Father Stan Fortuna: hip-hop priest

By Nancy Karp
Staff Reporter/Photographer

Father Stan Fortuna was invited to St Anne’s Church Sunday March 7 to sing and preach with his hip-hop and jazz stylings at the invitation of St Anne’s and with five other youth groups attending. Father Fortuna travels to Catholic churches worldwide by invitation only.

Fortuna has been a part of a community of Friars in The Bronx, New York since 1987, and has been preaching full-time with his music ministry for almost 7 years.

The only Protestant event he has played for was when he was invited to perform in Belfast Northern Ireland at a festival called “Northern Madness”. It was the first time a Catholic priest had ever been invited to play at the festival.

With his very strong New York accent, he spoke a little bit about his life and ministry and its purpose. “When I was a young kid, I was an altar boy, I had a powerful experience, and I wanted to be a priest like our parish priest. Our priest eventually left the priesthood and married a nun. This threw me off the deep end. The Lord brought me back many years later through a Bible study group,”

Fortuna said. “I’ve been an ordained priest since December 8, 1990,” Fortuna noted.

Fortuna commented on how the Catholic Church has changed in the last 10 to 20 years. “The Catholic Church has become more authentically in tune with the voice of the spirit and the signs of the times, and developing a voice they can become intelligible to the times, which is the genius of Pope John’s thrust with the new evangelization. The message must be intelligible in a language so that young and old can understand; otherwise it is not effective.” Fortuna said.

Fortuna’s message to Catholic youth groups, in hip-hop verse and jazz stylings, is as old as the Gospels and as basic as to staying moral in an immoral world with topics, such as promiscuity, pornography, abortion, drugs, violence and keeping themselves pure and undefiled.

Fortuna rapped during “The Zipper Zone,” a rap song about sex, abstinence and the importance of waiting until marriage in God’s divine plan for life. The song had everyone in the church clapping their hands, stomping their feet and dancing in the aisles, resembling that of an old Pentecostal Revival.

Father Fortuna has been playing music since the 2nd grade when his father gave him his first instrument for Christmas, a red electric guitar! His love of music grew into early adulthood as he began the life-long journey of learning the art of improvising by practicing countless hours and playing lots of sessions in the New York area. Although Father Stan lives in the South Bronx where he serves the poor and needy families, he is internationally known for his music as well as for his powerful preaching. He travels extensively, performing his music and proclaiming the Gospel at conferences, retreats, and both national and international youth prayer festivals.