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The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Eucharistic Congress!

Eucharistic Congress draws more than 1,500 faithful to St. Mary’s Cathedral

By Christina Gray

The heart of the Catholic faith — the Eucharist — was explored, experienced, and reverenced by more than 1,500 people at a day-long Eucharistic Congress at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Saturday, June 10.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco organized the bi-lingual Congress featuring Eucharistic preaching from more than 10 speakers, followed by Eucharistic adoration, Mass and Eucharistic procession as part of the National Eucharistic Revival. The day also included the Sacrament of Reconciliation, musical meditation provided by the Benedict XVI Institute, and 22 exhibitors featuring all things Catholic and ways for people to engage in apostolates and ministries across the Archdiocese.

“Eucharistic Revival is all about falling more in love with Jesus in the Eucharist”

Most Rev. Donald Joseph Hying, Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin
The National Eucharistic Revival was conceived by the U.S. Bishops and launched in dioceses across the nation last year on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). It is a three-year grassroots movement to elevate the core Catholic belief that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

A 2019 Pew Research Center study revealed that nearly 70% of self-identified U.S. Catholics polled believed that the bread and wine used at Mass are mere “symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” The Eucharistic Revival aims to create at both local and national levels encounters for the faithful to grow in their understanding and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Pope Francis describes the Revival as “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ,” particularly through the transforming power and mercy of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

Opening the Congress with prayer in the packed cathedral was San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who expressed gratitude to the U.S. bishops for prioritizing the project aimed at “reviving Eucharistic faith among our Catholic people.”

“This is really at the heart of our identity as Catholic people,” he said. “We’re Eucharist centered. We know this is Christ’s body, blood, soul, and divinity.”

Most Rev. Peter J. Sartain, Archbishop Emeritus of Seattle, was the English-language keynote speaker, and addressed the Revival’s theme — “My Flesh for the Life of the World” — in both morning and afternoon sessions.

“We are here today because we as individuals, and also because we as a church, need a rededication to the reality of the Lord’s body and blood given to us in sacrifice on Calvary and every time we receive Holy Communion and participate in Mass.”

Most Rev. Archbishop Peter J. Sartain, Archbishop of Seattle
Most Rev. Donald Joseph Hying, Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin, offered the Spanish-language keynote.

“What a joy to see the faith of so many good Catholics here in the Archdiocese sharing their love for the Lord in the Eucharist,” Bishop Hying said. “Eucharistic Revival is all about falling more in love with Jesus in the Eucharist. Each one of us is sent to be a witness to the power of the Eucharist.”

Bishop Hying challenged attendees to think of people in their lives who have drifted away from Mass.

“How can we witness to them the necessity of coming to Mass in order to know the joy, the salvation, and love of Jesus spoken in His word celebrated in the Sacrament?” he said.

Archbishop Sartain said we as Catholics are defined as “sacramental people.” The Eucharist, he said, “makes us who we are.”

“We are here today because we as individuals, and also because we as a church, need a rededication to the reality of the Lord’s body and blood given to us in sacrifice on Calvary and given to us every time we receive Holy Communion and participate in Mass,” he said. “We need to be reawakened to its gift.”

He explained the centrality of the Eucharist through the words of two early Christians who continued to practice their faith in defiance of Roman Emperor Diocletian (284-286 AD). They were discovered and eventually martyred.

When questioned why they would disobey the orders of the emperor, one among the group of 49 said: “Don’t you know that it is the Sunday Eucharist that makes the Christian, and the Christian that makes the Sunday Eucharist. One cannot subsist without the other.”

Another offered that, “Without Sunday, we cannot live,” a statement of faith that foretold his execution.

Archbishop Sartain said sacred scripture makes clear that Jesus Himself is peace, the promised gift of the Father, and “the long-awaited shalom.”

God’s “loving plan” was to come after us through His Son, “even when we walked away from Him,” he said. “He came to get us in the most radical and complete of ways.”

“Every time we participate in the Holy Eucharist and receive the Lord’s body and blood, we are receiving the fullness of that gift of shalom that Jesus Himself won for us,” he said.

Dr. Scott French, a practicing emergency room physician, was among the morning lineup of speakers. French spoke on “21st Century Eucharistic Miracles.”

