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A highly popular Instagram page, Lit Catholic Memes, brings faith-related laughs and good humor to over 130,000 followers.
Now its creator, Jimmy Reynolds, a senior at Franciscan University of Steubenville studying communication arts, announced the release of his IMAGO Catholic playing cards. All feature Reynolds’ original artwork, and they are indeed lit.
His Instagram announcement read,
I have been designing and creating these playing cards for almost a year and they are so close to becoming a reality! They feature all sorts of Catholic imagery, including Jesus as the Kings, Mary as the Queens, and St. Joseph as the Jacks. The linen-finish gives the cards a great feel and helps them stay very playable.
You can pre-order the cards on Reynolds' Kickstarter page.
As Reynolds prepares to graduate and begins the quest for graphic design work (ideally with Catholic companies, he says), I had the chance to catch up with him about the IMAGO cards and his hilarious meme page.
What inspired you to create your Catholic meme account?
I created my meme account almost 7 years ago now, back in the summer of 2016. I never would have thought it would have gone on this long.
I started it because I had a few funny ideas for Catholic memes and realized that pretty much every Catholic meme on the internet at this point in time had been recycled a hundred times over. There were not really any social media pages making new Catholic memes, so I started making my own.
Slowly, I started gaining more and more followers until we are at the point I am at now, with over 130,000.
What inspired you to create the IMAGO playing cards?
I was scrolling through the explore page on Instagram and noticed a post that depicted a mirror image of Jesus, which reminded me of playing cards. I then thought about how cool it would be if there were a deck of playing cards that featured Jesus, Mary and Joseph as the King, Queen, and Jack.
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I looked it up and couldn't really find anything matching what I had envisioned, so I decided to do it myself. I had some experience in Adobe Illustrator, so I started creating them there.
I soon realized that I still was not as good as I thought I was, because a lot of them were not turning out as well as I wanted them to. Thankfully, through a lot of time and determination, I slowly got better at Illustrator and ended up redesigning most of the cards.
Why is a sense of humor and lightheartedness important for people of faith?
I think it is important for both Catholics and non-Catholics to see. A lot of times, the faith is something that is just passed down from parents as a set of rules that never really resonates in people's hearts. If we believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, our faith should permeate just about every facet of our lives.
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I liked looking at memes and I love my faith. So I made some memes about the faith. I grew up playing cards with my parents and I love to design things. So I made Catholic playing cards. I believe one's own call to sainthood is unique to them and involves a Christian knowing thyself, and responding to what God has placed on their heart.
With regard to non-Catholics, I think this lightheartedness is important because a lot of times, they see the Catholic Church as a "whitewashed tomb" that is dead inside, with nothing but musty old sayings that do not relate to the present day. I think that humor gives testimony to them that we are very much alive and enjoying life, not in spite of our faith, but through it.
What's the most important thing you'd want to share about your work making Lit Catholic Memes and the IMAGO cards?
All of these projects are intended for the greater glory of God. As I said before, I believe that following one's personal vocation is how you become a saint, which is what all Christians should be striving for. I hope that my non-traditional way of doing that will make others consider their call to holiness and act upon it.
