Priests use musical talent to share their faith

by Diocese of Des Moines | November 3, 2026

By Elizabeth Williams

Many priests in the Diocese use their musical talents to deepen their connection with God. Three of those priests are Father James Ahenkora, Father Max Carson, and Father Ross Caniglia.  

Fr. Ahenkora sees his love for music as a calling, like a vocation. The pastor of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart in Ankeny loves to incorporate music in his homilies and in his outreach ministries. He is one of many area priests with a special gift for music.

Fr. Carson, chaplain at St. Albert Catholic School in Council Bluffs, also felt a special calling to music, but he thought he might have to give up his love for playing the guitar in a rock band when he became a priest. It turns out God’s plan allows him to continue to share his guitar skills in an all-priest band which occasionally performs concerts to benefit Right to Life causes.

Fr. Caniglia, a native of Council Bluffs, now serving in the diocese of Sioux City, is another priest with a talented gift for music. He started dabbling in writing music over the past nine years. He now has had a hymn and a complete Mass setting, “Mass of the Epiphany” published by two of the most respected Catholic music publishers, GIA Publications and Oregon Catholic Press (OCP).

What these three priests have in common is they love to use their gift of music to give glory to God.

“Music elevates your experience of worship,” Fr. Caniglia said. “It tugs on our emotions and brings our emotions out. It helps us deepen our connection with the Lord.”

Fr. Ahenkora also said, “Music lifts up our hearts and mind to God.”

Fr. Ahenkora said he likes to start or end his homilies with music.

“Some songs I have written myself, or I’ll sing a song they have heard on the radio. When they hear that song again, they’ll remember the message of the day,”  he said.

Fr. Ahenkora carries his guitar with him on visits to the hospital, nursing home or when visiting a grieving family.

“Sometimes music is better than words. It can bring a lot of joy, peace and hope,” Fr. Ahenkora said.

Fr. Carson picked up the guitar at age 13 when his dad introduced him to music by Jimmy Hendrix.

“I loved playing the guitar and was in a rock band in high school,” Fr. Carson said. “Now God has allowed me to use my love for music to glorify Him.”

In 2022, Carson joined an all-priest rock band as the lead guitarist. The band occasionally performs in Concert for Life benefits to support mothers and families in crisis pregnancies. The benefit concerts have raised over $1 million since 2012.

Fr. Carson, as well as “Concerts for Life” founder, Father David Michael Moses spoke at the Christ Our Life conference on September 26 at the Casey Center in Des Moines.

Playing the guitar can be a great icebreaker, explained Carson.

“It’s happened multiple times that I’ve been in a guitar store and a customer will see me in my priest’s Roman collar trying out different guitars and they’ll be like, ‘Father, you shred. What the heck?’ It’s a great time for me to talk about our Lord and His church,” Fr. Carson said. “Music is a shared experience, so now we can have a conversation,” he added.

However, Carson does not just enjoy rock music.

“I have started to get an ear for Gregorian Chant and traditional hymns within the liturgy,” he said. “Now I chant Marian hymns for the season while purifying the vessels after Communion. God has a mystery about Him that we do not fully understand. And, the Gregorian Chant lifts your heart and makes God’s presence more readily known. It helps us enter into the mystery and sacredness of the Mass.”

Music transcends us, Fr. Caniglia said.

“It transforms how we honor God. It is not that we are singing at Mass, but we are singing the Mass,” he said.  

He also appreciates the beauty of the Gregorian Chant.

“The idea of chanting is such a foreign concept now because we’ve been away from it for a while. But it is not only a part of our Catholic tradition, it is also a Jewish tradition,” Fr. Caniglia said. “The Gregorian chant connects us to the church around the world and to the church of the past.”

These three priests are not shy about sharing their gift of music.

“My hope for my music is for it to be something that touches people by the words in the text or the style of music to help them pour their heart out to God,” Fr. Caniglia said.

They encourage others to use their music gifts to honor God.

If a person enjoys writing music, Caniglia advised, “Learn your strengths and weaknesses. Lean into your strengths and see how you can improve on your weaknesses. Seek out advice from people who know more than you. Listen to music from all different styles. Songs should be simple for the congregation to sing, beautiful and dignified, supporting the sacredness of worship.”

Fr. Carson said that music and faith have a lot in common.

“If you have a talent for music, keep striving for excellence. Some people say, ‘I don’t need God and all His rules. I just want to live life the way I want.’ But to become the best musician you can be, you have to follow the rules of music that govern tone and harmony, and know your scales. So, too, if you want to be free to live the most beautiful life ever, you should strive for excellence by following God’s rules, which are there to help you (like the rules for music), and not to limit you,” he said.  

Fr. Ahenkora encouraged people who just love music, no matter what their training, to use their God-given music gift to join the “choir of angels” and actively participate in the Mass.

 “Music helps us be like Christ. He came to serve. Music ministry is service. Music encourages us and strengthens our faith,” he said.