On an average day, Lt. Cmdr. Phil Kanicki, deputy command chaplain of Naval Base Kitsap, presides in liturgical services as well as a myriad of other activities such as counseling, spiritual direction and ethics training to the men and women of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Even with those responsibilities he still makes time to have a highly creative personal life. 

When people first meet Chaplain Kanicki they might just see him as a man with a strong faith and deep convictions but there’s more to him than his religious beliefs. When he’s not working, Chaplain Kanicki enjoys a hobby that, for him, is an adventure into the “outer reaches of inner space.”

“I started playing the piano when I was 12-years-old, and I discovered a passion within that has been with me ever since. It continued to develop throughout my years in college and then in seminary” said Kanicki. “In college and in the seminary, much of my recreation time was spent losing myself in music. It was the one thing I could do and become absolutely absorbed in it on my own.”

In college he majored in theology and fine arts. He even managed to make extra money by playing the piano and organ for special occasions like weddings and bar mitzvah’s.

“When I play the piano or organ, I go to another place. It’s like a form of meditation or prayer for me that re-news my spirit. I am engaged in creativity-doing something different from what usually occupies my days. The thrill I get when I sit at the keyboards of a 125 rank pipe organ is an adrenaline rush. There’s nothing more awesome than tearing away at a piece of J S Bach on the organ,” said Kanicki.

“My first public organ recital was at Loyola University in Chicago. I’ve also had the opportunity to perform at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark, N.J, and at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukee, WI. “That was a thrill,” said Kanicki. “An organ has 66 notes in each keyboard and each key controls a single pipe. You may have as many as five keyboards at an organ counsel. The largest organ one I’ve ever played had 125 ranks; that’s 125 sets of 66 pipes. That’s a lot of pipes!”

He has also substituted for Navy chapel musicians during liturgical services in the base chapels.

“Besides presiding at church, I’ve also had to double up roles filling in for the musicians a few times. I’d welcome everyone, walk over to the piano, roll up the sleeves of my vestments, sit down and play the opening song. After that I’d turn to the congregation say the opening prayer,” added Kanicki.

Over the years, Father Kanicki has developed a rather poetic view of the human and spiritual condition.. One of his favorite quotations is “Next to silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”

“The same skills I use when listening to or creating beautiful music are the same skills I use when listening to people. It enables me to hear the meaning beyond the words and to hear what people are really saying. I have discovered that most people have the answers to the questions that are confronting them, and sometimes they just need to have someone listen to them, so they can determine what happens next without me telling them,” said Kanicki.

Listening carefully also creates a sense of self worth in those he counsels.

“It is always a most humbling experience to listen to another person’s self revelation. There is another wise saying that I try to remember in those moments: ‘The one who says they know, does not, but the one who knows they don’t know, knows.’”

Kanicki added that listening carefully is a more powerful tool than most people might think.

“It’s a process of engagement because when I really begin to engage someone--to truly listen, I discover what really matters to them even though it’s not immediately apparent. To give people that kind of attention is like opening a treasure together.”

Whether he’s playing the organ or presiding over a church service, Chaplain Kanicki is fortunate that his talents line up well with what he does professionally.

“I’m doing the work I was born to do, and I love every minute of it.”