Eucharistic miracles are phenomena such as consecrated hosts visibly producing blood from the inside out, transforming into heart tissue, being preserved for extremely long time periods, or remaining intact even when thrown into fire.

“Every time we participate in the Holy Eucharist and receive the Lord’s body and blood, we are receiving the fullness of that gift of shalom that Jesus Himself won for us.”

Dr. Peter French, emergency room physician
“Prior to the 21st century, there were plenty of Eucharistic miracles but not the science to prove them,” said French, who showed images of such miracles, notably blood seeping from the center of the Eucharist held above a chalice by a priest.

French linked the alarming rise of suicide, depression, and other behavioral disorders in youth he sees more and more often in the emergency room, to relativism and secular belief that science and faith are incompatible.

“The Eucharist is the medicine of immortality,” he said. “We have lost that if 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence.”

Other morning presentations included Hector Molina, who spoke on “Eucharistic Typology: The Hidden Manna Revealed.” Husband and wife presenters Carlo and Thea Fiatarone, spoke to youth on “God’s Love Made Visible,” and Jesse Romero offered in Spanish, “La Eucarista: La Medicina de la Inmortalidad.”

After lunch, attendees made their way from the event halls back to the Cathedral for a Holy Hour led by Archbishop Cordileone. The Holy Hour generated the largest crowds of the day, and the faithful engaged in Eucharistic hymns and prayed the Rosary for an increase in vocations to marriage, the priesthood, and religious life in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Afternoon speakers included Father John Trigilio, Jr., whose presentation, “Stay with Us Lord,” drew upon Luke 24:29 and the disciples who encountered the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus. Simone Rizkallah spoke on “The Eucharist and the Epidemic of Loneliness.” Braden Johnson spoke to the youth on “The Bread of Life,” and Vicente Del Real offered in Spanish, “La Eucharist Como Fuente de Tranformacion en Nuestra Vida.”

“This is what we are doing today, holding up our Eucharistic Lord in the heart of the city named after His great servant Francis, to reclaim our city for true love of God.”

Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone
At multiple points during the day, attendees had opportunities to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Congress ended with a Mass, Eucharistic procession and Benediction.

In his homily, Archbishop Cordileone reiterated the importance of living a Eucharistic life — not just in worship, but also in the world.

In speaking of the city’s patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi, Archbishop Cordileone noted that, “We are having a Eucharistic revival because we need to reignite that true Franciscan spirit of piety, a piety not limited to one dimension or another of our faith, but true Eucharistic faith, a faith that recognizes both the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and, because of that, His presence in the poor whom He calls us to love with His Eucharistic heart. “

Archbishop Cordileone continued, “This is what we are doing today, “holding up our Eucharistic Lord in the heart of the city named after His great servant Francis, to reclaim our city for true love of God and the poor that Francis so effectively modeled: that is, a life of reverence for the sacred.”

Christina Gray is the lead writer for Catholic San Francisco magazine.

Photos: Dennis Callahan, Archdiocese of San Francisco

Eucharistic Congress Speakers

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore J. Cordileone was born in San Diego on June 5, 1956 to Leon and Mary Cordileone, who raised their family in Blessed Sacrament Parish. Salvatore was the second son and the third of their four children.

Family history and youth
Archbishop Cordileone’s grandparents were from Sicily; his paternal grandfather was a fisherman and his maternal grandfather, Salvatore, a farmer. His paternal uncle, Joe, died in World War II.

The Archbishop’s father, Leon Cordileone, was born in San Francisco. He moved with his family to San Diego when he was four. Later, he worked with his three brothers in the family commercial fishing business and later bought his own albacore fishing boat.

Mary, the Archbishop’s mother, was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, the oldest of four sisters. In 1947 she and her family moved to San Diego where she met Leon. The two were married on November 13, 1949.

Salvatore attended public grammar and high schools and was an active participant in after-school religion classes and high school music programs, including the concert band, marching band and stage band. He graduated from San Diego’s Crawford High School in June 1974.

A call to priesthood
The following December, during his first year of college at San Diego State University, he was encouraged by a young parish priest he respected to attend a seminary vocation retreat. It was during this first year that the Archbishop discerned his call to the priesthood, entering St. Francis Seminary and transferring as a sophomore to the University of San Diego.

