This post continues our 30 Under 30 series. We are spotlighting 30 young Catholics under the age of 30 who are making a difference in our Church and in our world.
We received hundreds of nominations for this series. There were so many amazing nominations and I have so much hope for our Church! In the end, we can only spotlight 30 folks. We don’t claim that these are the best 30 young Catholics in the world, but 30 people who are doing awesome things and who we wanted to highlight.
We will release the 30 under 30 series in 5 different posts, each featuring a different category of honorees. Today, we bring you 4 artists and 1 athlete. To see our first post on Activists, click here.
Tyler Flowers
Age: 27
Occupation: Catcher for the Chicago White Sox
Websites: MLB.com Profile
A professional baseball player and a committed Catholic? That’s Tyler Flowers. The 6’4, 245 lb. Flowers will compete for a starting catcher position this next year for the Chicago White Sox. Flowers was originally drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2005. After being named to several minor league all-star teams, Flowers made his major league debut for the White Sox in 2009.
As for his Catholic faith, in an interview from the National Catholic Register, Flowers professed, “My siblings and I were raised Catholic, but it has only been in the last five years that I’ve really gotten deeper into what the church has to offer. Even though I went to Catholic schools, it wasn’t until late in the game that I learned about things like Eucharistic adoration and the rosary.”
It was Flower’s wife that has helped him grow in his faith and through their marriage they have grown stronger in the Lord together. Married in 2008, he and his wife were unable to have children for a couple of years. After seeing Catholic doctors, they were assured that nothing was wrong with them physically, so they turned to prayer. Through the intercession of St. Therese of Lisieux, they were able to conceive.
Flowers continues to strive to become a better husband, father, and baseball player. Ultimately, he is able to integrate all these goals through his Catholic faith.
Cory Heimann
Age: 26
Occupation: Founder and Creative Director of Likable Art
Website: Likable Art
Facebook page: Likable Art
Personal Twitter Account: @CoryHeimann
How do you package the good, the true, and the beautiful in the 21st century? Ask Cory Heimann. He is the founder and Creative Director of Likable Art, a design and video production studio that strives to point to someone greater through beautiful media.
A resident of Fort Wayne, IN, Heimann studied Theology and Multi-media communications at Franciscan University of Steubenville. After working with various television networks and media outlets, he founded Likable Art which creates videos, logos, and branding for various organizations such as Dynamic Catholic, Steubenville Conferences, StrangeNotions.com, Lifeteen, and the USCCB.
What’s the method behind the creative madness? Cory says, “I like creative. I have a deep passion for spreading hope. Hope for the media, and hope for God’s people. I find that one effective way to do that is through engaging graphic design and video production, and I have been blessed to be able to work in this media field.”
Kaiser Johnson
Age: 27
Occupation: Actor
Websites: Father Dangerous and Young Catholic Minute
Personal Twitter Account: @kaiserjohnson
Kaiser Johnson
A Catholic in Hollywood? Meet actor Kaiser Johnson. After coming back to the Church in college, Johnson has integrated his Catholic faith with acting in a number of various initiatives. In his upcoming projects, you can find him playing diverse roles such as: a repentant killer in a movie about the Beach Boys and Charles Manson called Bigger Than the Beatles, a hipster in an upcoming series Hipsters Anonymous, and a priest with bionic superpowers in his own produced series Father Dangerous: Bionic Priest!
Kaiser Johnson has also used his talents for overtly Catholic projects as well. He founded Young Catholic Minute, which uses sketch comedy to explain the teachings of the Catholic Church, especially in regards to cultural apologetics. He also acted in EWTN’s G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense. As if this wasn’t enough, Kaiser holds a 2nd degree black belt in karate and has over 44,000 followers on Twitter.
Want to know what a Catholic actor in Hollywood thinks about changing the industry for good? Johnson will tell you, “Change will come to Hollywood, not when I or my friends make great art, but when you (all you Catholics throughout the country) demand and pay to see great art. That’s my challenge to Catholics today.”
Marie Miller
Age: 23
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter, and Instrumentalist
Website: Marie Miller
Facebook page: Marie Miller Music
Looking for a Catholic musician featured on MTV, VH1, and CMT? Look no farther than Marie Miller. A alumnae of Christendom College, her hit single, “You’re Not Alone” received over 115,000 downloads off of Amazon’s Rising Star program and reached #45 on Pop Hot AC Charts and debuted and #23 on Christian Hot AC charts (You can check out the music video, here). This month she will open for the Backstreet Boys, The Plain White T’s and Colbie Caillait at the Orlando House of Blues.
While Miller’s faith is a large part of who she is, her new music embraces lyrics and instrumental styles that expand her audiences across multiple musical genres. Miller’s music blurs the lines in defining her style. She aims only for the right musical bed for her lyrics, crafting songs that appeal across many genres. Such original tunes as “You’re Not Alone,” “To Be Loved,” “Unconscious,” “Fall Alone,” and “6-2” will likely find listeners in every format from Triple A, Americana, front porch folk to nuegrass to country and classic pop.
Miller, the third of ten children, began playing singing at seven and joined the family band at twelve. Because music was always a part of her life, it is no coincidence that her style comes off as authentic and nature. “These songs are stories of my life, emotional snapshots of Marie Miller”, explains the 23-year old. “They come from deep inspiration, about big moments that have taught me important things and shaped who I am.”
Jimmy Mitchell
Age: 28
Occupation: Artist/Speaker at Love Good
Websites: Love Good Music
Personal Twitter Account: @jimmypmitchell
How do we transform the culture? Jimmy Mitchell has some ideas. He founded Mysterium Records with the vision of building a community of artists dedicated to the restoration of Christian culture – particularly through the production of quality music, books, and live events inspired by a deeply Catholic understanding of the human person.
A native of Atlanta and graduate of Vanderbilt University, Mitchell spent a year after college as a seminarian for the Diocese of Nashville and two years as a missionary for Fraternus, a virtue-based mentoring and formation program for boys in middle school and high school.
Jimmy travels throughout the year hosting retreats and conferences for youth and young adults all over the country. He also started the website, Love Good Music. Love Good Music is “a community of music lovers who believe that good music can change the world.” Their ongoing crowd-funding helps artists we believe in release new music that they can live by.
Check out other 30 under 30 posts by category:
