On today's Question of Faith. Has anyone seen our billboards? Hey everybody, this is Question of Faith. I am Mike Hayes, I'm the Director of Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Cleveland and I'm Fr.
Speaker 2:
Damian Ferentz, the Vicar for Evangelization.
Speaker 3:
And I'm Mary Bonino, the Executive Assistant in Parish Life.
Speaker 1:
Houston fan.
Speaker 4:
And I'm Kayla Gill, creative project coordinator.
Speaker 2:
Two guests yes, our first time with having two guests on the show Getting crowded in here, yes. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:
It's good to have you. Though Anybody see our billboards. What are we talking about?
Speaker 2:
Well, when you ask the question, someone could take it as like someone stole the billboards.
Speaker 1:
Has anyone seen them? No, I don't think so. Strapped it to my back.
Speaker 2:
Not only are Kayla and Mary part of parish life secretary, but they're also part of the Eucharistic revival team here in the Diocese of Cleveland and one of our endeavors has been a billboard campaign. We've not done this before, but we were trying something new, and I'll actually go back to how this idea came to be. So I met Bishop Molesik three days after he was installed and then the next day I flew to Rome and I was there for the next 10 months before I finished my dissertation and came home. And I only talked to him one other time between that first time and the time I came home, and that was when I got a Zoom call and he wanted to ask me about being vicar for evangelization and I remember asking, like what do you see me doing? And he said I just want to get the gospel out, whatever it takes. I'm billboards.
Speaker 2:
And then he mentioned some other things and that billboard stuck in my head and so when we were talking about how can we get people interested in the Eucharistic revival and to consider the Eucharist, I had an idea Maybe we could get billboards. And then Kayla had just come on board as creative project coordinator and Mary just graduated from the Catholic University of America just this past spring. So I asked them if they would help one do the design and the other find the quotes. And now we have 33 billboards going up covering the eight counties, and it'll start this very week, each with a separate quote on the Eucharist. So that's what we're talking about with the billboards, and 33?, mary or Kayla, you want to explain?
Speaker 4:
Yeah, so there's. So 33 billboards is the number Father Damien threw out, and each one represents one of the years of Jesus's life, because Jesus was 33 years old when he died and was resurrected from the dead. So it's very medieval it is medieval.
Speaker 2:
The medieval loved numbers and Augustine loved numbers and I love numbers too. So numbers for everything. So yeah, 33 is cool. One of my priest friends also said is this like the three billboards outside of Ebbing Missouri, that film?
Speaker 1:
that came out back in 2017?
Speaker 2:
But no, not three billboards, 33 billboards.
Speaker 1:
And so you guys worked really hard on this. Tell me a little bit about your process. You had to come up with all these quotes.
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So Father Damien asked me first to find these 33 quotes, which was actually a little more difficult than I anticipated. Finding quotes that are short enough for a billboard that can be read very easily by drivers, for a billboard that can be read very easily by drivers, and also just finding quotes from saints that explicitly talk about the Eucharist in some fashion. We have a lot of writings from great saints, but whether or not they actually wrote on the Eucharist, you know, you got to really research that, but came up with 33, so yeah, Nice.
Speaker 2:
One of the things that's great, too, is that we not only have quotes from saints, but they go all the way back to Christ himself and then Ignatius of Antioch from the second century, and we didn't put the word well, the letters ST or the word saint before, because part of the idea here is this is a campaign of wonder. We want people to look at these things and go who's that? That's that old and talking about the Eucharist, you know?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, nice.
Speaker 2:
What's the?
Speaker 1:
name yeah, go ahead, no, go ahead.
Speaker 4:
So then, in terms of the design for the billboards, I had a lot of fun with these, but one of the challenges was kind of incorporating a couple of different brand identities together into something that was really cohesive and all-encompassing.
Speaker 4:
Because we have the national branding guide and then we have, you know, kind of what we came up with in the diocese itself stick revival logo. So that's a the big square logo image that features the chalice and the host itself, um, and it's the gathered, blessed, broken, shared, um logo that you'll see and that's very prominent on every one of the billboards. But then you'll also see, tied in with it, some of the branding of the, the gradient behind it. So some people may think of it as like a rainbow gradient, but it's actually like a red, orange, um, blue kind of gradient, um, and it's just really pretty and it kind of just really makes everything kind of pop. But, um, just putting all of that together but coming out with 33 different styles was a little bit of a challenge, because I made like six of them and I'm like these look really good and I was like how am I supposed to make?
Speaker 4:
five times more so a couple of them have a very similar style, um, but most of them I tried to do, uh, something a little bit different for each one, so we should say that we came up with our diocesan logo before national came out with their logo and gave us their colors.
Speaker 2:
So Kayla did a really nice job. This is why she's the creative project coordinator, bringing those two together and it's a really nice iteration of the Catholic both and Kayla. On some of these it looks like torn paper. And what is the gradient? You mean, is the gradient that fabric-looking?
