Westphalia music minister offers CD of original, uniquely Catholic music
By Mark Haney
The Catholic Times
PEWAMO — Some musicians seek fame and fortune in a headlong pursuit of platinum-selling albums and viral videos.
Brian Flynn just wants to get into a hymnal.
The music minister at St. Mary Parish in Westphalia recently released his third CD, “Born Again,” through Chicago’s World Library Publications. While he wouldn’t mind selling lot of the discs, the main purpose is to get people to want one or more of the 12 tunes in their hymnal.
Bryan Flynn
“My goal is to get some of my original songs into hymnals in the pews,” said the native of Stockbridge, Mass. “Really the only way to do that is know people in really high places or work with the existing publishers. Most of the parishes in our country, and even in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other foreign countries, are using hymnals from three main publishers in our country (GIA, World Library Publications and Oregon Catholic Press). So I am working with a publisher to get some songs into hymnals.”
The new CD contains six songs he’d already released on “Built on Faith (1999)” and “In the Sight of the Angels (2004)” and six new songs.
The title, the Pewamo resident said, reflects “what musically this album is doing — taking some old songs and redoing them. They are kind of being ‘Born Again.’ Then I ended up saying, well, most albums have a title track so I am going to write one called ‘Born Again.’”
Other songs on the CD include “Prodigal Father,” which looks at a familiar story from the viewpoint of the father; “Our Hope is in God” when he wrote, he said, because he felt a need for a more theologically accurate hymn for funerals. “I’ve had the opportunity to sing that at a couple of really tragic funerals in our community in the past year and I know that people are being blessed by it.”
There also is “The Name of Jesus,” a praise and worship song that reminds people they need to abide by their baptismal promises. “The Greatest Gift” he wrote about Christian marriage for his wife on their wedding day and sang it for her on the dance floor. “Jesus In the Blessed Sacrament” is a song for the Eucharistic rite at Mass. He wrote it for his daughter when she made her First Communion and it has been used at First Communion Masses at his parish ever since.
“The Act of Contrition” is the words of the Act of Contrition put to music. It has been used at communal penance service as background music or to be sung by the congregation.
The cover features a scallop shell, which Catholics use as a symbol for baptism, and three water drops, he said, to symbolize we are baptized in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
“So it has Catholic symbolism in the artwork,” he said, “and sound Catholic theology in the songs.”
That was very important to Flynn, a cradle Catholic.
“I find myself listening to a lot of praise and worship music that I enjoy that is not Catholic,” he said. “It’s not anti-Catholic either. It is just what people call generic Christianity, which fits within our faith, but doesn’t contain the richness and the depth and especially the sacramental and doctrinal issues we have as Catholics. In my opinion, there are enough other artists out there doing that kind of music, but I haven’t seen enough Catholic artists making solid Catholic songs. The biggest Catholic artists I know of you only know they are Catholic because you read that about them. You don’t listen to their music and realize they must be Catholic. I don’t have any desire and I don’t feel called at all to just be a guy who makes Christian music. I feel specifically called to make and create music that will teach and remind and inspire people as far as their Catholic faith. For the most part, almost all of my songs, when you listen to them, if you know enough of your Catholic faith you are going to be able to say, ‘That’s Catholic.’”
Pulling the CD together, he said, has taken about a year. The writing all had to be done by April of last year. In July and August he flew to Nashville three times to record the songs, with an award-winning Catholic music producer.
“I’ve always wanted to work with a really good producer (Jeff Thomas), to give him what I’ve come up with and see what they can do with it,” said Flynn, who has a bachelor’s degree in theology from the University of Steubenville (Ohio). “Because it is a whole other skill set and set of gifts to be able to take somebody else’s idea and make it marketable or make it ‘ear candy.’ They take a bare-bones idea and build up around it and it is always exciting to see what they are building. Then there is a trust factor as well in handing over your stuff to someone else.
“This whole album was done with publish-ability in mind. And he knew that. So we kind of went in a direction on the production of a lot of the songs that would sound contemporary and be nice to listen to but also would retain the dignity and integrity so people could at least imagine them being done at Mass.”
That is important for Flynn. He went to great lengths to make sure the songs on the CD are distinctly and uniquely Catholic and that the theology expressed in them is accurate. He relied a team of theological advisors — Scott Hahn, Fr. Don Calloway, Fr. Chas Canoy and Dan Spitzley, a theology teacher — to review the theology used in his songs. He focused on several Eucharistic songs, he said, because that is one key area of difference between Catholics and our Protestant brethren.
“I firmly believe music has an incredible ability to teach,” he said. “I’ve heard regularly that people remember the closing hymn used at Mass before they remember what was said in the homily. So if you think of the theology, or lack thereof, in the songs used at a lot of Catholic Masses, then you want to make sure what gets stuck in their head is true to what we believe as Catholics.”
Flynn said he also was challenged to write the songs with the “noble simplicity” called for in Vatican II so the people in the pews can sing it.
“Vatican II also calls for ‘full, actual participation’ and for us to do that,” he said, “we can’t do things that are overly complicated. For the people to participate, it has to be simple but it has to retain the nobility that the King of Kings contains.”
For his music to wind up in hymnals, he said, there needs to be feedback. In other words, people have to hear the songs and ask that they be included in a hymnal. Which means they’d have to supplant some other song or songs already in a hymnal.
“Church music publishers will send sample pieces or sample CDs to music directors all around the country,” he said. “They do that periodically — three or four times a year — and then, based on the feedback from the people who receive them, if they see a demand, they will decide which of their books they will put it in.”
His songs could wind up in a hymnal, or published online or published in a special edition, especially if the song is geared toward a specific event, such as an ordination.
Flynn’s musical roots go back to his youth when, he said, his father might lead the family in an Irish tune or a Catholic hymn. Flynn’s own music dates back to age 22, when he taught himself the guitar, then provided music for the Youth 2000 Eucharistic youth retreats. He then led music ministry and was part of the Festival of Praise music team at the University of Steubenville during his student days. While in college he met and eventually married Kristin Thelen. They lived in West Virginia while he worked in campus ministry at West Liberty State College and Bethany College before moving back to her home area of Pewamo-Westphalia in 1999 to raise their six children.
He still provides music for retreats, conferences, concerts and parish missions across the U.S. Now he wants to take his music a step closer to the people. He’s written music for Mass parts that can be sung in English or Latin.
“I just feel my abilities and my musical gifts are to be given back to the Lord,” said Flynn. “The people who want to go to conferences and retreats and extra stuff and grow on their own are going to do that anyway. The people who need to hear the truth and the faith the most are the ones who are sitting in the pews week after week. I really feel that is where God is leading me right now with the music anyway, to do whatever I can to get it into the pews. Hopefully that can happen.”
To get a copy of Flynn’s “Born Again,” visit or iTunes. To have him play at a concert, retreat, conference or other event, visit www.brianflynnmusic.com.