Longtime music minister Simeon Layne gives credit to several for his conversion to the Catholic faith
When it comes to playing worship music, Simeon Layne said there’s nothing that comes between him and God.
“When you’re in church and you’re playing, you literally blot out everything and everyone around you,” said Layne, a longtime music minister who for more than 40 years has shared his gift of music ministry at parishes and events across the Archdiocese of St. Louis. “You’re in the presence of God, and you’re giving Him your total worship.”
Layne, a member of St. Augustine Parish in St. Louis, was to be honored April 23 with the Father Ed Feuerbacher Lifetime Achievement Award from the St. Charles Lwanga Center at its annual Testimonial Dinner and Celebration. Layne was one of several people honored at the annual event for their contributions in the community. The archdiocesan agency promotes spiritual formation and leadership development, including advocacy for justice and racial equity concerns among the Black Catholic community.
In addition to his presence at St. Augustine, Layne plays music at Masses for St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist in St. Louis and St. Norbert in Florissant for the African Catholic Ministry’s Unity Mass, held on the fourth Sunday of the month.
Over the years, he’s also provided music for youth activities with the St. Charles Lwanga Center and St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Church, he founded the North Deanery Choir, a collaborative of voices from parishes in the North City Deanery, and previously led a band with the Catholic Men for Christ conference.
His conversion to Catholicism in 1998 was the beginning of a journey that led him to see that God was calling him exactly where he needed to be. “God saved my life,” Layne said. “I told Him, I’ll commit myself — anything you need.”
Coming home to the Catholic Church
In the mid-1990s, Layne attended several Promise Keepers events. One of the stipulations of being a Promise Keeper, he said, was to belong to a church community. Layne was raised in the Pentecostal church, but as a young man, he “went the other way out the back door.” He essentially was atheist, he said.
“I wasn’t truly a promise keeper,” he said. “I was more of a promise maker.”
Knowing he needed a home church, he asked a co-worker, Dave Smith, about his involvement with the Catholic Church. “I realized everything about him was Jesus,” Layne said. “He was always peaceful and everything I knew I wanted to be.” Smith invited him to join RCIA at his parish, St. Robert Bellarmine in St. Charles.
By then, Layne had already been the music minister at St. Barbara Parish in St. Louis. With a major in classical piano performance from Washington University in St. Louis, he saw a job opening and in 1981 interviewed with then-Father Ed Griesedieck.
“Thinking of my classical repertoire, I’m sitting there playing ‘Ave Maria’ for Father,” Layne recalled. “He’s like, ‘Oh, that’s nice. Do you know any Gospel music?’” Layne laughed and started playing a few songs on the fly. “He said, ‘Oh praise the Lord! You’re going to save this church!’”
Not long after he was hired, Father Griesedieck invited Layne to a Catholic Charismatic Renewal convention. Layne said the experience blew him away. “We walk in the door, and all these Catholics have their heads back and praising God, and I’m like, are you kidding me? This is Catholic?” he recalled. “That was my introduction that being Catholic was so much more than I had ever known.”
Layne’s subsequent involvement with Promise Keepers and the encounter with his colleague began what he described as the “serious side of the journey.” Once parishioners at St. Augustine got wind that he was attending RCIA classes at St. Robert Bellarmine, they informed him, “Oh no you’re not. You’ve been at this church … you’re doing RCIA here,” Layne recalled with a laugh. He finished RCIA at St. Augustine and was received into the Church at the Easter Vigil in April 1998.
Less than a year later, Pope John Paul II came to St. Louis for a pastoral visit. Layne invited a work friend, who despite having never attended church, was interested in seeing the Holy Father in person. “I told him, ‘Jeff, it would be a great day if you did that.’ When we walked into the Dome, everybody had Jesus on their face. It was this air of, ‘I love you, I don’t know you and I don’t care.’ That was the spirit of everybody in there.”
Layne’s friend later told him that he saw the pope and his motorcade, and something changed him. He told Layne: “the Pope drove by and he looked at me. He changed my life, and I have to go to church now.”
“I realized I’m in the right house, and with the right people,” Layne said. “I’m in God’s house, and now I’m giving God praise.”