Speaker 4:
stuff. So the gradient is the color behind. So there's like a central gradient where, like, the blue is in the middle and then it goes out to a lighter color at the end but then there's also um this one where it features like it goes from like yellow to orange to red, orange to purple, to blue, I see so yeah that's cool.
Speaker 2:
And how about the hashtag?
Speaker 4:
talk a little bit about the hashtag yeah, so, um, so the billboards also feature. So down towards the bottom it says Join the Revival and it says Hashtag Eucharist CLE. So we are asking everyone to. We want to get a lot of people involved. We want to kind of share the excitement with everybody. So we're asking that people that see our billboards maybe take a picture of it and share it through the hashtag Eucharist CLE on social media so that we can all kind of we just want you to share your excitement. Yeah, we're going to do it too, but we're asking that everybody does it kind of safely, like don't take pictures while you're driving.
Speaker 4:
Right pull over Pull over or ask a friend to take the picture and then share it on social media, because we would really love. We're excited about them and we would really love to see people interacting with them in public.
Speaker 2:
So the Eucharistic revival has a few phases and this first phase is the diocesan phase, and that's why we're doing a lot of this work. But we want it to be interactive with people who are seeing it, and the idea here in phase one of Advent is we're taking quotes of saints and we're hearing about the Eucharist through their voices and at the same time we're doing a video campaign on our social media and having priests answer the question what does the Eucharist mean to me? During phase two in Advent, we're going to be doing quotes from local people and then videos from people who work in this building and giving testimony to what the Eucharist means to me. So we're leading this from like an upper level, diocesan level, during this phase with the hope that we model it well so when we hit parish phase this summer, that parishes will start sharing their testimonies too in the bulletins on their social media and be creative in all sorts of ways. So we're trying to create a buzz, a stir about the Eucharist here in the diocese.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and so we have all these stories of saints and we want people to share their stories as well, right? So how would I do that? If I wanted to share my story, what would be the process?
Speaker 4:
Right. So, as Father Damien mentioned, this Advent campaign is campaign one of two. So we're going to launch another campaign with very similar, if not the same, 33 billboards for the season of Lent, but we want those to feature your stories, your testimonies. We want active people in the Catholic community to go to our website you can go on dioceseofclevelandorg and it's eucharist-revival backslash. Share your story. But we're also going to be, we're going to do like a social media campaign. We're going to share this more and I think, mike, we talked about putting that link in the caption also. So, but we want you guys to share your stories of how the Eucharist has touched your life personally. So we have a form available online and you could just go there, submit your name, your parish and then just give a quick little blurb of your personal testimony for the Eucharist, and it may or may not be featured on a billboard, which is the exciting part.
Speaker 2:
Super exciting. So imagine the Eucharist is the center of my life and the center of my engagement, because Mary Bonino just got engaged recently. And then it says Mary, independence, which is Independence, the city in which she lives, and then your birth year, dash. And then someone drives by and this billboards up in Independence says who is this Mary who lives in my town, who's quoting this about the Eucharist? It's really provocative stuff, you know.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, exactly yeah, that'll be fun. And where are these billboards featured now? They're all over the diocese.
Speaker 4:
So they are. They're all over the eight counties of the Cleveland diocese. So so they are. They're all over the eight counties of the Cleveland Diocese. So we worked with Lamar Shout out to Lamar they did a really great job of helping us to make sure that we had some kind of a presence with a billboard in all of those eight counties. So they're kind of.
Speaker 2:
They're shotgunned all over the diocese. But I will say we have, I think, three in Spanish that are in Hispanic neighborhoods. We have one in Italian. It's a quote from Francis of Assisi. Did you do the translation on that, Mary?
Speaker 3:
I ran it through Google Translate and then used my three years of Italian to make sure the translation was correct. You speak Italian very well.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I don't know if it's accurate or not because I don't speak Italian, but I heard you talking Italian the other day. I was like, wow, that sounds really good.
Speaker 2:
Molto bene, little Italy does not have any billboards according to their code, but right outside Little Italy there are. So if you're driving in you'll see a billboard there, and then we have one in Vietnamese. That's going to be in Asia Town, which will be really cool too. It's going to be awesome. I just there's definitely a momentum that's building here and an excitement that's building so.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, we it. It really mattered to be able to reach all of our brothers and sisters throughout all the different types of you know our Catholic communities, so we really wanted to make sure that like they also. I mean, it's it's not common in the Cleveland area to be walking down the street and see something in Vietnamese, so we're hoping to be able to catch them in a way to be like, hey, we love you guys and we did this for you, kind of a thing, and tell your friends basically.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that'd be fun. Yeah, We'll have to check all these out as I'm driving around. I'll be a little more observant as I drive.
Speaker 2:
I may even try we have a map. I may even try to see all 33 of these, and I think it's going to be exciting for Catholics to see something from the diocese that's bold, that's creative. My favorite quote in there is the one you found from St Ambrose If it truly is the bread of life, why would you eat it only once a year? Oh, yeah, if it's daily bread, yeah, if it's daily bread, why do you eat it? That's it. If it's daily bread, why do you take it once a year? I think that's hilarious. And then Ambrose of Milan, 399 to 390, 339 to 397. And I think for people to say, my gosh, these Catholics have been going at this for 2,000 years. That's a big part of what we're trying to do too.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, Someone should do a little billboard pilgrimage. That would be a good idea. See if they can capture all 33 and then send them to us.
