ruah arts group

Happy Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva!

This painting is done by Sr. AnneMarie Heyne, who is currently a novice with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Florence, Italy. If you would like to support her vocation and promote the sacred arts, consider purchasing her paintings. Contact me at ruahfellowship@gmail.com if you’re interested.

For more on St. Josemaria:

• Short biography, links and the collect for the day
• St. Josemaria’s works for free online

I heard a joke at daily Mass that made me laugh today. As I’ve said before, I don’t hate all modern or contemporary art (though much of it is based on erroneous principles), but a lot of it is characterized by this:

A man is looking at a painting in an art gallery, and is intrigued with one particular painting. It was a canvas covered with black paint, several large orange splotches, with thin, yellow lines criss-crossed. Tilting his head with furrowed brow, the man was approached by the artist.

“I don’t know if I understand this painting at all. What’s it about?” asked the gallery patron.

Nodding seriously, the artist declared, “Few people understand my work. It comes from inside of me.”

“Maybe you should take an Alka-seltzer,” suggested the man.

I laughed out loud. Yes. Maybe you should take an Alka-seltzer!

You may be a reader of aeternus blog, a lovely online page for commentary on spirituality and mysticism, but what you may not be aware of is that the author, Lisa A. Johnston, is an artist and photographer. And her photography is gorgeous. Take a look.
(Photo used with permission.)

This great video, “March of the Unqualified” from Igniter Media is a fantastic use of media for evangelization, and a reality check for those who use false humility as an excuse for delaying Church involvement and conversion. Unfortunately, it’s a little expensive. Check out a preview here.

I received this today, and thought I’d pass it along…

Ave Maria Press has been serving the Catholic community for over 140 years as a ministry of the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross.  We are an award-winning, leading publisher of books in the areas of prayer and spirituality, pastoral ministry, and adolescent catechesis. We are looking for self-directed, independent applicants to fill the position of Institutional Marketing and Sales Coordinator.
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This person will coordinate and develop activities within the institutional marketing product lines with particular focus on pastoral ministry products.  This position works closely with the Institutional Marketing Director, Pastoral Ministry and Adolescent Catechesis editors, and Marketing and Inside Sales departments. In this role you will:

-Develop and implement marketing plans for pastoral ministry and religious education categories
-Represent AMP at exhibits, conferences and conventions (regular travel required, including weekends)
-Develop key contacts within various diocesan offices, parishes, high schools, and Catholic organizations
-Develop promotional materials for institutional categories including catalogs,flyers, online specials, etc.
-Actively participate in strategy and launch meetings regarding product, marketing plans, etc.
-Field religious education and pastoral ministry correspondence daily

Position is located in South Bend, Indiana

Qualifications
To be qualified for this position, you must have a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, and two (2) years of related experience is preferred.  You must also be proficient in all MS Office applications, and Internet search and database programs.  Must be able to take ownership of the position and must have knowledge and experience in current practices and issues in the Roman Catholic Church.

For immediate consideration, please submit your resume and salary requirements to: Ave Maria Press, P.O. Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556. Email mpopiels@nd.edu or fax to 574-239-2908. EOE.

He writes page turners to sell his “theology”. It’s not a big surprise to faithful and well-formed Christians–and in particular, Catholic Christians–but it seems to be news to the millions who read and love him into theological and historical delusion.

Read NY Times Op-Ed Columnist Ross Douthat here. He opens up the cancerous body of work and operates from head to toe, noting that Brown isn’t just your run of the mill anti-Catholic bigot, but an avant garde DIY hater of organized religion in general:

“Piggybacking on the fascination with lost gospels and alternative Christianities, he serves up a Jesus who’s a thoroughly modern sort of messiah — sexy, worldly, and Goddess-worshiping, with a wife and kids, a house in the Galilean suburbs, and no delusions about his own divinity.

But the success of this message — which also shows up in the work of Brown’s many thriller-writing imitators — can’t be separated from its dishonesty.”

That’s right folks. Douthat’s calling him a liar. In the NY Times. Sweet.

