Our Advisory Board

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Fr. Dean graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA in 1991 with a Masters of Divinity (magna cum laude). He was taught about marriage and sexuality by the renowned Dr. John Haas. He taught Catholic Doctrine and Catholic Morality in a Catholic High School for his first two years of priesthood and has spent the majority of his priesthood (over nine years) in the capacity of college campus minister where he has prepared over 200 couples for marriage. He has also been the presenting priest on numerous Catholic Engaged Encounter Weekends. Fr. James is currently in his postulancy year with the Benedictine Monks in Atchison, Kansas.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Father Mitch Pacwa is a nationally known author, EWTN host and Old Testament Bible scholar who has written two books and made many audio and video studies. He is well known for his videos on “The Sufferings of Christ” and on the “False Doctrine and the New Age” as well as his recent Bible studies entitled “God the Father and the Prayer of Jesus Christ,” “Reflections on the Letter to the Colossians,” and “The Life of St. Paul and his Letters to the Thessalonians.” He has done at least six TV series on EWTN on topics such as “The Old Testament Prophets” and the “Via Dolorosa” as well as the audio/video series, “In the Footsteps of St. Paul.” He speaks on the Old Testament Signs and symbols of the Eucharist and presents fascinating Biblical evidence to demonstrate that Christ used the language of Levite priesthood in the Upper Room at the Last Supper to ordain the Apostles as priests with the same words used by Moses to ordain Levites priests and explains the relationship of the Sacrifice of the Mass to Old Testament sacrifices by the Levite priesthood of Israel.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Christopher West is widely recognized for his work popularizing John Paul II’s theology of the body. Christopher teaches the theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver and at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Melbourne, Australia. He also serves as the Theology of the Body Staff Advisor for the GIFT Foundation. His books, extensive lecturing, numerous tapes, and his radio and TV appearances have sparked an international groundswell of interest in John Paul II’s theology of the body. He is married to Wendy and has three children.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Dr. Janet E. Smith is the Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Issues at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. She is the author of Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later and editor of Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader and many articles on ethical and bioethics issues. Over 700,000 copies of her tape, “Contraception: Why Not?” have been distributed. She taught for nine years at the University of Notre Dame and twelve years at the University of Dallas. She speaks nationally and internationally on several issues, especially the Catholic Church’s teaching on sexuality. She is serving a second term as a consultor to the Pontifical Council on the Family.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Dr. Ed Hogan holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy and his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston College. He was born in Trenton, N.J., attended grade school in Green Bay, Wisc., was enrolled in high school in Scranton, Pa. Before moving to Saginaw, he called Omaha, Neb. home. “Heaven is home,” he said. “I’m on pilgrimage everywhere else.” Ed and his wife, Jen, have been married since 1992 and have five children and are expecting their sixth. He is the Director of Deacon Formation, Diocesan Theologian and Director of Faith Formation for the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Jake, born in El Salvador, moved to Denver, Colorado at a young age with his family during the revolution. As an engineer, Jake worked as a rocket scientist before following a personal call into ministry. Ramie, born and raised on a farm in central Kansas, taught in both the public and Catholic school system for several years before deciding to continue her education. Their paths crossed in Washington, D.C. while studying at the John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family and married a month after graduating with Masters of Theological Studies. The Samours spent the first year and a half of marriage in Puebla, Mexico before moving to San Antonio, Texas, where Jake is currently the director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life for the Archdiocese. Jake speaks often about the Theology of the Body and many other issues relating to human sexuality and marriage. Ramie’s full time (and favorite) job is that of wife and mother but also teaches with her husband and consults in the areas of marriage preparation, fertility awareness and NFP, and the Theology of the Body. She is also a facilitator and trainer for ENDOW. Both Jake and Ramie travel intermittently with an international Catholic theater company known as Theophany, performing “The Jeweler’s Shop,” a play written by John Paul II.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Dr. Mary Healy Senior Fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, is Adjunct Professor of Scripture at the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College in Alexandria, Virginia and at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. She serves as Council Chair o Mother of God Community, a lay Catholic community in Gaithersburg, Maryland. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she holds a Masters Degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville and a Doctorate in Biblical Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. Dr. Healy is the co-editor of Behind the Text: History and Biblical Interpretation, Out of Egypt: Biblical Theology and Biblical Interpretation and her latest Men & Women are From Eden: A Study Guide to Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. She has published numerous articles on popular topics in biblical theology and is a frequent speaker at conferences on biblical interpretation, the theology of the body, and renewal in the Spirit.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Mary Beth is an internationally known speaker. She has written two books, “We’re on a Mission from God” and “Real Love”, and she writes a regular, syndicated column for various publications. She has developed numerous videos, including her brand-newest video series, also entitled “Real Love”. Her video “Sex and Love: What’s a Teenager to Do?” was awarded the 1996 Crown Award for Best Youth Curriculum. Mary Beth holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication from the University of San Francisco, and a master’s degree in Theology of Marriage and Family from the John Paul II Institute at Lateran University. She was also awarded an honorary doctorate in Communications from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and is listed in Outstanding Young Women of America for 1997.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Curtis Martin is the President and Founder of FOCUS, one of the most dynamic and fastest growing movements in the Catholic Church. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver stated, “No one does a more dynamic job of reaching college students for Christ than FOCUS.”

FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, was founded in 1998 as a national outreach to college campuses, both to secular and Catholic schools. Through small group Bible studies, large group leadership training, and one-on-one discipleship, FOCUS brings the fullness of life and truth in the Catholic Church to college students, and equips them with the tools to help them share this good news with their friends. FOCUS is working to play a vital role in the “New Evangelization” called for by Pope John Paul II.

In 2008–2009, FOCUS missionaries serve on 39 campuses in 21 states, with plans to reach 100 campuses in the next ten years. Whether he is on college campuses or television, at conferences or working with corporate America, Curtis is an award winning and proven dynamic speaker who has the ability to help his audience discover a vision for life.

Through humor, stories and his own captivating life experiences, Curtis allows people to see how faith in God is lived out in everyday life. He equips people with the tools to discover the fullness of life and happiness beyond imagination. Curtis Martin holds a Masters degree in Theology and is the author of the best selling book Made for More, and co-host the new ground-breaking show on EWTN, Crossing the Goal

Michaelann Martin has a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Pepperdine. In addition to being a featured columnist for New Covenant and Catholic Parent magazines, Michaelann is the author of Women of Grace: A Bible Study for Married Women, co-author of, Catholic Parent Book of Feasts: Celebrating the Church Year in Your Family and co-author (with her husband, Curtis) of Family Matters: A Scripture Study on Marriage and Family. Michaelann lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Curtis and their eight children.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Jacki Corrigan is the Consultant for Marriage and Family Life in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and has served in that position for thirteen years. For six of those years she also served as Regional Representative on the Board of the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers – three of which were spent on the Executive Board. She and her husband, Dick, have been married for 47 years and they have worked in marriage and family ministry for 32 years. She is presently immersed in family life at home, in the parish and in the Archdiocese. The blessings of their marriage include four adult children, nine precious grandchildren, and a newly-precious great-grandchild. The heart of their marriage and family is rooted in the God of mercy, whose faithfulness, forgiveness, love and humor continues to be their working model for Christian marriage.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Don and Lorrie Gramer have been Directors of the Rockford Diocese Office of Family Life for 25 years. They have been married for 35 years and have seven children and six grandchildren. Both work to bring about th Sanctity of Marriage and the Stability of the Home. Lorrie is chairing an ad-hoc committee for the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, implementing their Pastoral Letter on Marriage.

Please Become a Marriage Investor to View!Jason and Elise Angelette are in their sixth year of marriage and have two beautiful girls and one brand new baby boy!. Jason is the Director of Faith and Marriage and Elise is the Assistant Director.

Jason received a Masters in Theological Studies from the Pope John Paul II Institute on Studies of Marriage and Family at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.. He has gained much experience in the field of theology and family through teaching religion at Archbishop Rummel and Archbishop Hannan High School, as well as working on and speaking at various retreats and events nationwide. He is also the co-host for a weekly television program on WLAE entitled Issues and Faith.

Elise graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education. She then taught Drama and Kindergarten in Covington, La, followed by a First Grade teacher position in Alexandria, VA. Elise has been involved in music ministry, as well as retreat leadership and speaking ministry for both teens and young adults.