Category Archives: Luncheon Speaker

November 30, 2023 Mark and Christi Tripodi Cornerstone of Hope

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Christi and Mark are the founders of Cornerstone of Hope – A Center for Grieving Children, Teens, and Adults. “We experienced the sudden death of our three year old son, Bobby, in May of 2000. Needless to say, our lives have changed since that very day. We felt God’s call to do something special in honor of Bobby and more importantly to offer support to families who have experienced the death of a loved one. Cornerstone of Hope was founded in 2003. Since our inception we have served over 40,000 individuals of all ages looking for counseling, support groups, or education pertaining to the bereaved. In August of 2011, we opened a second location in Columbus, Ohio to serve grieving individuals and families in Central Ohio. Our programs continue to grow each year. In 2014, we were blessed to gain national exposure during an episode of Animal Planet’s hit television series “Treehouse Masters”. Locally, the treehouse is known as Lisa’s Butterfly Treehouse in memory of Lisa Kurtz Luciano whose estate gift help construct this sacred space in the trees. Our goal is to duplicate our center across the country for those who also aspire to offer a place of hope and healing to those in need.”

 

 

November 2, 2023 Alan Miciak President of John Carroll University

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Join us for us and Al Miciak, JCU President, for lunch Thursday November 2nd

At John Carroll University, we prepare and inspire a diverse, global community of young women and men to solve mankind’s greatest challenges.

We invite you to bring your whole self, with all of its joys and passions, to this life-affirming and game changing experience. You will grab hold of a rigorous academic program that will sharpen your ability to think, write, and problem solve. You will experience a set of unmatched encounters and remarkable teachers/mentors and in the process feel roused to become “a woman and man for others.”

At the very moment that many outside observers in the United States doubt the power of a liberal arts education, countries around the developed world embrace its core tenets and the world’s top employers — Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook — seek its best graduates.

What employers know is that the future of work — already pulsing through our day in a cascade of data, machine learning, and the digitization of all things — will require a far different application of knowledge to judgement. As a John Carroll student and graduate, you will “robot-proof” yourself with the strength of a few key habits:

  • Developing strong habits of attention and concentration.
  • Honing an ability to construct and follow sound arguments.
  • Making sense of the unfamiliar by means of the familiar.
  • Drawing fresh ideas from a storehouse of seemingly random material.
  • Grounding your point of view in a secure set of values.

Our Jesuit mission, which has guided us throughout our history, prefers to see the world in its full 360-degree complexity and possibility. We build our potential — and connect as people — to serve something larger than our careers or ourselves. We pour more than knowledge into one another and aim the fullness and strength of our hearts to create a more just and sustainable world.

If these words quicken your pulse, and if this challenge calls you forward, we invite you to join the most diverse cohort of young people in our school’s history.

Sincerely,

Alan R. Miciak, Ph.D.
President

 

August 31, 2023Fr David Pivonka TOR President of Franciscan University of Steubenville

 
Father Dave Pivonka, TOR ’89, Named President

Standing before 1,600 current students, alumni, faculty, staff, religious, and guests on October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Franciscan University Steubenville’s first alumnus president said he did not come to start over, but to continue the good work of Franciscan University.

“I believe that God is laying a foundation for revival in our Church,” Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, ’89 said moments after being inaugurated as the University’s seventh president, “and I firmly believe that Franciscan University is being invited to be the center of that revival.”

Throughout his remarks, Father Pivonka said Franciscan University should look to Christ the Teacher.

July 6, 2023 Archbishop Timothy Broglio Archdiocese of Military Services & USCCB President

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Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio was born in 1951 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He attended Catholic schools in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Classics at Boston College, an S.T.B. in Theology and a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.

 

Archbishop Broglio was ordained to the priesthood (for the diocese of Cleveland) on 19 May 1977 in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception of the North American College, Rome.

 

From 1977 to 1979 he served as associate pastor, St. Margaret Mary Parish, South Euclid, and lectured in Theology at Notre Dame College, South Euclid. From 1979 to 1983 Archbishop Broglio attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

 

The Archbishop served as Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (1983-1987) and of the Apostolic Nunciature in Asuncion, Paraguay (1987-1990). From 1990 to 2001 Archbishop Broglio served as Chief of Cabinet to Angelo Cardinal Sodano, Secretary of State to Saint Pope John Paul II and desk officer for Central America.

 

In February 2001 the Archbishop was named Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic and Apostolic Delegate to Puerto Rico. The Archbishop was ordained as an Archbishop by His Holiness St. John Paul II on 19 March 2001.

 

On 19 November 2007 Archbishop Broglio was named the fourth Archbishop of the Military Services USA, and installed 25 January 2008, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul.

 

Archbishop Broglio is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and currently serves as President of the Conference (2022 – 2025). Most recently he served as Secretary of the Conference and as a member of the Administrative Committee. In the past he has served as Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace; Chairman of the Canonical Affairs and Church Governance Committee and of the Task Force for the 2013 Special Assembly and was a member of the Committees on Canon Law and Church Governance, for Religious Freedom, and International Justice and Peace, and the Subcommittees for the Defense of Marriage and Health Care.

