Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Vicario & James Ludwig. They and their team share their story with us below:
James and Joseph have been friends since second grade. One night in the spring of 2018 when Joseph was home from college, they were together hanging out. As usual, they were bantering about everything going on in life; discussing the culture, politics, faith, social problems, and everything else going on in the world. At some point in the conversation, James and Joseph were halted with the question, “why is it that we can’t talk about these topics with other people?” They realized a platform was needed for people to share in meaningful discussion, especially on the topic of faith in the young adult community. Many people have lost the ability to share an insightful discourse to learn and grow from each other.
From there, they reached out to their local Catholic Parish, St. Columbkille. At the time, Fr. Anthony Suso was a new pastor and was all about starting a young adult group for the community. Thus, Catching Fire was born starting in June of 2018. What had started with 6 or 7 people around a single table has turned into about 70 people sharing in discussion per week from all over the Cleveland area, with about 400 members in the group today and counting. They have been determined to equip young adults with the tools needed to live out authentic faithful lives.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When James and Joseph began, it was off to a rough start. For the first 6 months, they only had about 5-10 people attending their meetings per week. It was hard for them to be able to find the motivation to keep going when there weren’t many people showing up. When college had begun back in full swing, Joe had gone back to school at the University of Dayton but James was able to keep the group running, even while he was commuting to Cleveland State every day. With the limited numbers showing up weekly, James and Joseph still believed in the mission behind what they were pursuing and kept the group going.
Then everyone had to endure the same challenge in the spring of 2020 with the covid pandemic. At this point, Catching Fire was receiving about 20 people on average per week. After they transitioned to meeting online, much like the rest of the world, they realized that participation and interest in the group were lacking. They knew that they would not be able to keep the fire going unless something changed. They were determined to provide a safe way for people to meet back in person. They noticed that with people locked up at home away from friends and family, anxiety and depression were prevalent. They had worked tirelessly with other local leaders to be able to meet in person safely. This had sparked a new life into the group and its membership. From there, the group grew substantially and started to pull people from miles away to share in real authentic discussion in the community.
The most recent hurdle that Joseph and James had to overcome was redefining themselves as a group. As Catching Fire grew in number and influence, other young adult groups in the area adopted their format to be similar to Catching Fire’s. Joseph and James were thrilled that their meeting format seemed to get such strong interest. However, with groups popping up with similar formats, they were wary that Catching Fire would begin to blend in with the rest of them. Joseph and James were determined to re-establish their identity within Catching Fire. They re-affirmed the mission statement behind the group, creating sessions specifically to teach and inspire young adults how to become better Catholic Christians and live their faith more authentically. Joseph and James focused more of their efforts developing and forming these young adults with quality content each week with the hope that they go home a better formed Christian.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Joseph currently works at Energizer Holidings Inc. as a Technology Engineer. He works daily doing research and development for their hearing aid batteries. He’s one of the few people working on the mechanical team for the hearing aid department, determined to innovate the longevity and advancements in their technology. Within the department, he’s known to be helpful in all areas being pulled into statistical analysis, CAD design, research development, and managing of all of their engineering documentation. He’s most proud of being part of an integral team establishing the newest and most advanced hearing aid batteries the world has seen today.
James works at the Augustine Institute as an Evangelization Specialist. The Augustine Institute is a Catholic apostolate with the mission of spreading the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. They equip Catholics intellectually, spiritually, and pastorally to renew the church and transform the world for Christ through state-of-the-art technology such as FORMED.org. James has a degree in Marketing and is on their sales team for programming and evangelization.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Apps: Hallow, Amen
Websites: Formed.org, Catholic.com
Books: Life Is Worth Living by Fulton Sheen
Pricing:
- Completely Free!
Contact Info:
- Email: CatchingFireStColumbkille@yahoo.com
- Website: Catchingfirestc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stc_catchingfire/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CatchingFireStColumbkille
- Other: https://groupme.com/join_group/51914313/934X6F7H
