Who We Are

Jane Frances Adolphe

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jane Frances Adolphe

Dr. Adolphe is a Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law (AMSL), in Naples, Florida (2001 – present), and an Adjunct Professor of the University of Notre Dame, School of Law, Sydney. She has worked as an external and internal legal advisor for the Holy See, Secretariat, Section for Relations with States and writes in the area of international law and the Holy See.

Adolphe is a civil lawyer holding degrees in common law and civil law (B.C.L./LL.B) from McGill University and is qualified to practice law in the State of New York and the Province of Alberta. She holds a doctorate in canon law (J.C.L./J.C.D) from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, in Rome, Italy. Her doctoral thesis is entitled: A Light to the Nations: The Holy See and the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Adolphe established the International Catholic Jurists Forum (ICJF), in 2014, which has organized multiple international expert meetings, some resulting in books that she has co-edited: Clerical Sexual Misconduct: An Interdisciplinary Analysis (Cluny: 2020); Equality and Non-discrimination: Catholic Roots, Current Challenges (Pickwick: 2019); The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East: Prevention, Prohibition, Prosecution (Angelico Press: 2018).

Another notable book is St. Paul, the Natural Law and Contemporary Legal Theory (Lexington: 2012), which is co-edited with Dr. Robert Fastiggi. It is the outcome document of a speaking series between theologians from Sacred Heart Major Seminary and AMSL law professors. Held during the “Year of St. Paul,” declared as such by Pope Benedict XVI, the book responds to a specific request to AMSL President and Dean, Bernard Dobranski, for a conference on the natural law. That request had been made some years earlier by Pope Benedict in his capacity as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.

She began her legal career clerking with the Court of Appeal and Queens Bench in Calgary, Alberta, and the law firm Bennett Jones Verchere, then prosecuted criminal cases for the Alberta Crown Prosecutor’s Office, and later worked as a legal consultant to a law firm in Rome, and to non-governmental organizations lobbying at United Nations’ conferences, before participating as a member of various delegations of the Holy See at international meetings.

Curriculum Vitae

Publications (BePress): https://works.bepress.com/ProfessorJaneAdolphe/

Michael Arthur Vacca

DIRECTOR

Michael Arthur Vacca

Michael Arthur Vacca, a devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a licensed attorney in Michigan and holds a B.A. in Political Philosophy and English Literature from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, MI. He holds a Juris Doctorate from Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida. He has a certification in Catholic Healthcare Ethics from Catholic Distance University and the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and is a certified spiritual director. From 2010-2012, Michael served as a legal advisor for the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for the Family in Rome, Italy, wherein he advocated for the defense of human life, religious freedom, and the natural family on the international, regional, and national level. Michael is a widely publicized legal scholar that has written on the natural moral law, human life, natural marriage, religious freedom, and bioethics issues. Michael serves as the Director of Ministry, Bioethics, and Membership Experience for Christ Medicus Foundation CURO. He is blessed to be married to his best friend Sarah.

Curriculum Vitae


Brian Hildebrand

IT SUPPORT AND WEB DEVELOPER

Brian Hildebrand

Brian serves as IT support and web guru for ICJurist.org. He is the President and Lead Developer for Arbor Web Guru LLC, a web development business he started in 2017. He is also an instructor for IT related college courses at Eastern Michigan University. Brian obtained a JD from Ave Maria School of Law in 2010 but later decided to pursue his interest in computers. He holds a Masters in Science in Computer Science from Eastern Michigan University and is a PhD candidate at Eastern Michigan University College of Engineering and Technology. He is currently working on building a blockchain-based electronic voting (e-voting) platform secured by quantum encryption for his dissertation.

Curriculum Vitae


Marissa Ann Eckelkamp

FELLOW

Marissa Ann Eckelkamp

Marissa A. Eckelkamp is a licensed attorney in the state of Florida. She holds a Juris Doctor with a concentration in the Natural Law from Ave Maria School of Law and holds a B.A. in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville. During law school, she interned with the Thomas More Society in Chicago and The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations and Specialized Agencies in Geneva. Prior to law school, she was a representative of the International Solidarity and Human Rights Institute at the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations Headquarters. She is currently working on a publication entitled The Development of the Holy See’s Ostpolitik. In addition to her work as a Fellow, Marissa is in charge of social communications and certain media projects.

Curriculum Vitae


ADVISORS


Ted Afield, Esq

W. Edward “Ted” Afield, Esq

Ted Afield serves as the associate dean for experiential education and director of clinical programs at the College of Law, where he is also the Mark and Evelyn Trammell Clinical Professor and director of the Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic. He joined the faculty after serving as associate professor of law and associate dean for Academic Affairs at Ave Maria School of Law.

Prior to entering the academy, Afield practiced law in Tampa, Florida, with the firms Fowler White Boggs Banker PA (now Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC) and Barnett, Bolt, Kirkwood, Long & McBride (now Gunster) and clerked for Judge Charles R. Wilson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Afield’s research focuses on tax compliance and professional regulation as well as on exploring the intersection of tax law with religion both as a normative compliance issue and as an issue impacting the political participation of tax-exempt religious organizations. In addition, he has conducted policy research into both state and federal tax issues that impact educational policy, as well as more practice focused doctrinal research into tax procedure for the practicing bar and, in particular, for the community of low-income taxpayer clinics. Recent publications have appeared in The Tax Lawyer, the Villanova Law Review, the South Carolina Law Review, and the Nevada Law Journal, among others.

Afield is a member of the American College of Tax Counsel and served a three-year term on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council from 2020-2022. He is also past-chair of the Teaching Methods Section of The Association of American Law Schools.

He holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an articles editor on the Columbia Business Law Review, an LL.M. (taxation) from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, and an A.B. in history, cum laude, from Harvard College, where he was a member of the Harvard Varsity Fencing Team and a tenor in the Harvard University Choir.


Kathryn L. Allen, Esq

Kathryn L. Allen, Esq

Kathryn L. Allen is an associate attorney primarily practicing first party property litigation at Vernis & Bowling in Fort Myers, Florida. She was born in Melbourne, Australia and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated from California University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. After college, Kathryn worked for The Bank of New York Mellon where she held various positions in Investment Services and Control Management. She later attended Ave Maria School of Law where she earned her Juris Doctor. While in law school, Kathryn was a member of the Federalist Society, Lex Vitae Society, and St. Thomas More Society. She has planned and organized numerous events furthering Catholic culture and evangelization. Kathryn is President of the Legion of Mary presidium, Immaculate Conception.


Ryan T. Anderson

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., is the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the Founding Editor of Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey. He is the author of When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment and Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom. He is the co-author of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense and Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination, and the co-editor of A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism? Perspectives from “The Review of Politics.”

Anderson’s research has been cited by two U.S. Supreme Court justices, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, in two Supreme Court cases. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, and he received his doctoral degree in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. His dissertation was titled: “Neither Liberal Nor Libertarian: A Natural Law Approach to Social Justice and Economic Rights.”

Anderson has made appearances on ABC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News. His work has been published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Harvard Health Policy Review, the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, First Things, the Claremont Review of Books, and National Review.

He is the John Paul II Teaching Fellow in Social Thought at the University of Dallas, a member of the James Madison Society at Princeton University, and a Fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.

For nine years he was the William E. Simon senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and has served as an adjunct professor of philosophy and political science at Christendom College, and a Visiting Fellow at the Veritas Center at Franciscan University. He has also served as an assistant editor of First Things. Follow him on Twitter at @RyanTAnd and for his latest essays and videos you can follow his public Facebook page.


Rev. Dr. Brian T. Austin, F.S.S.P., J.C.D., Ph.D.

Rev. Dr. Brian T. Austin, F.S.S.P., J.C.D., Ph.D.

Father Austin is a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter and a part-time professor of canon law at Saint Paul University in Ottawa and Emory University School of Law in Atlanta (under the aegis of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion).

He holds degrees from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD (B.A., Liberal Arts), Saint Paul University / University of Ottawa (J.C.L. / M.C.L., Canon Law), and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium (J.C.D., Ph.D., Canon Law).

He is a specialist in penal law whose work focuses on questions of legality, due process, and the equal protection of rights. He has served on various committees of the Canon Law Society of America and is a regular contributor to Roman Replies and Advisory Opinions, Studia canonica, and The Jurist.


José-Luis Bazán

José-Luis Bazán

José-Luis Bazán is a legal advisor for Migration and Asylum and Religious Freedom and Secretary of the COMECE Working Group on Migration and Asylum.



Dana J. Becker

Dana J. Becker

Dana J. Becker is a real estate attorney. She specializes in commercial real estate matters, including the acquisition and disposition of properties, mortgage and mezzanine financing, loan and real property portfolio transactions, condominium and co-op conversions, and retail and commercial leasing. Dana was the founding director of education for the World Youth Alliance Foundation and has served as a board member for the Catholic Education Institute since 2014. She has also served as a consultant to the Holy See Permanent Mission to the United Nations regarding the 45th Session of the Commission on Population and Development on Adolescence and Youth since 2012.



Mark Bonner

Mark Bonner

Professor Bonner began his legal career at the U.S. Department of Justice and served in a variety of capacities there for more than 25 years, including Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Resident Legal Advisor in Moscow. For 10 years, he directed the investigation and prosecution of high-profile federal cases involving international and domestic terrorism. He subsequently joined the U.S. Department of Treasury, where he held the position of Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to the Undersecretary of the Treasury for Enforcement. Prior to coming to Ave Maria, Professor Bonner served as a Senior Advisor in the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Office of International Affairs, where he oversaw the Department’s activities within the Group of 8 (G8) countries. He also taught as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center for 13 years.


Fulvio Di Blasi

Fulvio Di Blasi

Fulvio Di Blasi is an attorney, a legal mediator, and a philosopher expert in St. Thomas Aquinas, ethics, bioethics, and natural law theory. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Law and did post-doctoral research at the Internationale Akademie fuer Philosophie in the Principality of Liechtenstein. He is the Director of the Thomas International Center for Philosophical Studies (USA), and serves as Scientific Coordinator, Professional Mediator, and Professor of Mediation credited by the Italian Ministry of Justice, of some mediation companies.

He is former Research Fellow for the Italian National Council of Research (CNR), the highest governmental research institution in Italy, Research Associate at the Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame, Director of Ethical Research at Novarete, Director of the Tommaso d’Aquino Research Center of the ARCES University College, Creator and Director of the European STEP project. He also taught Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame (USA), Philosophy and General Theory of law at LUMSA Law School (Italy), Bioethical Aspects of Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome), and Action Theory at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Poland).

He has been a lead organizer for international conferences and has given lectures in many leading universities both in Europe and the US. He founded bioethics and mediation journals, and served as contributor, reviewer, editor, and board member in several other philosophical journals and book series. He has more than 200 publications including books, essays, editorials, and encyclopedia entries related to ethics, law, and philosophy.


Dr. Douglas Farrow

Dr. Douglas Farrow

Dr. Douglas Farrow is Professor of Theology and Ethics at McGill University in Montreal and sometime holder of the Kennedy Smith Chair in Catholic Studies. Before coming to McGill he taught in the U.K. at King’s College London. His recent books include Ascension Theology; Desiring a Better Country; Theological Negotiations; and 1 & 2 Thessalonians in the Brazos series. Professor Farrow received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for his contributions to public discourse on social issues. He writes actively on public affairs, from a theological perspective, at douglasfarrow.substack.com.


Dr. Robert Fastiggi

Dr. Robert Fastiggi

Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Bishop Kevin M. Britt Chair of Dogmatic Theology and Christology, has been at Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 1999. Prior to coming to Detroit, he taught at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas from 1985-1999. Dr. Fastiggi received an A.B. in Religion (summa cum laude) from Dartmouth College in 1974; a M.A. in Theology from Fordham University in 1976; and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Fordham in 1987. He has done private research in Paris and Montréal, and he took part in a study-tour of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain sponsored by the National Council for U.S.-Arab relations. During his time at Sacred Heart, Dr. Fastiggi has taught courses in Ecclesiology, Christology, Mariology, church history, sacramental theology, and moral theology. He is a member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, the Mariological Society of America, the International Marian Association, and a corresponding member of the Pontifical Marian Academy International (P.A.M.I).

He served as the executive editor of the 2009-2013 supplements to the New Catholic Encyclopedia and the co-editor of the English translation of the 43rd edition of the Denzinger-Hünermann compendium published by Ignatius Press in 2012. He also revised and updated the translation of Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma for Baronius Press in 2018.


Maria Fedoryka

Dr. Maria Fedoryka

Dr. Maria Fedoryka is associate professor of philosophy at Ave Maria University in Florida, and an Associated Scholar with the Hildebrand Project. She lectures and publishes in both academic and popular fora in the field of the philosophy of love, examining issues spanning from the centrality of love in the being of God, to its role at the center of creation, to its meaning for marriage, family, sexuality, and gender. Her research also includes questions related to human affectivity, as well as issues in the philosophy of psychology related to the development of the human person. Among her popular publications are “Gender: What is it and Why Does It Matter?” in the Homiletic and Pastoral Review, and a booklet published by the CTS in the UK titled The Gift of Woman. Among her academic publications are “‘God is Love’”: Personal Plurality as the Completion of Aristotle’s Notion of Substance and Love as the Absolute Ground of the Divine Being” (Proceedings of the ACPA), and “Human Sexuality: Battle for the Human Soul” in Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Challenges and Theological Considerations (ed. Jane Adolphe).


