“The Hillsdale Converts”
Tucked away in the far southwestern corner of the Diocese of Lansing is a small town called Hillsdale, Michigan. This small town has punched well above its weight in recent years due to the growth of Hillsdale College, a small liberal-arts college. Despite not being a Catholic college, per se, the Catholic intellectual tradition has been nurtured on campus and every year at Easter Vigil upwards of 20 to 30 college college students are welcomed into the Catholic Church at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Hillsdale.
For Easter Vigil in 2023, I traveled to Hillsdale to capture the sights and sounds of the Mass, which was followed by a Greek feast and lamb roast in the parish hall until about 4 in the morning (not too long before Easter Sunday crowds started filing in).
The video was featured in the April 14, 2023 edition of CatholicVote’s popular The Loop email newsletter, which hailed it as “a short but powerful film capturing the fire, the faith, and the fervor” of the 23 souls received into the Church at this Easter Vigil.
AWARDS WON
Catholic Media Association Awards 2024 - 1st Place, Best Video - Feature
Catholic Media Association Awards 2024 - 3rd Place, Best Video - Liturgical Season
Similar projects:
-
Holy Thursday with Father Joe Krupp
This simple video was actually one of the first projects I filmed with the Diocese of Lansing, but to this day it remains one of my favorites because of the message of Father Joe Krupp, who has become a good friend of mine through my time at the Diocese. I also particularly enjoy the scoring for this video, which comes from Musicbed and my favorite artist on their platform, Slow Meadow.
-
Diocese of Lansing Priestly Ordinations 2024
It’s always a particular joy of mine to film Ordinations to the Priesthood. I find it particularly meaningful to devote a lot of time and energy to filming, editing and scoring these videos to match the magnitude of the commitment and sacrifice these men are making. At the 2024 Ordination, we got word at the last minute that Father Mike Schmitz would be in attendance as a vesting priest for the new Father Joshua Fons (who had worked with Father Mike during his days as a FOCUS missionary in Duluth, Minnesota). It was a fun element to include, though I think we succeeded in making the two Ordinands the primary focus of this video. Enjoy, and please continue to pray for these men in their priestly ministry!