BATON ROUGE, La. – Stafford Wood, founder and owner of the successful adaptive communications firm Covalent Logic this month launched St. Gabriel Publishing, a new venture devoted to Catholic marketing and communications projects.
The creation of St. Gabriel Publishing was inspired by the firm’s highly successful work with Our Lady of Mercy parish in Baton Rouge. The new venture will operate as a division of Covalent Logic, allowing the almost 10-year-old firm to expand its work for Catholic churches, schools and organizations. This new division will serve Catholic parishes, schools and dioceses with communications materials, logo and other graphic design, websites and social media.
“Through our firm’s meaningful work with Our Lady of Mercy, which I found to be both spiritually and professionally fulfilling, I was inspired the create a division that would seek out this work, allowing us to bring our expertise to Catholic organizations,” Wood said. A recent Catholic convert, Wood attended Boston College and has always been inspired by the art, architecture and literature of the Church’s long-standing tradition.
St. Gabriel is the archangel patron saint of communications professionals. In the Bible, he is identified as the angel sent to carry messages to Daniel in the lions’ den and to announce to Mary that she conceived by the Holy Spirit. Tradition holds that he was frequently the Angel-Saint sent to carry God’s message to the faithful.
“Leading a church or school parish is a daily devotion to your community and its Catholic ideals,” Wood said. “Sometimes marketing, messaging and branding take a back seat to the very important needs of a church or school. I believe giving a parish communication tools actually helps it further the reach of its message and better meet its mission.”
Wood’s work in the realm of Catholic marketing started in 2012 when Our Lady of Mercy parish retained her company Covalent Logic to help unite its school and church under one common brand. Covalent Logic’s team worked with leaders of the parish to understand its mission and vision and created a beloved logo and brand for the parish.
Through a mixture of paid and pro bono projects for Our Lady of Mercy, Wood’s team created consistent branding across the parish as it entered into its master planning process, called Traditions for Tomorrow.
Father Cleo Milano, Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church in Baton Rouge said, “Working with the team at Covalent Logic, our parish was able to embrace a brand that honors the true spirit and grace of the Blessed Mother, who is our patron, and that unites our parishioners and our community. I am thrilled that Covalent is spinning off a division devoted to Catholic marketing and would recommend their services to any parish or organization seeking to take its message to a higher level.”
“Catholic churches, schools and organizations are deserving of world class communications and marketing tools, but they are often not focused on themselves,” Wood said. “I believe St. Gabriel Publishing will be able to help these organizations reflect on their missions and visions in a way that is meaningful and help them put their best foot forward to their stakeholders and community members.”
In creating the division, Wood reflected on a line from The Memorare: “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided.” In this spirit, St. Gabriel Publishing will offer free downloadable templates for Catholic Churches to use for pew cards, envelopes, Mass cards and other materials.
The Catholic Church has traditionally been one of the most beautiful voices with the most beautiful aesthetic in the world. St. Gabriel’s mission as a company is to inspire church leaders to elevate their design and broaden their reach in support of Pope Francis’ call to New Evangelism. St. Gabriel is a for-profit company that gives back a percentage of every project to an appropriate Catholic institution.
For more information, email stafford@stgabrielpublishing.com, visit stgabrielpublishing.com or follow St. Gabriel Publishing on Twitter and Instagram as @StGabeArchangel.