Priest. Pastor. Musician. Songwriter.

Space traveler.

Father Charles Klamut, pastor of St. Mark’s Parish in Peoria, will perform music from “Space Traveler,” his newly released CD of 11 original songs, during a release celebration called “The Launch” next Friday, June 4, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. in the gym of St. Mark’s School.

The live concert will feature special guest Jessamyn Luong, who is also a musician and composer.

Admission is $10 per adult, with children admitted free. Food and beverages will be available. All proceeds, with the exception of CD sales, benefit the Flynn Foundation for Cystic Fibrosis Research, named for St. Mark’s parishioners Anna and Will Flynn.

Father Klamut, ordained in 1999, is a former chaplain at Peoria Notre Dame High School. Providing background vocals on many of the selections on his new CD is Dani Praul, a 2008 PND graduate.

This is Father Klamut’s second music project. His first CD, “Rarefied Air,” was released in 2000.

“Space Traveler” is powered by Father Klamut’s talents on acoustic guitar and his deep, sometimes edgy lyrics delivered with expressive vocals. While the CD art features stars and planets, the “space” explored musically by Father Klamut is interior, relational, and spiritual.

In songs such as “Unbury Me,” “APB Out on My Soul,” and “I Wish,” he travels in search of connection and meaning in an increasingly confusing world.

The title song, for example, notes that technology can “shrink the world,” but adds that cell phones and the Internet can be powerless to “undo the hurt, the tears, the hate, the fears” that can separate us from one another and God.

Direct, traditional references to faith are few, though in “Eva” — a song about a girl whose life was impacted by an abusive father — Father Klamut repeatedly tells her “Someone’s calling out your name, I think it might be Jesus.”

“Space Traveler” can be heard and purchased on iTunes and is available in area music stores. Father Klamut also has sites on Facebook and MySpace. He can be contacted at the parish, (309) 673-1263, or by email at frcmk@yahoo.com.