 

He is a Trustee and the Chancellor of Catholic Distance University, a member of the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and is Chairman of the Communications Committee for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

 

He served as a member of the Board of Directors of CRS from 2009 to 2011, and again from 2018 to 2022.

 

The Archbishop’s honors include Commander of the National Order of Côte d’Ivoire; Commander of the Order of the Polar Star, Sweden; Grand Cross with Silver Badge of the Order of Sánchez, Duarte and Mella, Dominican Republic; Grand Officer of the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile; Commander of the Order of Antonio Jose de Irisarri of Guatemala; Grand Cross of the Order of the Libertador San Martin of Argentina; Officer of the Orden de Mayo, Argentina; Commander of the Italian Republic; Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulchre with star; Honorary Conventual Chaplain of the Order of Malta; Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael of the Wing; Grand Officer of the Order of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus; Knight Grand Cross of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George.

 

Archbishop Broglio is fluent in English, Italian, Spanish and French.

June 1, 2023 Fr Nathan Cromly, CSJ Catholicism & the Secret of Retaking American Culture

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Father Nathan Cromly is a nationally known speaker, writer, retreat leader, explorer, innovator, educator, and he is totally devoted to Our Lady. Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, he has joyfully served as a Catholic priest of the Brothers of Saint John since 2007, and currently ministers in Denver, Colorado. Father Nathan’s teaching and dynamic witness has touched the lives of tens of thousands of teenagers, married couples, families, and business professionals. Father Nathan is the President and Founder of the Saint John Institute whose ministries have been inspiring, equipping and engaging Catholics since 2003. There are three integrated ministries: Eagle Eye Ministries whose outreach and formation to young adults through retreats and excursions inspires them to lead; the Saint John Leadership Institute that equips adults to lead through in-person courses and on-line classes and webinars; and the Saint John Leadership Network that engages business and family leaders to Dare Great Things for Christ by integrating Catholic leadership into the family, culture and professional world through formation, fellowship and prayer.

May 4, 2023 Christopher Check, President of Catholic Answers

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Christopher Check is president of Catholic Answers. A graduate of Rice University, for nearly two decades he served as vice president of The Rockford Institute. Before that he served for seven years as a field artillery officer in the Marine Corps, attaining the grade of captain. He lectures on Church and military history. He and his wife, Jacqueline, have four sons. The Checks show and breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, famed companions of the Stuart kings, under the kennel name Top Meadow Cavaliers, named for G.K. Chesterton’s Beaconsfield estate.

April 6, 2023 The Challenge & Promise of Catholic Higher Education – Sister Christine De Vinne, OSU, PhD, the seventeenth president of Ursuline College

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President Sister Christine De Vinne

 

Building on the foundation of her predecessors, Sister Christine directs her efforts toward raising the profile of the College across the region, increasing student enrollment and student success, expanding community partnerships, and strengthening support for faculty and staff development.

 

Sister Christine grew up in Cleveland Heights, where she had the benefit of an Ursuline education at Saint Ann School and then at Beaumont School. After high school, she entered the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland and earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics, summa cum laude, from Ursuline College.

 

From 1973 to 1985 she taught in parish elementary schools at Christ the King in East Cleveland, Saint Clare in Lyndhurst, and Saint Mary Magdalene in Willowick. In 1985, after earning her Master of Arts in English from the University of Notre Dame, she returned to Beaumont School as faculty member and assistant principal.

 

In 1996, she earned her Ph.D. in English from The Ohio State University and joined the faculty at Ursuline College, where she taught in the Ursuline Studies Program, which she directed from 1999 to 2001, and the English Department. Under her leadership as dean from 2001 to 2010, the School of Arts and Sciences introduced its Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree, launched a dual admission program with the University of Toledo College of Pharmacy, and established academic initiative mini-grants to support faculty research and curriculum design.

 

In 2010, she became Vice President for Academic Affairs at Notre Dame of Maryland University, where she served until 2015. There she oversaw $4,000,000 in academic grants, collaborated with Student Life in increasing student retention, and supported the Deans in initial certification for the School of Pharmacy, an entry-level Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree, the Trailblazer program for first-generation students, and the Academy of Catholic Educators (ACES).

 

Active in her profession, she is a past president of the American Name Society, where she serves as a member of the Editorial Board and book review editor of its quarterly, Names: A Journal of Onomastics. She writes and presents in the fields of name studies, life-writing, and higher education administration and mission.

 

She and her sister Virginia (UC ’72) have been members of the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland for more than forty years. Her family also includes her sister Maureen (SJ/UC ’76) and brother-in-law Jake in New York and her niece Kelley, as well as her brother Michael and sister-in-law Martha, along with nephews James and Nick, in Baltimore.

Sister Christine De Vinne

President, Ursuline College