Why Catholic Creatives Matters

By Matt Meeks, Catholic Ventures & Catholic Creatives

On Friday, the feast of the Sacred Heart, Catholic Ventures announced the acquisition of Catholic Creatives. I’ve waited to write my thoughts about the news, because for me the news is frankly overwhelming.

For those who are just learning about Catholic Creatives, it is a grassroots initiative including roughly 8,000 Catholics around the world involved in creative work (artists, musicians, engineers, designers, makers, etc) who are dedicated to creating community through digital groups, in person meetups and using their talents to bring beauty back to the Church.

While the business side of this acquisition makes sense, for the team at Catholic Ventures this is much more than an acquisition. Catholic Creatives provides not just the hope that God has a purpose in the work we are doing, it renews our hope that He is up to something even bigger in the world through His Church.

When Catholic Creatives hosted the inaugural Summit in 2017, I was asked to give the opening talk on the New Renaissance. The talk was about God's work through history in moments of Renaissance, looking at the indicators and signs that God and mankind are collaborating in bringing about a new age of human flourishing. The talk concluded by pointing to this moment as the greatest moment in all of human history for a renaissance to occur while issuing a rallying cry to the creative community to pray and work toward this reality in union with God and each other.

My thoughts on this do not just go back to 2017, however. Over the weekend, I was reflecting on why this community is so important in the Church today. I remembered walking the hallway of my high school fine arts building as a freshman, watching the kids buzz back and forth on their way to the next class where they would all do the same thing: sit in a room with motivational posters on the wall and receive instruction, notepad and pencil at the ready. In contrast to the classroom posters, I observed the student art that adorned the walls - nicely framed windows into the hearts and lives of the students beyond the classroom. As I looked at the art, I transitioned to looking at the students walking by and saw each of them as works of art, carefully crafted by the Creator. This is what art is supposed to do.

I stood against the wall, listening to peoples conversations as they passed, not sure if I should continue to stay there or find my way to my next class. I listened and I talked to God. As I stood there, I overheard two different conversations that exemplified two different types of consciousness operating in the students passing by. I’ve spent years reflecting on the two conversations at work in others and I’ve come to label these two ways of looking at the world as ‘linear thinking’ and ‘window thinking.’

I’ve come to conclude that the linear thinker sees all objects as an end in and of itself. The study of the object has a particular goal - knowing all there is to know about the object. For a geologist, a rock is something to be studied based on its unique mineral makeup and density. The mathematician is trying to find balance in an equation to bring harmony to a series of numbers, the scientist is trying to observe facts within a framework to prove a hypothesis. The student to make the grade to satisfy their teacher or college entrance requirements. Each is operating within the frame.

The window thinker is different. Just as the art on the walls was a window for me into the lives of the students who created it and the students into the mind of God who created them, the window thinker sees objects as windows into greater realities. The rock studied by the geologist, opens up in the mind to a landscape full of color and a history. The window thinker lets God guide them through this landscape to touch on unforeseen thoughts and realities. For the window thinker, every object is a sign that points to something deeper and each new discovery a launching point for an infinite number of inspirations.

Both types of consciousness are necessary and work in harmony with each other - window thinkers are best when they have linear thinkers around them and vice-versa. But when it comes to innovation, I’ve found window thinkers to be leaps and bounds ahead of the linear types. And, while the Church is in need of innovative thinking, I’ve found these window thinkers have largely left the Church to find refuge in the creative class.

And I have deep sympathy for this. Currently in the Church, God is explained to young minds by linear thinkers - often volunteers. These volunteers, while good hearted, don’t teach young people to pray, instead they push diocesan rubrics that are safe and known. They put God in a box to be quantified, dissected and explained. They expect that if kids fill out their CCD worksheets on the sacraments, they will somehow connect with a God who so desperately desires to unite with them he chooses to be sacramentally present. They do not invite the faithful into a relationship. This becomes apparent when the “faithful” go to college and leave the relationship that never existed for them in the first place. It's not that the Church is losing numbers to the secular world, the Church is failing to introduce people to God from the get go. We are doing everything in our power to better catechize through programs when people need to be inspired by the presence of God made manifest in His Church. For those of us who have encountered this presence, the secular world has nothing that could ever pull us away for long.

At this moment in the life of the Church, we need the creatives in our midst so that we can return to letting God guide our inquiry and our creativity. We need inspiration more than programs.

The Church needs a new renaissance led by window thinkers in art, philosophy, literature, music, poetry, innovation, technology, the sciences and all the beautiful things that point to a God of love and wonder. And this new renaissance must start in the fertile soil of prayer and Christian community with people who are putting their hearts on the line. I’ve seen this heart, this hunger and the potential for renaissance nowhere else like I have seen it in Catholic Creatives. And beyond all the reasons that play into a business decision, it is the heart of this community that matters.

I look forward to seeing what the future holds. I'm beyond grateful for Anthony and Marcellino D’Ambrosio the founders of Catholic Creatives, for all the admins and previous admins and volunteers who have kept this community going strong and I look forward to encountering God’s magnificent plans through each of us with all of you.

I’d like to conclude by going back to that day in the hallway. After observing God at work in the people passing by, I decided to ditch class. Not that class was unimportant. But one of those people walking by was a girl who was struggling and I heard it and saw it on her face as I stood there. We spent the afternoon talking about God under a tree outside my classroom. To this day, we both remember that conversation.

Catholic Creatives is the first place I’ve found that is willing to step outside and have this type of conversation. And in this place, I’ve found brothers and sisters ready to build the Church together.

God bless you all and His work through you,

Matt Meeks

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For background on Catholic Creatives and the process getting to this point, check out Matt and Anthony D’Ambrosio’s conversation on The Catholic Creatives Podcast.