By EmmaLee Italia | Contributing Editor

“Reboot! Live!,” an initiative of Real Life Catholic, will return   Jan. 30-31 for another highly anticipated presentation in the Diocese of Trenton, this time in Jackson.

Hosted from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Jan. 30 in St. Monica Parish and Jan. 31 in St. Aloysius Parish, “Reboot! Live!” is a multimedia event experience for all, ages 12 and up, and features Real Life Catholic founder Chris Stefanick – an internationally renowned Catholic evangelist.

This year’s theme, “Live the Life You Were Made For,” emphasizes the intentionality and purpose with which God creates each individual, and how that intention prepares us for our lives as Christians.

“God had you in mind before the Big Bang. God had you in mind when he entered space and time to save us,” says Stefanick in the website’s promotional video. “The Gospel isn’t just some story from long ago … it’s for you, now. It’s about you living the life you were made for.”

Stefanick has appeared in his “Reboot! Live!” presentation multiple times in the Diocese, repeatedly drawing crowds of 1,000. He speaks to more than 50,000 every year.

Planning for the “Reboot! Live!” presentation was a multi-parish effort involving the surrounding worship communities in Cohorts 23 and 4.

“We were looking for something [focusing on] evangelization,” said Denis Campbell, St. Aloysius parishioner, Faith in Our Future leader and Cohort 23 chair. “The first [part] of the year is when you make New Year’s resolutions, and we’re hoping people will come on board, meet the challenge [of the presentation] and get energized.”

Tables representing each parish will be available during the presentation at St. Aloysius, featuring parish activities, upcoming events and ministries, Campbell said. “Part of ‘Reboot’ is that they talk about momentum – after that night, what are you going to do to keep people interested and captivated?”

Barbara Rookey, religious education coordinator in St. Isidore the Farmer Parish, New Egypt, and St. Monica parishioner, said that one of Real Faith Catholic’s goals is for the parishes to become evangelizing communities. To that end, she and other nearby parish organizers have been meeting monthly since August to prepare for his visit and implement the presentation.

“It has really been a way for us to focus on the meaning behind this awesome event,” Rookey said. “We have 30-some people representing all the parishes in the area; I think we’re doing such a great job together, [discussing] how to evangelize and what we can do in our parishes.”

Rookey suggested during the group’s most recent meeting “that we continue to meet after ‘Reboot’… we’ve done so much together already, and we have this great opportunity to reach out in our communities.”

 “His message is so clear, that God is love,” said Campbell, “and if you follow the message, you’ll be more joyful … he talks about things you can do in your everyday life to be more Christ-centered … that it’s the good news; you have to absorb that and make it your own.”

Rookey agreed. “It really is the start of a new way of us being Church together,” she explained. “It’s not the end of a process, but the beginning of something new.”

Real Life Catholic’s purpose, its website notes, is “to ignite a bold, contagious faith in the heart of every Catholic by building a movement of Catholics who share the beauty, power and truth of the Gospel with a world that has largely forgotten.”

Tickets are $25. St. Monica’s worship space can seat 350; St. Aloysius’ worship space can seat 1,110. Register early to ensure availability at RealLifeCatholic.org/reboot, or at either parish office. St. Monica Parish is located at 679 W. Veteran’s Highway; St. Aloysius Parish is located at 935 Bennetts Mills Road.

For more information, contact St. Monica Parish, 732-928-0279, or St. Aloysius Parish, 732-370-0500.