The Catholic Creatives Podcast

This week we speak with TJ Berden, filmmaker and producer of "Paul, Apostle of Christ" and "Full of Grace." In this podcast, Anthony and TJ talk about TJ’s journey living in LA and working on bigger budget productions. TJ talks about how he moved to LA brandishing the Catholic sword with a desire to change culture, but learned upon arriving that change first needed to come from within. He shares about the impact "Tree of Life" had on him as an artist and speaks about how relationships with certain groups of people sparked within him a passion for life and a love of beauty. TJ speaks about his time working on "Paul, Apostle of Christ" and how diving into the humanity and emotional drama of Paul’s life were some of the most self transformative parts of the movie-making process for him. Anthony and TJ also talk about the importance of community as creatives, and how great work and great beauty can come from intimate and personal friendships.

This week we’re doing something a little different. With the 2018 Catholic Creatives Summit only one month away we decided to bring back the keynote talk from last year’s summit. We really want everyone to hear this talk because the New Renaissance is what we’re about. The Catholic Creatives’ Why is: "Setting creatives free so that they can unleash a new renaissance." This is why Catholic Creatives exists. And this is why this talk is so important for everyone to listen to. What is a renaissance? What are examples of past renaissances? What does a new renaissance look like? What is it going to take for that to happen? Matt’s talk at the summit last year was a prophetic answer to these questions.

This week we speak with gift giving expert, speaker, and author John Ruhlin. In this podcast, Anthony and John discuss the power and the value of radical generosity in professional and personal relationships. They discuss how using gratitude as a competitive advantage is not a tactic but a lifestyle, how we have forgotten the ancient practices of showing one another how much we value our relationships through tangible gifts, and how our call as Christians is to live a life of generosity both in our personal lives and in our professional lives. John shares his journey of learning about the importance of generosity in relationships using stories and experiences from his own life, he talks about his heart behind why he lives a life of radical generosity, and he explains that true gift giving is about giving with no strings attached.

This week, we speak with Chuck Kinnane, film director and co-founder of Grassroots Films and Kinnane Films. In this podcast, Anthony and Chuck discuss creating art that deeply resonates with the soul. Chuck shares about his experiences of permission and tragedy, the deep impact 9/11 had on him as a young creative, and what he’s learned about suffering and humanity through working with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Anthony and Chuck discuss how we as creatives are called to enter into people’s experiences of doubt and suffering and find redemption and meaning in that suffering.

This week, we speak with Roberta Ahmanson, lover of beauty and a leading philanthropist in Christian art. In this podcast, Marcellino and Roberta discuss the role beauty and art have played in her life’s journey. They talk about suffering, belonging, and embracing your uniqueness as an artist. Roberta shares many stories from her own life experiences. Her wisdom and motherly nature are captivating, and her storytelling will leave you wanting more. From the outside, she may look different than a lot of people - however, on the inside she is just like all of us. At heart, we are all seeking belonging and experiences of a beautiful God.

This week, we speak with Kate Bryan, pro-life feminist, communications strategist, speaker, and writer. In this podcast, Marcellino and Kate talk about the call we have as creatives to challenge the culture and stand up for our core values and beliefs. They discuss the importance of being firm in one’s identity so as not to react to controversy out of wounds or fear, but to respond with love. Both Marcellino and Kate share stories of times they’ve had to stand up against the tide for their own beliefs - including the time Marcellino wrote a controversial blog post while in college and the time Kate called out the leadership of the Women’s March for not letting pro-life women participate. They also discuss the importance of community and solidarity in standing for your convictions, as well as the very real fear we all have of not belonging when we are called to stand up against what may be popular.

This week we speak with Jenna Guizar and Erica Tighe, the Creative Director and Creative Manager of Blessed is She - a Catholic women’s ministry that uses art and scripture in its mission to create a Christ focused community of mothers, sisters, and daughters. In this podcast, Anthony, Jenna, and Erica discuss the beauty of collaboration, teamwork, and sisterhood. Jenna and Erica tell the story of the birth of Blessed is She and how they started working together. They share stories of times they’ve encouraged one another and speak about how respect, friendship, and a healthy balance of autonomy and collaboration have contributed to making their teamwork successful and effortless.

