For the last few years I’ve been working with the Steubenville Conferences to produce video content about a variety of topics. But this past summer I was able to witness a conference in person for the first time. It was beautiful to see youth and adults falling in love with Christ through the Eucharist and the Sacraments.

If you haven’t caught the promo video we did for this coming summer be sure to check it out, as well as the shorter trailer version, which already have a collective 27,000 hits on YouTube alone. If you’re going to the conferences this summer, let us know your thoughts on a couple new never been seen videos premiering around the country.

I’m having a hard time getting any work done with all the excitement of a new pope. This man seems so humble and in tune with the Holy Spirit, I am ecstatic to get to know him better. Our first American Pope (South America Albeit)! His humility in asking for prayers moved me to my core. We are praying with you!

Illustration by our incredibly talented friend Fabi Garza. Be sure to check out her work and her upcoming book on JPII

It is always a blessing when we have the opportunity to work with Outside da Box and Vcat. If you have never heard of the Video Catechism it’s a pretty incredible resource coming out of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. They are releasing a video every month that dives into a portion of the Catechism. The Catechism is broken up into 4 sections which they will cover over the next four years, 1 section per year. I’m ecstatic to have the opportunity to be a part of this initiative.

My proudest collaboration yet. Henry Emmanuel was born at 4:44 Sunday morning. This guy is one Likable piece of Art! My wife is pretty much my hero and we’re both thankful to the designer for giving him a full head of hair. Keep us in your prayers as we continue on this journey of parenthood.

-Cory

In my home town Catholic Schools week kicks off with a big pancake and sausage breakfast. This year I had a bit of nostalgia visiting my old middle school and enjoying a delicious dose of late morning comma.

But more than any pancake breakfast, dressing up in crazy clothes, or fund raiser, Catholic Schools Week is a time to reflect back on the purpose of a Catholic education. I’ve had the opportunity to attend, visit, and speak at various Catholic Schools around the country. Some were incredible, and some, well, need to brush up on Mathew 18:6. If as Catholic schools we’re more concerned with SATs and graduation statistics than we are with the souls of our students, it’s time to reconsider our priorities. It’s time to rethink what it means to be a ‘Catholic’ school. If our ‘Catholic’ schools look more like the apathy of an elitist social club than it does the love of a homeless shelter, we have completely redefined ‘Catholic.’ Catholic is the Universal Church, teaching Universal Truths (with a capital ‘T’).

I was delighted when approached by the Diocese of Kalamazoo to produce a short film for their restructuring of the diocesan schools’ mission. They had already laid the ground work for their “MORE” mission, which stands for “Mission Ordered toward Reaching Eternal life.” If you have any involvement in Catholic Schools take a look at their mission. It’s a wonderful resource.

Thank You: This piece was entirely shot in the hallways of Hackett High School, with the gracious invitation of Principal Tim Eastman. I can’t thank Mr. Eastman enough, and to all the students of Hackett for being part of the cast and crew. Also thank you to Danielle Lussier who co-wrote the piece and was integrally involved at every level of production.

View the behind the scenes photos on Facebook.

We Had the opportunity to work with the USCCB to help launch there Nine Days of Prayer, Penance, And Pilgrimage Campaign. They are doing a novena for nine days before Roe v Wade’s 40th anniversary.  It was an honor to help design ads and images for the novena. You can sign up to receive the novena here or by texting “9days” to 99000. It’s beautiful to see the Bishops lead such a prayer effort and great to see some of the affects of such an effort.

2013 will be the first year since 1987 to have 4 different numbers. But before you start your numerically twinless year, lets look back on some of our favorite Likable Art pieces of Twenty Twelve.

Year of Faith
This past October we made a piece for Life Teen International for the Year of Faith. The Year of Faith lasts until November of 2013 so it’s not to late to share!

Restored
We had the opportunity to work on videos for a multitude of conferences this past year. One of my personal favorites was this one for the Steubenville Conferences on the topic of confession.

The Creed
Another favorite was this one which unpacked the Creed and why just merely saying the words doesn’t quite cut it. This was made for the Paulist Evangelization Ministries’ “Living the Eucharist” Lenten series for teens, in partenership with Outside Da’ Box.

We’re looking forward to 2013 and have some great projects in various stages of production currently. We look forward to sharing with you and also hear more from you of what you would like to see. Drop us a comment or an email and Let us know.

If you keep up on our work you’ve seen Lift’s name before. Great ministry that I love working with. They’re always up for trying something new, while always keeping to truth and beauty. This is the new branding package we did for their upcoming “God of this City Tour.”

Last month my family and Likable Art has moved from Michigan down to the fine town of Fort Wayne, IN. We’re very excited about the opportunities that this move has brought. The diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend is doing some great work in our Church and I was honored to be asked to guest blog for their newest project. They released a great app to accompany the year of faith and I encourage you to check it out. Here’s an excerpt of the post:

About a month ago, after mass, I was talking to my brother-in-law and he said simply, “You can tell the spiritual strength of a parish by the way they say the creed.” That got me thinking.  As you may know Pope Benedict has claimed this year as the “Year of Faith.” Now I’m not one to question the Pope, but Benny… that’s quite the claim. Now I would think we could start with a Day of Faith, or even the Thirty Seconds of Faith, but a whole year? If faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, the entirety of the over 1 billion laity, priests, and religious of the Catholic Church reflecting on faith for a year is going to suck the cosmos inside out faster than if it flipped over a swingset.

But then again, maybe B16 is on to something. Maybe, just maybe, that is exactly what we need right now. We can find plenty wrong with our world, but as Paul put it “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more,” and I’ll tell you, grace is abounding. Grace is abounding in growing churches and communities, in organizations helping the helpless, and in hearts of a new generation of Saints called to a radical life of faith. As Catholics, we have the benefit of the wisdom of the Church, which has laid out the core Christian beliefs in our creed. Yeah, that prayer that I stumble over at Mass, and still say, “one in being” instead of “consubstantial” after a whole year of change. That prayer, is one worth praying, one worth learning, one worth changing every aspect of our lives in order to be able to mean those words when they come out of our mouths next Sunday.
View the rest of the post here. 

Today marks the first day of the Year of Faith. This is a time that Pope Benedict has set aside for us to reflect on what it truly means to be a Christian. I am ecstatic about what this year holds for the Church. Tomorrow I’ll be blogging in more detail about the Year of Faith over here, but I couldn’t wait to share this video we worked on for Life Teen International. I love it when we get the opportunity to work with Life Teen and their talented staff. Check out their post kicking off the Year of Faith, and if you’re as excited as I am share this video on Facebook and Twitter.