DIOCESE—Katie Pyles, the diocesan Education Office’s new Coordinator of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Rockford Diocese, describes herself as a “wife, mother, minister, and laborer in 

the vineyard.”

 

She has been working in ministry since 2015 after earning a bachelor’s degree in social work from Loras College and a master’s in theology from Franciscan University. She began ministry work as a director of religious education and youth ministry at Our Lady of Victory Church in Tallmadge, Ohio. Those two years found her bringing youth ministry events, meetings and retreats to parish youth as well as recruiting and training volunteer catechists for the religious education program. She also reviewed and implemented curricula for grades K-11.

 

From 2018 until the present, Pyles was director of youth ministry at St. Gall Church in Elburn, working with and for grades 6-12 to mentor, support and accompany the youth and get to know their parents. She also created programming for the young parishioners “in a way that makes the Gospel compelling and accessible,” she says.

 

At Franciscan University, Pyles was the defensive coach for the women’s lacrosse team, coaching the girls on defensive strategy and mentoring them as they moved through college life. Through that work, she met her husband, Alex, who was the roommate of her co-coach, all of whom became close friends.

 

She and her family attend St. Mary Church in Sycamore where they live. Alex and Katie have been married for seven years and have five children, three still living, and two lost — one to miscarriage and one to complications of Edwards Syndrome (also known as Trisomy 18). 

 

“As a family, we like to read books together, take care of our garden, and play Super Mario Brothers,” she says.