This week we share our conversation with Kate Anderson, attorney and legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. Kate’s job is one that many might not think of when considering creative fields, but in the current political and social climate the work she does is vital in order for creatives to have total freedom of expression. Marcellino and Kate talk about how important those first freedoms are to creatives in particular. They discuss how the culture is forgetting their importance and allowing them to be taken from us, just to be replaced with being told how to think. They discuss how throughout history, fear and polarization has pushed society to want to force everyone to think and act a certain way, denying the freedom of the will. Kate also speaks about how her team helps artists and business owners who are filing pre-enforcement lawsuits in order to protect themselves and challenge certain laws that could ultimately be used against them. If you have questions about how the law applies to your industry, ADF can field those questions at no cost. Check them out at www.ADFlegal.org.

This week, we speak with Rebecca Loomis, a former missionary for St. Paul’s Outreach and current writer, designer, and all around Renaissance woman. In this podcast, Rebecca shares about the beautiful journey God has led her on in her calling as a creative and a missionary. Anthony and Rebecca discuss the challenges that Rebecca internally faced as she transitioned from having the formal label of “missionary” to living out a more subtle missionary life as a creative, bringing life and hope to people through her photography, art, and stories. Rebecca explains the importance of the hero’s journey in her life. She shares about a time when she went through her own darkest hour, met God at her lowest point, and then with Him climbed back up to a place of interior freedom and peace where she now creates more fully with her Creator.

This week, we decided that instead of an interview we wanted to post two of the breakout sessions from last year’s summit. In this podcast, we hear from Patrick Langrell about the Catholic creative’s response to the state of the modern world and from Joe Marshall about how artists are called to rise to challenges in the workplace with creativity. Patrick speaks about the world’s political, cultural, and religious states and how we are called to bring radical truth and beauty to the present moment to redeem our culture. Then Joe explains how in business, we are constantly faced with challenges, obstacles and problems we need to solve. He examines what creativity looks like in the business unit, and he gives examples of how constraints accidentally produced some of the most beautiful works of art and business.

This week, we speak with Kristyn Brown, photographer and founder of The Saints Project - a collection of images of the saints brought to life through Kristyn’s photographs of real life people. In this podcast, Marcellino and Kristyn discuss how we are called to be like the saints and embrace our own strangeness and uniqueness. They discuss Kristyn’s journey in creating The Saints Project and how she had to overcome her own fears and anxiety in getting the project off the ground. They talk about the realism of her images and how, by using real life people in her photography, her goal is to remind us that the saints were indeed real people who were just like us in so many ways. Marcellino and Kristyn also dive into their individual relationships with the Father and how their wounds impact their image of God.

This week, we speak with film director Max Haben. A true creative at heart, Max started out his career as a hip hop rapper and over time discovered a love for film. In this podcast, we hear the story of how God closed certain doors in Max’s life and opened other ones leading him to greater happiness and his anointed calling. Max and Anthony talk about failure and letting dreams die, and then about how God uses the compost of our failed dreams to create something beautiful and new. They discuss freelancing, hustling, taking risks, following dreams, and learning that God places desires on our heart for a reason.

This week, we speak with entrepreneur Sean O’Hare. Sean is the founder, chief operating officer, and president of several businesses, and he is also a speaker who talks on pro-life issues, Christian apologetics, and business. In this podcast, Marcellino and Sean talk about the importance of community, art, and storytelling in evangelizing to young adults. They discuss the fertile grounds for evangelization that Sean has experienced living as a young adult in New York City, how Catholics sometimes hold back when it comes to sharing the beauty of the church, and how Sean has had to learn to embrace art and culture in his mission of evangelization, and not just rely on his intellectual and apologetics background.

This week, we speak with Christopher West, husband, father of five, author, speaker, and the world’s leading teacher on Saint Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body.” In this podcast, Anthony and Christopher discuss how beauty cracks opens our hearts and there places a longing for the infinite. They speak about eros, Logos, and rock ‘n roll. Christopher talks about the authenticity and innocence of childlike wonder and the suffering of those with a creative or artistic sensibility. He explains that everything we’re attracted to we’re attracted to because at the root of it is Jesus and that everything that has been twisted by sin can be untwisted and redeemed to reveal God’s glory. He also shares many vulnerable moments and experiences from his own life to show us that God knows how to speak to each one of us with the language of our hearts.

This week, we speak with Pierre de Fleuriot, founding partner and Creative Director at Glass Canvas. In this podcast, Pierre and Anthony have a conversation about empathic design and designing out of one’s identity in the Father. Pierre explains that because Glass Canvas’s culture and strategy and design processes are deeply rooted in each person’s identity in the Father, they are able to do great work, speak the unspoken, and have real and honest relationships within their team. Pierre also talks about how designing and creating is really about loving people. He discusses the importance of understanding who you’re designing for, and then explains how to turn that empathetic map into design.

