JACKSONVILLE
At 22 years old, Madison Hall has become very involved at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Jacksonville. She is a youth leader for the church’s CYM group, a Sunday school teacher, an usher and Eucharistic minister and is currently starting a young adults group.
Becoming so involved with her church “at this young of an age has helped (her) drastically,” she said.
During her freshman year of college, she admits it was hard to be motivated to go to Mass during the pandemic. Hall decided to move back home to Cabot after a rough year at Arkansas Tech University.
When her youth director’s husband heard that she was moving back, he asked her to be the confirmation teacher in 2021.
“It’s what brought me back because I was going through such a hard time,” she said. “…Just that one question ‘Would you be willing to do this?’ is what brought me back and really changed my life for the better. …It’s so easy to fall into temptation when you’re not going to church.”
Hall has a lot of experience working with kids. She grew up babysitting, was a youth counselor at a summer camp and is currently a caregiver. She said getting to “watch them grow in their faith was amazing for (her) to see.”
At the same time, she said she wants to get more involved with people her age. Hall is in the works of setting up a group for young adults at St. Jude’s. Having a group of people in their 20s will make it easier to talk about things that they are going through and what they might have in common.
“I have a lot of people that stand behind me and good people to lean on,” she said. “And I feel like such an important factor in your faith is having a strong foundation of people that you can go to.”
If you could meet Pope Francis, what would you ask him?
“I would probably ask him what keeps him going in his faith. Because when you’re over so many people and have so many critics coming after you, people who talk bad about you who don’t know you, I want to know what keeps him strong. Because I’m sure he has people to lean on, but at the same time he’s in a huge role that personally I would not want to be in. A lot of people tell you to keep strong in your faith and things like that, but they don’t tell you how. And maybe that’s not a thing that someone can tell you how to do, but they can encourage you.”
More stories will appear in our 15 Young Adults Who Inspire Us 2024 Section as they are posted online.
