Denver Catholic

6 JULY 8-21, 2017 | DENVER CATHOLIC In-Depth BY THERESE BUSSEN A rt in the Church is not what it used to be. But in the past, particularly during the Italian Renaissance, the Catholic Church contributed some of the greatest works of art the world has ever seen. While the Church has lost some of its cultural influence in the arts, many Catholic artists, such as Father Peter Mussett, pastor at St. Thomas Aqui- nas Parish in Boulder, are asking them- selves how to change that. Father Mussett believes that one of the best ways to change this is for artists to take honing their skills seriously and simply "make stu¬." "The solution isn't merely just patronage," Father Mussett said. "I just encourage [any] artist to make, and try to put myself out there in the reality of who I am. It's really hard to make things." But it isn't enough to just create for the sake of creating something — it won't be e¬ective without beauty. There is a distinction between art and beauty, and both need the other. THE NECESSITY OF ART AND BEAUTY IN THE NEW EVANGELIZATION Father Mussett learned from a young age the importance of art, which is skill, and beauty, which is truth, he said. "Art is the proper way of making. It's skill. It's reverence to materials," Father Mussett said. "Beauty is rever- ence toward God, yourself, your neigh- bor, creation. Beauty is truth. Beauty is meaning — even if it's ugly, beauty still has meaning." Father Mussett gave the example of art without beauty, skill without truth or meaning: The summer blockbuster. "It's very exciting [in the senses], but where's the spirit? Where is it speaking about the truth of human nature?" he said. On the other hand, beauty can still deal with "ugly" things but still have a deep sense of truth and meaning — something Catholic artists should not be afraid of. "Catholics need to stop being afraid of how grisly reality is, how their own lives are grisly — but there's still meaning, it's not nihilism. Everything always ends in Jesus Christ," Father Mussett said. Combining art and beauty is the necessary way to speak to culture in the New Evangelization, according to Anthony D'Ambrosio, co-founder of Catholic Creatives, an up-and-coming online community of Catholic artists. "Beauty is the experience of the true," Anthony said. "The Church is unfortu- nately in a place of not being able to speak the truth to culture because truth has already been dismissed. [The Church is] already dismissed because of the impres- sion the world has of the Church." The solution? Change our methods of communicating. "If we just keep batting down modern- ist arguments with our apologetics, like homilies and teachings that are just phil- osophical, we're playing a losing game," Anthony said. "That's not the way God spoke to his people, it wasn't the way Jesus spoke, and somehow we got pulled into…focusing on trying to defend our- selves rather than trying to actually give people an experience of God. And beauty is the only way to do that properly." Beauty, Anthony said, "reprograms us" — our experiences of sunsets, for example, are proof of that. "That is the language of God, it's how he speaks to us. If we want to be able to make a big change in the world, we have to start speaking in the language of God, and show his face to the world, not just telling his face to the world and describing it," Anthony said. CATHOLIC CREATIVES: ONE RESOURCE FOR ARTISTS AND THE CHURCH In order to "reach the ends of the earth" in the New Evangelization once more, there is a great need for Catholic artists who are committed to taking their craft seriously to glorify God through their talent and to e¬ectively communicate the Gospel in new, innovative ways in a lan- guage the world can understand — and many of them exist in Catholic Creatives. What began just two years ago with a Facebook group (which now has over 1,500 members) is becoming a resource for artists looking to be challenged and grow in their skill with other fellow creatives, and is inviting other Church members to look to the group as a resource for their projects. It all began with twin brothers Anthony and Marcellino D'Ambrosio, who, two years ago, found themselves "complaining about the state of art, beauty and creativity in the Church." "And then we asked ourselves, 'What if we could actually do something about that? What if we could actually change the culture of the Church and make it incredibly creative?'" Anthony said. The brothers then hosted an event for other creatives to put their heads together to tackle one creative problem: Church bulletins. "The value that came out of that conversation made all of us feel like we could actually do something," Anthony said. "The Church doesn't always have to be ugly, or cheesy or cheap. And that sense of empowerment really poured into [Catholic Creatives]. And we're just beginning to see the real power it can have in the Church, I think." This year, the group held a summit in Dallas with attendees from all over the country, which propelled the group forward even more. "It's interesting to brainstorm with other people…what the Church could be if we had more influence in the world," said Kate Hazen, a summit attendee and Denver graphic designer. "It made it more of a possibility rather than just [having] an image of being a creative Catholic." Anthony said that the theme for the summit was "New Renaissance," how to bring the Church back into "being a leader in the arts, culture, education, science and politics in the way that it was in the Renaissance." "The Medicis were a giant clan in the Italian Renaissance who were behind a lot of the culture that was produced. So we see Catholic Creatives as being the connection point that gives the artist proximity to each other and also prox- imity to financiers," Anthony said. Make Church art great again How artists and the Church can work together to evangelize the world

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