“I was trying to make some catchy jingles for a client when I wondered if I could create a song that would teach the faith — and do some apologetics — with these tools.”
If you Google the ancient nickname for the Church, “Peter’s Barque,” the search engine no longer takes you first to explanations of Peter and his boat symbolizing the Church.
Now it gets you an apostolate producing catchy Catholic catechetical songs using artificial intelligence technology.
Peter’s Barque is produced by Justin West, a digital marketer who has reached millions with his new catechetical apostolate.
West described the moment he realized he could start an apostolate.
“I was trying to make some catchy jingles for a client when I wondered if I could create a song that would teach the faith — and do some apologetics — with these tools.”
The result was his first AI graphic-art and music video, "Hasn’t Changed a Thing." Today, 131 videos later, his content has been seen on TikTok over 1.7 million times — and on other platforms more than a million more.
“I’m not a musician, nor an artist. I’m a Benedictine College graduate in philosophy and history,” he said. He still lives near the college in Atchison, Kansas, with his wife and five children, and has served as a catechist for RCIA in the past for the college, and is currently the OCIA director at St. Benedict Parish.
He writes all the words of his songs, but the rest of the work is digitized. He says, “You can’t just slap Jesus on it and make it good. It is true that AI makes it easier than ever to make content — even Catholic/Christian content, but it doesn’t make it good.”
He has grown a dedicated fan base. “My kids and I are hooked on your songs! 'There Is a Saint for That’ is played daily here. I appreciate that you are honest about how AI is used and you are doing it to point towards God,” commented Amanda, who posts on YouTube at “Our Little Path.”
Sandra Vasek, from St. Kieran in Chicago Heights, said, “as a lifelong Director of Religious education, I love your presentations. What a wonderful, unique way to teach the faith. Trying to figure out how I can incorporate in my catechetical presentation in this year’s OCIA.”
I know three people who are fans.
My wife recently lost an afternoon listening to Peter’s Barque songs. Her favorite is “Mary’s Other Children,” surprisingly catchy and robust, including the grammar lesson: “Mary says, 'How can this be since I do not know man?’ Present tense, Greek, ongoing state. Dumbest question in scripture unless she’s made a vow of virginity.”
My teenage son’s favorite is “Lord, Not Luck,” a pop reel about St. Patrick that begins with a sea shanty along the lines of the viral Wellerman song.
One of my daughters, a young mom, recommends “Martyrdom of Polycarp,” in the style of Johnny Cash (or Colter Wall).
Truly, there is something for everyone.
But not everyone is a fan.
Critics of Justin’s work argue that some of the AI-generated art crosses lines a Catholic artist never would, making saints more “action figure” than “historical figure” and making the Blessed Mother inappropriately voluptuous.
West answered that “although that particular criticism is new to me, overall criticism is fair. … Sometimes AI gets things wrong,” he added. “I’ve rejected plenty of images because they were weird, inappropriate or simply bad. … If something gets through that shouldn’t, that’s ultimately my responsibility, not the machine’s."
He presented his work at an AI Symposium at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, where I work. When a participant asked him about the musicians and artists he is not engaging in his work, West answered, “The question for me isn’t whether a machine can replace an artist. It can’t and it shouldn’t. The question is whether I can responsibly use a tool to teach the faith to people I otherwise wouldn’t reach.”
West says Pope Leo XIV left an opening for work like his.
“I think this is where my little experiment with Peter’s Barque intersects directly with Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas,” West says in his defense. “Leo isn’t asking us simply to embrace Al or reject it. He insists on the primacy of the human person — that human intelligence, conscience and freedom must guide the technology and determine its use.”
Ultimately, says West, he is himself responsible for what his content says.
“The machine can generate. It can imitate. It can accelerate. It can give me access to a medium I never had before. But it cannot assume my responsibility for what I choose to say.”
