a loving God, and we are excited to see creative expressions from talented Catholic artists that embrace the beauty of Christ and give new light, color, and voice to the truths of our faith,” he said.

Submissions are being accepted through April 21, with winners announced June 9. More information, including guidelines and submission instructions, is available at eucharisticcongress.org/musicalcompetition.

Santos told OSV News she hopes the contest might help open doors to Catholics who want to pursue music as a vocation.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful,” she said, “to discover these new evangelists who use music as their medium of conveying the message?”

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington.

Read More Arts & Culture

Franciscans in Holy Land advance next phase of Jerusalem’s Terra Sancta Museum

Theater program hits new highs at Immaculate Conception

Leap of faith: Jesuit priest is a master of Irish song and dance

Young organist at Cathedral of Mary Our Queen is ‘remarkable talent’

Are Catholics ready for the new AI evangelization?

‘Silent Night’ put town on map; chapel memorializing carol draws tourists

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Kate Scanlon

Our Sunday Visitor is a Catholic publisher serving millions of Catholics globally through its publishing and communication services.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day
  • Hold the tuna casserole; pass the crab cake this Lent
  • Theater program hits new highs at Immaculate Conception
  • Trainor to retire from post as Mount St. Mary’s president in 2024
  • Movie Review: ’65’

| Latest Local News |

Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81

RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints

Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day

| Latest World News |

Legendary communist-era priest, Father Blachnicki, was murdered, Polish authorities confirm

Do not be afraid to be a witness to God’s love, pope says

Welcoming migrants, refugees is first step toward peace, pope says

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Legendary communist-era priest, Father Blachnicki, was murdered, Polish authorities confirm
  • Do not be afraid to be a witness to God’s love, pope says
  • Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?
  • Papa: Acoger a migrantes y refugiados es el primer paso hacia la paz
  • Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81
  • Welcoming migrants, refugees is first step toward peace, pope says
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Good politics brings people together, generates care for others, pope says
  • Wyoming becomes first state to ban abortion pills

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED