Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

Sr. Teresa Joseph fma

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Teresa Joseph fma

Teresa Joseph fma is a Salesian Sister in Mumbai, India. With extensive academic work from universities in Rome, she has taught university courses, held national, diocesan and congregational offices, revised catechetical texts, was member of the drafting committee of the Indian National Catechetical Directory and launched many creative programs for teachers, parents and students. Currently, she is animator of the community at Auxilium Welfare Centre, Koregaon Park, Pune. She takes every opportunity to work with children who live in the streets.

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Sherine Green

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Sherine Green

Sherine Green serves as Director of Youth Faith Formation, mother, wife,  professor at Villanova and St. Josephs Maine Online. Prior to working for the Catholic Community of Christ Our Light, Sherine worked for the Romero Center in Camden NJ. there she developed retreats for high schools, colleges and parish groups from around the country. She was a Mercy Volunteer in NY and completed her graduate studies at  St Joseph’s College of Maine. Sherine is from Jamaica, where she currently invites groups on mission immersion experiences; growing up Catholic in Jamaica gave a great appreciation for people, cultures, faith and travel. One of her greatest faith building opportunities came during an immersion experience to Northern Ireland; an experience which has been paramount.

Speaking Topics:

  • An Applied Catholic Faith

    Talks include theological discussions, scriptural application, church teachings, traditions and lived approach to practically living faith.

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Jeannie Ewing

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Jeannie Ewing

Jeannie Ewing is a Catholic spirituality writer who focuses on the topics of grief, redemptive suffering, and waiting. Her four books include a meditation journal, a devotional, and two books on the topic of discovering joy in the midst of grief and waiting with expectation. She is a frequent guest on Catholic radio and contributes to several online and print Catholic periodicals. For more information, please visit her website lovealonecreates.com.

Speaking Topics:

  • Waiting with Purpose

    Based on her book, Waiting with Purpose: Persevering When God Says “Not Yet,” Jeannie Ewing discusses societal roadblocks to unfurling the hidden virtues God presents to us in waiting: patience, perseverance, trust, deeper faith.

  • Finding Your Calling In Life

    As a former school counselor, Jeannie speaks to teens and young adults about how to hear God’s voice in discerning both primary and secondary vocations.

  • Thank God Ahead of Time

    Based on Blessed Solanus Casey’s spirituality, Jeannie presents ways we can foster greater “expectant faith” by praying with specificity, confidence, and gratitude.

  • The Gift of Generosity

    In our modern world, the word “generosity” connotes a sense of obligation or duty rather than true Christian charity. In this talk, Jeannie unveils the incredible fruit produced when we say “yes” to God and others by giving of our time, above all else.

  • Understanding and Navigating Grief

    A basic introduction and overview of grief, based on her book, From Grief to Grace: The Journey from Tragedy to Triumph, Jeannie answers the questions:

    • What is grief?
    • How do we understand grief in our lives?
    • How can grief become a way for us to enter our pain and discover true healing?
  • Finding Meaning in our Sufferings

    As Catholics, we have all learned that suffering can be redemptive. But what does it mean to suffer well? What are the opportunities to accompany others who are in pain when we suffer loss? Jeannie explains ways God presents opportunities for a deeper sense of purpose and even mission in our crosses.

  • We Wait in Joyful Hope: Discovering Advent Joy

    Based on the concept of “active waiting” in her book, Waiting with Purpose, Jeannie discusses how the words pregnancy, expectancy, joy, anticipation, and vigilance all tie in to the times in our lives when God has given us a specific promise that has not yet been fulfilled.

  • The Passion of Waiting: Living Lent Every Day

    Most of the time, when we wait it’s not because we’ve chosen to wait: in traffic jams or waiting rooms, long lines at the grocery store or for an important phone call. Jeannie explains that “passive waiting” comprises most of our waiting experiences. Using principles and concepts from her book, Waiting with Purpose, she gives fresh insight into the purpose of waiting.

  • The 6 Spiritual Principles of Healing After Grief

    Using spiritual concepts from her book, From Grief to Grace, Jeannie explores the ways we can enter our pain with greater courage by way of humility, abandonment to God’s providence, holy indifference, dark night of the soul, confidence in God’s timing, and the wound of the heart.

