SASI speaker bios

Dr. Scott Appleby

Keynote Presenter and Track II Co-leader: Moral Imagination of the Catholic Peacebuilder

R. Scott Appleby is Professor of History and the John M. Regan Jr. Director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. A historian who studies the history of modern religions, including their capacity for both violence and peacebuilding, Appleby is the author or editor of eleven books, including The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence and Reconciliation (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), Strong Religion (Chicago, 2003), “Church and Age Unite!”: The Modernist Impulse in American Catholicism, and Transforming Parish Ministry: The Changing Roles of Clergy, Laity and Women Religious. With Martin E. Marty he edited the award-winning series of volumes on global fundamentalisms published by the University of Chicago Press (1991-1995). From 1988 to 1993 Appleby was associate director of The Fundamentalism Project, an international public policy study conducted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 1985 to 1988 he chaired the religious studies department of St. Xavier College, Chicago. Having earned the Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1985, he is also the recipient of three honorary doctorates.

Dr. Ami Carpenter

Track II Co-leader: Peacebuilding for the 21st Century

Ami Carpenter is an Assistant Professor at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at University of San Diego. She has taught courses on international, community and organizational conflict prevention and resolution at George Mason University (Arlington, Virginia), National Taurida Vernatsky University (Simferopol, Ukraine), and California State University (Dominguez Hills), has worked on numerous initiatives as a mediator, facilitator, trainer, and conflict resolution consultant. Her primary teaching and research interest is the social and economic mechanisms that enable local actors to prevent sectarian and communal violence, both in rural and urban landscapes, and particularly in settings characterized by armed non-state actors (street gangs, militias, “warlords”). Currently, she is researching vulnerability and resilience to conflict in Iraqi and Guatemalan communities (“Resilience to Violent Conflict: A Comparative Study of Iraqi Neighborhoods” and “Preventing Land Conflict in the Ixil Triangle: The Role of NGO Mediation”), and studying why the US government endorses mediation and dialogue strategies with certain types of non-state groups but not others (“Warlords” and “Druglords”: Dealing with Factional Leaders in Armed Conflict).

Dr. Kristin Heyer

Track I Co-leader: Theological Foundations of Catholic Social Teaching

Kristin Heyer serves as Associate Professor Religious Studies at Santa Clara University. She received her B.A. from Brown University and her Ph.D. in theological ethics from Boston College in 2003. Kristin is the author of Prophetic and Public: the Social Witness of U.S. Catholicism, (Georgetown University Press, 2006) which won the College Theology Society’s “Best Book Award” and co-editor of Catholics and Politics: Dynamic Tensions between Religion and Politics, (Georgetown University Press, 2008). Her articles have appeared in Theological Studies, The Journal of Peace and Justice Studies, Political Theology and America, and her current research considers undocumented immigration in light of Christian ethics. She has given presentations on Catholicism and politics, human rights, immigration, and social justice in academic and pastoral settings, including the Diocese of San Jose’s Institute for Leadership in Ministry. She serves on the board of the Catholic Theological Society of America and as an editorial consultant for Theological Studies. She lives in San Jose with her husband Mark Potter, Provincial Assistant for Social Ministries for the California Province of the Society of Jesus, and their sons Owen and Luke.

Ms. Tricia Hoyt

Track I Co-leader: Biblical Justice

Tricia Hoyt is the director of Catholic Charities Parish and Community Engagement in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona, where her work is to encourage parishes to take on the full perspective of Parish Social Ministry as a component of its Catholic identity. She holds a M.A. in Adult Christian Community Development from Regis University (Denver) and is currently a PhD student in Biblical Interpretation at Brite Divinity School (Fort Worth). She is a leader and instructor on the Phoenix-based Survival School: Church Leadership Training, a national lay leadership training event. Tricia is co-author of the MOMS - Ministry of Mothers Sharing books, published by Resource Publications, and a Spanish-language version of the ministry, De Madre a Madre.

Mr. Joe Grant

Closing Plenary: Sent into the Eye of the Storm: Engaging Spiritualities for these Times

A native of Scotland and former Catholic missionary, Joe has ministered in inner-city Chicago and the Brazilian Amazon. He lives in Louisville’s inner-city with his wife and three children. Joe is the creator of JusticeWalking (J-Walking), a JustFaith “prophet-raising” process with older teens. He has also authored publications on Prayer, Justice, Service, and Scripture. In 2004, Joe was recognized with the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry award for Gospel Values of Peace and Justice. Co-founder of Crossroads Ministry, Joe serves as chairperson of this justice-based retreat center in Louisville. Joe is the developer of Engaging Spirituality, the latest offering of JustFaith Ministries.

Fr. John Baumann, S.J.

Monday Evening Presentation: Supporting Faith-Based Community Organizing Today

Father John Baumann, S.J. is PICO Founder and Director of Special Projects. PICO serves an international network - 52 congregation, faith-based community organizations in over 150 cities in seventeen states in the U.S.; internationally, PICO is developing organizations in all six countries of Central America and in Rwanda, Africa. PICO’s mission is to assist in the building of community organizations with the power to improve the quality of life of families and neighborhoods. PICO carries out its mission through leadership training seminars; the recruitment and development of professional community organizers; on-going consultation and technical assistance. PICO also serves as a vehicle for state-wide and national organizing.

Prior to the creation of PICO in 1972, John Baumann was co-founder of a multi-ethnic and multi-racial community organization which successfully addressed a wide variety of issues on Chicago's Near West Side. He received his professional training as a community organizer in Chicago at the Urban Training Center for Christian Mission and the Organization for a Better Austin (OBA). At OBA he was trained by Thomas Gaudette, a key figure in the field of community organizing in the United States.

Fr. Eduardo Fernández, S.J.

Diocesan Workshop: Hispanics & Social Ministry: Time for a New Conversation?

Eduardo C. Fernández, SJ, teaches pastoral theology and missiology at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union. A native of El Paso, Texas, he earned a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1995. He is past president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS). His ministerial experience includes high school and university teaching, parish and campus ministry, and retreat work. Along with his many articles, he has also authored La Cosecha: Harvesting Contemporary United States Hispanic Theology (1972-1998) (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), now in Spanish translation, and also co-authored, with James Empereur, SJ, La Vida Sacra: Contemporary Hispanic Sacramental Theology (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006). His latest book is Mexican American Catholics (Paulist Press, 2007).

Ms. Anne E. Grycz

Diocesan Workshop: Hispanics & Social Ministry: Time for a New Conversation?

Anne is the Director Emerita of the Institute for Leadership in Ministry in the Diocese of San Jose. The Institute is a three year program to train and form lay leaders for service to the Church of San Jose with a track in English and in Spanish. She is adjunct faculty at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park and involved with Permanent Deacon and Advanced Lay Leadership Formation in the Diocese of San Jose.

Anne graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1966 with a degree in Spanish and in 1986 received her M.A. from the San Francisco Theological Union (one of the schools of the Graduate Theological union in Berkeley, CA). She has worked with Loyola-Marymount University’s Cultural Orientation Program for International Ministers and served on the Intercultural Committee of the National Association for Lay Ministry.

Steve Hilbert

Diocesan Workshop: Peacebuilding: Using Natural Resources for the Common Good, not Conflict

Steve Hilbert is the Foreign Policy Advisor for Africa and Global Development Issues for the Office of International Justice and Peace at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. There he has worked on policy issues such as Sudan, the conflict in the Great Lakes Region, the Global Food Crisis and on the reform of U.S. foreign assistance.

Steve has 25 years of experience in developing countries through assignments with the Peace Corps and Catholic Relief Services. His main professional focus has been the promotion of socio-economic well-being and justice for the poor, as well as the advancement of global solidarity between U.S. Catholics and the international community. As a Peace Corps volunteer he worked in Gabon, then worked as an intern for the State Department in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After earning a Master’s Degree in International Development from Columbia University in 1983, he joined Catholic Relief Services as the Assistant Country Representative for CRS/Mauritania where he launched a major drought emergency program. From that point forward, he spent the next 22 years working in countries like Rwanda, Morocco, The Gambia, Cameroon, and India where he was responsible for a wide range of development programs in water and sanitation, agricultural community development, advocacy and peace building programs.

Olun Kamitatu

Extractives Workshop and Wednesday Luncheon

Olun Kamitatu is the Regional Technical Advisor on Extractive Industries and Governance for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Central Africa Regional Office (CARO). Ms Kamitatu graduated magna cum laude from Sorbonne University with Master degrees in International Public Law and African Studies.

In her current position, Olun helps CRS staff and partners design and implement programs related to governance, conflict transformation, natural resources management as well as sexual and gender-based violence. She also serves as the regional focal point for gender issues. Olun is a member of the Africa Justice and Peace Working Group, an internal “think tank” tasked with designing strategies to mitigate and improve conflicts in Africa. Within this group, she specifically focuses on issues related to elections and the Great Lakes conflict.

Olun joined CRS in 2003. Her previous assignments with CRS involved working on peacebuilding issues in Kosovo, Albania and Liberia. She began her work for the CARO region in October 2008. Prior to joining CRS, Ms. Kamitatu spent ten years working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, first as a legal advisor with the Central Bank of the Congo, then as a Governance Officer with the United Nations Development Programme.

Greg Kepferle

Diocesan Workshop: Step-Up Silicon Valley: The Campaign to Cut Poverty

Gregory Kepferle is CEO of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, California. He has worked in the Catholic Charities network for over nineteen years, serving as the Director of the Social Justice Resource Center and Parish Social Ministry and as Associate Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the East Bay in Oakland and as the Executive Director of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Greg has a Bachelor’s Degree from Saint Louis University, a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Loyola University of Chicago, and a Master’s of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. Greg is vice-president of Catholic Charities of California and currently sits on the Social Policy Committee of Catholic Charities USA.

Elizabeth Lilly

Parish Workshop "Transforming Hearts for Social Justice"

Elizabeth Lilly is Director of Community and Parish Partnerships for Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County in the Diocese of San Jose, California. She is the diocesan contact for the JustFaith programs and co-facilitates a leadership team for the ecumenical JustFaith programs in Santa Clara County. She serves on the Awareness committee of Step Up Silicon Valley: Campaign to Cut Poverty in half by 2020, the Adult Faith Formation committee of the diocese and the boards of Companions in Ignatian Service and Spirituality and the St. Vincent de Paul Council. Ms. Lilly, has 25 years of experience in parish ministry. Prior to joining Catholic Charities in 2006, Ms. Lilly was Minister of Parish Life at Sacred Heart Parish in Saratoga, CA. Ms. Lilly has served on the diocesan Liturgy Commission, and on numerous other diocesan committees relating to the catechumenate, environment and art, parish lay compensation, and the Institute for Leadership in Ministry where she also has served as faculty member. Since 1995 she has been a Master of Ceremonies for the Bishop.

Rachel Lustig

Parish Workshop: "Leadership Skills for Parish Social Action"

Rachel Lustig is the interim director of the mission department at Catholic Charities USA. In this role, Rachel oversees Catholic Charities USA’s efforts to meet the unique leadership and community engagement needs of Catholic Charities agencies, especially as needs relate to the Catholic faith tradition and values. These efforts are run through the Catholic Identity, Racial Equality/Diversity, Training and Parish Social Ministry offices.

Rachel also serves Catholic Charities USA as the director of the parish social ministry office. In this role, she is responsible for supporting Catholic Charities agencies in parish social ministry by managing a professional interest group and training program and by providing consultation. Rachel began her tenor at Catholic Charities USA in 2003 as the parish social ministry associate coordinating the Parish Social Ministry Regional Training program.

Prior to her work at Catholic Charities USA, Rachel was the director of finances at Hogar Santa Cruz, a home for abused and abandoned children and a consultant to the Chilean Single Mothers Self-Sufficiency program through the Holy Cross Associate Program in Santiago, Chile. She received her Bachelors of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and her Masters of Public Administration at George Mason University in Virginia.