This week, we speak with Fr. Gabriel Torretta, a Dominican priest and lover of beauty, the art of Fra Angelico, and Japanese literature. In this podcast, Fr. Gabriel shares how beauty and desire have played a role in his personal conversion. Marcellino and Fr. Gabriel discuss friendship, the crippling effects of living a moralistic version of Christianity, how the faith rightly lived is an integration of the whole person, how beauty gives shape to desire, and the power of discovering the person Jesus Christ.

This week, we speak with Matt Meeks, the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In this podcast, Matt shares his personal journey of discovering his vocation and his passion for digital marketing and creating unity in the Church. He tells us how he went from being a crazy college kid who held a professor’s planter canaries ransom to being a leader in the New Renaissance of Catholic digital evangelization and working with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He talks about the importance of being a unified church in pursuing our mission to evangelize and also gives advice to those at the beginning of their careers on how to seize opportunities and make decisions.

This week, we speak with Keith Hamilton, Catholic entrepreneur and creator of The Great Commission Summit. In this podcast, Anthony and Keith discuss the need for unity and collaboration in the Catholic world. They talk about capitalism, the story behind the birth of the GC Summit, and how healthy businesses can change the world.

This week, we have a conversation with Sarah Yaklic, digital media specialist and director of the Grotto Network. In this podcast, Marcellino and Sarah discuss changing the paradigm of how we as Catholic Creatives use and think about social media. They talk about what transformation in social media platforms would look like, how the Father calls us to work alongside him in this mission, and how we can encourage one another to create in freedom with the Father and fight the urge to perform.

This week, we have a real and vulnerable conversation with Megan Harrington, producer of the documentary The Dating Project. Anthony and Megan discuss her experience making the film and dive into what she learned about the dating problem from working on the project. During the interview, they share stories from their own dating experiences, talk about the relationship between sex and the dating problem, and address issues such as first dates, breakups, rejection, pornography, and shame. Thank you to our Patreon sponsors for making this podcast possible.

This week, we’re talking with Frank Hanna, an investor of 35 years and author of the books A Graduate’s Guide to Life and What Your Money Means. In this podcast, Marcellino and Frank have an enlightening discussion about God’s gifts of money and wealth. They talk about Frank’s experiences growing up in a business-oriented family, the Church’s scarcity mindset when it comes to talking about money, and how we need to change that mindset to be one of gratitude and trust.

This week, Anthony is joined by Angela Wasko. Having previously worked at TOMS Shoes, she is now working as the social media manager for FOCUS Ministries. Growing up on a farm in rural Iowa, Angela found her creative roots in a unique and entrepreneurial way. Despite being a very different lifestyle from her childhood, she was encouraged to take risks that led her to exciting opportunities. She talks about her experiences of putting in the hard yards to create opportunities, how being out of her element and comfort zone helped her find her faith, her personal WHY, and making the transition from a secular corporation to working for the Catholic Church and what the trials of balancing work and faith life are for both of those work environments. Join the discussion on what would it look like if we worked together as ministries to most efficiently utilize social media. How many more could we reach?

Check out the book Patrick recommends: Rocket Fuel

This week Marcellino talks with Madison Mitchell: singer, dancer, and actress. She is passionately Catholic and finding success performing in Broadway musicals, most recently having been a member of Cats. They discuss theatrics and find comparisons to the liturgy in how people are drawn to encounter a different reality. She explains how she finds a connection to God through her performances and how to be re-inspired again and again within the monotony of performances. They then dive deep into the necessity of having open and empathetic conversations about difficult issues, and why one has to be a multidimensional person to see others as multidimensional. A big thanks to our Patreon sponsors for making this podcast possible.

Today, we’re talking with Bob Keith, entrepreneur, teacher, and businessman who has co-founded many startups and currently teaches at the business school of the Catholic University of America. In this podcast, we hear about his journey from consulting at Fortune 500 companies to becoming a Catholic and working with with spiritual entrepreneurs. Bob and Anthony talk about the church’s deep entrepreneurial roots and how we can learn business and startup lessons from the leaders in the Church’s past.

This week, Anthony chats with MariVi Deliz and Therese Bussen about their involvement in the 8beats project. MariVi is a communications jack of all trades for a secular non-profit. She ran the 8beats IndieGoGo campaign and was a large force for its success. Terese has been a writer for the Denver Catholic newspaper and now is a freelance writer and expectant mom. She came on board with 8beats to be a writer and ended up as a full-blown marketing director and strategist. They discuss how wounds that are created and triggered by systems and mindsets in the Church can be healed even while having to work with the very things that caused them. Therese and MariVi also share their tips on putting together a crowdfunding campaign, how to get over the fear of starting, and how to decide what is worth volunteering your time and talents for by looking at deep desires versus being guilted into it. A big thanks to our Patreon sponsors for making this podcast possible.

