Restoring the Church’s Encounter with God Through Beauty

Introduction

Sacred art is not an accessory to worship. It is one of the Church’s oldest and most effective forms of evangelization.

For centuries, the faith was not first explained. It was encountered. Sacred art made the invisible visible and formed the imagination before belief was articulated.

My work exists to help restore that encounter.

Sacred Art Is Not Decoration

Sacred art is often misunderstood as decoration or enhancement. In reality, it is formative.

A church interior always teaches. The only question is what it teaches.

When sacred art is absent or diminished, faith is often received as abstract, moralistic, or functional. When beauty is present, belief becomes credible, prayer becomes possible, and mystery is restored.

Beauty is not decoration. Beauty is the Church’s first language of evangelization.

Addressing the Question of Cost

“We Don’t Have the Budget.”

Every parish has limited resources. The question is not whether a parish can afford sacred art, but whether it can afford to neglect the formation of the imagination for future generations.

Budgets fund programs. Beauty forms people.

Programs serve a season. Sacred art serves generations.

A large scale sacred work evangelizes daily, silently and permanently, supporting every ministry without competing with any of them.

“We Can’t Justify This Compared to Other Expenses.”

This assumes sacred art competes with ministry. It does not.

Sacred art supports every ministry by shaping the environment in which faith is received.

It influences:

• how children first imagine God-

• how converts encounter mystery

• how parishioners pray without words

• how visitors perceive the Church before a homily is preached

Sacred art is not an alternative to ministry. It is infrastructure for all of it.

What a Sacred Commission Truly Is

A sacred commission is not a purchase. It is a formation project.

Each work is:

• theologically intentional

• rooted in the Catholic tradition

• composed with attention on light, movement, and form

• designed to communicate belief without explanation

My role is not simply to paint, but to translate theology into visual encounter, so that faith is not only taught, but felt.

Why Scale Matters

Scale is not about grandeur. Scale is about presence.

Large sacred works:

• command attention without demanding it

• shape prayer even when unnoticed

• communicate permanence in a transient culture

They say, without words:
This matters. God is real. The Church believes what she teaches.

A Generational Perspective

Most parish expenses are recurring. Sacred art is generational.

A mural remains when:

• staff changes

• programs end

• budgets fluctuate

Over time, it becomes part of a parish’s identity, not received as an expense, but as a gift passed on.

The most faithful generations of the Church understood this.
They built not only for themselves, but for those who would come after.

The Commission Process

Every sacred commission begins with listening.

The process includes:

• discernment of the parish’s identity and mission

• theological clarity on subject and symbolism

• collaboration with clergy and leadership

• thoughtful integration into the worship space

This is not imposed art.
It is received art, shaped for a specific community and its vocation.

An Invitation

If your parish senses that something essential has been lost, that the faith is taught but not always encountered… beauty may be the missing language.

I welcome conversations with priests, committees, and patrons discerning how sacred art might serve their parish’s mission, space, and future generations.