Sandy Mattingly-Paulen

Diocesan Workshop: CCHD: Funding Both Community Organizing AND Economic Development

Sandy has worked in the social justice field for over 25 years - first at the Archdiocese of Washington's social action office and later with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development's National Office, where she begins her 13th year. She staffs CCHD grants for the western region of the U.S. She is also a married mother of three and grandmother of six, with another on the way. She a native DC Washingtonian.

Ralph McCloud

Catholic Social Action Partners Panel

Ralph McCloud is the Director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an anti poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was formally the Director of Pastoral and Community Services for the Diocese of Fort Worth Texas. In that capacity, he supervised the offices of Peace and Justice, African American Ministry, Hispanic Ministry, Family Life, and Ministry to the Incarcerated. While in Fort Worth, he served 4 terms on the Fort Worth City Council and three terms as the Mayor Pro-Tem. Ralph has served on many boards and commissions and was president of the National Association of Black Catholic Administrators. He has received numerous awards including the Courage Award from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the History Maker Award from the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Keeping the Dream Alive Award from Catholic Charities USA. He is a member of St Teresa of Avila Catholic church in Washington DC.

Cynthia Morris-Colbert

Parish Workshop: Communities of Salt & Light: Our Parish Can Make a Difference

For more than a decade, Cynthia Morris-Colbert has worked for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. She currently is serving as the Convening/Education Coordinator for the Department of Justice Peace and Human Development. In this role, she oversees the planning and implementation of the annual Catholic social ministry gathering in Washington, DC. She assists diocesan staff in sharing and applying Catholic social teaching and building the Catholic community's capacity to act on its social mission.

She has served as presenter for Education for Parish Services (EPS), National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC)-Congress IX and X, National Catholic AIDS Network (NCAN) and arch/diocesan programs and parishes. She has spoken at national conferences on HIV and AIDS in the African American community and co-developed And the Children Shall Fly, an HIV and AIDS resource for educators, parents, and children in 3rd-6th grade. She has served as a co-facilitator for JustFaith and currently facilitates an online course in Parish Social Ministry for the University of Dayton.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Relations with a minor in Theology and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration on women in leadership and organizational development both from Trinity University in Washington, DC.

Mathilde Muhindo Mwamini

Extractives Workshop and Wednesday Luncheon

For more than 30 years, Mathilde Muhindo Mwamini has worked to empower women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to overcome discrimination, sexual exploitation, poverty and conflict. She has been the Director of Centre Olame, a Catholic social assistance agency of the Archdiocese of Bukavu, South Kivu, in eastern DRC for more than 20 years.

Centre Olame, which means “live in dignity and prosperity”, provides psychological and practical assistance to victims of sexual violence, empowers women to fight against pervasive discrimination and abuse, and promotes local peacebuilding and community reconciliation in South Kivu.

Muhindo joined Centre Olame in the mid-1980s, moved by the high death rate of children under the age of 5 in the eastern DRC. In a country marked by more than 32 years of dictatorship and over a decade of repeated wars, Centre Olame has worked to change a culture of discrimination against women and to help women recognize and advocate for their rights. As the organization’s Director, Muhindo has helped women increase the health and well-being of their children through nutrition and community health programs, gain economic stability through job training and microfinance programs, and to mobilize against harassment and sexual exploitation through political action and peace building.

As a member of the DRC’s national parliament from 2003 to 2005, Muhindo founded a parliamentary committee to investigate rape as a weapon of war during the DRC’s recent bloody conflicts. She also led a coalition of local women’s organizations to successfully advocate in support of a comprehensive law on sexual violence.

Catholic Relief Services partners with Centre Olame on programs that provide psycho-social assistance to survivors of sexual violence and that sensitize communities and mobilize leaders to work to prevent sexual violence. This has included the training of hundreds of transitional justice leaders as well as military and police officials in South Kivu.

Joan Rosenhauer

Catholic Relief Services U.S. Operations

Joan Rosenhauer joined CRS in April 2009 and is responsible for leadership of the agency’s mission to help Catholics in the U.S. put their faith into action and answer the Gospel’s call to live as one human family. She leads CRS’ domestic programs and advocacy: faith-based actions that bring the agency’s work with those in need overseas into the lives of Catholics in the U.S.

