Punk rocker describes his return to Catholicism

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The original drummer from renowned punk rock band, The Clash, has written about his spiritual reawakening in his new book.
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In his autobiography, The Strange Case of Doctor Terry and Mr Chimes, baptised Catholic Terry Chimes, who drummed on The Clash’s eponymous debut album and toured with the band in the early 1980s, writes about his journey back to the Catholic faith.
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Chimes describes stumbling across a copy of CS Lewis’s book Mere Christianity at a car boot sale in 1998 and reading about Lewis’s analysis of the sin of pride.
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catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/01/28/punk-rocker-describes-his-return-to-catholicism
 
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

It gives me hope about my prayers for some of my favorite rockers whom I hope will come to know Jesus.
 
Lovely story, particularly the quote from St Augustine. Thank you for sharing. I think there are other Rock N Roll greats who are converts or reverts. It shows the power of the Holy Spirit to even get through to a rocker!
Lisa
 
Thank you for this article. I have some young adult stepchildren who are making their own way through an extended rebellious period of life, and their father and I pray for them to be able to stop the foolishness and listen to the faith that must still be there, somewhere. It was wonderful to see this former punk rocker describing even the sacrament of confession in such a positive way.

His parents must be amazingly proud… whoops… oh well. There’s probably a better way of describing it than lining that feeling with the same feeling that causes a separation from God… hmmm… his parents must be amazingly RELIEVED that some of the stuff they tried to give him, eventually became clear to him.

Is pride and relief the same? Maybe in this instance, it feels the same.

And now I have hope that some day I might feel the same sense of relief… respite from the worry I have for my kids who work so hard to prove that they’re different from the older generation, that they throw out the good that we gave them along with the bad. Hopefully, someday, like this man, they’ll recapture the good. I needed to read this article today. Thanks.
 
_Abyssinia said:
catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/01/28/punk-rocker-describes-his-return-to-catholicism
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Long-time fan of The Clash here, and I’ve got to chime in the article’s description of this guy as a member of the band. While he (thankfully) was inducted with The Clash into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even the most casual fan of the band would have have a difficult time placing him, so here’s the Wiki:

*Other members

Terry Chimes – drums, percussion
Active: May 1976–November 1976; February 1977–May 1977; May 1982–May 1983
Instruments: drums and percussion
Release contributions: The Clash (1977), some on b-side collection Black Market Clash (1980)
Terry Chimes was an on-off member of the initial line-up of the band. He left and then was hired to record the debut album. He was omitted from the photo of it, because at that time he left. He was hired again in 1982 when Topper Headon left because of drug addiction. He left the band the following year when he couldn’t deal with infighting. *
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_The_Clash

I do see that there’s a non-Kindle (paperback) copy of the book on amazon for under $10, so I may pick it up. I just hope it doesn’t get adapted into a movie because there have been way too many punk/new wave-era biopics lately that have absolutely dreadful.
 
LisaA said:
Lovely story, particularly the quote from St Augustine. Thank you for sharing. I think there are other Rock N Roll greats who are converts or reverts. It shows the power of the Holy Spirit to even get through to a rocker!
Lisa
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Yes. The original member of the Byrds, and founder of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Chris Hillman, converted to Orthodox Christianity.

chrishillman.com/links.html

Ishii
 
But I believe in this and it’s been tested by research,
…will later join the church.

If this doesn’t make sense listen to the Clash more.
 
Catholic Culture just posted an interview with Terry Chimes.

A Strange Case: The Clash’s drummer-turned-chiropractor on music, healing, and his return to Catholicism

A couple of interesting things from the interview:

You described a growing gap between you and your bandmates in The Clash leading up to your first departure from the band.
They were angry; they were angry at the world. And when they would get angry together, I would say “I’m not playing ball with this – I don’t feel angry at the world. I don’t think the world is a horrible place. I think the world’s a nice place.” I think that all comes down to my upbringing as a happy person. They all came from broken homes, and their anger was very easily stirred up, very easily aroused. I just felt really uncomfortable with the whole thing.

How has your embrace of faith deepened or altered your understanding of music and its role in society?
It’s made me interested in sacred music, things like Bach’s Mass in B minor – I’ve suddenly thought, “My God, this is one of the best pieces of music ever written, and it comes from his faith!” In fact, I was talking to an atheist the other day, and I said, “Tell me the name of one person who was a great person, like a Shakespeare or Beethoven, that didn’t have a faith.” And they said, “Well, there might be hundreds.” I said, “Well, maybe there are, but just tell me one.” I’ve never heard them since. I’ve done that with several people, and they always say, “Oh, I’m sure there’s loads!” But they never come back to me!

As I said, an interesting interview.
 
It’s amazing how many people stumble upon C.S. Lewis books and turn toward God. It took me years before I read Lewis but all in God’s good time. It’s funny, I was steeped in rock ‘n’ roll culture in the 70’s and the song “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis got me reading my U of D High Douay version of the Bible and returned to the sacraments. I think it was all the end times imagery of the song that scared me straight.
 
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