Written by Father Andrew Greeley, it offered a faith-inspired insight on Springsteen's then recently released album, “Tunnel of Love.”

He saw in Springsteen's music not just many references to the sacred, but also a Catholic sacramental vision of redemption.

In stories of ordinary people struggling between love and fear, Father Greeley recognized not just Springsteen's Catholic upbringing, but the heart's struggle to keep hope alive.

The rock star had recently divorced his wife and, channeling his pain and experience into his art, “I turned inward to write about men, women and love,” he wrote in liner notes to “Greatest Hits.”

This article was my first exposure to “the Boss,” as his fans call him. I was initially skeptical of Father Greeley's claims. But the music proved him right.

Using images of heaven, angels, church bells, baptism, prayer and “God's fallen light,” Springsteen hinted at the ever-present grace of God's goodness, lurking behind our sinful ways.

In one powerful line, which perhaps alludes to his own failed marriage, he cries, “God have mercy on the man/Who doubts what he's sure of.”

Since then, Springsteen has continued to use religious sensibility in his music. He also is widely known for his social justice concerns.

He has addressed alienated Vietnam vets in “Born in the USA,” police brutality in “41 Shots,” the plight of migrants in “Sinaloa Cowboys," immigrants in “Galveston Bay,” unemployment in “The River,” infidelity in “Wages of Sin,” even deindustrialization in the haunting “Youngstown.”

His most recent album, “The Rising,” received critical acclaim last year as a culturally sensitive, profoundly touching response to the tragic events of 9/11.

This positive perspective on a pop culture icon may seem out of place in this newspaper, but many sermons and spiritual writers rightly call us to be “counter-cultural” in our practice of the Catholic faith.

Certainly, there is more than enough in contemporary culture that opposes our beliefs. Violence (in the womb or weapons of mass destruction), materialism and individualism are only some of the shadows of death cast by our culture.

But popular culture and its artists can also lift up and support faith. Novels, plays, paintings, movies, documentaries and even TV dramas shine light on the important moral dilemmas of our day.

Yes, we adults as well as youth must be critically discerning in our media choices (see the U.S. bishops' insightful 2001 pastoral letter, “Renewing the Mind of the Media”).

But didn't St. Thomas Aquinas take that pagan philosopher Aristotle, and use his insights as a superstructure for the classic, magisterial “Summa?”

So this Wednesday (Aug. 6), when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band come to PNC Park, I'll be there.

Few may catch his Catholic imagination or references to the fundamental religious nature of all humanity. Some may perk up at his citations of grace, prayer in “My City of Ruins” or faith, hope and love in “Into the Fire.”

All of us will experience the sheer joy of nine musicians who love their craft, are superb at it and want to share it with 40,000 friends, without drugs or violence.

We'll be longing for the “Land of Hope and Dreams” where "Dreams will not be thwarted/Faith will be rewarded.”