Pre-Assembly Speakers
Deacon Steven DeMartino
Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Director of Safeguarding Initiatives
Deacon Steven is the Director of Priest Wellness for the Archdiocese of New York and the Director of Safeguarding initiatives for the Conference of Major Superiors of Men. In addition, he is active in Parish ministry, consultation to leadership teams of Religious Institutes, Seminary teaching, and retreat work. Deacon Steven’s training centers on behavioral health and governance leadership.
Deacon Steven DeMartino
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Sr. M. Peter Lillian Di Maria, O.Carm.
Director and Congressional Leadership, Avila Institute of Gerontology
Sr. M. Peter Lillian has over forty-five years of experience in the continuum care ministry as a Carmelite Sister for the Aged and Infirm. Sr. Peter Lillian has served her community in many administrative positions and has lectured many times on Alzheimer’s disease, palliative care, geriatric spiritual care, family care issues, stress reduction, leadership development, and team building. Sr. Peter has developed successful dementia-care programs, dementia-care curriculums, and assisted in developing a palliative care resource manual that is specific for geriatric care. Over the past fifteen years, Sr. Peter and the Avila Institute of Gerontology have worked with many Congregations concerning aging issues, as well as, providing advisory and education services.
Sr. M. Peter Lillian Di Maria, O.Carm.
Avila Institute of Gerontology
Christopher J. Fusco, JCL, Esq.
Resource Center for Religious Institutes, Associate Director for Civil Law
Christopher J. Fusco, JCL, Esq. serves as associate director for civil law at the Resource Center for Religious Institutes. He is also the associate general counsel and moderator of the Tribunal for the Diocese of Metuchen. Mr. Fusco holds the master’s degree in religious studies and the licentiate degree in canon law from The Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He received the Juris Doctor degree from The City University of New York School of Law and clerked for The Superior Court of New Jersey. Mr. Fusco is admitted to the Bars of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. He has also been admitted to the US Court of International Trade, the US Tax Court, and the US Supreme Court. He is a member of the Canon Law Society of America, the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the National Diocesan Attorneys Association.
Christopher J. Fusco, JCL, Esq.
Resource Center for Religious Institutes
Geraldine M. Hoyler, CSC
Christian Brothers Services, Religious Institute Consultant
Geraldine Hoyler, CSC is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. She has many years of experience in healthcare, including as CFO in two catholic health systems. She has held leadership positions in affordable housing development and management. In addition she served on the general council of her congregation. She has supported a number of religious institutes as an NRRO consultant. She holds BSBA and MSBA degrees from the University of Denver.
Geraldine M. Hoyler, CSC
Christian Brothers Services
John Knutsen
John has been with the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) for over three years, overseeing the national collection for retired religious and the various resources NRRO offers religious communities to aid them with planning for the care of their elder members. Prior to joining NRRO, he held various administrative and pastoral positions in the Church and the federal government.
John Knutsen
National Religious Retirement Office
Sr. Kathleen Lunsmann, IHM
Sister Kathleen Lunsmann, IHM, is the President of SOAR! (Support Our Aging Religious, Inc.) in Silver Spring, Maryland. Founded in 1986, SOAR! raises funds to help congregations of Catholic Sisters, Priests and Brothers care for their elderly members. Sister Kathleen has led the fundraising, grantmaking and administrative aspects of this national nonprofit organization since 2010. Sister Kathleen serves on many committees and boards of directors and currently is chairperson of the board of trustees of Marywood University. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and is a member of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals. Sister Kathleen works as a fund raising and finance consultant for religious and non-profit organizations. Sister Kathleen is a professed member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, Pennsylvania (Sisters of IHM).
Sr. Kathleen Lunsmann, IHM
SOAR!