  • You Are God's Beloved

    Sometimes our brokenness causes shame, and we doubt that we are truly a beloved son or daughter of God. But when we allow our brokenness to be blessed, as Henri Nouwen explained in his book, Life of the Beloved, we begin to see our wounds as a pathway to true healing. In turn, we can help others.

    This talk was created specifically for people with disabilities to be encouraged in their uniqueness and not to be afraid of their visible or invisible brokenness, but instead to allow their brokenness to be a healing gift to the world.

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Rocco Fortunato

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Rocco Fortunato
Rocco Fortunato grew up Roman Catholic, but God had little part in his life. Television, movies, and disordered music attracted his heart to the life of sin they promoted. After years of living in mortal sin and believing he was beyond hope, Rocco was set free by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in sacramental Confession, experiencing the unfathomable love and mercy of Almighty God in a very PROFOUND way!!!
(Listen to Rocco’s interview–Partial Testimony–on Encounter Radio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-XicIvlYTs)
Through Sacred Scripture, the Most Holy Rosary, daily Mass, and Eucharistic Adoration, he experienced a RADICAL CONVERSION!!! He’s been teaching, preaching, and/or writing on the fullness of the truth of the Catholic Faith since 1993. In 1995, Rocco founded Spread the Blaze (https://spreadtheblaze.com/), an apostolate dedicated to the conversion and sanctification of souls. He’s organized, led, and been the main speaker for Confirmation programs, Youth Groups, a Young Adult Group, a Men’s Group, Conferences, Retreats, a Street Apostolate, First Saturday Rosary Rallies, and served as Director of Evangelization. He’s also been on Catholic radio and had several television interviews.
Rocco runs a very unique Youth Group (Knights of Mary Immaculate) made up of middle-school and high-school youth including multi-cultural, homeschooled, inner-city, and special needs youth; he also runs a Young Adult Group (Crusaders of Mary Immaculate). In both groups, all souls are being challenged to become Saints through radical Marian devotion! These apostolates are leading souls into Holy Mother Church and helping those already there to grow in holiness.
His audio CD “God is Love” (https://spreadtheblaze.com/god-is-love/) and YouTube talks (https://www.youtube.com/spreadtheblaze) give ample testimony to his zeal for souls! To invite Rocco to share his love for Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and ALL things Catholic, please contact him at Spread the Blaze (https://spreadtheblaze.com/).

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Gabriel Garnica

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Gabe Garnica

Gabriel Garnica is crazy enough to believe that we can all be saints, and he refuses to buy the lie that we cannot. He is a college professor with degrees in law and mental health counseling. He was born in Colombia and came to the U.S. as a young child. While Gabe continues to enjoy teaching law, his greatest fulfillment as an educator has come from his ten years as a catechist at two local parishes.  Gabe is passionate about sharing his faith through writing and speaking; and he has enjoyed giving numerous talks to children on such topics as Divine Mercy, David and Goliath, The Ten Commandments, and prioritizing one’s faith. While he enjoys talking to children, it is in writing and speaking to adults that Gabe truly feels he has found his calling.  His goal is to continue developing his Catholic speaking and write several books on his topics of interest, which include meditations on the Ten Commandments, Divine Mercy, the saints, parable stories, general Scripture, Pro-Life, and The Virgin Mary. He enjoys writing for his blog Deus solus https://wordpress.com/posts/deussolus9.wordpress.com and as a columnist at Catholic Stand  ww.catholicstand.com/author/gabriel-garnica/  

Gabe’s favorite saints are  Tarcisius,  Therese “The Little Flower”, and Alphonsus  de Liguori, whom he describes as giving us a powerful glimpse of the loving challenge which God has given each of us.  As mentioned above, Gabe believes that we are all called to be saints, but we spend more time convincing ourselves why we cannot become one than trying to fulfill our true purpose in becoming precisely that. Gabe also speaks about Catholic marriage as being the true “Love Triangle”, with each partner and God.

