The Deacon's Bench
He’s written some of the most familiar—and controversial—Catholic music of the last 40 years. This morning, a newspaper in Louisiana profiles him:
Dan Schutte never envisioned fame or a lasting legacy as a music star.
He just wanted to write spiritual music. He wrote a lot of it.
Nowadays, four decades after he first began collaborating with the St. Louis Jesuits, fellow musicians who were studying for the priesthood in the 1970s and ’80s, Schutte can still walk through an airport without causing a commotion.
But as the creator of such enduring Catholic hymns as “City of God,” “Blest Be the Lord,” “You Are Near” and “Though the Mountains May Fall,” Schutte created a body of work that has found its way into standard Catholic hymnals across the English-speaking world — songs commonly sung from choir lofts and pews everywhere.
He’s had his share of affirmation, too, as a part of that music movement. The St. Louis Jesuits recorded seven studio albums, earned multiple Grammy nominations and had best-selling records. Schutte will recount his spiritual journey in word and song at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Genevieve Catholic Church, 417 E. Simcoe St. Doors open at 6.
“There are a lot of people who don’t recognize the name but they recognize the music,” he said during a telephone interview. “Or if they know the name, they don’t know where to place it.
“I’m happy it’s that way. It’s about the music and about people loving the songs more than the composer being a pop symbol,” he said. “The focus stays on the music.”
That music has been described as easy listening or folk music that captured the loyalty of Baby Boomer Catholics reared in the wake of the Vatican II Council. They were ready for the music as soon as it arrived.
“The St. Louis Jesuits were blessed to come along at the time of the church that the council happened and there was an excitement about opening the doors and windows and music of the church,” Schutte recalled. “The music was experienced as a breath of fresh air. It was grounded in Scripture, but it had a depth of spirituality that people connected with — not just words and catchy tunes, but something deeper.
“I don’t know if the St. Louis Jesuits would have happened now if it would have had the same effect it did then.”
What the St. Louis Jesuits — Bob Dufford, John Foley, Tim Manion, Roc O’Connor and Schutte — effected then was electric within the church’s people. Dufford wrote “Be Not Afraid, “Sing to the Mountains,” and “Like a Shepherd.” Foley wrote “One Bread, One Body” and “Come to the Water.” Manion wrote “I Lift Up My Soul” and O’Connor wrote “Lift Up Your Hearts.” And they kept writing, selling their music commercially and earning Grammy nominations even as their work transitioned into the church mainstream.
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