Catholic Family Life Symposium Brand
The Catholic Family Life Symposium of 2019 was an unprecedented gathering of over 30 distinguished theologians, social scientists, and pastoral ministry professionals who gathered to study the question: How are Catholic families called to be dynamically different from other families? The event was co-sponsored by Catholic Counselors, the OSV Institute, Holy Cross Family Ministries, and the McGrath Institute for Church Life.
The Catholic Family Life Symposium was looking for a mark which would feel equal parts traditional and modern, clean and symbolic. I chose to combine modern vector line art with traditional stained glass art to depict a family as forming the Church itself. The building structure is formed by the parents, who are both required to “hold up the cross” as a cornerstone in order to pass on the “fire of faith” to the children. The mother of the family is pregnant, symbolizing the Catholic belief in the sanctity of life of the pre-born. In the color version of the mark, the family is revealed to be multiethnic, promoting a posture of inclusion. Finally, the word ‘the’ is flipped on its side, adding a note of playful messiness to the subject matter up for discussion (the family).