Precious Records: Arts & Accompaniment
Thomas Weiss—Arts Coordinator • September 3, 2021
A reflection on the Art of Accompaniment
In our last staff meeting, Holly, our circle keeper, prompted us to reflect on accompaniment. She asked: what does it mean to accompany someone, and when have we been accompanied in our past? As we passed the talking piece, I heard an hour’s worth of stories detailing how PBMR staff have either walked alongside participants through the dark and lonely passages of life, or how friends and family have accompanied staff when they have struggled to find the strength to move forward.
There was a common theme in each story shared in our discussion of accompaniment: meeting another person where they are, without judgment, regardless of their past.
I came to PBMR through the Precious Blood Volunteers program for a year of service. I had no particular vision for how I would spend my days, other than mulling over vague romanticisms of “radical kinship” and “accompaniment.” Those imaginations quickly gave way to the harsh realities of relationship building, and the particular challenges that come with accompanying high schoolers growing up amidst gun violence, drug abuse, and the specter of structural racism on the south side of Chicago.
Last week was the final week of One Summer Chicago, an initiative that provides Chicago youth with summer-long employment and enrichment opportunities. Alongside PBMR’s other employment programming, the Precious Records Studio hosted 3 young men as “production assistants.” Participants learned how the Precious Records Studio operates, how to record, mix, and master polished hip hop tracks, and how to make beats for local rappers and artists.
When we started Precious Records, we were making amateur demos in a corner of the Education Lab. After clearing out an unused bathroom, removing the toilets and stalls, putting down “sound treatment” (moving blankets and comforters from Goodwill), and installing air conditioning, the Precious Records Studio now produces rap music that trends toward professional sound quality while training youth in production practices and techniques. We started with one participant. Now, we have more clients than we can handle.
It hadn’t occurred to me until staff meeting that the studio has grown the way that it has precisely because it is a vehicle for accompaniment: we meet the youth where they are. The genre of rap/hip hop is a staple of youth culture at the Center. We listen to rap in the car, we talk about rap over lunch, participants watch music videos while waiting for the bus. After a year of daily companionship with the PBMR youth population, I would say that, for the majority of PBMR youth, rap is a foundational element of their identities.
Why this is the case could be the sole subject of another article. My point is that our youth need a space to express themselves through rap, and to facilitate each other’s expression through hip hop culture. Providing such a space is a mandate of Catholic accompaniment; we are commanded to walk alongside our siblings in Christ, to become like those that are suffering so that they might know they are not in isolation, but always in deep relationship with another.
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What are the fruits of accompaniment? It’s not a simply answered question. (It seems to me that just about nothing is simply answered in restorative justice.) I might as well ask, “What is the result of deep relationship?” It could be anything. It might be momentary respite from a circumstance which makes life seem like a curse rather than a gift. It might be nothing. But it also might be trust, the kind that begets confidence in one’s own abilities to create. It might be the needed affirmation to be oneself.
When De’Savoyay, the inaugural Precious Records participant, walks into the studio, he knows that he belongs. He knows that he can walk over to the computer, turn on one of his songs, dance around, and that his peers will rap the words along with him. He knows that the Precious Records producers are eagerly awaiting the next “Des Da Realest” track. Esperdell, who has logged by far the most hours in production class, takes pride in knowing more production techniques than any other participant in the program. Jeremiah, our youngest producer at just 14, is already scheduling appointments with a few clients to work as their recording engineer. These boys are creating with holy joy because they know that they are welcomed in the Precious Records space, that their voices matter, and that what they create truly reflects their experience.
I don’t know much about accompaniment. Anything I have learned over the last year comes through the grace and blessing of my peers and participants. That being said, watching my participants come alive in a space that they create is changing the way I approach my relationships outside PBMR. Instead of thinking, “What can I do for you?” I’m shifting toward: “How can I create space for you to flourish?