Dr. Mary Healy

Dr. Mary Healy

Mary Healy is professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and an international speaker on topics related to Scripture, evangelization, healing, and the spiritual life. She is a general editor of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture and author of two of its volumes, The Gospel of Mark and Hebrews. Her other books include Men and Women Are from Eden: A Study Guide to John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and Healing: Bringing the Gift of God’s Mercy to the World. Dr. Healy is chair of the Theological Commission of CHARIS (Charismatic Renewal International Service) in Rome. She serves the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian unity as a member of the Pentecostal-Catholic International Dialogue. In 2014 Pope Francis appointed her as one of the first three women ever to serve on the Pontifical Biblical Commission.



John Klink

John Klink has served in extensive diplomatic, business and socio-economic
development/humanitarian service capacities in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia and the
Middle East for over 35 years.

Mr. Klink was born in Laramie, Wyoming, the grandson of Irish and German pioneer
ranchers. He received his B.A. degree from Santa Clara University that included a Junior
Year Abroad Program in Rome, and then studied French at the Universitè d’Aix-Marseilles
and Italian at L’Università per gli Stanieri in Perugia, Italy. He then received his M.A. degree
from Georgetown University in Washington.

In his early 20’s Mr. Klink joined Catholic Relief Services where he served as a CRS
executive in Morocco, Italy, the Yemen Arab Republic, and Haiti, during war and revolution in
the latter two countries. He was assigned to head up CRS’ largest global program in
Thailand during the Cambodian Crisis where CRS cared for 400,000 Khmer Refugees.

Mr. Klink was then asked by the Holy See to serve as its representative on the UNICEF
Executive Board at UN Headquarters in NY and concurrently became one of the lead
diplomat negotiators for the Holy See Mission to the U.N.. His service to the Holy See
included diplomatic negotiations at 17 UN World Conferences over 14 years including: the
Rio de Janeiro Conference on the Environment, the Cairo Population Conference, the
Beijing Women’s Conference, the Copenhagen Conference on Economic & Social
Development, the Istanbul Habitat Conference; and the Rome Conference for the
Establishment of International Criminal Court. He was named by Pope St. John Paul II as a
Consultor for the Pontifical Council for the Family, and in recognition of his contributions to
the Holy See, His Holiness named Mr. Klink a Knight Commander of the Order of St.
Gregory the Great.

Mr. Klink subsequently served the George W. Bush White House as an Advisor on Catholic
Issues for the duration of the Bush Presidency and was named to 9 UN World Conferences
as a Special Senior Advisor by the U.S. State Dept. He also served on the official U.S.
Presidential Delegation to Pope John Paul II’s 25th Anniversary and the Beatification of St.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta (with whom he had the honor to work in both Rome and Yemen).
In 2006 Mr. Klink was elected to serve as the President and Chairman of the Governing
Committee of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) created by Pope Pius
XII and the future St. Pope Paul VI to coalese the migration- related efforts of all of the
world’s Catholic Bishops conferences. During his 9 year tenure he sought to prioritize global
attention on the burgeoning Syrian Crisis, and anti-trafficking initiatives which he
recommended be centered around the Church’s adoption of St. Josephine Baghita’s Feast
Day as a global day of prayer and anti- trafficking action. This recommendation was
subsequently enacted by Pope Francis. As ICMC President he also initiated ICMC’s first
fund-raising efforts in the United States.

Mr. Klink was received into the American Association of the Knights of the Sovereign Military
Order of Malta in 1992 and has been active in assisting the SMOM internationally.

Additionally, he is a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, a Knight of Sts.
Maurice & Lazarus, a Knight of the Constantinian Order of St. George, and a Knight of
Columbus.

Mr. Klink was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on the Trump/Pence
Campaign Catholic Advisory Group during the last U.S. Presidential Campaign. He
continues to serve on the Interfaith Leaders Group and the Catholic Group serving the White
House Office of Public Liaison.

