ROME, MARCH 26, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A song about Jesus Christ crucified is on the list of the most popular tunes on the international scene.
“Crucifying You” is a music video and song by the group Raindown. According to Manuel de Teffe, the director of Shineout Productions, which produced the work: “What is important is that it is a Christian video intended to contribute to the new evangelization.”
The song speaks explicitly of Christ and of the singer’s relationship with the Crucified: “Although I am crucifying you again and again, You forgive me the wrongs I do, You forgive me.”
“There are musicians and groups all over the world that are dedicating their music essentially to a mission of new evangelization,” said de Teffe. “In the United States the market for Christian music is enormous, although it is above all in the hands of Protestants.”
His company produces Christian and especially Catholic videos, as well as advertising to promote the new evangelization.
“This production company, which has now launched the Raindown video, was created in Rome in 2003, moved by the Pope’s intuitions in his Letter to Artists,” de Teffe told ZENIT.
“Catholics who wish to distribute their songs and videos must give up three things: to introduce in their texts the concept of sacraments, to mention the Virgin, and to talk about the Pope,” he said. “This has led Catholic musicians to be shut-in in a sort of ghetto.
“In a certain sense, this problem has been overcome with the creation of the United Catholic Video and Music Association, an annual event in which the best Catholic productions of the year are awarded.”
Shineout wishes, de Teffe said, to give artists an opportunity “to make visible the art of musicians committed to the mission of the new evangelization through musical videos that, introduced in national television programs, may give a young public an alternative to the lifestyle transmitted by MTV and similar channels.”
Shineout produces documentaries and is specialized in promoting the culture of life through video-graphic art. One of its documentaries was on the canonization of Opus Dei founder Josemaría Escrivá and a video was on the School of Theology of Lugano in Switzerland.
