These missionaries will build on the work of the inaugural Culture Project team by educating young people young people about the importance of self-respect and living chaste lives.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia welcomed five missionaries from the Culture Project to the local Church late last year. They are Amber Charles, Marshall Fike, Lynsey Lucas, Tim McNeil, and Nicky Orozco.
The Culture Project (CP), founded by Ms. Cristina Barba Whalen, a graduate of Archbishop John Carroll High School, is an initiative of young people set out to restore culture through the experience of virtue. It is headquartered in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.
Over the next year, these vibrant young men and women will build on the work of the inaugural missionary team that arrived last year to educate youth and young adults throughout the five-county region about the dignity of every human life as well as the freedom and beauty of living out virtue and authentic love. Their work is rooted in Catholic social teaching and Saint John Paul II’s legendary work, Theology of the Body.
In 2021, Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez, Archbishop of Philadelphia, approved the establishment of a Culture Project International chapter in the five-county Philadelphia metropolitan region.
Background Information on the Culture Project Missionaries
Amber Charles is from Grapevine, Texas. She graduated from the University of Kansas in 2020 with a B.S. in Supply Chain Management and International Business. Through her campus minister, who previously served as a Culture Project missionary, she learned about this ministry. She became attracted to its mission because of the freedom and healing she found through pursuing a more virtuous existence and being reminded of her own dignity. After seeing how transformative these messages were in her life, she felt a call to mission.
Marshall Fike is fromWestmoreland, Kansas. Hegraduated from Kansas State University with a B.S. in Management Information Systems in 2022. His experience with The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) helped him grow in faith through community. He was introduced to the Culture Project when missionaries presented at Kansas State during his senior year. After realizing he wished to “help young men and women understand their desire to love and be loved by God” he accepted a call to the Culture Project as a missionary.
Lynsey Lucas graduated from Texas A&M University in 2021 with a B.S. in Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences and a Certificate in Youth Development. After high school, she served as a NET Missionary. Throughout college, she served as Summer Missionary at Life Teen’s Camp Covecrest and Camp Wojtyla in Colorado. Lynsey was also involved at Saint Mary’s Catholic Center at A&M. Her experience there was formative and set her heart ablaze for the Lord. Encountering the deeper truth of the Gospel through Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body this past year, led her to say yes to a year of formation and mission with the Culture Project.
Tim McNeil is from Reno, Nevada. He graduated from Saint Thomas Aquinas College in 2021 with a B.A. in Philosophy and Theology. Tim is the oldest of eight children and was homeschooled. This experience gave him the freedom and time to take part in many sports and fine arts such as skiing and violin. Tim learned about the Culture Project at a FOCUS Conference in 2019. He rediscovered the initiative this summer and answered God’s call to walk the path of a missionary.
Nicky Orozco is from Southern New Hampshire. She graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2022 with a B.S. in Social Work. While in college, Nicky resided in a female student housing setting that was grounded in the teachings of Saint John Paul II and dedicated to the prolife mission. When Nicky encountered the Culture Project, she felt the teachings of Saint John Paul II tugging on her heart once again. Nicky answered the call from Christ to give a year of her life to serve others as a Culture Project missionary because of its focus on beauty, dignity, and hope.
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Editor’s Note: To learn more about the Culture Project International, please visit https://thecultureproject.org/.
To learn more about the Culture Project in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, https://archphila.org/thecultureproject/.
Contact: Alaina N. Longo
Deputy Communications Officer
215-587-3747 (office)