Speaking Topics:

  • A Christian's Feet

    The Washing of The Feet is a powerful symbol of not only loving, humble service but, just as importantly, what a Christian’s feet should look like and why. This talk provides a compact and concise road map for how a Christian should and should not use his or her feet to fulfill the true purpose of bringing glory to God.

  • David and Goliath Revisited

    The famous story of David and Goliath is often incorrectly seen as a story of an underdog defeating a favorite. This talk challenges the listener to see this story as quite the opposite, and bridges that alternate suggestion to approaching the world while being true to God.

  • Backbiting....Salvation Cancer

    This talk illustrates how the greatly underestimated sin of backbiting destroys our chances for salvation by spreading three critical lies about our relationships with ourselves, others, and God.

  • Christ.....The Anti-Selfie

    This talk compares various characters of the Passion story to illustrate the difference between a selfie and anti-selfie mentality, and how the latter approach is the only way to fulfill one’s life mission.

  • The Scriptural Faces of Divine Mercy

    This talk combines the story of Judas vs. Peter,  Gestas vs. Dismas, and the parables of The Prodigal Son and The Vine Workers to paint a moving image of Divine Mercy.

  • The Our Father and The Magnificat as The Perfect Prayers

    This talk presents The Lord’s Prayer and Mary’s Magnificat as the prototypical and perfect prayers which epitomize what all prayer should be.

  • God's Math: Scriptural Illustrations of How Salvation is illustrated by the Basic Math Functions

    This talk illustrates how addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication provide a concise and fundamental formula for eternal salvation in the context of popular Scriptural illustrations.

  • Three Kings and a Baby

    This talk illustrates how three kings,  Solomon, Herod, and Henry VIII, each defined their lives, and fates, by how they viewed a baby and power.

  • The Three Levels of Suffering Actualization

    This talk takes the wisdom of Saint Therese “The Little Flower”, Saint  Tarcisius, and Saint Alphonsus  de Liguori to illustrate the three levels of suffering necessary for becoming the saint that we are all destined to become.

  • Cognitive Dissonance and Sin

    This talk illustrates how the famous psychological concept of cognitive dissonance explains the sinister and destructive cycle of sin.

  • Divine Mercy as The Anti-Sin

    This talk demonstrates that Divine Mercy is the exact opposite of sin, and therefore provides a concise explanation of why Divine Mercy breaks the cycle and lie that sin is.

  • Gideon as The Blueprint for Salvation

    This talk illustrates how the story of Gideon provides us with the exact road map to bringing peace, trust, faith, and salvation to our lives. Included in this discussion is the view of Catholic marriage as a love triangle with God.

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Father Juan Velez

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Father Juan Velez

Fr. Juan R. Vélez is a Catholic priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, presently working in San Francisco and Berkeley. He was born in Venezuela and raised in Colombia, England and the United States. He holds a doctorate in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre. Fr. Juan has a medical degree, also from the University of Navarre, and was previously board certified in internal medicine. He is author of Passion for Truth, the Life of John Henry Newman (TAN, 2012) and co-author of Take Five, Meditations with John Henry Newman (Our Sunday Visitor, 2010). He has also published a number of journal articles on theology and on medical ethics. He posts short reflections on Cardinal Newman’s writings at: www.cardinaljohnhenrynewman.com

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Deanna Bartalini

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Deanna Bartalini

Deanna G. Bartalini, M.Ed.; M.P.A, is a Catholic writer, speaker, presenter, and educator. Married to Deacon John they have two married children. Deanna loves teaching about Catholicism and how it fits into our daily lives. She has served in the diocese of Palm Beach since 1985 in both paid and volunteer positions in the areas of religious education, youth ministry and stewardship. Prior to working in full-time ministry, Deanna worked in the field of English as a Second Language as a teacher, consultant, teacher trainer, curriculum developer and publishing sales manager. Deanna writes at DeannaBartalini.com, and contributes to CatholicMom, Amazing Catechists, and New Evangelizers.  She contributed to A Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion published by Ave Maria Press and has written “Invite the Holy Spirit into Your Life: Growing in Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control”” one book in the series of the Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women.

Deanna is available to lead retreats and speak at catechist and ministry events. Learn more about her on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

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