By Jessica Easthope
A song of praise booms through the chapel and columbarium of the Basilica of Regina Pacis in Dyker Heights.
Father Basil Achusim can’t help but express his faith through music.
“It’s empowering people to allow themselves to be touched by the words by this music now so we don’t just listen to the music we’re inspired and sent on mission by music,” Father Achusim said.
But Father Achusim said as a whole, music in church is lacking in the Western world. Parishioners back home in the Archdiocese of Onitsha in Nigeria can’t celebrate Mass without it.
“That’s one of the things that surprised me about the Western world. My entrance as a priest toward the altar was silent,” Father Achusim said. “I was like, is everything okay, what’s happening? Music in Mass and songs I think is something that needs to be revived; you would never imagine that in the parishes where I’ve served.”
Father Achusim, who’s spending his second summer at the basilica and with its parishioners, said music isn’t high on the list of priorities for the global Church.
“One of the greatest problems the Church is facing now is clarity to the truth and fidelity to it,” Father Achusim said. “We must not shy away from the truth, maybe because of persecution or whatever, otherwise the truth gets obscured, and the Church must strive to tell the hard truth, accepted or not.”
For Father Achusim, these truths include the sanctity of life, the truth about Jesus being God, and His true presence in the Eucharist. When it comes to that, he said the American Church and the National Eucharistic Revival are leading the way.
“There is a huge army of Christ emerging from the American faith of Catholicism. It’s evident in many dioceses now. It’s God or nothing,” Father Achusim said. “Seeing over 55,000 Catholics gathered in adoration in the stadium, not for football, not for soccer, not for hockey, but they’re all there for Jesus, in this age, in this era, is incredible.”
So Father Achusim continues to use his voice in song—for truth and the true presence.
Father Achusim is here in the United States for a few more weeks. In early September, he’ll head back to Rome, where he’s getting his PhD in Theology.