Check out Christopher's tobacco, pipe, literature, music, fine art, and movie recommendations. 

Today, we’re talking with Jared Zimmerer, a husband and father of 6, and bodybuilder/fitness enthusiast who works as an author, speaker, and writer for Word on Fire. In this podcast, Jared and Anthony have a great discussion about how to bring your body into the spiritual journey. They talk about how ascetic practices like working out, cold showers, and fasting can help impact your spiritual life, what the Catholic Church can learn from the fitness community, and how fitness and Theology of the Body are connected.

Hey everybody and welcome to the podcast, where we get together to learn from leaders in the Catholic Creative world every week. Fun fact I wanted to share with you all: we now have listeners in over 25 countries, including Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. So wherever you are right now, thank you for listening. Today, we’re talking with Jason Jensen, a married father of 4 from Vancouver and the Director of Strategy at Glass Canvas. Glass Canvas recently hosted the Catholic Creatives team to talk about future strategy for the organization, and today, Marcellino and Jason talk about speaking the unspoken to be more effective, why it’s dangerous to confuse identity and vocation, how the Father wants to pour love out on us every day, and why willing to be small is the Church’s answer to the modern world. A big thank you to our Patreon sponsors who make this podcast possible.

Check out their album City of Spys on Spotify.

Today, we’re talking with Matt Pinto, founder and president of Ascension Press, about his journey of Catholic entrepreneurship and ministry. 

Hello, creatives, and welcome back to the podcast! You all know Cory Heimann of Likeable Art, and today we’re discussing creative education with Cory and Likeable Art intern Mark Guiney, who just finished a three-year stint as a middle school teacher. 

Hello, creatives, and welcome back to the podcast! So sorry for being out for a while, but we have been busy with this 8beats project. Which we will be talking a bit about today. We’re talking with Sam Sorich, director at Glass Darkly Films….the guy who came up with the whole project. I can’t wait for you to meet him. Ever since he and I met at seminary, his radical commitment to being different has inspired me, including his stint living in a van and his passion for a new wave of Catholic cinema. The subject today is the crucible of collaboration, and how to get through the insecurities of art making. If you’ve ever worked in a participatory art like film, theatre, or music, you know the challenge of bringing an idea to life at a high level of quality, within practical limitations, and alongside other people. This is something that Sam and I and the whole team 8beats team were experiencing intensely last month. It started with a big idea, and we invited the community to collaborate. We got excited, got into teams, those teams grew to about 130 people in total, and we got to work. We put this gigantic promise out into the world, released the IndieGoGo… and then we had to rewrite a bunch of our scripts, and our IndieGoGo plateaued, and we were hit with tons of fear. Can we really do this? Will the church actually support this sort of risk? Can we trust each other to stick out the challenges and creative conflict? This conversation is about that journey and what we learned from it: that through trust and commitment to each other, a new creative energy is discovered that brings about better art and creates deep relationships at the same time. Before we start, if you haven’t shared our IndieGoGo campaign for 8beats yet, please head over to the 8beats Facebook page and share our latest post. All the regional teams begin filming the stories this month, and we need your help and the help of the Catholic community to see the project through. Please collaborate with us by spreading the word, donating, and praying for the project. Create something awesome this week, and enjoy the podcast.

Hello, creatives, and welcome back to the podcast. Today we’re talking about modernism and the philosophical and theological questions posed by modern art. Joining us today is Jonathan Anderson, an artist, art critic, and associate professor of art at Biola University. We all know that modern art gets a bad rap in the Catholic world. When we compare a traditional icon to a contemporary abstract painting or traditional chant to some modern musical compositions, we find the stuff made less than about 500 years ago a little difficult to appreciate. But instead of calling for a wholesale return to tradition, we need to find a way to understand and access modern art and participate in the conversation it inspires. Jonathan is all about the theological implications and underpinnings of modern art. He recently co-authored the book Modern Art and the Life of a Culture: The Religious Impulses of Modernism. Our conversation today gets into some of the serious philosophical and theological implications of modernism, and Jonathan provides a great context for understanding contemporary art in the modernist movement. He tells us the best way to start our own personal quest to appreciate modern art. And perhaps most importantly, he gives a definition of art that we need to all think about and discuss. So strap yourselves in and get your thinking caps on. Before we get started, Catholic Creatives just launched it’s first major collaboration! Our team of over 100 Catholic artists and filmmakers have begun work on a groundbreaking film made by the millennial generation, for the millennial generation. The film is called 8beats, and it is an anthology film, exploring the collision of the Beatitudes into our human experience. We believe these challenging stories provoke a reexamination of happiness, suffering, and the meaning of life. We’re looking for people to join us in generating stories that matter through the power of film. Go check out the project on indiegogo, like us on facebook, twitter and instagram. Please share our Indiegogo link to help spread the word. By supporting this project, you will be putting a world-changing idea into motion. As always, create something awesome this week, and enjoy the podcast.