Salvatore Cordileone graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in Philosophy. He was accepted to study in Rome and continued in the seminary at the Pontifical North American College. He received an undergraduate degree in Sacred Theology in 1981 from the Pontifical Gregorian University and the following year returned to San Diego to be ordained and begin his first pastoral assignment.

From pastor to monsignor to bishop
On July 9, 1982, Bishop Leo T. Maher ordained the Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone. Soon thereafter, he became associate pastor at St. Martin of Tours Parish in La Mesa, where he remained for three years. In 1985 he was again sent to Rome, this time to study the new Code of Canon Law. He spent the next four years again at the Gregorian University completing his doctoral degree.

Upon Father Cordileone’s return to San Diego in 1989, he became secretary to Coadjutor Bishop Robert Brom, and a year later became adjunct judicial vicar. Pastoral work called to him again in 1991 and he became pastor of Calexico’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, four blocks from the Mexican border.

In 1995 he was called to Rome and for the next seven years served as assistant at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest canonical court.

On July 5, 2002, Pope John Paul II appointed then-Monsignor Cordileone as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego. He was ordained a bishop on August 21, 2002 by Bishop Brom. In addition to serving on the various consultative bodies of the diocese during his years as auxiliary of San Diego, Bishop Cordileone also chaired the Corporate Board of Catholic Charities and was a member of the University of San Diego Board of Trustees, serving on its Academic Affairs and Mission and Vision Committees.

The Archbishop of San Francisco
On March 23, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Cordileone as the fourth Bishop of Oakland. His Mass of Installation was celebrated on May 5, 2009 at the Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland. Three years later, on July 27, 2012, he was appointed the Archbishop of San Francisco and was installed on October 4, 2012, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.

As the new Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of San Francisco, Archbishop Cordileone received the pallium from Pope Francis in Rome on June 29, 2013.

Archbishop Cordileone is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and also of its Committee for Canonical Affairs and Church Governance. He currently serves as well on the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, Subcommittee on the Catechism, and Eucharistic Revival Bishops’ Advisory Group. In addition, the Archbishop serves on a number of boards to support Church efforts beyond the USCCB, including the Catholic Benefits Association/Catholic Insurance Company, Cross Catholic Outreach Board of Directors, the Courage Apostolate Episcopal Board, the Governing Board of the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria, and is a founding member of the Episcopal Advisory Board of the Catholic Healthcare Leaders Association. The Archbishop also serves as the Prior of the American Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George.

Archbishop Cordileone’s avocations include a life-long interest in jazz music. He also enjoys swimming, hiking and badminton, as well as spectator sports, especially professional baseball and football.

James Peter Sartain was born in Memphis, Tenn. and was ordained on July 15, 1978, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception after studying for the priesthood in Indiana and Rome. At the time of his episcopal appointment, Father Sartain was vicar general of the Diocese of Memphis and pastor of St. Louis Church. He had vacationed in neighboring Arkansas and made retreats at Subiaco Abbey.

His installation as the sixth bishop of Little Rock on March 6, 2000, drew 2,600 Catholics to Robinson Auditorium. The new shepherd’s shared focus became fostering religious vocations among the youth — he visited often with seminarians and their families — while ministering to the state’s burgeoning Hispanic population, notably in northwest Arkansas. He took a crash course in Spanish at the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio in 2001.

Bishop Sartain built on a foundation laid by his predecessor, Bishop McDonald, by continuing to celebrate Masses said on a statewide scale in both English and Spanish and by re-emphasizing the need for priests and seminarians to learn the second language.

He dedicated new parishes organized by Hispanic immigrants in Danville and Glenwood, led an eight-day diocesan pilgrimage to Mexico in 2004, ordained a Mexican-born priest and deacon, and joined the nation’s bishops in calling for immigration reform with an emphasis on human dignity. Many Mexican-born immigrants worked in poultry plants across Arkansas.

An intensely prayerful man, Bishop Sartain challenged all priests and religious in the diocese to deepen their commitment by taking time daily to give themselves to God. A gifted communicator, Bishop Sartain spoke and wrote with passion and eloquence. His weekly columns in the Arkansas Catholic often reflected on his relationship with Jesus Christ and the challenges of living a Christian life. He published a 385-page collection of selected columns in 2005.

