Interview with Michael Genova Offers Lessons in Art & Faith
I set out to launch a YouTube video series with a mix of altruistic and selfish reasons in mind. On the selfless side, I wanted to offer a venue for all the wonderful artists in the world working passionately to express their faith. On the selfish side, I’m hoping to drive customers to this website, generate advertising revenue, and learn from all these artists.
I expected to learn history, theology, and artistic techniques, but right out of the gate, I was challenged on my approach to faith itself.
To give you a little background, I tend to be analytical (some would say over-analytic) is all things, including my faith. I enjoy reading about physics and other modern sciences and rectifying them with my Catholic beliefs. This forces me to dig deep into the Bible and Catechism to get enough understanding for this type of thought exercise. Because of this, I certainly don’t fall into the literalist camp, although I respect those that do. A good friend of mine, who happens to be a devout Baptist, and I have spent many hours comparing notes. We don’t debate, but have lively discussions to understand each other, not convince or convert the other. Great fun, and unfortunately that kind of discourse is so rare these days.
I realize that Jesus asks us to have the faith of a child, but I struggle to rectify this with free will, and the responsibility to follow Jesus with as complete of an understanding as possible. Michael, as I learned in our discussion, manages to split the difference quite nicely.
In these interviews, I have a rough list of questions that are intended to guide the discussion. We don’t discuss these things ahead of time because I’m trying to capture an extemporaneous conversation. I ask questions that are sparked from honest curiosity. So the discussion went to Michael’s portrait of Saint Patrick:
>>Kevin Pawlowski: Yeah. Now, one thing that surprised me is in the corner, the bottom corner, is one tiny little snake, and it's one of the cooler parts of little legend of Saint Patrick, but probably the most that's unprovable, a bit of a truly more legendary. Is that why you de-emphasized the snake part of it or what was your thought process there?
>>Michael Genova: No, like I said before, I like to think of these legends as being true. Why not? That's how I always look at it like, okay, scientifically maybe, well yeah, snakes were never in Ireland or whatever, but I say why not? The reason it's down there in the corner is because the whole idea is that Saint Patrick expelled the snakes, which is the metaphor for the evil of the paganism and the society that existed in Ireland at that time. So it's like the snake is relegated to that bottom corner and about to be basically kicked out. It's like evil is being squished to this corner in a way, like Saint Patrick is ... The light of that great Saint is pushing evil down.
Keep in mind that the stories behind a lot of the saints, as they go back hundreds or even thousands of years, cross over from historic to legendary. In my research, as I’ve created my various saint comics (see blog on my saint comics), I struggled with the wilder legends. For example, the legend of St. Nick bringing kids, that were boiled to death, back to life was something I only alluded to. I just couldn’t go all in.
When you watch the video (the 1st of videos linked below), you’ll see me struggle with the question. I want to believe the legends of St. Patrick, but I have trouble bringing myself to do it. Michael, on the other hand, tosses away all doubt with these simple words: “Why not?”
He then went on to demonstrate an understanding of the mainstream scientific thinking on the subject, but simply doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter. What matters is what the legend of St. Patrick means, and how it helps you to grow as a Catholic Christian. A simple faith doesn’t mean a simpleton’s faith. Michael understands the different sides to the discussion, and then makes the conscious decision to believe.
If that isn’t a great example of faith, I don’t know what is.