iTHIRST Blog // Newsletters

 “A Mother’s Prayer” explores one woman’s journey from grief to spiritual consolation after the loss of her beloved son to a heroin overdose. This video is part of a larger documentary on the iTHIRST Initiative prepared by videographer, Michael Paras, as he delves into how the Church can become empowered to be a resource for those who are suffering from the disease of addiction and their families.

Cardinal Dolan and Fr. Dave Dwyer welcomed Catholic speaker, advocate for Down syndrome and founder of Hearts of Joy International, Lauren Costabile to the studio to talk about her organization, which provides life-saving heart surgery for individuals with Down syndrome whose families cannot afford medical care. The Cardinal also spoke with Keaton Douglas, who is the program coordinator of the I THIRST Initiative. They discussed her role at I THIRST, as well as her roles as a counselor and frequent guest speaker in the field of addiction and recovery.

Singer Keaton Douglas got much more than a degree from the Seton Hall Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. The alumna talks about the “tug of the heart” that led her to be a speaker and a witness of Christ.

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iThirst was recently featured in Seton Hall Magazine, a publication for alumni of Seton Hall University.

“Douglas started training as a recovery coach. She dove into a course handbook and found that although it was 178 pages long, there were only two pages dedicated to spirituality. Many of her classmates in the course were in long term recovery themselves, and most had said they had had a spiritual awakening as part of their recovery.

That’s when she came up with the idea for “I THIRST,” a recovery program steeped in faith to give people spiritual tools to stay clean and sober. “I Thirst” is a reference to the words of Christ on the Cross, but it’s also an acronym: The Healing Initiative — Recovery, Spirituality and Twelve Steps.”

Click here to read the full article on Seton Hall Magazine!