Priest takes rap to a higher calling

The Rev. Stan Fortuna, a hip-hopping rapper priest, spreads his message Thursday to students at Marian High School in Mishawaka. Tribune Photos/JIM RIDER The Rev. Stan Fortuna speaks with students Thursday at Marian High School in Mishawaka. Tribune Photo/JIM RIDER

MISHAWAKA -- Sex, drugs and gangsta thugs.

That's pretty much what you'd expect from a rapper these days -- except that this rapper was the Rev. Stan Fortuna, the hip-hop traveling troubadour from the South Bronx.

"Listen what I'm sayin', up on the microphone. No mo' draggin' you down to the zipper zone," Fortuna rapped during "The Zipper Zone," a song about sex, abstinence and the importance of waiting until marriage in God's divine plan for life.

Fortuna, a Franciscan friar, brought his mix of song and sermon on Thursday to Marian High School, where 1,200 enthusiastic Roman Catholic school students from the area awaited him.

Fortuna sang about sex, drugs and thugs, all right -- but when he does it, he offers a clear message to kids about living their lives for the Lord.

"Stop playin' a game, y'all," he rapped. "It's for real, God is callin'."

At first, some of the kids were a bit skeptical about a rapping priest.

"I've never seen a singing priest, besides at Mass," said Sarah Blake, 12, of St. Michael's School in Plymouth. Her classmate, Mindy Privett, 12, was even more blunt: "I'll be very surprised if he's good."

But the 45-year-old Fortuna is -- which makes sense, since he was a musician early in life, and embraced rap's gritty rhythms and forms long before he embraced the priesthood.

With his wiry beard, ponytail and a voice steeped in New York street, he has an edgy authenticity that's wrapped up in his Franciscan robes.

That's probably because Fortuna never set out to be a priest, and he'd been around the block a few times before he answered God's call.

"I wasn't born a priest," he told the kids, who laughed when Fortuna spoke of a long-ago girlfriend.

"I told you. It wasn't my idea."

Now, he spends two-thirds of his life on the road, working in a ministry that's been a full-time gig since the mid-1990s, he said. Last month, it was Brazil. Next week, it'll be Texas.

And when he's home, Fortuna ministers to the poor in the Bronx. Their lives inspire some of his narratives, including a song about how "the thug thing" isn't cool, based on the shooting death of an 8-year-old two blocks from Fortuna's home.

"Everybody Got To Suffer" explores the idea that Christ calls us to suffering, though we all suffer in different ways and at different times.

Fortuna's strongest message to the Catholic youth was about wasting precious years on things that aren't really of God, and being consumed by materialism and social stature.

"There's a lot of people doin' that, man" he said. "They have no peace."

But they only have so much time.

"It goes so fast, you know?" he asked the crowd, telling them honestly about his own wasted years.

"I learned about nothing," Fortuna said. "I cared about nothing."

The game he played was simply about not getting caught, whatever he did, he said. He went to church, but never made it his reality, he said.

Until Fortuna finally got real.

"This hidin' thing don't work," he warned. It doesn't work in individual lives, and it doesn't work for the church, he added, explicitly addressing the Church's sex abuse scandals.

Nothing is off-limits for Fortuna, who talked and rapped about politics, war, abortion, crack and death, as well as prayer, purity and service.

And his audience responded with respect instead of skepticism.

"I like the fact that he's so open and he's not sugar-coating anything," said Michelle Malicki, a 16-year-old Marian junior.

"He was amazing," said Danny Gryp, 17, also a Marian junior. "It's like a life lesson."

That's what school Principal Joe Brettnacher hoped for, he said. The school's Concerned Parents club had been trying for two years to get Fortuna here, but he's always booked.

Fortuna's mission is to witness faith to children who are living in a media-saturated world, he said. It wasn't what he planned, but it's cool.

"The love and spirit of God align to encourage, inspire and empower a person to make a complete gift of themselves," he said, surrounded by young people as he packed his stuff.

They wanted to meet him. They wanted a photograph with him. They wanted to know where they can buy his "Sacro Song II" and other CDs. They wanted Fortuna to autograph his book, "U Got 2 Believe."

Fortuna looked up briefly from that sea of eager young faces.

"No regrets," he said, smiling.

Staff writer Laureen Fagan:

lfagan@sbtinfo.com

(574) 235-6054