Hello, creatives, and welcome back to the podcast. This is our first ecumenical episode and it’s going to blow your mind. We’re talking with Mingo Palacios, Pastor of Evangelism & Culture at Saddleback Church, which was the church of Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life. In our community, we’re constantly asking how we can creatively refresh and reframe the experience of the truth for people who haven’t encountered it in that raw, life-changing way. We see the beauty of tradition but don’t want tradition to be an arbitrary stumbling block for people who need to hear the Church’s message. I think Mingo shares some incredibly important ideas that we can use in our creative ministry to the Church and the culture. I encourage you to listen and brainstorm what we could learn from his example and what we can bring to our local churches and the Church as a whole. Mingo also tells us how Led Zepplin helped kick off his first youth pastor job, how his church started an incubator program for young entrepreneurs and creatives, and how he helped his church reach out to the unreachable with microsite services in parking lots and laundromats. Before we get started, if you haven’t signed up to participate in 8 Beats yet, the deadline is July 21st, which in real time is tomorrow. Over 80 filmmakers, designers, marketing professionals, and artists from across North America are creating 8 short films inspired by the themes of the eight Beatitudes. There’s still lots of opportunity for collaboration, and you definitely want to be a part of this, so sign up! As always, create something awesome this week, and enjoy the podcast.

Hello, creatives, and welcome the podcast, where we talk to leaders working out in the world about how they bring their professional skills and faith together to change the culture. If you’ve ever been to the official Vatican website, it might tempt you to despair of good design in the Vatican. However, there is top notch work being done out there, and today we are talking to someone who is making it happen. When Matthew Sanders looked at the design coming out of the Vatican and didn’t just critique or groan, he said, I think I can help. So he moved across the world to do something about the church’s communication problem. Matthew Sanders has served in the military, worked at an archdiocese, and now is the founder and managing director of Longbeard, a digital design agency based in Rome and Toronto. Today, we’re talking to Matt Sanders of Longbeard about what kind of approach we need to take as professional lay people to help the Church’s message spread in the world and on the digital continent. We also talk about why there should be more homilies about Captain America. I’ve personally worked with Matt and the Longbeard team in the past and can testify to his humble leadership. He puts his words into action, so take heed! Before we get started, we just went live with our first group wide collaboration. It is called 8 Beats. Over 80 filmmakers, designers, marketing professionals, and artists from across North America have been divided into eight regional teams. Each team will produce and distribute a 5-12 minute short film inspired by the themes of the eight Beatitudes, done at the highest quality possible and distributed with all the power of modern marketing strategy. Why? We want to build community. This movement isn’t a Facebook page- it's like minded people creating deep and lasting relationships with each other. We want to see lifelong friends, professional teams, or partnerships created here - and who knows, even marriages. We wouldn’t be Catholic if we didn’t want to help people find their vocations amiright? So this collaboration is an important next step for us in developing real relationships, going beyond a Facebook group. You can find out more at www.8beatsmovie.com As always, create something awesome this week, and enjoy the podcast.

Hello, creatives! We’re here to talk about something awesome that happened this week and the people who made it happen. We’re talking about the launch of Anthem, rebrand of the youth and young adult office of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Joining us are Megan Mastrioanni and Jacob King, who are leading the charge up there in the diocesan office. While you’re listening, unless you’re in the car or something, go visit anthemphilly.com, which was designed by our friends at Glass Canvas. You need the full experience, because this is like no diocesan office you’ve seen before. There’s literally a grunge-style GIF of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It’s amazing. This launch is so important not just for Philly but for the mission of the New Renaissance. The need that the Church has for this kind of branding, strategy, and vision is exactly what we talked about at the Summit. But as you’ll hear from Megan and Jacob, this isn’t just about graphic design or videography or branding. All those things are built on a basis of vulnerability and authenticity. It’s an expression who Megan and Jacob and the rest of the team in Philly are, and how they approach living an authentic Catholic life in the modern world. Community in faith and collaboration in mission is what makes this happen. That’ exactly why Catholic Creatives exists and why we’re excited to have these two as our guests today. In this podcast, we talk about the process of the rebrand, the risks they’re taking in pushing the envelope, and how vulnerability and community have made all of this possible. So listen to their story, and then visit the website, like their Facebook page, and say a prayer for them. They’re doing something incredible for the Church and they need all the support we can give them. As always, create something awesome this week, and enjoy the podcast.

