LITTLE ROCK
Grace Ridgeway grew up around the Catholic faith more closely than most children thanks to her mother, Becky Ridgeway, youth minister at Christ the King in Little Rock and director of Team Jesus. Now a teacher at Christ the King School, Grace Ridgeway is able to pass on her love for the Church.
“I feel very blessed to teach at a Catholic school where faith is a priority,” Ridgeway said. “It's kept me very accountable in my prayer life because if I'm not praying it's like my kids can almost tell because we pray several times throughout the day together. I'm also so blessed to have the adoration chapel at Christ the King. During my breaks, I can sneak in and say hey to Jesus real quick.”
As a second-grade teacher for the past two years, Ridgeway, 24, helps prepare kids to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and First Communion.
“I feel like it's my duty to stay faithful so that I can teach these kids and hopefully learn more about the faith at the same time,” she said. “I hope to continue to grow deeper in my faith especially since I have the responsibility of teaching the Eucharist and Reconciliation. So I hope to stay close to God and then also to keep my future family rooted too.”
Ridgeway has also begun to help more with youth ministry.
“Kids have always been my people,” Ridgeway said. “They've always been the ones that I feel most drawn to. Then my fiance, Josh, teaches high school, and I've always been like ‘Those high schoolers are all yours. I'll take the little kids.’ He’s been a mentor through the Search program and invited me to join. So I gave it a shot and have loved it. I've seen high schoolers in a different way and seen them as the Church alive.”
More stories will appear in our 15 Young Adults Who Inspire Us 2023 Section as they are posted online. Subscribe to Arkansas Catholic’s digital and print publications to read more content like this.
