Fr. Paul Check

Liturgy and Belief

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi is a traditional Catholic principle maintaining that the law of prayer is the law of belief. In other words, the way we pray—especially at Mass—expresses and shapes our faith in Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him as His disciples. What is the divine architecture of the Mass, in which we are invited to participate? What grace does Our Lord offer to us when we pray and prepare to receive Him in Holy Communion? With what blessing, understanding and mission do we go forth, when the Mass is ended? 

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Fr. Paul Check was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT in 1997. In January 2008, he succeeded Fr. John Harvey as the Executive Director of Courage, a role in which he happily served until December 2016. From 2016-2020, Fr. Check was Rector of St. John Fisher Seminary in Stamford, CT. In August 2020, Cardinal Raymond Burke appointed him the Executive Director of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, WI.

Heather Voccola

The Universal Call to Holiness: Jesus Meets the Woman at the Well 

Real encounter with Jesus does not begin with our personal sanctity or perfection. It happens in the messiness of life. But once we've encountered Him, the Lord calls us to a life of transformation, conversion and evangelization. How can we, as women, best live out this call? 

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Heather Voccola serves as Executive Director of Mary and Elizabeth, an apostolate dedicated to the interior renewal of women. She has a Masters in Theology and a certification in direction through Heart of Christ Spiritual Direction. Heather currently teaches priests, religious, seminarians, and laity through Holy Apostles College and Seminary, Avila Institute, and Stella Maris Network. She serves as a supervisor in the spiritual direction program at St. Meinrad Seminary. Currently living a vow of chastity in the world within an intentional community of female missionaries, Heather has two adult daughters from a prior marriage and one son-in-law, and she will forever be grateful for the vocation of marriage and motherhood.  

Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk

Disordered Inclinations Within the Context of Spiritual Transformation

Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as Senior Ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. Father writes and speaks widely on bioethics and medical ethics. Since 2001, he has given several hundred presentations and invited lectures, and participated in debates and roundtables on contemporary bioethics throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Sister Mary Faustina, SsEW

The Spiritual Fruitfulness of Living as Daughters of God

Women have a specific call and mission within the Church to be spiritual mothers. This call and ability flows from the reality that they daughters of God. Far from limiting their fruitfulness, their sufferings can be sources of grace and encouragement for others. This talk with focus on this truth and highlight how living out one’s vocation to holiness brings about joy in this life and eternal happiness in the next.  

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Sister Mary Faustina, SsEW is a member of the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word. Sister grew up in Kentucky and joined the community in 2011. She made her final vows in 2019 and currently serves the community as vocation director. 

Fr. Thomas J. Loya

Going Back to ’SCHL’—Retrieving the Sacramental, Catholic, Human, Liturgical Worldview

How the art, architecture, liturgy and ascetical spirituality of the Church provides the integrated blueprint for all of life.

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Fr. Thomas J Loya, is currently the pastor of Annunciation of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Parish in Homer Glen, IL. He is also the host of two radio programs; “Light of the East” which can be heard in more than 60 cities across the United States on several Catholic radio networks including EWTN Radio as well as “Beyond the Veil,” heard on Ave Maria radio. Fr. Loya completed his studies for the priesthood in both Pennsylvania and Rome where he attended the North American College earning an STB from the Angelicum University. He was ordained in 1982. Fr. Loya has served the Church in youth and young adult ministry and as an artist and design consultant. He has directed many retreats and has been a guest speaker at several conventions including World Youth Day 2002. Using his background in art, counseling, and Eastern Catholic spirituality, Fr. Loya applies the principles of The Theology of the Body to an understanding of all aspects of the human experience.

Fr. Stephen Boyle, O. Praem

Behold the Amazing Gift (cf. 1Jn 3:1)

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A native of Springfield, Minnesota, Fr. Stephen Boyle was ordained a priest of St. Michael's Norbertine Abbey in California in 1990, having studied Philosophy and Theology at the Angelicum in Rome. In view of a teaching apostolate, he obtained a Mathematics degree from U.C. Irvine, while coaching sports at St. Michael’s Prep and helping in parishes on the weekends. In 2000 he was sent back to Rome to work at the Norbertine Generalate where he had lived as seminarian. Before returning to his home abbey in 2019, he obtained a License in Spirituality from the Angelicum.