Happy Belated Birthday to KPC, from the Fluorescent Butterfly

One of the benefits of working with KP Consulting – which turned nine years old at the end of April – is the wide-ranging experience of KPC’s stable of faithful Catholic professionals that KPC founder and president Katie Pesha has cultivated.

KPC includes:

• Five former diocesan directors of communications who have led communications and marketing efforts in eight different dioceses.

• Four more former diocesan staff members, including one who headed an archdiocesan Respect Life apostolate.

• Two with undergraduate degrees in Theology – one who served as a Catholic high school Theology teacher, and the other who was the Director of Content for the recent National Eucharistic Congress.

• A former Catholic Charities board member and three former Catholic hospital system communicators.

• Three former local TV news reporters.

• A talented, creative and faith-filled assortment of graphic designers, videographers, photographers, and social media, web and digital specialists.

• And much more!

Increasingly, the KPC team has been hearing from Catholic leaders around the country, “There is nobody doing what you’re doing.” We agree!

In addition to our varied professional expertise, KPC pros also vary in age.

Being one of a small number of KPCers in the “55+” age category, I was especially influenced by the profound pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II. But I also experienced the life of the Church of the 1970s before JPII.

The 1970s were… memorable. In terms of the Church, I have come to call this time “The Fluorescent Butterfly Era.”

Steve's second-grade First Holy Communion Workbook (1978)

“The Fluorescent Butterfly” refers to my second-grade First Holy Communion workbook, circa 1978, the cover of which included three images:

• A picture of a field of yellow dandelions, with a mountain of evergreen trees and a cobalt blue sky in the background

• A close-up photo of a young child blowing on a dandelion puffball

• A larger-than-life drawing of a butterfly, colored in fluorescent shades of pink, orange and yellow, flying toward a light-green field containing a row of blue-colored trees and bushes

It was, proverbially, “psychedelic, man.” And it was completely, wholeheartedly and unapologetically “of the times.”

Jesus Christ made his first appearance in my First Communion workbook on page 18, though a cool drawing of a priest wearing sunglasses (at right) was included as the booklet’s first “religious” imagery, on page 9.

As I re-read the booklet today, I see in its narrative nothing as wacky as the art choices; the content seems both age-appropriate and, though it’s not necessarily how the Church would do it today, theologically okay.

And yet, the impression the booklet leaves – indeed, the impression that much of 1970s Catholicism left for me – is of a Church that, on a human decision-making level, had lost a bit of the plot.

To be perfectly honest, KPC sometimes sees “fluorescent butterflies” still today – parishes, schools, ministries and apostolates that need a brief pause to reflect on their charism and, often, to reset how they relate their charism to their existing audiences and to those they’re trying to attract. 

This is especially important in our current situation – our post-Christendom, apostolic era that has been emphasized by Pope Francis, Pope Benedict, and so many others.

In short, it’s a new day. And KPC exists to help Catholic ministries and organizations better live their unique mission of bringing people to Christ and to His Church in this moment.

To me, what differentiates KPC is this: We reflect. We pray. We are, and have been, immersed in the life of the Church – and we bring that faithful experience to each and every engagement with those parishes, schools, dioceses, ministries and apostolates we’re called to serve.

And if we had a workbook, those are the images that would be on our cover.

Questions for reflection: What are your “fluorescent butterflies”? When was the last time you reflected on how your ministry’s charism is being described and demonstrated? Is its visual appearance, perhaps created long ago, aligned to help your ministry meet the needs of our current apostolic age?  

Consider a conversation with KPC to begin to brainstorm how you might update and refine your ministry’s words and visuals to more effectively bring people to Christ and to His Church.