Hello, creatives! This week, you’ve got a question to answer, one that you probably don’t ask yourself enough, something that is challenging and maybe even daunting to all of us. And that question is: just how big is your dream? Our guest and the person who inspires this question is Ashley Crouch, founder of Appleseed Communications. Ashley was homeschooled in Arkansas, studied theology at the University of Dallas, was a founding team member of Verily magazine, and now runs a PR firm that brings the power of media to the stories of women entrepreneurs around the world. As you can hear from that quick description, Ashley has had some interesting changes in her life. Going from raising chickens in Arkansas to founding a PR firm is a pretty dramatic shift. I don’t know about you, but I can definitely relate to not always knowing where my life is headed and sometimes wondering what God is working for me. As entrepreneurs, even as members of Catholic Creatives, we can’t know exactly how things are going to work out, but as people of faith, we need to have a huge vision for the future. We have to believe that the businesses we’re starting, the projects we’re creating, and the work we’re doing is going to change the world, and that God will bless that work and make it fruitful. In this podcast, Ashley talks about why business can be the greatest catalyst for cultural change, how dreaming big guides her work each day, why celebration and having a tribe is essential for entrepreneurs to avoid burnout, and why Catholic Creatives need to be multilingual when it comes to talking about beauty. Before we get started, a huge thank you to all of our patrons on Patreon. You’re the ones who are pushing us to the next level with the resources to grow and become sustainable. If you haven’t signed up yet, go over and think about becoming a patron yourself. And while you’re listening, think and pray about that question: how big is your dream? Because it’s probably not big enough. The world is more open than ever to entrepreneurs and creatives. Let’s not put a limit on what God can do through our lives. Create something awesome this week and enjoy the podcast.

Hello, creatives! We are back with a little bit of a twist on the podcast: this week, I am being interviewed by Therese Bussen with the Archdiocese of Denver. Therese was one of the first members of Catholic Creatives. We got to know her through her work on the FOCUS blog, where she wrote some of the most forward thinking and honest articles in the Catholic world, with titles such as, Jesus Doesn’t Alway Fill Your Emptiness, and Why That’s Ok, so it was an honor to be talking with her today. One of the major questions we get asked as a group is why beauty and creativity is so important for the Church. With all the big problems we’re facing as Catholics, it seems like worrying about websites or branding and liturgical music should be the least of our problems. But we believe that the greatest force of evangelization and social change in our world is beauty. It isn’t about making things pretty -- it’s about creating an authentic experience of truth that has the power to change someone’s life. Today, we're discussing why Catholic Creatives exists, why beauty is essential for the growth of the Church, how to create an experience of truth rather than just preach to people, and what we as creatives can do to take our calling of creativity more seriously. For those of you who have joined the group recently or haven't heard the full story of how we got started, this conversation is a crash course. A quick reminder: one of the most important aspects of our group is community, getting to lend each other support and insight for our creative endeavors. If you’re a new member or just haven’t seen it yet, you should check out our Patreon page. Patrons get access to monthly online meeting and discussions with fellow creatives and guest speakers, as well as first dibs on tickets for the next Summit which, if you talked to anyone who went to the first one, you won’t want to miss. So go sign up on Patreon! I hope you all have an incredibly productive week, and that this discussion helps get you thinking about how to fulfill your personal vocation to creativity in a more complete and authentic way. Enjoy.

