By Gia Myers • Posted January 9, 2026

For Nina Marie Corona, her new role as Missionary HUB Director in Bucks County feels less like a career shift and more like a continuation of a path God has been shaping in her life for years.

Describing her passion for evangelization, Corona says she feels called to reach those who are distant from the faith and help them to rediscover God’s presence in their lives or to discover it for the first time.

Looking back on her journey, she recognizes how each step, sometimes unexpectedly, prepared her for this ministry.  “It’s been a long journey for me, how my work in ministry evolved,” she says.

A central theme of Corona’s approach is her belief that all people carry an “underlying thirst for God,” often without realizing what their longing means.

She believes part of her mission has been to help individuals “look more deeply into that,” she says.  “That’s where they meet God.”

These transformative encounters first fueled her own desire to minister, ultimately leading her to found AFIRE Ministries.

Corona is both the founder and executive director of AFIRE Ministries, a Catholic nonprofit that grew from her early outreach work addressing addiction. Originally launched in 2015 and formally established as a nonprofit in 2024, AFIRE expanded over time to nurture spiritual growth and empower people to share Christ’s love with the world.

Corona’s educational background reflects the depth of her commitment.  She holds a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Fordham University, a Master of Arts Degree in Christian Spirituality from Loyola University in Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Studio Arts from Muhlenberg College. She is also certified in alcohol and drug counseling through Villanova University.

Her journey, however, didn’t begin in ministry.  Years before her theological studies, Corona was a young stay-at-home mother who launched a food manufacturing business based on her grandmother’s rice pudding recipe.  What began as a small endeavor grew significantly over twelve years.

“I made 300 pounds of pudding at a time,” she recalls. “It was a big thing.”

Her pudding eventually reached 200 stores in five states.  Yet even amid success, she felt a persistent “tug” calling her toward something more.  After attending a retreat around 2005, she experienced what she describes as a conversion.  She left the rice pudding business and began studying theology full-time.

A cradle Catholic from New Jersey who has lived in Pennsylvania since the early 1990s, Corona raised her family in the Poconos and became increasingly involved in ministry, speaking at events throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.  For the past five years, she and her husband, Mark, her close partner in ministry, have lived in Bucks County and are parishioners at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Doylestown.  They have been married for 42 years. They have two adult daughters and two grandsons.

Corona sees significant and harmonious connections between her AFIRE ministry and her new role as a Missionary HUB Director. “I think God had a plan all along,” she says. “I had to learn certain things.”

When she first heard about the HUB initiative through archdiocesan news updates, she sensed a growing nudge to apply.

“I want to be a part of helping to do whatever I can to use the gifts I’ve been given in this really important mission,” she says.

In the HUB’s first year, Corona expects to focus heavily on “listening and encountering,” getting to know the local community, building relationships, and discerning needs.

Reaching Catholics who have fallen away from the Church is a particular priority. Drawing on years of experience working with this group, she anticipates developing “many different creative ideas to encounter people.”

“We will meet people in their needs,” she says, “and let God work in these relationships.”

For inspiration, one of Corona’s own paintings hangs above her desk at the Missionary HUB office.  It’s a piece she began years ago while at Loyola and completed in 2024.  Titled “Free Spirit,” it depicts the Holy Spirit bursting from a church.  She says she was inspired by Pope Francis’ 2013 exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel).

For Corona, the painting reflects the heart of her mission, which is “to bring God’s love into the world,” she says, “and hopefully bring them back to church.”