Br. Peter O'Loughlin, CFC
I was born in Sydney, Australia in 1957. My family moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1976. I joined the Christian Brothers in 1981. I have served in Newfoundland, Ontario, British Columbia, Chicago and New Jersey in various capacities: teacher, department chair, principal, formation director, novice director and currently am in my eleventh year as a member of the Province Leadership Team for the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America Province. I also currently serve as the chair of the Trustees of St. Joseph’s Care Residence in New Rochelle, NY.
Br. Peter O’Loughlin, CFC
Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America
David Shellenberger
President and Chief Executive Officer, Saint John Vianney Center
David Shellenberger, RN, BSN, serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Saint John Vianney Center (SJVC). In this role, he works to increase awareness of SJVC’s prevention and educational services, as well as its assessment and behavioral health treatment programs. David joined SJVC in 2008 as Chief Nursing Officer, responsible for all clinical practice and medical care performed by the nursing department and then Chief Operating Officer before being appointed President and CEO. David provides workshops for SJVC as part of our outreach services. Topics include Leadership, Organizational Development, Stress Management, Health, Wellness, and Weight Management. He is also a proud member of Legatus and the Catholic Speakers Organization. David has over 25 years of administrative experience in various health care. He received his BSN from York College of Pennsylvania and maintains his RN license through the State of Pennsylvania.
David Shellenberger
Saint John Vianney Center
Assembly Speakers
Fr. John Abubakar, OSA, PhD
Villanova Chief Sustainablity Officer
Fr. John is Villanova University’s Chief Sustainability Officer and serves as an Adjunct Professor of sustainability. He joined the Augustinians in Nigeria in 1996 and was ordained a priest in 2004. Among other roles, he served as vocations director, Professor of theology, project manager, and as the leader of the Augustinians in Nigeria from 2012 to 2020. Before coming to Villanova, he had worked in Nigeria, Italy, and the United Kingdom. He began working at Villanova in the Summer of 2021.
A transdisciplinary scholar interested in using the theory and practice of sustainability to promote human flourishing and nature’s health, John earned a BA in Philosophy from the Urbaniana University Rome, and a BA in Theology from the University of Jos. He has a master’s in biblical studies from the Gregorian University Rome, and an MSc in International Development from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He has an MA in Leadership from Roehampton University London, and an MBA from ABU Zaria. He earned a doctorate in business from CIU, California, USA. He is completing a second doctorate in Sustainable Architecture at DMU Leicester, United Kingdom.
John is a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability professional and an advisory council member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), USA. He also serves as a judge in the Earth and Environmental division of the Global Undergraduate Awards, Dublin, Ireland. He founded a sustainable education center in his home country Nigeria that focuses on climate and sustainability literacy.
Fr John has sustainability certificates from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He is a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals and a fellow of the International Society for Development and Sustainability.
Outside of work and school, he enjoys playing tennis, soccer, scrabble, and learning languages.
Fr. John Abubakar, OSA, PhD
Villanova University
Fr. Frank Donio, SAC
Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Executive Director
Fr. Frank S. Donio, S.A.C., D.Min. is the Executive Director of the Conference of Major Superiors of Menand a member of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottine Fathers and Brothers). He is also the Founding Director of the Catholic Apostolate Center. Fr. Frank is former Provincial Rector of the Immaculate Conception Province of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate. Fr. Frank writes and presents on evangelization, co-responsibility and collaboration in ministry and apostolate, pastoral planning, Church leadership and management, and Catholic and Pallottine spirituality. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Adult Spiritual Formation from The Catholic University of America (CUA), as well as a Bachelor of Arts in History (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and a Master of Arts in Church History from CUA. He also holds a Master of Divinity from Washington Theological Union and a Master of Science in Church Management from Villanova University School of Business.
Fr. Frank Donio, SAC
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv.
Assembly Presenter
Fr. Michael Heine is the Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province of the Franciscan Friars Conventual (consisting of the East Coast USA, England, Ireland, and Brazil) after having been elected in May 2022. Previously, he served the Province as Vicar Provincial, Shrine Director, Postulancy Director, Guidance Counselor and Missionary in Jamaica. He is an at large member of CMSM Board and Chair of Formation and Vocation Committee. He professed Solemn Vows in 1985 and was ordained a friar-priest 1990.
Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv.
Conventual Franciscan Friars
Ann Garrido
Aquinas Institute, Associate Professor of Homiletics
Dr. Ann Garrido is Associate Professor of Homiletics at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO and a popular speaker on topics of leadership and the art of communication. She is the author of multiple books including the “Redeeming” series for Christian leaders published by
Ave Maria Press: Redeeming Administration (2013), Redeeming Conflict (2016), and Redeeming
Power (2024). For more on Ann, see: anngarrido.com.
Ann Garrido
The Aquinas Institute
Fr. Hubert Kavusa Mulekya, OSC
Subprior and councilor, Conventual Priory of the Holy Cross, Crosier Fathers and Brothers
I was born on April 06, 1982 and raised in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire.
My journey to Crosier religious life and priesthood started 23 years ago when I joined the Crosier order as a postulant. I entered the Crosier novitiate in 2003 and made my first profession of vows on September 14, 2005, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Glorious Cross. I made my solemn profession of vows on September 14, 2011, was ordained a deacon on February 15, 2015, and a priest on April 17, 2016.
After three years of philosophical studies at Holy Cross School of Philosophy in Mulo (2004-2007), I pursued a master’s degree at the Jesuit University of Saint Peter Canisius in Kinshasa from 2007-2010. I specialized in Applied Phenomenology and Protection of the Environment.
From 2010-2012, I served as post novitiate formator and philosophy teacher at Holy Cross School of Philosophy in Mulo. From 2012-2015, I pursued a master’s degree in Theology, specializing in Vatican ecclesiology, at the Catholic University of the Congo in Kinshasa. From 2015-2017, I returned to the post novitiate formation house where I served as formator while I was also teaching Philosophical Anthropology and Logic at Holy Cross School of Philosophy.
In 2017, my Crosier journey took a whole new trajectory. While I was thinking about pursuing doctoral studies in Philosophy, I was called upon by the Master General to join the Conventual Priory of the Holy Cross in United States to live Crosier religious life and serve in the Global Development Office. For the past 8 years, fundraising has become my new philosophical field!
In August 2024, I was elected as Subprior and councilor to the Conventual Prior. This new leadership role and the whole experience of leaving my homeland, learning a new language and a new culture, have helped me to grow in my vocation as a Crosier and to broaden my sense of belonging to the Church and the worldwide order.
Fr. Hubert Kavusa Mulekya, OSC
Crosier Fathers and Brothers
Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, CPPS
Originally from Indianapolis, Fr. Kirch met the Missionaries of the Precious Blood while in college and entered formation following graduation. After studying at the Catholic Theological Union, he was ordained in 2004. He served as chaplain and as a professor of theology at one of his community’s colleges for three years, and later earned a PhD from Loyola University with a concentration on ecclesiology and ecumenism while continuing to teach at the undergraduate level. He served one term on his community’s provincial council. In 2015, he was appointed Secretary General for his community and moved to Rome. In 2019, he was elected Provincial Director of the Cincinnati Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. At that time, he was also elected an At-Large member of the Board for CMSM and subsequently elected Vice President. In 2022, he was elected the first Provincial Director of the newly formed United States Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. In 2022, he took over as President of CMSM.
Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, CPPS
Missionaries of the Precious Blood
Br. Matthew Kotek, FSC
Brother Matthew Kotek, FSC, serves on the vocation ministry team and as a provincial councilor for the Midwest province of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He also serves as the director of the Brothers community at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, MN, and on the board of directors at Cretin-Derham Hall in Saint Paul, MN. Entering the community in 2015, Brother Matthew has served as an educator in Lasallian schools in Memphis, TN, Minneapolis, MN, Saida, Lebanon, and Cairo, Egypt. He professed his perpetual vows in July 2024.
Br. Matthew Kotek, FSC
Brothers of the Christian Schools
Miguel A. Naranjo
Director of Religious Immigration Services
Naranjo is the Director of the Religious Immigration Services section of CLINIC. He leads a group of immigration attorneys who assist more than 170 archdioceses, dioceses and religious communities throughout the U.S. in bringing international priests, brothers, sisters, novices, seminarians and other religious workers into the U.S. to serve the church.
Naranjo joined CLINIC in 2006 and has been practicing immigration law since 2002. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Miguel A. Naranjo
CLINIC Legal
Jill Rauh
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Executive Director of the Secretariat of Justice and Peace
Jill Rauh is Executive Director of the Secretariat of Justice and Peace for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). She is the first woman to serve in this leadership role. Prior to this, she had three positions in the Office of Education & Outreach, Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the USCCB: Outreach Coordinator (2007-2013), Assistant Director (2013-2018), and Director (2018-2024). Through these roles, Ms. Rauh served the bishops to teach, share and communicate about the Church’s social mission.
Before joining the USCCB, Ms. Rauh developed Catholic social teaching resources with the Education for Justice project, worked in civic engagement with Latino youth, served in parish and campus ministry, and was an international long-term volunteer with Rostro de Cristo in Ecuador, South America.
Ms. Rauh is a graduate of Washington Theological Union (M.A. Theology), George Washington University (M.A. International Affairs) and Marquette University (B.A. Theology and Communications). She speaks Spanish, is a parishioner at St. Camillus Catholic Church, volunteers in faith-based community organizing, and is a wife and mother.
Jill Rauh
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Mario Russell
Executive Director, Center for Migration Studies
Mario Russell is the Executive Director at the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). Mr. Russell is an attorney and professor with over 25 years of experience in migration policy and law. He has lectured and presented extensively and has served on various state, city, and federal immigration policy and practice committees. Before joining CMS, Mr. Russell was Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Services Division of Catholic Charities in New York, where he oversaw legal, resettlement, asylum, unaccompanied minors, and day laborer services. He has conducted litigation in the federal district and appeals courts and managed the asylum defense clinic at St. John’s University School of Law, where he teaches immigration and comparative refugee law both in the United States and in Europe.
Mr. Russell also previously worked as Regional Director for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), and consulted with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on asylum protection in Eastern Europe. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and Haverford College (BA, Philosophy), and served as Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard University Law School.
Mario Russell
Center for Migration Studies
Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ
Editor-in-Chief, America Media
Fr. Sam Sawyer, a native of Scranton, PA, earned his Master’s in Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago and his M.Div. from Boston College. He joined the Jesuits in 2004 and was ordained in 2014. Previous roles include associate pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Washington, DC and assistant at St. Francis Xavier Church in New York City. He is the editor-in-chief of America Media.
Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ
America Media
Dr. Susan Timoney
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at The Catholic University of America
Assembly Facilitator
Susan M. Timoney received her Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum) in 1997. She focused on Christian spirituality and the feminine dimension of discipleship. Following her studies, Susan served as vice-president of a lay education and formation program called Education for Parish Service which hosted programs in five dioceses in the United States and in the Archdiocese of Rome, Italy. Susan was appointed Assistant Secretary for Pastoral Ministry and Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2010 and served as Assistant Secretary and Secretary until her appointment as Associate Professor in 2018. Susan began teaching as a lecturer in 1998 in the undergraduate theology program and in 2016 was appointed an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Theology and Religious Studies. Susan is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the fields of evangelization and pastoral leadership serving on numerous board of directors including Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, The Catholic Apostolate Center, The Dominican House of Studies, Washington DC, The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas, Rome and the Catholic Information Center.
