Packed St. Gregory the Great hears national speaker
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
It was Catholicism for real life – Chris Stefanick, a nationally-known speaker and author, came to St. Gregory the Great, Hamilton Square, on Dec. 2 to “Reboot!” their faith.
Roughly 1,000 attendees filled the sanctuary to hear the two-and-a-half hour presentation by Stefanick, including videos, music, and prayer.
“It was very joy-filled and expectant,” said Andy Loh, who helped coordinate the event for St. Gregory the Great. “You could feel it as soon as you walked in the doors, that something was happening. There was a lot of excitement.”
The REBOOT! Live! Tour takes Stefanick to parishes and faith groups across the country, most recently in Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Ontario, Can. Stefanick was joined by Catholic recording artist Jon Niven for the event.
“The heart of the Gospel message is that God loves us and He wants us to give our lives back to him. And that’s the context for the rest of the teaching that makes it so beautiful. And when people forget that context, it makes their Christian walk feel burdensome,” said Stefanick in an interview with The Monitor.
“We talk about practical ways to live that out every day, and I think we’ve complicated that - I think it’s a simple fact, and we have to keep it simple, and do just a few things in our daily lives. And so we focus on…the simple stuff that makes us saints.”
“Most people said it completely exceeded their expectations,” Loh said. “People laughed, people cried, it seemed like there was a lot of stuff going on in people’s hearts, which was our ultimate goal.”
“The highlight, for me, was that we were able to fill the whole Church and it wasn’t Christmas or Easter,” Loh said. “It was completely full.”
According to his website, Stefanick, who grew up in the Diocese of Paterson, speaks to over 50,000 youth every year, and was called by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia “one of the most engaging young defenders of the Christian faith on the scene today.”
“It was a fairly young crowd, which was nice,” said Loh. “We did see a lot of our normal parishioners, but we also saw a lot of people who had never been to the Church before, which is what we were aiming for.”
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It was Catholicism for real life – Chris Stefanick, a nationally-known speaker and author, came to St. Gregory the Great, Hamilton Square, on Dec. 2 to “Reboot!” their faith.
Roughly 1,000 attendees filled the sanctuary to hear the two-and-a-half hour presentation by Stefanick, including videos, music, and prayer.
“It was very joy-filled and expectant,” said Andy Loh, who helped coordinate the event for St. Gregory the Great. “You could feel it as soon as you walked in the doors, that something was happening. There was a lot of excitement.”
The REBOOT! Live! Tour takes Stefanick to parishes and faith groups across the country, most recently in Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Ontario, Can. Stefanick was joined by Catholic recording artist Jon Niven for the event.
“The heart of the Gospel message is that God loves us and He wants us to give our lives back to him. And that’s the context for the rest of the teaching that makes it so beautiful. And when people forget that context, it makes their Christian walk feel burdensome,” said Stefanick in an interview with The Monitor.
“We talk about practical ways to live that out every day, and I think we’ve complicated that - I think it’s a simple fact, and we have to keep it simple, and do just a few things in our daily lives. And so we focus on…the simple stuff that makes us saints.”
“Most people said it completely exceeded their expectations,” Loh said. “People laughed, people cried, it seemed like there was a lot of stuff going on in people’s hearts, which was our ultimate goal.”
“The highlight, for me, was that we were able to fill the whole Church and it wasn’t Christmas or Easter,” Loh said. “It was completely full.”
According to his website, Stefanick, who grew up in the Diocese of Paterson, speaks to over 50,000 youth every year, and was called by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia “one of the most engaging young defenders of the Christian faith on the scene today.”
“It was a fairly young crowd, which was nice,” said Loh. “We did see a lot of our normal parishioners, but we also saw a lot of people who had never been to the Church before, which is what we were aiming for.”
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