L-R: Music director Patrick Watkins, Roxanne Grant, Rodrigo Valente, Tom Benstein, Yasmary Marquez, Marko Ruffolo and cantor Marybeth Jackson. Photos provided
By Janis Fontaine
The annual Christmas concert always fills Ascension Catholic Church in Boca Raton to capacity, and the church’s popular music ministry is one reason the congregation is filling the pews on Sundays, too.
The church is a part of the Rebuilt Parish movement, which is a more contemporary version of the Catholic Church designed to appeal to a modern community, and a big part of that is rethinking the music. At a recent service the music was contemporary Christian, with the lyrics displayed on large video screens above the altar. It was like a sing-along mixed with prayer, fellowship and communion.
Patrick Watkins leads the seven-piece Ascension Road band, which will perform the Christmas concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 17. A gifted tenor, he graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2020 and landed a position teaching theater at Spanish River High School.
The married father of a 2-year-old has been producing and recording singers and rappers and his own music at his company, PJW Music, for 20 years and is tapped to direct musicals at Thinking Cap Theatre at The Vanguard in Fort Lauderdale when he has time. He also teaches privately.
“I’ve been music director for two years next Easter, but I’ve been a worship leader here as of 2019,” he said. He came to the church when Father Carl Hellwig, in search of a vocalist for the band, emailed Watkins’ professor at FAU, who recommended him. At Ascension, Watkins found both his calling and his religion. After a few years, he felt compelled to convert. Then, in March 2024, Watkins became Ascension’s music director.
He joined Marybeth Jackson, one of the band’s first members, who has been the church’s cantor since 2009. The caretaker of the group, she handed out homemade cookies from a tin between services. She said she has happily watched the congregation evolve from older adults to one full of families.
“It wasn’t like this 15 years ago,” she said of the babbling babies and boisterous kids who fill the sanctuary with noisy joy. “The priests welcome it.”
That openness to families is part of being a Rebuilt Parish, which follows the model established by co-founders Father Michael White of the Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Maryland, and his lay associate Tom Corcoran. Inspired by Pastor Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, they took a hard look at their struggling parish.
They eventually refocused on reaching the “un-churched” and creating paths to grow the church and revitalize the parish culture.
The Ascension Road band plays contemporary Christian music at the Ascension Catholic Church in Boca Raton.
At Ascension, Father Gavin Badway, now rector at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens, was the impetus behind the church’s adoption of the Rebuilt Parish model. “He was very on board with it,” bass player Marko Ruffolo said.
Since then, Ruffolo said, a lot has changed as far as the roles that were solely for priests.
“A lot of catechism has been handed over to the laity, getting more people involved in the ministry,” he said. “The real deal has three m’s: message, music and ministry. We’re starting to see we can touch people by the music and message and get them involved in the ministry.”
The increased involvement of the congregation in church affairs and activities goes hand in hand with the small group meetings that take place in people’s homes or via Zoom, Jackson said.
These interactions help parishioners feel like they’re a part of the larger church. They are intimate gatherings designed to strengthen commitments to God and church.
“We meet and discuss questions to help each other in faith,” Ruffolo said. “It’s not quite a Bible study, and it’s not quite a group therapy. It’s a little of both.”
“It’s a way to make the big church feel small,” said Tom Benstein, who plays lead guitar. He’s been a member of the church since he moved to South Florida in the ’90s but didn’t become involved musically until Father Gavin agreed the music needed modernizing.
In the Rebuilt church, “one of the things that they reinforce is that the church belongs to the people,” Benstein said. “The one thing that we hear a lot is how welcoming we are for non-church people, for people that maybe have been away or are unfamiliar with this particular church. They don’t feel like an outsider. They can come where they don’t feel judged, where they don’t feel uncomfortable.”
Guitarist Roxanne Grant, the newest member of the band, agrees. She was baptized, confirmed and raised in the Catholic church, but “took a long hiatus” before finding her way back, thanks to the band.
This new church was very different from the one she left behind, Grant said. “When I came back here to join the band, this space was so welcoming. The band was so welcoming. They were a true reflection of what the parish is about, and I think what this religion can be.”
“It’s not your father’s Catholic Church,” Benstein said.
Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@outlook.com.
If You Go
The Ascension Music Ministry Christmas Concert takes place at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 at Ascension Catholic Church, 7250 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Call 561-997-5486 or visit ascensionboca.org/
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