Bro. Bob Resing’s Art Featured on New Booklet

        The Marianist Mission is testing a new Living Enrollment booklet, God Bless You on this Joyous Occasion, designed around Psalm 118:24. (“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”) The test will determine what may need changing (for example, background color) and to determine how well colors appeal to both men and women. The new booklet is the first enrollment to feature the work of a Marianist artist, Brother Robert Resing. It also uses text from the Marianist prayer book. While most Mission enrollments are for memorials or healing, this one can be used for any happy occasion. The Mission is often asked for this type of enrollment for anniversaries, birthdays, baptisms, graduations, etc. The Mission does not intend for this to be the only style of “happy occasion” enrollment.

            Brother Bob photographed the scene on the card and then enhanced it artistically. Brother Bob also took part in designing the booklet with the Development team’s graphic artist. Other All Occasion type cards also have been designed with Brother Bob’s artwork. These will be printed and mailed during the summer of 2007.        

            The concept for this new Living Enrollment and other creative pieces in process grew out of research developed for the Marianist Mission by Lisa Gooding, executive director of province development, with the assistance of the University of Dayton’s Business Research Group. The U.D. group conducted telephone surveys of 500 Catholics across the nation to assess the market segment that purchases religious greeting cards. The U.D. group also surveyed hundreds of Marianist Spiritual Alliance donors by phone to determine what they wanted that the Mission was not offering. Results of this survey indicated a variety of trends and needs, including the need for “joy-filled” or “happy” enrollment booklets. The Mission is working on other spiritual messages (some for cards and some for other services) that relate to the shifting audience interests.

            On April 25, the Joyous Occasion booklet was sent to 48,600 people on the Marianist Mission mailing list (a list that numbers more than 600,000). It also is available on the MarianistMission.org web site. To see more of Brother Bob Resing’s art prints, please visit his web site: ResingArt.com.