Rocking Romans began in 2006 with the intent of finding solid Catholic acts to play at a 2007 summer youth rally in Atlanta. This led to the concept of having an online "battle of the bands" to find the best Catholic soloist and band to invite to the rally. The original Rocking Romans website was then developed, going live on Easter Sunday, 2007. Over 20 Catholic artists submitted music for the first contest. MILO and Critical Mass were both invited to play at the youth rally. Realizing that Rocking Romans had the potential to do much more than find two acts for a youth rally, numerous competitions have since taken place.
The first Best of New Catholic Music Competition happened during Lent of 2008, bringing in nearly 30 Catholic Music entries. Rocking Romans' first compilation CD was then produced as a means to promote the winning entries and Catholic Music in general. Pointe Blank later won a 2008 World Youth Day contest that earned them Rocking Romans' sponsorship to play in the Sydney Youth Festival last year. A Catholic Music video contest followed that will see the top video entries turned into a TV pilot episode for Catholic TV and other interested outlets.
The second Best of New Catholic Music Competition has recently been completed and the top artists, representing 11 of nearly 40 artists from 6 countries, were included in the 2009 compilation CD. The quality of this year's CD is outstanding, and it is now available for sale on the Rocking Romans web site.
Rocking Romans' mission is to position Catholic Music to compete effectively with secular music for the attention of an audience that may not be familiar with Catholicism today. Because Catholic Music is developing so quickly, this mission becomes more achievable with each passing month.
