Moving Faith began with a simple idea and, through the grace of God, has grown into something so much bigger.
Gina Marie was the Director of Youth Ministry and the Confirmation Program at St. Joseph’s Church in Lodi, NJ. She had the vision of restructuring and sparking the Sunday evening 6:00 pm Mass into something new and fresh.
Sensing and hoping that adding a contemporary feel to the liturgy might appeal to the youth of the parish and attract other teens and young adults, the idea was that this would be a great way to invite teens to the Mass and then follow up with BRANCHES Youth Group directly after the Mass, which would give the teens an even better sense of community.
The first thought was to update the music and start a “youth band” strictly run teens. With the support of Fr. Jason Caganap, CRM, Gina Marie asked the Pastor, Fr. Hector DiNardo, CRM for his thoughts. He was reluctant at first but gave the go-ahead and put his trust in the vision. From there, Gina Marie found it difficult to find teens who were willing to take on this leadership position and commit to the weekly responsibility of meeting on their own time along with the hours of rehearsals it would take to get the band off the ground. Therefore, with much prayer and perseverance, Gina Marie, having been a vocalist in bands for many years, thought that maybe she could gather a group of musicians from the parish and begin to lead and mold them into the band that she had envisioned.
In early 2007, along with the support of Fr. Melvin Avilla, CRM, Gina Marie approached the new Pastor, Fr. Michael Marotta, CRM as well as the parish music minister, Mrs. Millie Connolly, on the concept and they were most supportive of the idea. The group took shape and found its voice shortly thereafter with the addition of Paul Franco, a church cantor and organist in the Archdiocese, whose home parish was St. Joseph’s.
And so, the Sunday evening Mass became the “Spirit Mass” and the newly formed Spirit band consisted of vocalists, percussion, keyboard, and guitars, all uniting to give back to the community offering a new mode of praise and worship for their congregation members.
Fast forward to the present day and the Spirit band is now Moving Faith – a Catholic pop-rock band as well as ministry, which is intended not only for the youth, but all ages who are looking to move deeper in faith of and for the Lord.