The Bishop held national offices within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, including a three-year term as chairman of the Committee on the Home Missions. The need for vocations remained a constant theme, especially given the aging group of diocesan priests who were struggling to serve a Catholic population that rose from 90,600 when Bishop Sartain came to Arkansas to more than 107,000 upon his departure.

Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Sartain, 53, the fourth Bishop of Joliet, Ill. on May 16, 2006. Four years later, on Sept. 16, 2010, the Holy Father appointed the Bishop to the Archdiocese of Seattle. On Dec. 1, Archbishop Sartain was installed as the fifth archbishop of western Washington’s 579,000 registered Catholics.

After nine years leading the Archdiocese of Seattle, Archbishop Sartain’s request for retirement was accepted by Pope Francis. Archbishop Sartain retired on September 3, 2019.

The youngest of six sons, Bishop Donald Joseph Hying was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, to parents Albert and Catherine Hying on August 18, 1963. He attended St. Aloysius and Immaculate Heart of Mary grade schools, and Brookfield Central High School. Bishop Hying received his bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and his master’s degree from St. Francis Seminary.

On May 20, 1989, Bishop Hying was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. His first priestly assignment was as a parochial vicar for St. Anthony Parish, Menomonee Falls, from 1989 to 1994. Fr. Hying served as a Team Member for La Sagrada Familia Parroquia in the Dominican Republic from 1994 to 1997. He returned to the United States and served as the parochial administrator of St. Peter Parish (1998), then as the parochial vicar of St. Anthony Parish, Milwaukee, from 1998 to 1999. He was then appointed the pastor of Our Lady of Good Hope Parish, Milwaukee from 1999 to 2005. In 2006, Fr. Hying served as the parochial administrator of St. Augustine Parish, Milwaukee. He served as the Dean of Formation at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary from 2005 to 2007, and was appointed the rector of St. Francis de Sales Seminary by Most Reverend Timothy Michael Dolan, Archbishop of Milwaukee, and served in that capacity from 2007 until 2011.

On May 26, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Fr. Donald Hying the Titular Bishop of Regiae and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He was consecrated a bishop on July 20, 2011 by Most Reverend Jerome Edward Listecki, Archbishop of Milwaukee.

On November 24, 2014, His Holiness, Pope Francis, appointed Bishop Hying as the Fourth Bishop of Gary (Indiana). Bishop Hying’s installation in the Diocese of Gary took place on January 6, 2015. On April 25, 2019, His Holiness, Pope Francis, appointed Most Reverend Donald J. Hying the Fifth Bishop of Madison (Wisconsin). Bishop Hying’s installation in the Diocese of Madison took place on June 25, 2019.

Bishop Hying serves as Episcopal Advisor to the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He is also a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities and the Committee on Catholic Education. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Catholic Relief Services and Relevant Radio.

Dr. Scott French is a practicing board certified Emergency Physician who noted the rapidly in- creasing rates of depression, suicides, and other behavioral disorders among our youth. In the process of searching for a solution, Dr. French was able to view the Shroud of Turin in 2015. This spurred a search for the full truth, and ultimately led Scott to Father Robert Spitzer’s Magis Center in 2015, and subsequently became a volunteer and board member.

Recent research has demonstrated that the secular world belief that faith and science are incompatible, as well as relativism, has had a devastating effect on our children.  Unfortunately, this secular world view is spread wide and deep even among Catholics, due to the fact that secular schools, media, and entertainment only pro- mote this false world view.

Unfortunately, the COVID19 pandemic has caused an even steeper rise in despair and suicide among our youth, and now has become a crisis. It is estimated that far more youth will die of suicide, drug overdose, and violence than from COVID19.

There is credible and significant evidence that the Shroud of Turin is in fact the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. Further, there is also science that supports the contention that image on the Shroud is in fact evidence of the Resurrection, which is the defeat of death, and the promise of eternal life in heaven.

Dr. French presents the amazing 21st century validated medical/scientific evidence that the Eucharist is the living blood, body, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Interestingly, the 21st century medical/scientific evidence of the Eucharist is tied to the 21st century evidence of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.

