Our BeginningOur founder, Steve Kerekes, began with a tremendous desire to evangelize his students through pilgrimages to Europe and World Youth Day. What started in his own classroom has now grown into an organization that has helped thousands of young Catholics to grow and shape their faith on pilgrimages around the world. |
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The team that makes it happen
Founder/ CEOSteve Kerekes
Steve is a Catholic husband and father of nine children as well as the founder of JMJYouth Pilgrimages and WorldYouthDay.com. After a dramatic conversion on a pilgrimage at the age of 18, Steve began a journey of discovering his Catholic Faith. He attended World Youth Day in Denver where he met his future wife. Together they traveled to the WYD in Manila and later, as a charter teacher as St. Joseph Academy in San Marcos, Steve took his students to the WYDs in Paris and Rome. Since founding JMJ Youth Pilgrimages, he has taken many thousands of young pilgrims to the WYDs around the world. His global work with the youth gives him a unique perspective on the state of the Church and the movement of the Holy Spirit in the youth. |
Director of Client RelationsJenna Coughlin
Jenna has worked as the Group Support Manager for JMJ Youth Pilgrimages since 2017. She has spent over ten years in youth, young adult, women's, family, and school campus ministry on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Her World Youth Day experience started in 2002 in Toronto with Pope St. John Paul II. She is originally from Clearwater, Florida and has lived in San Diego, California since 2016, and moved back to the East Coast in 2023. If she isn't actively traveling, she is probably planning something in the near future. |
Head of OperationsDenise Barajas
Denise has been leading operations in different businesses for the past several years. She brings her business and tech experience as well as her faith filled life. She has been involved in different ministries for the past 16 years which includes youth ministry, CALL-Catholic Association for Latino Leaders in Los Angeles, CLLI -Catholic Latino Leadership Initiative in DC, TLI -Tepeyac Leadership Initiative, and Encounter Ministries in Los Angeles. She was a guide with JMJ for World Youth Day in Poland and Panama and worked the one in Portugal. She graduated from Franciscan University with a degree in international business and theology. She has spent her time elevating different businesses in their operations department and is now happy to be a part of the JMJ Team. She loves visiting new & Holy places that make our faith come alive! |
Director of Client RelationsCristina Martins
Cristina joined the JMJ team in 2023 ahead of WYD in Lisbon, Portugal. Her first World Youth Day expereience was at WYD 2008 in Sydney with Pope Benedict XVI. Since then she has been involved in various ministries including religious education, music ministry, and youth ministry. She also worked as a Catholic school teacher in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for a number of years, and loved sharing her fatih with her students. As a teacher, she was always planning field trips and new experiences for her students. She now gets to plan new experiences for all the pilgrims she serves through JMJ! |