When Justin West posts a new song on TikTok, X, or YouTube, it’s not just music; it’s catechesis wrapped in a style that is humorous, rhythmic, and a little bit edgy. 

In one video, he dismantles the familiar myth of the “Dark Ages,” delivering a rapid-fire verse that notes “the only libraries left open were run by monks copying everything they could rescue while the rest of Europe went bonfire mode,” before landing the refrain: “The universe is relational. Go study it. God won’t smite you for asking questions. Science isn’t the Church’s enemy; it’s one of Her children.”

In another, responding to the perennial charge that Catholics worship Mary, West deadpans, “Yeah, sure. That tracks,” before launching into a clear explanation of the Immaculate Conception that ranges from Genesis to the Ark of the Covenant, asking pointedly whether God would really “downgrade to spiritually corroded plywood” when the Word himself took flesh.

In just over six weeks, West’s Peter’s Barque platform has drawn thousands of followers, including more than 12,000 on TikTok alone, with likes approaching more than 100,000.

His popular videos cover everything from Marian doctrine to analyses of Scripture, often leaving viewers entertained and sometimes inspired to explore the faith further.

Comments roll in on TikTok from Catholics and non-Catholics alike: “As an atheist, I will admit that these songs are very good and entertaining. Keep up the good work!” read one on his Read Your Catechism video. For Science Isn’t the Church’s Enemy — It’s One of Her Children, another user said, “As a Christian and a scientist, no one side has ever taken me at face value. This is fantastic!”

 

A Catechist’s Playground

“I am not a musician, but I am a catechist,” West told the Register. He launched Peter’s Barque at the end of November 2025, experimenting with short-form musical catechesis. A marketer by trade, West has long been involved in teaching the faith, teaching OCIA for St. Benedict’s Parish in Atchison, Kansas. Translating those lessons into three-minute musical explanations, however, was new territory.

His approach is instinctive rather than formulaic. “I want to be careful not to make it sound like I overthink this. A lot of my ideas are honestly just my gut reaction — how I would naturally put them out there,” he said. 

Humor plays a strategic role, lowering defenses and inviting curiosity. This edginess even played a significant role in influencing the platform’s name. “I picked ‘Peter’s Barque’ because of the Barque of St. Peter,” West explained, referring to the traditional image of the Church as a ship steered by the pope. “But also because I’m barking a bit in being snarky.”

Yet the substance remains serious. Each lyric is rooted in Scripture, doctrine or Church history, with each song anticipating challenges West has heard repeatedly in the classroom. 

Songs like Immaculate Conception: Fitting, Not Forced especially highlight his penchant for witty retorts to common objections: “When Gabriel arrives, he doesn’t say, ‘Hello, Mary, ordinary Galilean teenager.’ He gives her a title and salutes her, ‘Kaira kecharitomene,’ meaning, ‘Hail you who has been perfectly graced, graced completely, graced to fullness in a permanent ongoing state.’ That’s not a nickname; that’s an identity.”

“And Scripture says all generations will call me blessed,” the song continues, “but strangely only the apostolic churches do; everyone else waits until December, brings out the Nativity statues and suddenly forgets the Second Commandment for 31 days.”

He channels a mix of influences, from a style similar to Schoolhouse Rock! to the cadence of musical artists like “Weird Al” Yankovic. In apologetics, he points to Catholic Answers apologist Jimmy Akin as a model of patient, careful explanations.

 

From Internet Skeptic to Teacher

West’s confidence in explaining the faith is rooted in a conversion that was as intellectual as it was personal. Raised nominally Catholic by a single mother, he received the sacraments but says the faith never took hold. “By the time I graduated high school, I was basically agnostic,” he said. “I didn’t think you could really know whether God existed.”

That changed not through an emotional experience, but through an internet connection. In 1999, West enrolled at Benedictine College almost by accident; needing a fourth school to list on his ACT test application, he included Benedictine simply because he had heard of another student applying there.

He then received a phone call from the small liberal arts college, offering him a scholarship less than a month before the school year started. Discovering that the school was Catholic, he cited there being “too many rules” and resolved to prove the Church wrong. 

It was the early era of widespread internet access for students, and West began frequenting online forums in search of arguments against the Church. But in the interest of intellectual honesty, he also read Catholic responses. “Every time, the Catholic answers were better,” he said.

