Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized April 27 by Pope Francis, making the 15-year-old the first millennial saint. Among the thousands expected in St. Peter’s Square that day will be Kelly Ann Lynch, 57, of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish in Mount Joy.
The trip to the Vatican for this canonization will be a special experience for Lynch, a Third Order Franciscan. She has dedicated her expertise and personal experience as a speaker and storyteller to share the story of Blessed Carlo with young people, particularly his devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Lynch has a personal ministry, titled “Sandal Steps of the Saints,” which aims to awake and inspire a desire to learn more about the saints in our modern age, whether canonized or not.
Her journey in this arena began in 2007 after her first children’s book was published (He Said Yes, the Story of Father Mychal Judge, Paulist Press, 2007). Father Judge, a Franciscan friar and chaplain for the New York City Fire Department, met an untimely death on September 11, 2001, in the collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Lynch drew from her personal experiences, as Father Judge was a former pastor at her home parish in New Jersey at the time, and also a friend of her family. The same holds true of her dedication to sharing the story of Blessed Carlo. The devout British-born Catholic teen created a website to document every reported Eucharistic miracle and frequently ministered to the homeless and hungry in his native Milan. He died of acute leukemia on October 12, 2006. He was laid to rest inside the Assisi church in April 2019. Blessed Carlo’s cause for canonization was opened in 2013. He was declared Venerable in 2019 and Blessed in 2020.
Lynch’s parents, Bob and Sharon Hickey, originally of New Jersey and also now members of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, were longtime visitors to the northern regions of Italy where Blessed Carlo grew up, and they ultimately met his mother and shared their excitement with Lynch. She, in turn, prayed for the intercession of Blessed Carlo when her daughter Shannon was near death due to a fatal liver disease. Her daughter recovered and Lynch shared that story in a short piece published by The Christophers, The Miracle in Room 106.
Earlier this year, Lynch developed an age-specific presentation to share the story of Blessed Carlo. She has spoken at several Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese and is open to doing more. In her talks to students, she draws upon the fact that Blessed Carlo was so young, yet had deep devotion to the Eucharist. In her presentations, she uses a combination of her personal story, music, a live-action experiential puppet play and a PowerPoint presentation. She is working on a high school and adult version.
As for her attendance at the upcoming canonization ceremony in Rome, Lynch notes, “It’s surreal, it’s something that you dream of. It feels like I’ve been touched by heaven.”
During his lifetime, Blessed Carlo often said, “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan.” He believed that the Eucharist was his “highway to heaven.” Carlo’s deep and devout love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament led him to gather true and approved Eucharistic miracles from around the world. He knew his way around the internet and created a website to document each one. Categorized by countries, there are over 100 Eucharistic miracles at www.miracolieucaristici.org, identified and described by Blessed Carlo, many with photographs.
Lynch is excited to bring her presentation to schools and parishes; to arrange a visit, contact her at lynchkellyannofs@gmail.com. In addition to her book on Father Judge, Lynch is the author of a new children’s book about Blessed Carlo Acutis that will be published this year, and a new website, coming soon, www.kellyannlynch.com.
(Patrick Brennan is a freelance reporter for The Witness. Headshot by Patrick Brennan; classroom photos courtesy of Kelly Ann Lynch.)
By Patrick Brennan, The Catholic Witness
