Critical Mass to play for Pope, pilgrims

One of Canada's leading contemporary Catholic bands will be playing a prominent musical role when World Youth Day festivities get into full swing in Toronto this month.

Kitchener, Ont.-based Critical Mass is scheduled to take part in events including Critical Mass and Friends (an evening spotlighting Canadian artists), a University Café for Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry at which the legendary Jean Vanier will speak, an Oregon Catholic Press World Youth Day CD showcase and the vigil with Pope John Paul II the night before the concluding papal mass is held at Downsview Park.

"We're pretty involved," noted Critical Mass member David Wang, adding that the band will also participate in a couple of Days in the Diocese events leading up to World Youth Day - at Kitchener City Hall July 19 and in Peterborough July 22. The band had performed last year in Toronto at a couple of warm-up World Youth Day events.

"At our concert in particular, we're going to keep it very high energy. Anyone who's ever seen us live knows it's an opportunity to basically let loose, jump around and be crazy for a little while. We're hoping to fill that need. At the same time, we want to witness to the youth, tell them about the Catholic Church and the richness of the faith they have. So even though we have a high-energy musical presentation, there's a message behind everything we're doing."

Critical Mass consists of Wang, his wife Jodie and Sharon Pawelko on vocals, Matt Devine and Tom Pawelko on guitars and vocals, Tim Devine on keyboards and vocals, Eric Kubica on bass and vocals and Matthew Bierschbach on drums and vocals.

The members of Critical Mass always say they believe God brought them together. After meeting somewhat by chance in the Kitchener area, they began by playing contemporary Christian music for youth Masses. It wasn't long before they faced a series of challenges and obstacles to continuing, including a number of physical ailments. But instead of closing up shop, they drew closer to the church and the sacraments and moved on to begin writing original Christian music from a Catholic perspective.

A demo recording called Faith Looks Up followed and, much to the band's surprise, attracted great interest, positive critical reviews and radio play. The song Body and Blood was adopted internationally for use during the Communion rite. Another song, I'll Be Fine, hit number one on mp3.com's spiritual rock chart.

That success prompted the band to invest more resources into the recording of their second album, Completely. They enlisted the services of producer Andrew Horrocks (of the band 100 Days) and aimed for a tighter, more aggressive sound. Released in September 2000, Completely went on to capture honours for the Best Album of the Year at the Canadian Gospel Music Association's awards ceremony. The single Humility, meanwhile, was a finalist in the Rock Song of the Year category.

Since then, the band has continued to try to push artistic boundaries and create music that is relevant to today's culture while maintaining spiritual fidelity.

Apart from their live participation at World Youth Day, Critical Mass were pleased to learn that one of their songs, Share It With the World, was selected to be included in the event's official CD package, issued by Oregon Catholic Press.

"We were surprised to be told we were on the CD," said Wang. "We had performed the song at a Catholic Association of Musicians conference in Arkansas. Some people from Oregon Catholic Press were there and a few months later, they asked if we wouldn't mind having the song put on a compilation CD. It took us no time to make a decision and say yes! So we're quite excited about that. It's one of our favourite songs and we're really pleased it's going to get a wider listening audience."

Wang said that at the Days in the Diocese event in Peterborough, Critical Mass will unveil a new Mass setting they composed. "We were originally asked to write the Gloria for the papal Mass, but in the end, it wasn't chosen for use. But we had the song and decided to just keep going. So we have a new Mass setting that we recently tried out at a Catholic church, and it went over very well. People seem to enjoy having something new that they can sing along with at Mass."

The band is looking to have the new Mass setting published and possibly recorded.

Critical Mass has always kept the pro-life cause prominent in their concerns, and has played at a number of pro-life oriented events, including a Pro-Life Youth Challenge Day in Burlington, Ont. in April.

"We're one of the only Canadian and Catholic bands to be part of Rock for Life," said Wang. "We're introducing about six new songs during World Youth Day and one of them is a pro-life song. It's something that's very important to us. We all believe it's important for Catholics to follow Church teachings."

He added that Critical Mass wants to put out the message that the Catholic Church has been around for 2,000 years and that's its teachings are consistent. "God has designed our lives to work in a certain way with respect to sex and chastity and when we respect that, we have peace. But we can also have challenges - my wife and I are expecting our eighth child, and we have to be honest and say that presents its own challenges. But ultimately, God is in control, and that's one of the messages Critical Mass tries to get out."

Wang hopes that Catholics will rally behind the many performers who will be appearing at World Youth Day and demonstrate that a Catholic music scene is a viable proposition.

"World Youth Day is going to be a turning point as to whether Catholic musicians are going to make a go of it … A lot of people are putting their ministries on the line. If Catholics don't support the artists through sales and so on, a lot of these ministries could collapse, and Critical Mass will be no different. This will be a make-or-break event for many people."

As far as the future, apart from the publication and recording of the new Mass setting, Critical Mass has an eye toward recording another rock album - "We have five or six songs written for it," said Wang - and continuing to serve as an encouragement to young Catholics.

Catholics are "going through a rough time," said Wang. "We're taking a bit of heat from the press. Some of it is valid - there are some things we have to change, but the Catholic Church is the Catholic Church. It was instituted by Christ, and not as a human institution. What Catholic musicians want to do is reinstate that message, give hope and encourage young people with the thought that this is a chance to get together and ultimately make a difference for the world, to turn around and change the world within the context of the Catholic Church."

The band's World Youth Day-related performances include:

• Friday, July 19 at Kitchener City Hall. Free concert.
• Monday, July 22 in Peterborough. Mass and concert.
• Critical Mass and friends. Tuesday, July 23, 8 p.m. at the CNE Bandshell.
• Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry University Café (with Jean Vanier) at the Exhibition Place Coliseum Arena, Wednesday, July 24 at 2 p.m.
• Oregon Catholic Press CD Live! event, Wednesday, July 24, 8:30 p.m. at the Exhibition Place main stage.
• World Youth Day Vigil on Saturday, July 27 at Downsview Park.