As a side note, I went to this Theology on Tap last week that, contrary to its description, was a thorough treatment of the book and movie, “Angels and Demons,” along with a fantastic overview of the Church’s teaching on art and film. Dr. Daniel VanSlyke, Associate Professor of Church History at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, was great, if not an eensy weensy bit long-winded. I’ll post the audio when I get it.

Nominations are in for the Catholic New Media awards. Among the 2009 contestants are some of my favorites, including:

• The Curt Jester, whose “Walk-In Monstrance” entry made me laugh for at least twenty minutes.
• What Does the Prayer Really Say?
• Word Incarnate, by spiritual buddy Father Abbot Joseph at Transfiguration Monastery.
• Creative Minority Report, which makes me chuckle on a regular basis. Witty, witty, witty! The Catholic Onion. Don’t miss their “Marketing the New Mass”

Why is this on a faith and culture blog? I thought it was all about the liturgy and sacred arts? Amen, “the fine arts were born on the altar,” but a renewal of faith and culture must speak the language of the day, which includes new media.

In lieu of being an actual arts marketeer and faith-and-culture non-profit manager, I read about it.

I can’t remember how I came across ArtsJournal, but I read it every so often and love it. It has a great variety of articles, ranging from news to opinion to news opinion. It nicely breaks up the articles by subject: issues, dance, ideas, media, music, people, publishing, theater, visual, etc. It even has a classifieds section where arts-related jobs and educational ops are posted.

As a little appetizer to your arts news consumption, they’ve also got a couple dozen bloggers rockin’ out commentary on, well, rock, among other things. One of my regular web stops is Madison’s own Artful Manager, a blog about the business of arts and culture, by the Director of our local Bolz Center for Arts Administration.

A new favorite, though, is Life’s a Pitch, which has more to offer than punny, pithy and witty titles. She’s got a little insight to arts marketing and promotion, is smart, and best of all, she’s a little critical and, well, bitchy, which isn’t all too different from Mrs. Ruah here. We’re tired of mediocre, folks! Don’t be shrinking flowers in the face of criticism! Face it, own it, and move on and up.

That’s all here for today. I hope you enjoy ArtsJournal and their blogs as much as I do. Perhaps we’ll start a little Sacred Arts Journal???

I was just looking for jobs online, and found a submission opportunity for all you filmographers and small government fans. I normally don’t get too political here, but I think the Galen Institute has got some really good criticisms of the current administration’s line of thought on health care reform.

Their web site is a really decent resource for information on the contra-bama movement, and even takes a moment to talk Hollywood-meets-tragedy-of-socialized-health-care genre, commenting on the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson, wife of Liam Neeson.

For more information on the video contest, which offers a winner’s prize of $3,000, see the Galen Institute web site.

I don’t know if anyone out their in Church work has the same frustration (I’m guessing there might be a few of you), but the amazing lack of the presence of prayer in our every day apostolate and work lives just kills me.

No, it really is killing me, and it’s also what is killing the Church, and obscuring the presence of Jesus Christ in the World. Not only is there not enough prayer in our work places for the Church, but there’s not enough prayer *about* our work, and perhaps most frustrating at all, there’s not enough formation about prayer–Who its about, what prayer is, how to do it, and most shockingly, how prayer is our divine destiny to all become contemplatives in union with God–here on earth now, for real, and forever in heaven.

What got me going? Most recently I read Fr. Thomas Dubay’s Fire Within, an awesome exposition on prayer and the vocation of us all to holiness, and a brilliant summary of the work of two doctors of the Church who know *a little bit* about prayer.

You know what else? An article on Catholicexchange by Deacon James Keating called “Passionate Prayer,” the first in a multi-part series on the call to prayer. Deacon Keating, it turns out, is the director of Theological Formation at the Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University. This is the second time I’ve heard of good things about this institute. Perhaps more diocese should be looking into this type of ongoing formation?

(I’m going to stop writing now because it’s mysteriously writing in all italics.)

Oremus…