Parish adult and youth honorees
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta – Kathleen Magrecki (adult)
Most Holy Trinity – Karl and Madonna Buhr (adult)
Our Lady of the Holy Cross – Shirley Carson (adult)
St. Alphonsus Liguori – Roberta George (adult)
St. Ann (Normandy) – Barbara Jackson (adult)
St. Augustine – Bria McWoods (adult); Rogerdreka Davis (youth)
St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist – James and Dorothy Dempsey (adult); Michael Williams (youth)
St. Matthew the Apostle – Desiray Taylor (adult); Jadon Trice (youth)
St. Nicholas – Eloise Grimes (adult)
Sts. Teresa and Bridget – Donna Torrillo (adult, posthumously); Martin Crawford Jr. (youth)
Torch Bearer honoree
Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Greater St. Louis
Fr. Edward F. Feuerbacher Lifetime Achievement honorees
Simeon Augustus Layne Jr.
Deacon Charles Allen (posthumously)
St. Charles Lwanga Center
The mission of the St. Charles Lwanga Center is to promote Catholic teaching, Catholic spiritual formation and leadership development, including advocacy for justice and racial equity concerns within the Black Catholic community and for all who collaborate with them, in accord with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.
The center oversees ministries in several areas:
• Evangelization: Liturgies, pastoral care for individuals and engaged and married couples, a Bible study and Crossroads retreat for busy people
• Youth ministry: Preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation and the annual Kujenga youth leadership conference
• Advocacy: Initiatives promoting racial equity and social justice concerns, including consultative services relating to cultural awareness
• Ministry of consolation training and support
• Legal ministry
• Planning of the archdiocese’s annual Mass commemorating the birth and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Model of Justice Awards program
• Annual St. Charles Lwanga Testimonial Dinner and Celebration
Sponsoring parishes include Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in Ferguson, and in St. Louis the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, Most Holy Trinity, Our Lady of the Holy Cross, St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Church, St. Augustine, St. Elizabeth Mother of John the Baptist, St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Nicholas and Sts. Teresa and Bridget Church.
Father Arthur Cavitt is the executive director, and Corliss Cox serves as special assistant to the executive director. For more information, visit archstl.org/lwangacenter or call (314) 367-7929.
Late deacon posthumously honored with achievement award
Deacon Charles Allen also was to be posthumously honored with the Father Ed Feuerbacher Lifetime Achievement Award from the St. Charles Lwanga Center.
Debbie Allen, his wife of 51 years, anticipated accepting the award April 23 at the Lwanga Center’s annual Testimonial Dinner and Celebration.
Deacon Allen was ordained to the permanent diaconate on June 3, 2006, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis by then-Archbishop Raymond L. Burke. He was assigned to assist the pastor at St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist Parish from 2006-16 and then at Sts. Teresa and Bridget Parish from 2016 until his death on May 20, 2022, at the age of 78.
Deacon Allen served his parish by assisting at Mass, serving on the parish council and the liturgy committee, visiting nursing homes, making Communion calls to the homebound and assisting with funerals, weddings, baptisms and adult and youth faith formation. He was also involved with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and its food pantry, the St. Charles Lwanga Center and ecumenical services with neighboring churches.
When they married in 1971, Charles and Debbie Allen had different faith backgrounds (Debbie is an active member of Washington Metropolitan AME Zion Church), but his wife nonetheless supported her husband when he expressed a desire to become a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church.
Deacon Allen was always interested in his wife’s views on things, including matters related to the Catholic Church. “We would go on date nights every Friday. Sometimes we would drive, and he liked to hear my perspective on things.” Debbie said the two made a perfect pair, because her husband always looked at things from the heart, while Debbie offered a practical view.
Deacon Allen had a special love for God’s children and was involved in youth activities with the St. Charles Lwanga Center. He visited students at St. Louis Catholic Academy, located next door to the Lwanga Center, and drove a bus for De Smet Jesuit High School, transporting students from St. Charles and surrounding areas to the school’s campus in Creve Coeur.
At her husband’s visitation, “there were so many kids who came up to me who I had no idea who they were,” Debbie said. “I always knew my husband was a good person, but didn’t know exactly how good he was until I met them.”
Deacon Allen loved being with people, whether that was those he met at Debbie’s church, co-workers, the deacons he went through formation with and their wives, or their two now-grown sons and their friends. “Being a deacon, it was the people,” she said. “Period.”
She realized later on that what her husband loved most about the Church was the routine and rituals, especially when it came to worship. “There is something very concrete and routine about it,” she said. “Being married to him for all those years and visiting different Catholic churches, you know what to expect, and I can see how that is a comfort to some people.”
— Jennifer Brinker
