by Paolo Affatato
Astana – Some people enter a church out of curiosity, drawn by the sound of an organ or the voices of a choir. They sit down, listen and gaze at the icons and paintings, spending an hour in a place they may never have visited before. They do not always know what has brought them there. Yet, as Father Gabriel Jocher, an Austrian priest of the Society of Jesus and Mary and National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Kazakhstan, observes, “it is precisely in that first encounter with beauty that a journey of faith can begin”.
“The underlying idea is simple: God is the source of all beauty. The beauty of music is, in a sense, a reflection of God’s beauty. It points us towards the Creator,” the missionary tells Fides News Agency, sharing his experience as part of Missionary Month and the celebrations marking the centenary of World Mission Sunday. Mission, he observes, “involves every baptized person and is also expressed in the ability to meet others, speak to their hearts and accompany them, with respect, towards the Gospel”.
In Kazakhstan, where Catholics are a minority, Father Jocher often witnesses how music can become a tangible means of evangelization. “Here, I have come to realize that music can often open people’s hearts. Naturally, we use it primarily in our liturgies. It makes our praise of God more beautiful and solemn. It helps the whole person – body, soul and heart – to find the way to God more easily.”
The priest also draws attention to the Church’s appreciation of sacred music in the liturgy. Last August, he recalls, Pope Leo XIV devoted a catechesis to the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” highlighting the role of music in the life of the Church. For Father Gabriel, this reflection finds a daily echo in the life of the community in the Kazakh capital, Astana: “Every day, people come into our Cathedral simply out of curiosity. They are often drawn by the music, especially during liturgical celebrations, when they hear the organ and the harmonious sound of vocal music.”
“I know people who now practise their faith but who were initially drawn to the Church by the music they heard there,” he says. It is a quiet path, one that does not seek immediate results or mistake artistic emotion for conversion. Rather, beauty creates an opportunity: to draw closer, to ask a question and to return.
A concert as a first step
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in the centre of Astana, is one of the places where this intuition takes shape. In addition to liturgical celebrations, sacred music concerts are held there, attracting people from different cultures, communities, ethnic backgrounds and religions.
“To attend a concert, people come in and spend a whole hour inside a church, listening to sacred music and admiring its works of art. In this way, they encounter small signs that point towards God.” The experience can leave a lasting impression. “After the concert, the church becomes a more familiar place to them. I have often had the opportunity to see how happy people are to return afterwards.”
To ensure that this encounter does not remain merely aesthetic, Father Gabriel and other priests sometimes offer brief spiritual reflections at the beginning of a program or between musical pieces. Lengthy explanations are unnecessary; sometimes all it takes is a little help in discovering the religious meaning of a composition.
“Listeners learn more about the work itself while also catching a glimpse of the spiritual world in which it was created.”
“For example, when someone performs an Ave Maria, it is an opportunity to briefly explain the Annunciation and what this event means for us as believers. Or, when a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach is played on the organ, one can mention the profound faith that played such an important role in the life and work of this brilliant composer.”
Music thus becomes an opportunity to tell a story, introduce a passage from the Gospel or explain a symbol of faith.
A cello travelling from parish to parish
In his capacity as National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Father Gabriel visits parishes in various regions of Kazakhstan to encourage and promote missionary awareness. On these occasions, too, music has become an almost constant presence.
“During my most recent visits, we have almost always included a musical program. Sometimes it is a sacred music concert; at other times, an evening of prayer accompanied by music.”
The priest, who is also a musician, was able to bring his own cello from Europe, an instrument not widely used in the country. “Perhaps that is precisely why people pay particular attention to it. They are also drawn to its beautiful, melodious sound.”
Last May, together with Father Jason, a priest and pianist, and Sister Magdalena, of the Family of Mary, he organized a missionary concert in two Catholic communities in the western part of the archdiocese. The program interwined music together with personal testimony.
“It featured ten missionary saints and ten musical pieces. As the music was performed, images from the lives of these saints were projected onto a screen.”
It was more than a musical performance: it was an opportunity to show, through the lives of real people, how faith can be translated into a life devoted to others. Artistic expression helped the audience enter into the stories of the saints and recognize in their experiences a possible response to the missionary call.
In another episode shared with Fides, Father Gabriel illustrates how music can create unexpected opportunities for encounter. Last summer, two young musicians, one Russian and the other Belarusian, arrived at Astana Cathedral to give a cello and organ concert. When they discovered that the priest also played the cello, they decided to invite him to join them. “For the audience, it was a special moment to see one of their own priests performing alongside the two young musicians.”
The power and fascination of the organ and the dream of Astana
Among musical instruments, the organ holds a special place in liturgical music.
“Often called the ‘King of Instruments’, as Mozart described it, the organ is very rare in Kazakhstan. There are only about a dozen pipe organs in the entire country, which makes the instrument a source of fascination for people.”
One of these instruments is housed in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima, Mother of All Nations, in the Diocese of Karaganda, south of Astana. It is a large organ built by the Austrian company Pflüger and completed in 2010. Concerts are regularly held there throughout the year, attracting renowned organists from around the world, and “the church is usually packed”, the missionary recalls.
“Of course, appreciating organ music does not automatically make someone a Christian,” he points out. “But it can be a first step, or at least a small invitation to discover more.”
This gives rise to hope for the future of the Catholic community in the capital. “I have a secret dream: that one day we might also have a proper pipe organ in our cathedral here in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, a rapidly growing city. I am convinced that such an instrument could become an important means of bringing the Gospel to those who have not yet encountered Christ.”
Its purpose would therefore be not only to enrich the cathedral’s liturgical and musical life, but also “to create another space for encounter, capable of drawing people from different backgrounds, cultures and religious traditions”.
Young musicians, messengers of beauty
The same intuition is found in the experience of the Franciscans in Astana. The Conventual Franciscan friars live at the Convent of Blessed Martyrs Michał Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzałkowski, which houses the parish of Our Lady of All Nations on the outskirts of the capital. Here, Brother Roberto Peretti, OFM Conv., an organist and pianist, has established a small music school for children and young people in one of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods.
On 4 October 2026, marking the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, pupils from the school performed a concert in the cathedral in honor of the saint of Assisi.
“I was amazed to see how these young people, many of whom live in very modest and difficult circumstances, have developed not only musical skills but also genuine self-confidence through music,” Father Jocher observes.
Some of the young musicians are not Catholics, yet they take part in an experience that reaches beyond the boundaries of the ecclesial community. Through their music, they “become messengers of God’s beauty, almost like apostles”, he adds.
“Perhaps they do not yet know Christ personally, but through the beauty they create, they can open the hearts of others to Him.”
For this reason, he concludes, the Franciscan parish music school is much more than a cultural or educational activity. “Music makes the Franciscan parish of Our Lady of the Nations such a special place for mission.”
A minority Church, a mission open to all
Father Gabriel Jocher’s testimony unfolds against the backdrop of a numerically small Church within a predominantly Muslim society characterized by a rich diversity of religious and cultural traditions. With a Catholic community of approximately 125,000 faithful – around one per cent of the country’s population – the Church’s mission in Kazakhstan also involves building relationships, creating opportunities for encounter and recognizing what people can share despite their differences.
Music, with its ability to speak to everyone, becomes one of these languages. As Father Gabriel concludes, it “offers an excellent opportunity to meet all kinds of people and find hearts that are open”.
In Kazakhstan, the proclamation of the Gospel can begin with a concert or a melodious song.
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