In addition to his public and Church service, Mr. Klink has worked on Wall Street in the
financial sector, and in real estate development in both New York and California.
He currently serves as an international business consultant and on a variety of executive
boards of humanitarian organizations including: the Holy See Mission to the UN’s Path-to-
Peace Foundation; the Little Sisters of the Poor in San Pedro, CA; Villa Majella Maternity
Home in Santa Barbara, CA; and the International Catholic Legislators’ Network (ICLN
Western Hemisphere Chapter) that prioritizes the protection of Christians and other
minorities in the Middle East/globally. Under the patronage of Cardinals Shönborn & Rai and
Lord David Alton, ICLN works closely with international leaders committed to religious
freedom.

Mr. Klink has been married to his very lovely and patient wife Patricia for 35 years. John and
Patricia currently live in Umbria, Italy. They have two grown adopted children and two
grandchildren. He and his family have dual U.S. and Irish citizenship.

Roger Kiska

Roger Kiska

Roger Kiska is legal counsel at the Christian Legal Centre in London.  He is both a Solicitor for England and Wales and a member of the Michigan State Bar. He has extensive experience before the European Court of Human Rights and has litigated at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Kiska frequently appears on television and radio including the BBC, Sky News, ITV, RT, LBC and Channel 5. In 2012 he was the recipient of the Scandinavian Human Dignity Award. He has served as an elected member of the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency Advisory Panel. He has also published numerous scholarly articles and chapters in academic books.

Kiska earned his J.D. in 2003 at Ave Maria School of Law. He has a B.A. in Religion with a minor in History from the University of Manitoba in Canada in 1997. He also received an M.A. in History of Christian Thought at Vanderbilt University in 1999. Kiska is admitted to the State Bar of Michigan and also passed the Solicitor’s Bar examinations for the United Kingdom. He resides in Bratislava, the capital city of the Slovak Republic.


Rev. Msgr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz

Rev. Msgr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz

Rev. Mazurkiewicz is a priest from the Archdiocese of Warsaw (Poland), ordained in 1988, and a Professor of Political Science at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw (UKSW), where he directs the Institute of Political Science and holds the Chair of Social and Political Ethics in the Department of Historical and Social Studies.

He is a specialist in European studies, political philosophy, Catholic social teaching, social and political ethics, and a member of the Research Council of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a member of the Board of the European Society for Research in Ethics “Societas Ethica”. He serves the Polish Bishops’ Conference, as a member of the Advisors’ Group on the European Union and a member of the Council for Social Affairs.

In 2008, after collaborating with Commission of the European’s Bishop Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), on many projects, including the report to the COMECE Bishops entitled: The Evolution of the European Union and the Responsibility of Catholics, he was elected General Secretary of COMECE, in 2008, by the member Bishops of COMECE, with agreement of the Holy See, for a three year mandate. In 2002, he presented his post-doctoral dissertation entitled: The Europeanisation of Europe: Europe’s cultural identity in the context of integration processes at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he presented his doctoral thesis at the Department of Ecclesiastical, Historical and Social Studies of the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw. It was entitled: The Church in an open society: Dispute about the Church’s presence in Polish society during the transformation period.


Theresa Okafor

Theresa Okafor

Theresa Okafor holds a PhD in Education from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She has served as a member of the Holy See delegation at the United Nations in New York (2013-2015).

Theresa is a promoter of pro-life and pro-family values at national and international levels. She also works closely with government officials, United Nations delegates, pro-life and pro-family organizations to protect the dignity of the human person, faith, marriage, children, quality education and the family from all who seek to undermine them. She has lectured and presented at the Catholic University of America, the University of Wisconsin, Lagos State Conference on Education, Catholic Bishops Conference on Education and Seminaries in Enugu, Onitsha and Nsukka.

Theresa has been featured in EWTN, NTA, Voice of Africa and in documentaries such as Humanum.it and the Power of Mothers. She is the recipient of four awards: The Natural Family Award by the World Congress for Families 2014; Rhodes Youth Forum Award (Greece 2010) for active participation; the Flynet Award (Nigeria, 2009) for educational promotion and a merit award from the National Association of Catholic University Students (Nigeria, 2008).

She is a member of the international advisory board of the Integral Economic Development Management (IEDM) program run by the Catholic University of America. She is a Director of the Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH), a Director of the Quality Assurance and Research Development Agency, Nigeria (QAARDAN) and the CEO of Life League Nigeria. She is a member of the Governing Council of Wavecrest College of Hospitality Management, Lagos Nigeria. and the African representative of the World Congress for Families. She served as a board member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) from 2009-2011 and is a founding member of the African Quality Assurance Network (AFRIQAN).


