All-Priest Band Comes to West Des Moines

July 21, 2025

By Ann Pierson

On Aug. 4, you can hear an all-priest band sing original, Christian-friendly country, rock, and even rap songs at the Concert for Life, which is coming to Iowa for the first time.

The Concert for Life comes to the Val Air Ballroom as the first leg of a week-long tour. All proceeds from the West Des Moines concert benefit Pulse Life Advocates of Iowa and Gabriel’s Corner Council Bluffs.

The band started in 2012 when Father David Michael Moses of the Archdiocese of Houston played at the Concert for Life in Houston to raise money for pregnancy centers as a seminarian. Before his ordination, Father Moses invited other priests and seminarians to play in the band.

By 2024, the band went on their first week-long tour with six priests playing in the band.

Father Max Carson of St. Patrick Parish and St. Albert Catholic School in Council Bluffs joined the all-priest band as the lead guitarist in 2022.

Father Carson first encountered Father Moses through his social media presence earlier that year. Father Carson saw one of his friends, Father Joseph White, in one of Father Moses’ videos. The joy those priests have with their vocations stuck with Father Carson as he prayed that he might receive the graces to be a happy priest.

When Father Joseph White invited Father Carson to be a guitarist for the 2022 Concert for Life, he recognized the leader of the band as Father Moses. Remembering his prayer for graces, Father Carson saw the opportunity as an answer through doing something he loved – playing guitar.

The other members include Father Victor Perez from the Archdiocese of Houston, who plays the drums; Father Kevin Lenius from the Diocese of San Angelo, who plays the violin; Father Mike Elsner from the Diocese of San Angelo, who plays the bass; and Father Armando Alejandro from the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, who plays the keyboard.

Father Moses writes all the songs while the other priests compose their respective instrument’s parts. All the songs reflect truths of the Catholic faith through fun and creative lyrics.

The Concert for Life shows another side of priests beyond what people usually see on Sunday: priests enjoying hobbies and glorifying God through them. Playing in the concert is an example of how anything that is good, true, and beautiful can be ordered towards the Lord, Father Carson said.

The concert has also been a means of outreach, even sparking vocation discussions with young men after the concerts.

“Seeing priests do something they like adds to the humanity of the priests,” said Father Carson. “And music breaks down social barriers.”

Father Carson invites everyone to pack the Val Air Ballroom to hear great music, support a worthy cause, and witness priests offering their talents to the Lord.

“[Playing in the band is] one of the greatest joys of my priesthood, and I want to share it with the people of my diocese,” Father Carson said.

The Concert for Life is on Monday, Aug. 4 at the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines. The concert will begin at 7:30. Tickets are $10. You can purchase tickets at dmdiocese.org/ConcertForLife.