This podcast is a very vulnerable conversation between myself and Benji Vega, Art Director at Pyro, a branding agency whose clients are some of the largest brands in the world (Lucas Arts being one). He has consistently produced award winning work, and specializes in directing teams of creatives, enabling them to operate on the highest level of excellence. In this conversation we talk about his conversion to Christianity- how the Holy Spirit has impacted his career, and about how he saved a million dollar production by riding on a cop’s segway. Quick Announcement: We believe that Catholic Creatives as a movement is called to be the connecting point for creatives and the people who need them. Ie. we want to pair you with the JOBS, Gigs, and collaborations that will help you achieve your dreams. We are currently getting about 4 post requests in the FB group PER DAY for freelance gigs and full time jobs. But we can’t all be wading through 5 job posts that may or may not be relevant to us in order to find the cool conversations, so we haven’t been pushing them out to the broader group. So for for us to help connect you (dear creatives) to potential work opportunities, we need to build and maintain a new site for you that is capable of this. For this, we need funds and manpower. So if you would like more jobs gigs and access to collaborations, support us through patreon. OR… you can volunteer your time with us to help build it. Since I have the mic, I am totally going to make my own job/ collaboration pitch, and no one can stop me. Catholic Creatives is forming a team of developers and designers to do a kick ass website redesign. If you are interested in being a part of that team and working with some incredibly talented developers / designers get connected with us at [email protected].

This conversation was between myself and one of the most eminent scholars in the early church fathers- a man who also happens to be my father: Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio “The Greyer” as we call him. He was the valedictorian of Catholic University of America, he holds a PHD in Theology, is currently is professor at Catholic Distance University and is a renowned speaker. He runs Crossroads Initiative, which started out doing youth and young adult ministry as a rock band in the 80’s, and that is transmuted into an organization dedicated to helping the world rediscover the adventure of the Christian faith. We asked him to come onto the podcast because, one of the major conversations happening in the group and in the Church at large is centered around the question: How should we deal with secular, pagan culture? Implicit in this question is another- There is this tension between tradition and creativity- how do we value the treasures of the church that we know and love, while at the same time valuing and adapting to modern secular culture for the sake of innovation? This tension is especially present when we grapple with conversations about liturgy. For those of us that are grappling with questions of how how do we integrate cultural art with our Catholic heritage, I wanted to bring Dr. Italy onto the cast so that we could talk about how the early church approached these questions. The conversation was deeply enlightening. Crossroads Initiative Christians, The Soul of the World - Letter from Diagnetus News: As a community of creators of artists of freethinkers, we are seeing our movement grow in the church. Unity between artists and people within this grassroots coalition is happening: collaborations between members have sky rocketed in the last year. But for all of this to move to the next level, and for us to really see the New Renaissance realized, we need to connect with the Medicis of our age- the successful business owners, executives, and financiers who can invest in the ideas and projects. Finally, big news- as you know, we have pledged to pick a single project that we believe could make massive impact in culture and that could facilitate collaboration across all types of creatives within the group. So the news is that we have found that project and been working behind the scenes to get it ready for your involvement. SO. We have a huge collaboration stewing right now. We will have news for you on that in the coming weeks. But consider this the teaser. If you want an opportunity to work with amazing people, to grow in community and in your skill sets… its coming.

Marcellino interviews, Steven Lawson, the Director of Communications for Dynamic Catholic, a fast growing nonprofit that develops innovative learning-systems to inspire people to rediscover the genius of Catholicism. While working towards his childhood dream to become an animation director in New York City, Steve had a profound conversion experience that lead him into his current work. This conversation is at once startlingly frank and incredibly hope filled, as they speak about creating a better wold, about management, and about how healthy conflict creates healthy culture in organizations. What would happen if the Church was hopeful and creative and inspired? Steve's advice: Awareness of self will make you a more effective leader and manager. Take ownership over your problems. It is very freeing to achieve self-mastery over one's subconscious reactions and communication. Everything we do has to align with hope. Creativity is a hopeful experience. "Catholicism is inherently creative and life-giving"

One of our guests may be familiar to you-- Dan Johnson from 4pm Media, winner of the Collaboration of the Year Award 2017. But the other two interviewees are perhaps less known in this group- yet they have had a powerful influence in the Catholic world, albeit from behind the scenes. Jack and Jamie McAleer, major players in the growth of the Krispy Kreme dynasty, are the Financeers behind 4pm media. They are board members of Legatus and Life Teen, and they started 4pm Media with their son inlaw in order to set a new standard for art and media in the church.

Kate Hazen is one of the most excellent creative directors that I have ever met, and she has so much to offer our group in terms of pushing us to think bigger and with less constriction. In this convo we talk about the time she designed a LARPing game for her company’s conference. We also talk about how she became cool with being weird, about tattoos, and about the CC Summit.