Speaker 2:
That would be fun.
Speaker 1:
That would be awesome. There's my challenge to folks there it is Billboard pilgrimage.
Speaker 3:
Walking pilgrimage.
Speaker 2:
Oh, Mary, it We'll be like catch them all yeah.
Speaker 2:
Take a picture, catch them all and a lot of people forget that our diocese is eight counties, so that we made our way down to Wayne, ashland, medina. We have not forgotten about you and making sure that we're very present down there too. So if you're down there and you see the billboard, take a picture, and we're going to be even more active than we already are on diocesan social media, liking your things, retweeting them, reposting them. So let's build a momentum up Again. Hashtag Eucharist CLE.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that'd be perfect All right. So those are our billboard campaigns that are going on. So we often go to a church and so, Miriam, you did a little visit the other day to a church out in Parma, right?
Speaker 3:
Yes, last night my roommates and I, for our November monthly mass together, we went to St Charles, borneo. They have a 7 pm mass last night and it was very lovely. It's a very beautiful church yeah, gorgeous.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, 19. Actually, my home parish. I grew up three blocks south of there. I was raised at St Wendland, but later on in life Charles became my permanent home and I think the church was built in 1923, or at least the parish was founded then. But yeah, beautiful, it's the heart of that community right there and I love Mass in the evening that 7 pm. Mass is great. Who had the mass? Do you remember? Father Josh Korak, Father Kevin Fox, Father Jack Carlin?
Speaker 3:
We had three priests there. I know it wasn't Father Kevin Fox.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so one of the other two? Okay, all right. Older, younger.
Speaker 4:
Do you have glasses.
Speaker 1:
That would tell the difference. There it could be someone visiting too, I suppose.
Speaker 3:
No idea.
Speaker 1:
Was there music?
Speaker 2:
last night.
Speaker 3:
No, there was no music.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, sometimes there's a festival of praise, although I think the person who used to coordinate that is now in the seminary, so I'm not sure if it's still going on or not. I'll have to check.
Speaker 2:
Well, they used to have an organist at 7 pm too, and it was nice because it was one of the few evening daily masses and there's a lot of people that go to it.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And currently one of our deacons is going to be ordained a priest. God willing, this May His sister, who studied art in Italy, is. His sister, who studied art in Italy, is repainting the walls for the shrine to Mary and the good family on either side of the main altar. I don't know if you saw those were covered. That's Sarah Liptack's hard at work there, a local artist who studied in Italy, who's now sharing her gifts with the church.
Speaker 1:
St Charles is turning 100 years old this year and we're still in the season of Advent. So the second Sunday of Advent is this week, and the Gospel tells us, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them you, brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath, produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance, and do not presume to say to yourself we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, god can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Speaker 2:
Well, it's always important to keep in mind that Jesus loved everyone, especially the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but sometimes you challenge those you love because you want to call them to be holy, and so our Lord was willing to do that too.
Speaker 1:
yeah yeah, I like the john the baptist part too today. It says you know, john the baptist says prepare the way the lord makes straight his paths. Yeah, that gives a description of what he wore, you know, the camel's hair and eating the locusts and all that stuff yeah, with honey, though you can't eat locusts without honey yeah, you need the honey. Yeah, that's always good Honey. Get a dip? Yeah, that sounds good, yeah, anyway, so that is the gospel for this coming Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent. So we're getting closer to Christmas, cool.
Speaker 2:
It's exciting. So are the billboards. They're super exciting. The other thing about these billboards hopefully they get people interested in coming back to Mass, or Mass for the first time in a long time. A lot of people who were pretty active coming to church on Sundays since COVID a lot haven't returned and maybe this is a way to get them to think about what they're missing.
Speaker 1:
Come home at Christmas, kind of thing too. Yeah, right, exactly, and we have a long Advent. This is the longest Advent, right, it's a full Advent season, because Christmas is Sunday.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah. So four full weeks of Advent this time. Yeah, that first Advent candle at people's kitchen tables is going to be burning all the way down to a nub.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, exactly I've got to get new Advent candles. Thanks for reminding me. I'm going to go out and do that today. We're taping this before the first Sunday of Advent, actually, so I still have time to go get my candles, cool. So anyway, thanks for all your hard work on these billboards. That's a lot of work number one and I'm glad that you'll get to actually see some physical rewards there when you see them go up, so that would be great.
Speaker 2:
And although you can't see Kayla and Mary on the podcast because this is an auditory event, if you do look on our social media you'll see a little promo video that they do. So you get a sense of of who they are Younger faces in the diocese of Cleveland, new faces to the diocese, so it's great to have you guys around.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
It's great to have all of you around too, so continue your Advent journey and we'll see you all again next time on Question of Faith. Ciao.
