While a first-year student at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, Giana Castelli deepened her faith at its Catholic Center, during a retreat at Eucharistic Adoration, where she felt a strong “sense of God’s love and care.”
Castelli, the new director of faith formation at St. Mary Parish in Denville, credits her friendships, spiritual formation, and God’s work in her life through the Catholic Center for her career path in Church ministry. She said she is excited to have joined the parish staff, bringing her perspective as a young adult to the job.
In a world “where people are really looking for community and looking to the Church to answer difficult questions in their families, especially in our culture, I’m already in tune with that, because I asked those questions growing up,” said Castelli, 26, who worships at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Raritan.
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Castelli earned a bachelor’s degree in English and political science from Rutgers and a master’s in theology from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. But Church ministry was not always her plan. From a young age, she wanted to serve in the U.S. military.
In high school, Castelli trained physically, was committed to academics, and earned the Dwight D. Eisenhower Leadership award from the West Point Society of New Jersey. She joined the ROTC at Rutgers in her first year.
By sophomore year, ROTC had offered Castelli a scholarship contingent upon signing a contract. But God was moving her in a different direction. She took her decision to prayer.
“I got a deep sense that this is not something God wanted me to do,” said Castelli, whose hometown is Dumont, N.J.
It was a heart-wrenching decision to leave ROTC. Castelli was grateful to have the support of the Rutgers Catholic Center community.
There, Castelli also met Tim O’Donnell, a young man who converted to Catholicism. They walked together through their “growing journey of faith.” Now, they are looking forward to getting married on Dec. 28 at St. Peter the Apostle Church at Rutgers.
After graduating from Rutgers, Castelli worked in the Bronx with first graders as a catechist and fine arts teacher through the Seton Teaching Fellows program.
“You could tangibly see and hear the cry of the poor there. It was such a fruitful time because it was like Christ opened up his heart to me through his most vulnerable,” Castelli said.
Castelli pursued her master’s through the Echo program at Notre Dame. She was also a junior-high youth ministry director at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Ridgewood, N.J.
Castelli encourages young adults to be open to how God may be calling them to engage with their Church.
“Pope Leo XIV has been saying that the Church needs the witnesses of the young because we are going to be the future leaders of the Church,” Castelli said.
The public witness of others is what will get people to Church, Castelli said. That could be in the form of a Church job, volunteering, or “being a presence in your parish,” she said.
Colette Liddy is a correspondent for BeaconNJ.org