Under her direction are six regional offices located across the country as well as support staff in Headquarters. Working in partnership with dioceses, parishes, colleges, universities and other Catholic organizations, CRS’ U.S. Operations builds relationships and provides concrete opportunities for U.S. Catholics to make a positive difference in the world.

Prior to joining CRS, Ms. Rosenhauer spent 16 years with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), where she most recently served as Associate Director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. Prior to this role, she held a variety of positions, including Special Projects Coordinator and Outreach Coordinator for the Department of Social Development and World Peace. Before joining the USCCB’s Department of Social Development and World Peace, Ms. Rosenhauer worked for the Archdiocese of Washington and the USCCB’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Ms. Rosenhauer hails from Chicago and has a B.A. in Social Work from the University of Iowa and a Master’s degree in Public Policy Management from the University of Maryland. She is the 2009 Recipient of the Harry A. Fagan Award from the Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors.

Susan Stevenot Sullivan

Catholic Social Action Partners Panel and Diocesan Workshop: Embracing and Working on "Human Life and Dignity"

Susan Stevenot Sullivan is the Associate Director, Education and Outreach, Office of Justice, Peace and Human Development for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. She is completing her term as the national chair of the Parish Social Ministry Section of Catholic Charities USA. Previously she was diocesan director for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, JustFaith, Catholic Relief Services and Justice for Immigrants for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. She has also served as the director of member support for the Atlanta Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and in justice education and communication roles for the Glenmary Home Missioners family of organizations.

Susan has been a member of the editorial staff for two archdiocesan newspapers and a daily paper. She holds a Masters in Theological Studies from Spring Hill College. Her work has been published in America, St. Anthony Messenger, Benedictines, The National Catholic Reporter, Kinship, Southern Changes, Glenmary Challenge and the Removing the Blindfold criminal justice project video and discussion guide. Her work is also included in the book Black and Catholic in the Jim Crow South. Susan was the lead host for the 2008 Social Action Summer Institute held in Atlanta.

Tom Ulrich

Diocesan Workshop "Think Globally, Act Locally" and Parish Workshop "Communities of Salt & Light: Our Parish Can Make a Difference"

Being a kid at heart, I see the world mainly as it has unfolded through the eyes of my family, especially my two quite pitiful, adult children and wife of 33 years (Some have indicated that Mary Jane, my wife, has surly earned a free pass to heaven. Those people are no longer my friends!). Add to that about 30 years of working, in some professional capacity, with parishes (If you include being an altar boy, 12 years of Catholic school education, parish summer socials, a Cub Scout pack and sports leagues, parish activity has been a life-long love affair).

Just for fun, I have a masters degree in social work (specializing in community organizing), a bachelor’s degree in psychology and been trained as a trainer. My career journey has included being a caseworker for Catholic Charities, directing parish social ministry for Catholic Charities in three Catholic dioceses, coordinating education work for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Vice-president for Training, Convening and Mission, Catholic Charities USA and, currently, directing the “Constituency Relations and Support Department” for Catholic Relief Services (I also carried newspapers for many years, but that’s a different, yet somehow interesting, story, in a convoluted sort of way).

A recent twist has been to author a book (published by Ave Maria Press) on parish-based social ministry. It is dazzlingly titled Parish Social Ministry: Strategies for Success (It will probably sell about 8 copies… all to my mom). As a reminder of how old my wife is getting, we became grandparents a while back… and it’s really cool! To honor his passage into “guyhood”, I am training my grandson in how to use a TV remote control mechanism while eating Doritos. And, to be fair about it, my 4 mo. old granddaughter’s introduction to the English language includes the critical phrase, “Boooo Yankees!!!” as in the New York Yankees baseball team not the civil war.

My proud faith tradition is Roman Catholic and baseball (sometimes not in that order, but I am totally confident that God really does understand)!

Other speakers’ bios will be posted as the information is received.