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DENIS GRADY FINDS HAITI
CHILDREN'S JOY DESPITE POVERTY
By GORDON LEGGE,
Calgary
Denis Grady, an award-winning Calgary country Gospel singer, visited Haiti in
mid-October (2002) where he frequently found himself pulling out his guitar and harmonica
and staging an impromptu roadside concert.
More often than not, within minutes there were a couple of dozen children swarming around him, eager to connect with the
friendly, soft-spoken Canadian.
"Grace," says Grady, "it was in the eyes of the poorest of the poor."
Grady officially released his second CD, Grace in the Strangest Places
(Stable), at a concert at Holy Name Parish in Calgary
Nov. 30. It's a warm, mature CD featuring a new collection of his own songs about the magnitude of God's mercy
and surprising grace.
While in Haiti, the United Catholic Music and Video Association at a ceremony in
Washington, D.C. honoured Grady with a Unity Award for Best Country Gospel
Album 2002 for the new CD. It was Grady's fourth Unity Award in three years.
Despite the gratifying music industry awards, Grady found his visit to Haiti far more
fulfilling. In fact, the Caribbean country, with its isolation and imprisoning poverty amid
stinking, stifling heat and humidity, became another turning point in Grady's lengthy
music career.
The singer, who visited Haiti as a representative of Christian Child Care International
(CCCI) , remembers thinking the children had every reason to be angry and
miserable. They live in one of the poorest countries in the western Hemisphere. About
85 per cent of the population of seven million people live below the poverty line.
Holiness amidst poverty
"There was a lot of holiness amidst the poverty," he recalled during an interview
shortly after his return. "The kids would give you this look like they hadn't seen you
for two years. There'd be this economy of smiles and waves, this thing of wanting to
connect with people." Just like the name of his second CD, Grady uncovered new sources of God's grace
during his trip on behalf of CCCI, a Catholic child sponsorship organization based in
Springhill, Nova Scotia.
Grady, who has served the poor and disadvantaged most of his life, toured schools,
hospitals and orphanages in both the capital Port Au Prince and in remote areas in the
mountains like Latiboliere. Roads are almost non-existent in the rural areas. There is no electricity or running
water. More than half the students do not have a parent who can read or write. Pupils
sign their own report cards. Malnourishment haunts the children.
"I, more so now than ever, realize that our life is an ongoing conversion," says Grady.
"An experience like this really puts a face and name to the poor from the Gospels.
"It's just really difficult to go back to your understanding of affluence. I can't stop
thinking about the religious brothers and sisters (Marist Brothers, Missionaries of
Charity, Sisters of the Good Shepherd). They've become my heroes - yet their
lifestyle really terrifies me."
The Unity award, announced while Grady was en route to
Canada from Haiti, meant less to him than ever before because of his Haitian experience.
Ironically, when recording industry executive Susan Stein of
Heartbeat Records announced his award in Washington, she said, "Denis Grady has been with us every year. But he's not
with us this year because he's starting his ministry in Haiti."
Indeed, when he launched the CD,
Grady had 100 child sponsorship packages for Haitian children available beside his CDs. Since returning, he's felt less
pressure to succeed and found more enjoyment simply playing the music and reaching people.
But then Grady, who has a gift for friendship and
camaraderie, has been reaching people most of his life.
Folkie roots
Born in Peterborough, Ont, Grady, 50, started out as a folk singer, emulating Bob
Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot. He moved to Alberta in the early 1970s and slowly his
music took on a western flavour.
During that time, he served as an assistant in Calgary's L'Arche community for the mentally- and physically-challenged.
And he's also spent some time supporting the work of Mother Teresa and the
Missionaries of Charity.
In 1980, he was invited to participate in a Billy Graham Crusade in Calgary where he
met two prominent and unabashedly evangelical U.S. musicians, Dennis and Danny
Agajanian. He became close friends with Danny and the two play together regularly.
A mean bluegrass banjo picker, Danny is coming up from Colorado to perform at
Grady's CD launch.
Reality check
It was always Grady's ambition to become a recording artist. But God had some
refining to do first as Grady attended a drug and alcohol treatment centre in 1984 and
went through a painful divorce in 1989.
By the early 1990s, Grady was busy promoting the Gospel and Gospel music
industry, first through a weekly radio program, and later while trying to establish two
separate associations aimed at supporting and promoting Catholic, Protestant and
evangelical Christian musicians. During this time, he received support and encouragement from Catholicism's famed
troubadour John Michael Talbot. Grady visits Talbot's Arkansas Franciscan
hermitage annually to gather with other Catholic musicians from across the continent.
In 1998, Grady released his first CD, Running Too Long, an upbeat, energetic CD
filled with songs he'd written about how his love for the Lord developed and matured,
filling him with love and joy. Grady was named the Recording Industry Association of
Alberta's Gospel Musician of the Year in 1998. Soon his concert tours were taking him beyond Canada and North America to Italy,
Holland, Ireland and Germany. Last summer, he played at World Youth Day in
Toronto.
Wherever he goes, friends back home look forward to receiving bright and unusual
postcards from far off locales signed "Bless You, Denis," in big, bold letters.
A successful crossover artist, as often as not he can be found somewhere in southern
Alberta and B.C. playing retreats and concerts in both parishes and community halls.
He's also launched a monthly Sunday evening coffeehouse at Calgary's St. Philips
Anglican Church. Wherever he goes, "Shakey - King of the Roadies" will be helping him.
Shakey, a.k.a. Delane Ohlhauser, is a mentally challenged 70-year-old man who has lived with
Grady, and his wife, Wendy, for the past 12 years.
Saintly visits
Grady, who re-visits the lives of the saints during daily devotions, points to what he
thinks is a pertinent Gospel passage at this time in his music ministry. It's from 2
Timothy 4:2-6:
"Proclaim the word, be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient: convince,
reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. "
"For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but follow their
own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to
the truth and will be diverted to myths. "
"But you will be self-possessed in all circumstances: put up with hardship: perform the
work of an evangelist: fulfill your ministry."
Grady's easily prevailed upon to do benefit concerts. A few years ago, it was for the
homeless and street people. In early November, he was raising support at his Sunday
coffeehouse for Servants Anonymous, an agency that helps women leave prostitution
and the street life. This CD will be for the children of Haiti.
Drawing on God's grace, Grady's talking and singing about helping the impoverished
with more zeal than ever before.
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