Nina Marie Corona thought she was just checking the box like any good cradle Catholic when she sat down in that pew over a decade ago. From her perspective at the time, she wasn’t there for anything dramatic—just the usual Holy Day of Obligation Christmas Mass. Her heart wasn’t in it though. Addiction had crept into her family’s life, and her entire world felt like it was falling apart. So, while others sang and smiled and shook hands at the sign of peace, she wept quietly.
Alone. A stranger. In a church filled with people.
“I remember looking and thinking, you know, why does nobody know that I’m going through this?” she says now. “Like, I need you people, you know? Where else do I turn?”
Already immersed in theology classes triggered by a retreat she had attended, Corona—who once ran a successful business—turned to an educational pursuit that sought to weave her spirituality with her social conscience. In the years that followed, that moment of personal desperation developed into a multi-pronged outreach entitled Afire, and launched an international multimedia ministry—We Thirst: Christian Reflections on Addiction—that’s now in university and seminary libraries, including Trinity College Dublin, and has been shown in churches across the United States and beyond.
The five-part parish-based series is part catechesis, part communal healing, blending Catholic spirituality with the biological, psychological, and social realities of addiction. People have watched it in living rooms, church halls, and classrooms. It’s been used by priests, parents, social workers, and people recovering from addiction. It has freed people to talk about addiction, to open up, to stop hiding.
“They drop the armor,” she says. “They receive the gift of courage to face reality. That’s when healing can begin.”
The way it works is simple. You watch the series as a group—maybe over five weeks, maybe as a weekend retreat, and then you talk—not about solutions or strategies at first, but about what’s real: fear, guilt, grief, love, hope. Each session incorporates comprehensive educational presentations with prayer, music for reflection, and imagery to enlighten and inspire.” On the final night of each series, attendees are encouraged to discern next steps in their own communities.
“I initially didn’t know what they should do, but over time I realized those things that were helpful to me and my family,” she said. “So, we eventually created kits with leader and member manuals to help guide groups through a discernment process. The leader’s manual has been granted an imprimatur.”
Each parish group is given space to listen to one another, assess the specific needs in their community, and create a plan—whether that’s hosting prayer gatherings, offering support to families affected by addiction, starting recovery ministries, or assembling care packages for local recovery homes. The work is deeply local and highly personal, but its spiritual and emotional resonance is what fuels a broader growth.
Among the programs now offered by Afire Ministries are weekly Vespers via Zoom, an online Advent
Prayer Calendar, and Set Hearts AFIRE—an evangelization resource designed to equip both
experienced ministers and everyday Catholics to share the Gospel. The program provides everything
needed to present the material, including fully developed scripts, music, media, and opportunities for
personal witness. Also forthcoming is Graced Collaboration, an innovative faith-based recovery
program developed by Corona during her doctoral studies. It integrates evidence-based scientific approaches with the spiritual wisdom of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
“I can’t do this alone,” Corona says. “We need more people stepping up.”
One of the newest groups has formed at St. Isidore in Quakertown, where Sharon Butler is a parishioner. “My daughter has been battling addiction for a very long time,” Sarah says. “My husband and I… we’ve always had each other, but I never went to anything. People would suggest Al-Anon or different groups, but I just didn’t go.”
This was different, she says. Right from the start. “It was very inspiring,” Butler says. “I couldn’t wait for the next week. Each session gave me something to think about. It all just spoke to me.”
The formula is repeated throughout Afire’s various programs, Corona says. And, she believes, God’s fingerprints are all over it.
“I didn’t know how to listen for God’s voice at first, but once I did, He didn’t stop,” she says. “I know the resistance. The shame. You think you’ve heard it all—another addiction talk, more statistics, more blame. But this is different. This is about healing hearts, not just solving problems. It’s about rediscovering our humanity and God’s love for us in the middle of pain.”
“I didn’t know how to listen for God’s voice at first, but once I did, He didn’t stop,” she says. “I believe strongly that God wants to work this way through every person. So many of us are asleep. We’re distracted, numb. But if we just pause—listen—we’ll hear Him. And He’ll move. That’s what happened to me. I just finally stopped long enough to listen.”
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