2020 Youth Conferences
Sister Josephine Garrett, CSFN is a native Texan, a convert to the Catholic faith, and a sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth. She lives and serves in Tyler, Texas, as a licensed professional counselor. She also loves traveling around to share the love of God with the young Church.
Michael Gormley, or “Gomer” as his friends call him, struggled with faith, belief, and the existence of God for years. He eventually found his way to God through studying whether the resurrection of Jesus Christ was real. He has degrees in philosophy and theology, a family, works at a parish with adults, and runs three side businesses: the Catching Foxes Show, Every Knee Shall Bow, and LayEvangelist.com
Kris Frank serves as the Chief Mission Officer for the National Eucharistic Congress. He previously served as the vice president of Vagabond Missions. Kris has had the privilege of traveling around the country, sharing the Gospel with teens and adults at retreats, camps, conferences, and parish missions. In addition, he has contributed to various evangelical and catechetical writing projects and publications over the years. In 2020, Kris published his first book, Hope Always: An Anchor for Life’s Storms. Kris lives in Steubenville with his wife, Grace, and their six children.
John Paul Von Arx seeks to share his faith and love for country music in venues all across America and has been performing professionally for the last nine years. Since the release of his debut solo album in 2018, John Paul has been known for his advocacy work for people with Down Syndrome and their families. Additionally, in 2020 he was hired as coordinator of Worship at Franciscan University in order to mentor students in leading worship and to teach Intro to Music Ministry as an adjunct professor.
Father Rick Martignetti, OFM, is a Franciscan priest in the Order of Friars Minor who holds a doctorate in sacred theology and Franciscan spirituality from the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome. He has served God through preaching, teaching, campus ministry, spiritual direction, retreat ministry, formation work, youth ministry, and pilgrimage work. He is currently director of Campus Ministry at Ave Maria University in Florida. His latest book, Perfect Love: 40 Stories and Reflections Inspired by Saint Bonaventure’s De Perfectione Vitae, is available from Tau Publishing. Check out his 2-Minute Homilies on YouTube or through his blog, fatherrick.wordpress.com.