… and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  John 8:32

Hector Molina is an international evangelist, bible teacher, pilgrimage leader, podcaster, and digital content creator. For over three decades he has traveled the globe proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Dubbed “The Motivangelist” for his dynamic and motivational style of preaching and teaching, Hector strives to inspire and equip Catholics to know, live, and share their faith with passion and purpose.

Hector began his ministerial career as a pastoral associate in his home Diocese of Brooklyn before relocating to the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where he served as Director of Hispanic Ministry and later as Founding Director of the Office for The New Evangelization. A former staff apologist of Catholic Answers and CEO of Casting Nets Ministries, Hector continues to bring his compelling proclamation of the gospel and clear teaching of the faith to the world through his inspiring parish missions, retreats, seminars, and conferences, as well through his digital apostolate, Upper Room Studios. To learn more about Hector, visit: www.HectorMolina.com

Father John Trigilio, Jr. is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, the son of the late John Trigilio, Sr. (of Sicilian descent) and his late wife Elizabeth (of Polish descent). He is the eldest of five siblings, three of whom passed away before their parents. After completing eight years of primary school at Blessed Sacrament Parish School, Fr. Trigilio entered Saint Mark High School and College Seminary in 1976. He graduated from Gannon University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts (majoring in Theology and Philosophy). After studying for the Diocese of Erie and later for the Diocese of Arlington, Father Trigilio joined the Diocese of Harrisburg, where he was ordained in 1988 by Cardinal William Keeler. He completed his formation at the Seminary of the Holy Apostles in Cromwell, Connecticut, and at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Northampton, Pennsylvania. Fr. Trigilio is also a cooperator of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei.

His first two assignments were as a parochial vicar, followed by a year at the Diocesan Tribunal and as Catholic chaplain at two hospitals. He was reassigned as a parochial vicar in three different parishes, and in June 2002 was named pastor of two parishes (Our Lady of Good Counsel, Marysville, and St. Bernadette, Duncannon), where he continues to serve.

Father Trigilio holds a Doctorate in Medieval Philosophy and a Doctorate in Theology in Biblical Studies. He is a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and, since 2002, has served as president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (a national association of 600 priests and deacons).

He co-hosted a weekly television series on EWTN with Father Robert Levis, titled Web of Faith, for more than eight years, and has been an online spiritual advisor for EWTN for fifteen years. Father Trigilio is coauthor, together with Father Ken Brighenti, of several books including Catholicism for Dummies, Women in the Bible for Dummies, John Paul II for Dummies, Saints for Dummies, Everything Bible Book, and Catholicism Answer Book. He has also presented television and radio series such as Council of Faith, Crash Course in Catholicism, and Crash Course on John Paul II for EWTN, broadcast via cable, satellite, internet, and shortwave radio.

Fr. Trigilio regularly contributes articles to Homiletic & Pastoral Review as well as The Priest Magazine. He is listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in Religion and Who’s Who in America. He is also a Fourth-Degree Knight of Columbus and Chaplain of the Sons of Italy, as well as director of the Italo-American Apostolate of the Diocese of Harrisburg. He preaches retreats at Casa Maria in Irondale, Alabama, lectures across the country, and appears twice a month on the program Q&A Open Forum of Catholic Answers Live.

Simone Rizkallah previously worked at St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Phoenix, Arizona as Theology Department Chair and Senior Theology Teacher. She is also an Institute of Catholic Theology Fellow based on the campus of St. Thomas the Apostle in Phoenix, Arizona.

Her graduate degree is in Theological Studies with an emphasis in Systematic Theology from Christendom College. Her undergraduate studies and professional background include marketing communications, media, radio, and theatre before discovering her passion for the Faith and the call to evangelize through teaching, speaking, and writing.

As the daughter of immigrants from the Armenian Diaspora in Cairo, Egypt, she is an Eastern-Rite Catholic and also an Episcopal appointee of the Eparchial Directors of Religious Education (ECED). The ECED is a catechetical committee of Eastern Catholic directors of religious education appointed by the USCCB’s Eastern Catholic Association of Bishops (ECA).

