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December 31, 2024By Carissa KrautscheidThe Diocese of Tucson is blessed to have Father Manu Franco-Gomez, O.Carm., as its Director of Youth Ministry, parochial vicar of St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church, and theology professor at Catholic University of America-Tucson. Among the many ways he contributes to the Church, the Mexican native is an artist. “Since I was 14 years old,” he said, “I have the Church to thank for embracing my passion for art.”Fr. Manu shared, “Creating art is a prayerful experience. I am praying with my hands and my mind. Beauty is an integral part of our faith because beauty is one of the characteristics of God. Art is important because there are ways to break open truths that only art can do. Beauty has images and symbols and architecture that bring an
other dimension and break open something deeper that hits in a different way. In the end, beauty is a prefiguration of what Heaven looks like and feels like.”For the past two years, Fr. Manu has been commissioned by the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) to develop the artistic themes of the event that draws thousands of Catholic youth together. Throughout the three-day conference, animated art was shown on screens around the center and helped teens to delve deeper into the spiritual experience.For the 2024 conference, NCYC coordinators wanted to highlight five key moments in Jesus’ life: his baptism, temptation the desert, transfiguration, way of the cross, and the road to Emmaus. Fr. Manu was also tasked with incorporating the natural landscapes of California, where the conference took place.
In his portrayal of St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River, Fr. Manu “recreated the environment vertically.” The fish were individually animated to swim around the screens at the conference. 
“I wanted to highlight Jesus coming down from the desert. All the conversations with the devil already happened and he is on his way back down the mountain to start his ministry,” he said, pointing out the figures of angels accompanying the Lord. 
“Normally all we have are depictions of Jesus in white. I wondered if there were any ways I could depict what is beyond what our eyes see,” said Fr. Manu. Referencing to grounds, the holy place, and the history, Moses and Elijah are the rocks of the mountain, actually painted as full figures behind Jesus. “They are the rocks in that place where Jesus was.” 
“Sometimes we think that Jesus’ crucifixion is like us saying, “Look what WE did to him, like we caused is and Jesus simply said, ‘Okay, do it,’” said Fr. Manu. “But no. Jesus sacrificed, and he says to Pontius Pilate, ‘No, you have no power over me. I am the one who is making this choice. Nobody is making me do anything.’” In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus refers to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Fr. Manu said, “They don’t do anything, and they are beautiful. God provides for them. So it is actually a very interesting way of saying, ‘I am absolutely free.’ I wanted to depict that through the cross too: the freedom that Jesus spoke about before, he is actually living it. He says, ‘I don’t worry about tomorrow. Just like the birds and the lilies, I know my Father cares for me much more than that.’”Fr. Manu’s process for creating these beautiful depictions of Christ’s life began with reading the Gospel passages then reading various commentaries on the Scriptures. He talked with friends about the scenes then studied how these scenes have been portrayed in classical iconography and Catholic art from different eras and parts of the world. “I’m always trying to push for something different,” said Fr. Manu, “but, at the same time, show that I belong to the tradition of the Catholic Church.”
Using Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt, as his visual reference, Fr. Manu tied the characters close together, “Looking at Klimt, I wondered why figures have to be far apart on the sides, why not cram all of them on top of each other?” Klimt also influenced Fr. Manu’s inclusion of decorative gold texture and light to “try to go beyond just the image, to portray something more profound or mysterious.”Fr. Manu said that when he is painting, he meditates on the scene and what the feeling of that moment was, “I try to figure out a way to make use of color and shape to spotlight that. I consider if there is anything art can do to show something in a deeper way.”While the initial designs and decisions were made on paper, the entirety of these paintings were created digitally to accommodate for the digital displays at NCYC. Fr. Manu accompanied a group of 57 teens and youth ministers from across the Diocese of Tucson to NCYC in Long Beach, CA. At the end of the conference, Fr. Manu was recognized for his contribution to the spiritual fruits that came from his art.“Art is integral,” he said. “Beauty should be part of how we teach, how we worship, and how we serve. Beauty is a glimpse and a touch into the divine. We need to recover beauty in our Church.”Instagram: @ManuOCarmOnline Store: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/manu-francoWebsite: www.manuocarm.org