Dr. Susan Timoney
The Catholic University of America
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
Executive Director, Catholic Mobilizing Network
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy serves as the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), where she oversees the organization’s strategic direction and priorities. Since 2017, Vaillancourt Murphy has championed CMN’s trailblazing mission to end the death penalty and promote restorative justice solutions and responses to harm, violence and crime. She drives anti-death penalty and restorative justice formation programming through strategic initiatives, state and federal advocacy, and in collaboration with an extensive network of more than 30,000 advocates, including Catholic bishops, dioceses, state Catholic conferences, religious communities, lay leaders, and people of goodwill from across the nation.
Vaillancourt Murphy has 30 years of experience working in national-level, faith-based policy advocacy. During 2004-2016, Vaillancourt Murphy served as the senior church relations staff at Bread for the World, a collective Christian voice urging U.S. decision-makers to end hunger at home and abroad. While there, she co-authored “Advocating for Justice: An Evangelical Vision for Transforming Systems and Structures.”
From 2003 to 2005, Vaillancourt Murphy served as the executive director of Witness for Peace, a politically independent, faith-based national grassroots organization committed to promoting peace, justice and non-violence in U.S. foreign policy. In the late 1990s, she was an associate with the Latin America Working Group — one of the longest standing U.S. religious coalitions dedicated to a just foreign policy in the region — where she had a special focus on labor rights and corporate responsibility. In 1994, she served for a year in a faith-based domestic service program working alongside migrant farmworkers in Woodburn, Oregon.
Vaillancourt Murphy has a Masters in Theology degree from Boston College (formerly Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts).
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy
Catholic Mobilizing Network
Robert Vega
Director of Public Policy, Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Robert Vega is the director of public policy for the USCCB’s Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. Serving in this capacity since 2022, he primarily advises on the content and strategy of the USCCB’s advocacy with the federal government on developments related to abortion, end-of-life concerns, reproductive technology, and other medical research and practices directly impacting human life. From 2018 to 2022, he held a similar role in the bishops’ Secretariat for Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, frequently addressing issues related to the integrity of the family. Previously, Robert served in various capacities in the office of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas. There, his portfolio included pro-life issues, family values, and religious liberty, among other matters. During much of that time, Robert also served as coordinator of a parish young adult ministry on Capitol Hill. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from The George Washington University in 2007 and law degree from Harvard University in 2011.
Robert Vega
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Post-Assembly Speakers
Nicholas C. Frank
Staff Attorney, Religious Immigration Services
Frank is a Staff Attorney in the Religious Immigration Service section. Prior to joining CLINIC, he worked as a legal assistant to the attorneys of the Executive Office of Immigration Review’s Office of General Counsel, focusing on immigration-based Freedom of Information Act requests. While attending law school in West Virginia, Frank served as a clinical law student representing clients in various immigration courts where his cases primarily focused on asylum and family-based petitions. His work also included writing immigration guides for U.S. government officials. In addition, during law school he interned at CLINIC for the Religious Immigration Services section.
Frank holds a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in German from West Virginia University. He is barred in the state of Maryland.
Nicholas C. Frank
CLINIC Legal
Graciela I. Mateo
Managing Attorney, Religious Immigration Services
Ms. Mateo is the Managing Attorney of the Religious Immigration Services (RIS) section of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINC). She has been with CLINIC in its RIS section since 2017 practicing exclusively in the area of religious immigration law. Ms. Mateo has been practicing immigration law since 2018. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Charlotte School of Law and is barred in the state of Maryland.
Graciela I. Mateo
CLINIC Legal
Miguel A. Naranjo
Director of Religious Immigration Services
Naranjo is the Director of the Religious Immigration Services section of CLINIC. He leads a group of immigration attorneys who assist more than 170 archdioceses, dioceses and religious communities throughout the U.S. in bringing international priests, brothers, sisters, novices, seminarians and other religious workers into the U.S. to serve the church.
Naranjo joined CLINIC in 2006 and has been practicing immigration law since 2002. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Miguel A. Naranjo
CLINIC Legal