Who Are You Jesus? An iPad App for Children

A new app for children ages 2-8

For Church Leaders: looking for a new, innovative way to…

Engage children in a relationship with Jesus
Attract young families to your church
Build a bridge between church and home
Foster inter-generational relationships
Promote peace and justice

For Parents and Grandparents: looking for ways to…

Share with your child or grandchild the unfailing love of God in Christ
Read the Bible and pray together with your child
Support your child’s Sunday school experience at home
Promote peace and justice

Learn More

Many parents have grown children that are not attached to a congregation or community. Who Are You, Jesus? creates an opportunity for grandparents to share the faith in a way that their grandchildren enjoy and the parents are comfortable with. My twin grandsons, now age five, started using Who are You, Jesus? at age 3, and always stopped to draw trucks at the first opportunity. But they they got to know the dove, Nouma, by name, and--little by little-- explored additional chapters with me, asking for particular ones at first, and then learning to navigate themselves. It's been a delight for us all.

--Catherine Maresca, Executive Director, Center for Children and Theology

[My five-year-old daughter] Maria was immediately drawn in by Nouma, the dove. In fact, she wanted to watch the intro videos over and over. Once she got to the Scripture portions, it was helpful for me to sit with her and encourage her to respond. Of course, the passages are read aloud by a narrator, so reading is not a barrier. The app saved all the pictures she drew, and she smiled with gratification as she looked back through them.

-- Matthew Kozlowski, co-curator of the website buildfaith.org, from the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary

Nobody making religious apps takes children's spirituality as seriously as the Who Are You, Jesus? team. So grateful that parents, grandparents, godparents, and others have this resource for helping kids explore their relationship with God.

--the Rev. Kyle M. Oliver

Unquestionably, the most urgent problem for Christianity in North America today is that of religious formation for our young. Yet in today’s tempestuous and varied times, the Church, try though she may, cannot even hope to accomplish that task alone, which is precisely why I am so enthusiastic about, and supportive of, the Who Are You, Jesus? project. Speaking in the language, both visual and verbal, of today’s children and by employing the to-them-familiar media of apps, Who Are You, Jesus? takes our young naturally, readily, and joyfully into the narratives of Scripture and the questions of nascent faith. As a Christian grandmother and great-grandmother, I cannot imagine a more effective or a more joyful way to bring our children into the narratives of the faith than that which Who Are You, Jesus? offers us.

-- the late Phyllis Tickle, leading authority on religion on America.

“Who Are You, Jesus?” has been embraced by our congregation as part of our hybrid faith formation program. Both beautiful and profound, it is a lovely way for our families to explore their relationship with Jesus when they aren’t at church.”

-- Day Smith Pritchartt, formerly Director of Lifelong Formation, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Arlington, VA

Meet Our Advisors

Ann Dilulio

Ann Dilulio is a Roman Catholic homeschooling mother of 7 children, ages 9 months through 14 years. She has a BA in Theology, with a concentration in Religious Education from Franciscan University of Steubenville. A certified catechist of the Good Shepherd for children ages three to twelve, Ann has created a thriving program on her family’s farmette in Pennsylvania.

Catherine Maresca

Catherine Maresca is a catechist and formation leader in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Director of the Center for Children and Theology in Washington D.C., and author of DoubleClose, the Young Child’s Knowledge of God. Catherine has a master of arts in in religious studies from Howard University. “As a lifelong catechist and theologian, I want to promote children’s access to spiritual formation and good theology in a time when fewer and fewer Christian parents bring their children to church.”

The Rev. Marylen Marty-Gentile

Ordained in the United Church of Christ, the Rev. Marylen Marty-Gentile recently left parish ministry after over 25 years teaching children, youth and adults and directing children’s formation. A graduate of Kenyon College, she earned her master’s in education from Northwestern University, and her master’s in divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary. Her approach to spiritual formation incorporates story, art, and ritual with close attention to how they impact the spirituality of children and adults. Marylen has worked with congregations in Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey and Kentucky to share her ideas and help program directors and pastors to develop their own models to best meet the needs of their communities.

Pam Moore

Pam Moore has been an advisor since the inception of Who Are You, Jesus?, contributing substantially toward content, fund-raising, and marketing. She is the author of Taste and See: Savoring the Child’s Wisdom. Pam served for over 17 years as Director of Children’s Formation at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Evanston, IL. She has been a catechist and formation leader with children and adults in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for over 25 years. She earned her master’s degree in theology from Seabury Western Seminary.

Tina Peel

Tina Peel is a content creator, executive producer, and consultant with over 30 years experience in children’s educational media with organizations such as Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, Disney, Discovery Kids and PBS. With a masters degree in education from Harvard University, Tina has served in executive positions on such series as Max & Ruby, Sesame Street, WordWorld, UMIGO and Ghostwriter. Tina was a UCC teacher and curriculum creator for many years. Now training as a spiritual director at the Haden Institute, she volunteers in the interfaith children’s program at Jubilee Community Church in Asheville, NC. Tina’s current passion is to bring mindfulness to children’s media.

The Rev. Catherine Powell

The Rev. Catherine Powell has served as chaplain of the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC, and rector of Episcopal parishes in Massachusetts, Washington, and North Carolina. A long-time catechist of the Good Shepherd, Catherine has written curriculum for Living the Good News, and has developed and led children’s summer programs in three dioceses. She now lives in Asheville, NC where she works with children as a catechist of the Good Shepherd, and in an after-school program for at-risk children. “I am passionate about providing children with ways to move deeply into their spiritual lives.”

Andrea Reno

Andrea Reno is a music educator, the Director of the Training Choir at the Cathedral of the Immaculate conception in Albany, NY, and the mother of 2 boys. She was a child in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and is now a catechist at her home parish, Blessed Sacrament Church in Albany. She recently organized a formation course in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to help it spread in her diocese and beyond.