Before long, he found himself answering objections for Catholics online, even while still considering himself agnostic. “About a year in, I realized I actually believed this stuff,” he said. An intellectual conversion gave way to a conversion of heart, one that would shape his vocation. 

West graduated in 2003, married his wife, Beth, the following year, and remained closely connected to Benedictine College and parish life. When people began inquiring about joining the Church, he was eventually asked to run the newly formed RCIA program despite having no formal lesson plan. “So I built my own,” he said. He has now taught OCIA (formerly RCIA) for 20 years.

In recent years, he noticed a “hole in the marketplace” for both better catechesis and short-form content that would resonate deeply with viewers. “I wanted a way to communicate the faith that didn’t feel like a wall of text,” he noted.

Engaging the Audience 

That interaction with the market has stretched to his social-media platforms, where West regularly responds to questions in comment sections, extending discussions beyond the videos themselves. “It creates a catechetical environment, almost like a mini-catechetical space on TikTok and X,” he said. 

Andrew Loew, a middle-school science and religion teacher at St. Benedict Catholic School and a friend of West’s, has seen the effect firsthand. “Kids today are fed a lot of shallow content, and there’s something very real about this. You combine catchiness with depth, it sticks — and they come back to it,” Loew said. 

The Immaculate Conception video, in particular, led to questions and conversations among his students that might not have happened otherwise. 

“This isn’t just another theologian talking at you,” he added. “[The music] is approachable, and it takes the edge off. That’s huge for young people and those who have written off the faith.”

Even adults have shared that they are being drawn back to faith. Under Go to Confession, Sinner, a former Pentecostal commented, “Trying to find my way. It’s not like I’m a stranger to things changing in my slow walk with Christ but never has something struck a chord … it’s given me a so much to think about and really focus on. It’s not what I’ve ever heard or thought about before.” 

Another wrote of his Imago Dei & Human Rights song, “Not since Epic Rap Battles of History have I seen so many facts packed into such a digestible form. You sir, adventure the soul of a poet, and the heart of a teacher. God bless you. And thanks.”

A Calling, Not a Career

West is careful to emphasize that Peter’s Barque is not a business venture. He writes the songs himself, leaning on modern technology and AI for imagery and vocals to streamline the process. “What people are listening for isn’t background music,” he explained. “They’re listening to learn their faith.”

Two Scripture passages guide his approach. The first is 1 Peter 3:15, which calls for being ready to defend one’s hope with gentleness and respect, and 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, which gives the reminder that while individuals plant and water, God causes the growth.

“At the end of the day, the purpose of catechesis is to change lives — both in this world and the next,” West said. “Some people need the soil tilled, some need a seed planted, some need watering, and some need thorns pulled away. I can’t do everything for everyone, but I can tend my little part of the vineyard.”

Looking Ahead

Despite the rapid growth, West remains grounded about what comes next. “I’m a few weeks in and fumbling my way forward,” he said. “I don’t have a grand plan. I just hope people walk away realizing that the Catholic faith is deeper, older, and more coherent than they were led to believe.”

West will now release one song every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as opposed to dropping one each day as he had previously done. He hopes Peter’s Barque will be a “long-term project” dependent fully on “the Holy Spirit.”

Tapping into the “unfathomable depth of 2,000 years” of the Catholic Church, upcoming songs will focus on saints, Scripture, and Church history, including several dedicated to his five children. 

One recent piece recounts the courage of St. Joan of Arc in a western ballad. “She broke siege after siege with a courage untold, and she carried the Dauphin to Reims to be crowned in pure gold. For a teenage girl’s faith changed the course of the world, a path set by Heaven to restore France once more,” the song reads, before repeating the refrain, based on Joan’s own words: “I am not afraid, for God is with me. I was born for this.”

Some videos will be apologetic, others meditative, and others simply playful. “Every song does something different,” he said. “I want people to have fun with the faith, as joy is part of holiness.”

“If you make someone laugh, you disarm them. God made us capable of that joy,” he added. “The devil fell through pride and taking himself too seriously; the saints rise through humility and joy.”

Even with thousands of people now listening, West remains self-effacing. “I’m not the holiest person in the world. I fail all the time,” he said. “I’m just hopeful that whatever grace comes through this will help pull me across the finish line in the end.”

For those encountering Peter’s Barque online, that combination of humility, joy and serious catechesis may be precisely what makes the message resonate — one catchy song at a time.