The Catholic Creatives Podcast

The CC Podcast Returns for a special edition of the Catholic Creatives podcast. What do JP II, Greek baths, and Catholic Creatives have to do with each other? Well. Quite a lot, turns out. It’s been a minute, but because of the feast of JPII, we decided to dust off this interview that Matt Meeks and Anthony D’Ambrosio did with Christopher West. Christopher discovered a retreat that JP II gave to artists, and had it translated to English and published for the first time ever, complete with commentary from himself and some other notable theologians. The conversation got into some really interesting and very vulnerable waters. What JPII outlines is a path for us creatives and artists to use our creative gifts in ways that can us from our culture’s distorted and shamed relationship with the human body. As usual when talking to Christopher, the Holy Spirit revealed some profound truths to us. The book is called God is Beauty, and you can find it at bit.ly/godisbeauty [https://bit.ly/godisbeauty] Before we jump in, just a note from our sponsors: Every adult is wrestling with the best way to raise faithful kids in a world that is increasingly less faithful, while making sure our kids stay cool and connected. Catholic.Store [https://www.catholic.store] recently released the Lion and Lamb book club kids, delivering 3-5 highly curated, beautiful books for children based on their age to their doorstep every quarter. The box contains a range of new catholic releases, hidden classics and undiscovered gems, as well as discussion questions to help parents have rich and formative conversations with their kids at bedtime. You can check Lion & Lamb book club out at www.lionandlamb.club [https://www.lionandlamb.club].

Welcome back creatives! As you may know, there have been some big changes happening in the community recently. Anthony D'Ambrosio is stepping down from leadership to be a member of the Catholic Creatives community and Matt Meeks from Catholic Ventures has come in to help shepherd this community into the next phase of our mission to bring beauty back to the Church. Transitions can be hard, bumpy and confusing but they always bring new life. For Catholic Creatives… We are already dreaming of a new and rebooted summit, We are dreaming of a new and improved podcast, We are dreaming of a new way for people to belong in the community We are dreaming of more crowdsourced projects We are dreaming of a way to get our creations out there to the rest of the world. And, we finally have long needed support to make a lot of these dreams a reality. We see God moving to make all these dreams happen and more through this new partnership. And we are excited to bring you a new episode of the Catholic Creatives podcast today. In this episode we hear from both Anthony D'Ambrosio and Matt Meeks of Catholic Ventures as they discuss their history together, challenges building the CC community, and the future with Matt in this new role. This was a great interview with a few tears shed, and we see God’s heart leading these men and the Church as a whole. A program note, the audio is a little rough at times, as this was a zoom call recording. We’ll make sure to get all the bugs ironed out for our next episode. What are you most excited about on this next phase of the journey? Let us know @catholiccreatives [https://www.instagram.com/catholiccreatives/] and for anyone who has specific questions, concerns or wants to connect on the next phase of the community, Matt asked us to include his email for you all to reach out to him directly: matt@catholic.ventures [matt@catholic.ventures] To learn more about Catholic Ventures, checkout the media release here. [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f8886054103f4120d493b54/t/60b6579e6625d03a52aef877/1622562718406/CV+Press+Release+Final.pdf]

Since his 2008 major label debut, Matt Maher has become a staple in the artistic and songwriting community. A nine time-GRAMMY® nominee and three time-GMA Dove Award winner. Matt Maher shares how his experience with tragedy and trauma has made him a better artist. In this conversation, he and Anthony D’Ambrosio talked on Facebook Live about how they are approaching quarantine, and about their hopes for how Catholic creatives will use this time to truly grapple with their own heartbreak. We hope this conversation encourages you to share your creations with us and the world. Be part of the Through Fire campaign [https://catholiccreatives.com/] by posting your work with #ThroughFire and #CatholicCreatives. Thanks to our sponsor The Little Catholic Box [https://thelittlecatholicbox.com/], who is offering a $20 discount on your first order of a new quarterly subscription when you use the code CCBEAUTY at checkout. And grab one of their new, limited-time “Be Not Afraid” mini-box.

Amanda and Charles Shepard share stories of their experiences curating, running, and building up the Fort Wayne Museum of Art [https://www.fwmoa.org/] — and why they believe art and beauty are no less important in these days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Charles has been the President and CEO of the museum since 2003, after multiple directorships throughout the country; Amanda, Vice President and COO, studied studio painting at Notre Dame before joining the FWMoA staff in 2007. They share how necessary it is to continue patronizing artists, appreciating beauty, and creating our own work. We hope this conversation encourages you to share your creations with us and the world. Be part of the Through Fire campaign [https://catholiccreatives.com/] by posting your work with #ThroughFire and #CatholicCreatives. Thanks to our sponsor The Little Catholic Box [https://thelittlecatholicbox.com], who is offering a $20 discount on your first order of a new quarterly subscription when you use the code CCBEAUTY at checkout. And grab one of their new, limited-time “Be Not Afraid” mini-box.

In this special episode of the CC Podcast, Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Anthony D’Ambrosio, and Cody Barras break open the Catholic Creatives beliefs they’ve been uncovering over the past few months. They read the “manifesto” and tell the stories underneath the ideas — stories of learning to be vulnerable, own desire, and embrace the wonder of each human person. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pb3y81EyWWrOvoQJsmKTIzpx2wZiiY1fh39_E7NM2KU/edit#heading=h.1n5npkkvwqjv, and https://ccsummit.xyz/getaninvite. Thanks to our sponsor https://thelittlecatholicbox.com/! Resources mentioned in this episode: " https://catholiccreatives.com/podcast/2019/7/5/101-the-church-needs-innovators-jason-shanks ” — Jason Shanks CC Podcast; “ https://catholiccreatives.com/podcast/2019/1/17/87-the-why-of-our-lives-wesley-bancroft ” — Wesley Bancroft CC Podcast; “ https://catholiccreatives.com/podcast/2018/5/23/57-reawakening-the-desire-to-dance-christopher-west ” — Christopher West CC Podcast; https://www.amazon.com/Lion-Witch-Wardrobe-Chronicles-Narnia/dp/0064404994 by CS Lewis Additional music by https://sessions.blue/