Tricia Walz honored with Throw Fire Award

Tricia Walz has been on fire for the Lord since her first trip to Steubenville as a teenager.

“I knew God was real, but that’s when, tangibly, God became real to me,” she said about attending one of the regular conferences held in Steubenville, Ohio, that draw youths from around the country to encounter Jesus Christ.

Since then, she has inspired those around her — her family, the young people in her youth group and others throughout the diocese — with her love of the Lord.

Father Doug Liebsch presents the Throw Fire Award to Tricia Walz during the K•yes benefit Sept. 27. (Photos courtesy of Tricia Walz)

Gabriel Media/K•yes Catholic Radio honored Walz for her work with young people and her leadership organizing the Marian route of the national Eucharistic procession last May in the Diocese of St. Cloud with the annual Andy Hilger Throw Fire Award. The award was presented during the station’s benefit event Sept. 27 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Sartell.

“The award is given to someone who has worked with extraordinary dedication to bring the Good News and hope of Christ to all souls,” said Deb Huschle, Gabriel Media general manager. “These people exemplify the virtues of charity, generosity, hope, apostolic zeal and love for the truth.”

“She’s just an inspiration to me. I feel like she’s an inspiration to everyone,” said Susie Hagen, a friend who nominated Walz for the award, in a video presentation.

“When I was listening to the Eucharistic Congress, Bishop [Andrew] Cozzens was the keynote, and he started out the congress by saying we are all called to be missionary spirits,” Hagen continued. “And I just feel like that’s Tricia.”

As a teenager, Walz suffered from a kidney disease and was on dialysis. She attended a retreat with her family and experienced healing.

After that, she said she felt like she had a second chance at life.

“I want to live it for the Lord rather than live it for myself,” she said.

“She’s taken the joy of that particular healing and just continued to look for ways to serve the Lord,” said Father Doug Liebsch, diocesan vocations director and emcee for the award ceremony.

In 2018, she took a group of high school students on a mission trip to Peru. She had gone on mission trips before, to the Philippines and Haiti, but this was the first one she led.

“I absolutely loved my first two mission trips and really wanted to share that experience with others,” she said.

It was on that trip that she fell in love with that age group, how much potential they have and how much joy they bring to everyone around them, she said.

The students were on fire for their faith when they returned from Peru and proposed the idea of a weekly youth group. It sounded like a lot of work, but the students were so excited about it that Walz along with her sister, Nikki Silbernick, agreed to it. The group still meets, with up to 70 young people gathering each week.

Walz continues to lead mission trips and take groups to Steubenville.

“She’s so passionate about our young people, and she has worked so hard to stay in a relationship with them,” Father Liebsch said.

Walz with her daughter Alesha after the award presentation.

Her passion for working with teens led her to adopt her daughter, Alesha, as a teenager in 2020.
Walz said her daughter was happy to see others acknowledging her mom at the event.

“It was just really cool to have the roles reversed and just have her standing by my side and being like, good job, Mom. You got this.”

Huschle said that when they were reviewing all the people nominated for the Throw Fire Award, Tricia seemed like she was doing so many different things for the growth of the church, especially the young people.

“But also her story is so incredible and she truly is living her faith,” she said. “Such an amazing role model.”

Back in 2022, Tricia was invited by a friend to be a part of the committee involved in planning activities for the Eucharistic Revival in the St. Cloud Diocese. Then, when she learned about the need for a point person for the Marian route of the national Eucharistic Pilgrimage as it came through the diocese, she jumped at the opportunity.

“I think every event that I went to had me in tears at one point,” she said. “Even the first one, just seeing the sheer number of people that came to the little town of Mora, or in Gilman, when we turned the corner and you could hear the bells, and you could see the church, that moment got me too, and then the cathedral when Jesus drove up and all the kids were ringing their bells … there were just a lot of moments like that.”

Her experience working with and planning the procession made her faith stronger and made her realize how one person’s “yes” can affect so many other people.

“It was a joy that I have not experienced before,” Walz said. “I’m just so proud, not only to be living in this diocese, but just to be a part of the community. It’s hard to find words, honestly.”

“I really feel like the Lord has called Tricia to be a missionary right here,” Silbernick said. “It’s been really beautiful to see how she’s embraced that.”

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Author: Dianne Towalski

Dianne Towalski is a multimedia reporter for The Central Minnesota Catholic Magazine.

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