“As a teenager I wanted to become an animator… and also a game designer, film director, comic illustrator, x-wing pilot, and kung fu master. But I couldn’t see a path toward any of those that seemed remotely possible. For one, I lacked the discipline to focus on any one project. But there was a deeper reason…

I simply did not know of any Catholic men who were thriving as creative professionals. I was looking for a team to be on. I was at the point in my life when I needed a king and a cause to fight for. But where would I go to do that as a creative? There was no Catholic Corps of artists. I didn’t have much hope for college either. The statistics said that people who went there for a creative degree usually ended up never using it. On top of that, it looked like all the Catholics who were trying to make it as professional creatives were either forced to compromise on their faith, live it quietly, or be doomed to obscurity. So I joined the Marine Corps.

Appearently, the way God wanted to solve my discipline problem was to put me in (arguably) the most difficult language school on earth, the Defense Language Institute. There I learned Korean from scratch (one of the hardest languages for an English speaker to learn). Studying both Korean and Marine Corps culture caused me to be fascinated with what makes culture’s strong or weak, which eventually lead me back to… creativity. And I gradually began to realize that the reason many young creative Catholics are miserable and missing out on the fulfillment that they were made to have through creativity is that we Catholics don’t have a strong creative subculture.

After finishing my time in the military, my next mission became clear: Build a culture for young creative Catholics, especially men, that revolves around real relationships, creative excellence, and a sacramental life. That is what it means to be a tekton. 

I can’t build that culture from the outside. I have to enter into it and become a tekton, myself.