In her free time she enjoys teaching RCIA, speaking and writing. She has been published in ChurchPOP, Aleteia, Verily, CatholicU, and Ethika Politika and was featured as a Guest Contributor in the book Road Signs for Catholic Teens published by Our Sunday Visitor. She blogs at www.culturalgypsy.com

About ENDOW

Simone Rizkallah, is the Director Of Program Growth At Endow (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) seeks to educate women toward a more profound understanding of their God-given dignity through study in small group communities of faith and friendship. Rooted in the teachings of Pope St. John Paul II, Endow affirms the genius of women – the feminine genius – and empowers them to fulfill our culture’s desperate need for an authentic feminine presence in every aspect of life and society.

Endow attracts women of all ages, races, nationalities, and vocations and brings them together to read and discuss papal and magisterial documents as well as the lives and writings of the saints. Endow group members encounter the Catholic intellectual tradition together, sometimes for the very first time, and learn how to recognize, cultivate and live the fullness of their feminine genius in their families, workplaces, and communities.

Jesse Romero is a full-time bilingual Catholic Lay Evangelist, who is nationally acclaimed for his dynamic, upbeat Christ centered preaching. His preaching apostolate is “On Fire Evangelization.”

Jesse is a resident of Arizona and a retired Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff who has been married to his wife Anita since 1983, and is parent of three children and grandchildren.

He has a B.A. from Mount St Mary’s University in Los Angeles and an M.A. in Catholic Theology from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. He is a bilingual Catholic author. (1) Recipient of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Award, (2) The Fullness of Truth “Defender of Faith” Award & (3) “Sports Faith International Award”.

Jesse has been on Catholic radio for over 15 years now hosting teaching and speaking in English & Spanish. Currently on virginmostpowerfulradio.org hosting “The Terry and Jesse Show,” & “Jesus 911.” Jesse is also a host on a spanish network show Enfamilia Radio” in Phoenix, Arizona.

  • He speaks on all things Catholic such as:
  • Catholic Evangelization
  • Apologetics
  • Marriage & Family
  • Male Spirituality
  • Spiritual Warfare
  • Culture Wars
  • Teen & Chastity talks

Jesse has been preaching since 1995. He has also defended Holy Mother Church in several official debates with different Protestant Pastors, and on Spanish television against secular humanist.

Jesse’s motto is: Love God, Save Souls, & Slay Error!

Vicente Del Real is the founder of Iskali. He is currently a student at Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative within the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business as part of LBAN.

He is an adjunct faculty at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University in Chicago and other universities.

Vicente was recognized as part of 2020’s class of 40 under 40, by name by Negocios Now, a national award-winning Hispanic business publication, that recognizes 40 leaders and entrepreneurs in the Hispanic community under the age of 40 in Chicagoland.

He earned Master’s Degree in Pastoral Arts from Catholic Theological Union.

Carlo & Thea Fiatarone met doing missionary work with the Salesians of Don Bosco. They are passionate about youth evangelization and bringing parishes and school communities together to foster a Catholic, pro-life culture in San Francisco.

Thea Fiatarone is a Bay Area native from El Sobrante but has lived in San Francisco the past 10 years. She is currently the Director of Campus Ministry at ICA Cristo Rey. She has been in catechetical education for over 15 years working with Junior High and High School students. Her passions include gardening, cooking and caring for all animals.

Carlo Fiatarone has worked as a youth minister, campus minster, and theology teacher at various parishes and schools in the Bay Area. He currently serves as Director of Mission for St. Anthony Foundation in the Tenderloin where he is responsible for helping make St. Anthony’s a visible home of the Franciscan Movement. He is committed to serving those in need and inspiring others to do the same. In his free time, Carlo can be found cycling the Marin Headlands, drumming with his Bluegrass band, or practicing yoga at his favorite studio in the East Bay.

Growing up Braden played competitive basketball, did semi-professional singing, and made content with famous social media influencers. During his freshman year of college his life changed dramatically as he discovered that his fulfillment could only be found in God. His passion is now to awaken hearts to the abundant life that Christ offers. He has been able to live out this passion working in college ministry, and now full-time as a speaker for conferences, schools, parishes, and retreats.

Braden’s Passion
Scripture tells us that from within the heart are the sources of life. Many of us go to the wrong places seeking the abundant life that can only be found in Christ. My Passion is to awaken and direct these longings within the heart. I want to see a culture of people that are passionate and excited about the Faith.