In this interview, Marcellino talks to Patrick Langrell (Adjunct lecturer in Philosophy & Senior Digital Media Analyst for the Arch Diocese of LA). They talk about the importance of Analytic thinking and of digital marketing for reaching more people with better messages. They get into the ways that Patrick has used this to grow a pro life clinic and target abortion minded women. They also talk about their personal difficulties with technology and their desire to bypass it in search of authentic personal communication. Patrick is a Renaissance man with an international reputation for successful engagement in communications, events, and digital & social media. He also is a sought after public speaker, a researcher and consultant in policy and ethics. He contributes to high-level diocesan and public policy…. and to the development of the Catholic intellectual tradition and evangelisation initiatives. His work with Matt Meeks and the others from the Archdiocese of LA is really exciting, and we are looking forward to hearing about that at the Summit, where he will be giving a workshop specifically about digital marketing. But he is not the only one who we will be present from the Archdiocese of LA. The Diocese of LA has become one of our major sponsors- coming on as a Patron of the Arts. They will be sponsoring the first session of the summit, "The New Renaissance." As you probably already know, LA has a reputation for being one of the epicenters of innovation for communications in the church. They have (by normal diocesan standards) a huge team with what I believe is around over 15 employees totally dedicated to helping churches and Diocesan branches market themselves better. We are excited to partner with them to make the new Renaissance happen. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plangrell Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-langrell-51539225/

This podcast features an interview with Director Julio Quintana. Julio just released his first feature film- which is always a big deal, he also raise 1 million to do it, got Martin Sheen to act and had the master Terrence Malik as executive producer. Their influence in the film is visible, giving it a spiritual, cinematic gravitas that is really undeniable. (Here is the trailer) So in this not only do we we talk about the film, we get into all sorts of other good stuff like beauty and perseverance and the hard work of making it as an artist. The struggle with making money making good art. Btw, the the vessel came out in digital release yesterday, so if you haven't got a chance to watch it yet highly recommend doing so. the links are in the show notes. Blue Ray Itunes Hulu A quick announcement before we get into that, as many of you know the Catholic Creatives Summit is developing and moving very quickly in terms of being materialized and we're excited to announce a new sponsor that just jumped on board. Word on Fire just decided to become a sponsor. We are so grateful to them for their support for good media in art they've always been a leader in that in the church so I'm we're just excited to have them as a partner.

Elise is awesome. She started Ringlet Studio, a creative agency that specifically focuses on working with female entrepreneurs. She picked a very defined audience. Which is painful because it is exclusive; and I don't care who you are, a business owner or some one who works in ministry- we all struggle so so hard with picking a niche and sticking to it. It is so easy to fall prey to generalism and over inclusivity, and these issues are rampant in our ministries and businesses. So in this podcast Marcellino asks Elise a lot about how to be more targeted and clear with our audiences. They also talk about her acting role playing Helen Keller, and how it taught her empathy. This empathy has characterized her life and ministry since.

Merry Advent, fellow makers. This podcast is Marcellino’s conversation with Brandon Vogt, Fr Baron’s right hand media man at Word On Fire. Their talk ranges from Brandon’s conversion to the Catholic Aesthetic and its influence on Brandon’s understanding of creativity and story. Interesting stuff for sure. Brandon's work has been featured by some little networks like NPR, FoxNews, CBS, Vatican Radio, Our Sunday Visitor, National Review, and Christianity Today. He is a convert to Catholicism, and also a convert from the engineer life to the life of a media guru and author. He has written SIX books. You can learn more about his work here: http://brandonvogt.com/

Leah Murphy currently serves as a video editor at Life Teen International. She has six years of experience in leadership positions including campus ministry, TV station management. She has also successfully avoided ever seeing a Star Wars movie, which is as we all know… a huge shame. In this interview with Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Leah talks about her creative genesis as an artist, and her transition from youth group teen to professional artist. Also, as a woman who has studied Theology of the Body and who has worked for years in the creative industry that is largely populated by men, Leah has a perspective on gender that is particularly thought provoking. They get into her background and the origins of her creativity, but when they begin to talk about power and gender later in the podcast the conversation goes to a very different level. See her work here: http://lifeteen.com/cym/resources/videos/

Dr. Greggory Bottaro is the founder of the CatholicPsych Institute, and is an expert on self improvement He is also a successful entrepreneur, marketer, and gifted communicator. In this episode, Anthony interviews him over his work to integrate the popular meditative “mindfulness” trend that has taken off in Silicon Valley and in the creative industry with Catholic spirituality. His course, Catholic Mindfulness, employs the cutting edge research in the field of mindfulness and the spirituality of Abandonment to the Divine Providence to help attendees gain control of their mood, find inner healing, develop concentration, and enhance their creative faculties.