"Child of God sitting in the sun, giving peace of mind"

As one might imagine, over the past few weeks there has been an explosion of articles about the religious overtones and undertones of the music of Black Sabbath and, to a greater degree, of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo career. Dr. David Bonagura's "A Rocker and a Doctor Meet in Birmingham," which I read on Catholic Culture, is one of the best I've read. I love the juxtaposition of Newman and Osbourne. I also love using juxtapose!

Saint John Henry Newman

I’d like to dig a little deeper, not to rebut but to contextualize.

The first Sabbath song Bonagura mentions is 'After Forever’. This is a track off their third studio album, Master of Reality. As was the case with many of the band’s songs, the lyrics for ‘After Forever’ were composed by Geezer Butler, the band's bassist. Many of Butler’s Sabbath lyrics were deeply influenced by his Catholicism. Ozzy’s Mom was Catholic. While he was raised largely unchurched, he recalled fondly memories he had of Anglican Sunday School when very young.

Bob Daisely wrote almost all the lyrics to 'I Don't Know,' with Ozzy adding the lyrics, "You have to believe in foolish miracles." In other words, he sang someone else's words. It was Butler who also wrote the lyrics to 'Paranoid,' which was produced as a "3-minute filler."

Randy Rhoades, who in his brief career with Ozzy’s original band, which ended with his early accidental death, was one of the greatest guitarists of all-time, was described by his brother as "a devout Lutheran." Rhoades funeral was held at First Lutheran Church of Burbank, CA, which is a Missouri Synod church.

I think the short article, which is not intended as a deep dive, is very good in what in communicates: “The Catholic Church has honored Newman in the hope that men and women experiencing the turmoil that Ozzy lived may overcome it with the aid of the saint’s assured writings.” I have to mention that I would belong to the Church were it not for the writings of this saint and soon-to-be Doctor of the Church.

As to the mundane assertion made by Ozzy, of course one doesn't have to go to church in order to believe in God. Christians go to Church because they believe God took human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. One observation is in order, it’s easier to follow a god of one’s making, a god who shares all of one’s views, suc a belief or nothing of the believer.

Writing about faithful critics of the Church, meaning ones who are in the Church, theologian Karl Rahner, s/he

knows that the Church, ultimately, is not merely a … religious organization satisfying people’s needs but … the community which believes that Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen one, is God’s irrevocable promise to us. Of what great importance is angers with pastors, bishops, possibly even the papacy, when one knows that in this Church … as nowhere else, in life and death, one can hold on to Jesus, the trusted witness of the eternal God

Our traditio, then, is Black Sabbath's "Spiral Architect" of their fifth studio album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album.