Contributors

Dr. Donna Chacko is the author of a new book, Pilgrimage: A Doctor’s Healing Journey. She practiced radiation oncology and later family medicine. She and her first husband raised three daughters in Florida. After his death she moved to Washington, DC, where she cared for the poor until 2013. Now retired, Donna lives in Maryland with her second husband and works in the ministry she founded, Serenity and Health. You can learn more about her book and programs and sign up for her blog at https://www.serenityandhealth.com/.

Duane Hyland is the Communications Manager at St. John Neumann Parish in Reston, VA. A lifelong Catholic, he is fascinated by the lives of the saints, especially little-known or even forgotten saints. He has just started out writing on the Saints and for a Catholic audience. He is also very interested in space and space technology and has written for several aerospace publications, including Aerospace America, SpaceRef, SpaceRef Business, and The Space Review, among others.

Efran Menny is a passionate follower of Jesus Christ and a convert to the Catholic Church. He enjoys being a loving husband and family man. When he isn't blogging, he enjoys spending time watching films or reading about Catholicism. Follow him on Twitter @menny_thoughts.

Ellie Hidalgo is co-director of Discerning Deacons, a project dedicated to contributing to the Catholic Church’s discernment about admitting women to the diaconate and to creating a more synodal, listening, participatory Church. Ellie brings 12 years of parish ministry experience at Dolores Mission, a Jesuit parish in the Mexican/Central American immigrant community of East Los Angeles, California where she served as a pastoral associate. This small church with a giant heart is known for its advocacy of immigrants, restorative justice ministries and faith-based community organizing, and for being the home parish of Homeboy Industries. Ellie was commissioned as a pastoral associate for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2013; she preached for Catholic Women Preach in 2020 and in 2018 and helped to facilitate national prayer services in 2020 and 2021 to commemorate St. Phoebe, one of the early Church’s female deacons. Ellie graduated with a Masters in Pastoral Theology from Loyola Marymount University and received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is now based in Miami, Florida.

Emmett O'Regan is the author of Unveiling the Apocalypse: The Final Passover of the Church. He is currently a PhD candidate studying Catholic theology at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin. After graduating in 2006 with First Class honours in 2006, he won the theology prize scholarship at the Institute of Theology at Queen's University Belfast. He also won the Sean O'Riordan scholarship at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin in 2019, as well as the Loyola Trust PhD scholarship in 2020. His writings have appeared in various publications, including Vatican Insider and the Catholic Truth Society.

Enrique Soros, originally from Argentina, has lived for 25 years in Washington, DC, USA, with his wife Erica, with whom he has a son, Martín. He is a social communicator, writer, and public translator. He is a pastoral and communications specialist in the United States, where he is vice-president of the National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry (NCCHM), whose mission is the promotion and integration of the Hispanic pastoral forces in the country. He participates in pastoral and communication projects in Latin America and since 2012 collaborates with CELAM (the Latin American Episcopal Council) in pastoral integration efforts between that institution and the Church in the United States.

Eve Tushnet became a Catholic at Yale University and is the author of the award-winning books Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith and Tenderness: A Gay Christian’s Guide to Unlearning Rejection and Experiencing God’s Extravagant Love. She has long experience giving presentations and leading workshops on gay Christians’ spiritual lives, for audiences including priests, seminarians, and Catholic-school personnel. She is a cofounder of Building Catholic Futures.

Fabrizio Mastrofini is an Italian journalist and communications expert who has served as the Media Director for the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2017. He holds degrees in Philosophy and Psychology, and earned a Doctorate in Communication Sciences in 2022, focusing on social media's impact on ecclesiastical communication. Mastrofini has authored several books on Church reform and the challenges of digital communication.

Fr. Matthew Mary, MFVA lived in Delaware before entering religious life.  During his high school years he was in the marching band.  After high school he attended community college and earned an associates degree in Chemistry.  After receiving instruction in the Catholic Faith, he entered the Church when he was twenty-one years old.  In October 2007 he entered the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word.  Brother received his habit in 2008 and made his first profession of vows in August 2009.  He made his perpetual vows on August 11, 2014.  Brother was ordained to the priesthood on June 2, 2018.

Father Tim Kelly is a priest of the Diocese of Tyler in Texas. Ordained in 1999, he has spent most of his ministry in parishes in "Deep East Texas."  He spent three years studying Patristics in Rome and two years teaching at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston. Fr. Kelly’s interest is in the history of theology -- the forces which shape how the Catholic Church expresses herself in any particular moment of history.

Fr. Alex Roche is the pastor of St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Laflin, Pennsylvania and serves as the director of vocations for the Diocese of Scranton. Ordained in 2012, he has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University. He went to college with a girl who went to high school with the niece of the guy who played Al in Quantum Leap.

You can listen to his podcast at www.wadicherith.com.

Father Bernardo Lara is a priest of the Diocese of San Diego and pastor of three Southern California parishes: Sacred Heart and St. Margaret Mary in Brawley and St. Joseph in Westmorland.

Fr. Francis Afu is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Armidale, Australia. He is currently undertaking a PhD Research Fellowship in the United States.

Fr. Fredrick Devaraj comes from India. He was a member of the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists of Bangalore Province.  Now he is a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri, serving at St. Alban Roe Catholic Church.

Fr. Michael Najim was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Providence in 2001. He currently serves as the pastor of St. Philip Church in Greenville, RI.

Fr. Peter Joseph, born in Wagga Wagga, Australia, was ordained a priest in 1992. He is currently parish priest at St Mel’s parish in Sydney.  He has a licentiate from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, and a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. He has taught dogmatic theology at Vianney College seminary, Wagga Wagga; the Catholic Institute of Sydney; and the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne. He is the editor of an updated version of Archbishop Sheehan’s Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine (Baronius Press, U.K.). He is a theological censor for the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Frank J. Tassone lives in New York City’s “back yard” with his wife and son. He fell in love with writing after he wrote his first short story at age 12 and his first poem in high school. He began writing haiku and haibun seriously in the 2000s. His haikai poetry has appeared in Drifting Sands, Colorado Boulevard Poetry Salon, Failed Haiku, Cattails, Haibun Today, Contemporary Haibun Online, Contemporary Haibun, The Haiku Foundation, and Haiku Society of America member anthologies. He is a contributing poet for the online literary journal Image Curve, and a performance poet with Rockland Poets.

Gabe Lewis is a Catholic educator, husband, and father of four young children. He holds degrees in classical humanities, philosophy, and psychology, and works at a Catholic 6th-12th grade school as a theology teacher and campus minister.

Gareth Thomas Weaver lives a solitary life with his donkeys in a pine wooded valley in Alicante, Spain. A former aircraft engineer, Franciscan friar, and geography teacher, he has written about the pilgrim routes to Compostela and his walks with donkeys. He was never intending to become an activist in his 70s, but now he goes head-to-head with environmental vandalism, guided by Laudato Si'. Keep up with the story on equusasinus.net.

Gary Campbell is a freelance writer living in Australia, writing history and educational literature. He has also worked as a schoolteacher. Gary was a member of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) for 12 years, including as an ordained priest for five years. He was reconciled to Rome in 1999 and laicized.