On Thursday, October 29, 2026, Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation and Father Dave Kelly accepted an award as Finalists for the 2026 Opus Prize, a global faith-based prize for social entrepreneurship. Every year, The Opus Prize Foundation partners with a different Catholic university to honor work that addresses some of the most persistent social challenges of our time. We were nominated by our friends and strong collaborators at DePaul University along with two other amazing changemakers across the world: Siyakhathala in Cape Town, South Africa, was founded in 2009 by Ms. Nontsasa Nyovane to assist children that have lost both of their parents to violence or HIV/AIDS. DePaul Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, was started more than 20 years ago by Fr. Vitaliy Novak, C.M., the 2026 Opus Prize Laureate winner, to assist those experiencing homelessness throughout the country. Click here to read DePaul University's recap on the evening , and watch a video below introducing the finalists from DePaul University:
“When we are willing to step outside our comfortable circles, we discover that God has been waiting for us there all along.”
“ It is difficult to hate someone whose story you know. ”
In an age marked by polarization, suspicion, and division, the greatest need in our world is not simply better arguments but deeper relationships.
“ A nation becomes stronger, not weaker, when it is willing to examine itself honestly. ”
“The first message of Jesus is that of compassion. Mission will follow.”
“We’re all doing the same work. We all have the same issues, but we all have our own approaches to the work, right? But turns out, it's one fight. This is one united front.”
“If we truly want safer communities and a more just society, then we must be willing to imagine and invest in a better way for everyone.”
“We learn from those who continue to love, even when they have been betrayed.”
"We all know love when we see it. All the rest are labels."
Advent always begins in darkness. It tells the truth about the world as it is— a world where violence wounds lives and communities, where incarceration separates families, and where fear too often speaks louder than hope. And yet, Advent also insists that the story does not end in darkness. For those who live under the weight of isolation— for survivors of violence, for their families, for communities whose resources are stretched thin— the promise of Advent is not a naïve denial of pain. It is a quiet, steady flame that refuses to go out. This season reminds us that God does not wait for the world to be tidy or whole before drawing near. God comes into the places where the night is longest— into prison cells and courtrooms, into hospital waiting rooms, into homes where grief has taken up residence— and whispers, “I am here.” Advent hope is not passive. It is the hope that allows us to take the next step, to believe that healing is possible, to accompany one another with tenderness and courage. It is the hope that teaches us to look for light before we can see it fully. As we move through this season, may we honor the truth of the darkness without being claimed by it. May we carry hope not as a fragile wish, but as a reason to continue— a reason to keep showing up, to keep loving, to keep believing that God’s dawn is already on its way. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Amen.
Reimagining Justice in Illinois: A Restorative Justice Blueprint for Illinois’ Criminal Legal System
The following text is an excerpt from an article of the same title, first published on the RJHubs website by Karlyn Boens. Joe’s story brought these themes to life on a human scale. “I never had a chance to be a kid,” he shared. Growing up in constant survival mode, childhood was something he had to skip to stay alive. At PBMR, he experienced something different: “I could let my hair down. I discovered I was good at talking to people.” What Joe encountered was radical hospitality and accompaniment—restorative practices that rarely appear in legislation or policy yet quietly transform lives every day. Where systems had seen risk, PBMR saw relationship. Where institutions had offered surveillance, PBMR offered presence and belonging. His story illustrated what it looks like when the human rights lens is made concrete: a space where connection, dignity, and possibility are not conditional, but assumed. This conversation captures what restorative justice demands of us in Illinois. It is not about launching more programs or pilots. It is about: A paradigm shift in how we understand safety A culture shift in how institutions wield power A system shift in how decisions are made, data is collected, and accountability is defined Imagine an Illinois where: Human rights guide decision-making Restorative justice is the standard, not the exception Communities lead the healing Data includes lived experience, not just charges and convictions Redemption is not selective Adults are not excluded from restoration And every child has the chance to just be a child This panel did not hand us easy answers. Instead, it offered an invitation—a call to build the ecosystem our communities have been waiting for, one relationship, one policy, one practice at a time.