Jason Poblete

Jason Poblete

President of the Global Liberty Alliance, Jason I. Poblete practices international and national security law at Poblete Tamargo LLP in Alexandria, Virginia. He is one of the co-founders of the Global Liberty Alliance, where he serves as its President. A long-time defender of fundamental rights, Mr. Poblete was involved in the successful release of two Americans from Iran and is representing Americans unlawfully detained in other nations. On September 16, 2020, the James W. Foley Foundation gave Poblete the 2020 Hostage Freedom Award for his work to help free several Americans unlawfully detained in Iran and Venezuela. Prior to starting Poblete Tamargo LLP in 2010, Poblete practiced law at Reed Smith, and served as a senior staff member in the U.S. Congress. He has provided expert testimony on a range of legal and foreign policy matters, including on sovereignty and self-determination, export controls and economic sanctions, before the United Nations, the U.S. Congress, and foreign courts. In 2017 Jason co-founded a legal defense fund, the Global Liberty Alliance, to empower and train lawyers, reporters, and civil society leaders who work in nations struggling with rule of law issues. Born and raised in South Florida, he is a first-generation American whose family fled Communist Cuba during the Cold War.


Rev. Christopher Pollard

Father Pollard received a bachelor’s in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1992, and he holds a master’s in Catechetics from the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College and a Licentiate in Philosophy from Catholic University of America. Father Pollard earned an S.T.L. in Fundamental Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, while at the North American College.

After his ordination to the priesthood in 1998, he served as Parochial Vicar at St. Mark in Vienna (1998-2002), St. Agnes in Arlington (2002-2006), and St. John the Baptist in Front Royal (2006-2009), before serving as Parochial Administrator at St. Isidore the Farmer in Orange (2009). He served a term as Attaché with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations (New York) from 2009 until his appointment as Parochial Administrator at St. John the Beloved in McLean in October 2012, where he was appointed as Pastor in January 2014. Fr. Pollard is also a member of the Board of Directors for Human Life International.


Grégor Puppinck

Grégor Puppinck

Dr. Puppinck is the Director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, a non-governmental organization based in Strasbourg (France) with special Consultative Status with ECOSOC-UN.The ECLJ advocates for the protection of religious and conscientious freedoms, family, life and subsidiarity within various human rights institutions. The ECLJ is involved in most of the important cases in the field of bioethics, religious freedom, and state-church relationships before the European Court of Human Rights. Grégor Puppinck also serves as an expert at the Council of Europe for the Holy See and as an adviser to several Member States of the Council of Europe. He frequently provides expert briefings before various national, European and International bodies. He teaches human rights and advocacy at the Law School of Strasbourg. From 2003 to 2009, he taught human rights, international law and constitutional law. After earning his Master of Law from the Law School of Pantheon-Assas (University Paris II), he graduated from the “Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales” (IHEI). He holds a Ph.D. in law with a dissertation on the elaboration of the norms in the field of bioethics and is the author of numerous academic articles. He is Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great and Cavaliere della Repubblica of Italy.

John Saladino

A graduate of the University of Oxford, John A. Saladino is an Artificial Intelligence Engineer with Enterra Solutions, Inc., a business intelligence firm with an international reach and offices in Princeton, Harvard Square and Warsaw, Poland.  In addition to his research and work in Artificial Intelligence, John has taught philosophical ethics, metaphysics and philosophy of science for over 15 years at various universities such as Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount University and Magdalen College School, Oxford.  He currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for FACTS About Fertility, an organization which seeks to raise awareness of natural family planning within the medical community, and John consults for other non-profits which aim to bring faithfully Catholic, philosophically-informed STEM education to Catholic schools and institutions.


Deborah Savage

Dr. Deborah Savage

Dr. Deborah Savage joined the Theology faculty at Franciscan University of Steubenville during the 2021-22 academic year, having taught both philosophy and theology at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota for the previous thirteen years. She received her doctorate in Religious Studies from Marquette University in 2005; her degree is in both theology and philosophy. Dr. Savage is the co-founder and acting director of the Siena Symposium for Women, Family, and Culture, an interdisciplinary think tank, organized to respond to John Paul II’s call for a new and explicitly Christian feminism.

Dr. Savage is a student of St. Thomas Aquinas with a particular interest in investigating his thought in light of contemporary questions. Her primary academic areas are philosophical and theological anthropology; her recent research has been focused on the development of a robust theology of the nature of man and woman, both their identities and their complementarity. A second research area is the meaning of human action, the significance of human work and of vocation, and the metaphysics of creation as a foundation for both stewardship and economics. She has a particular interest in Catholic Social Thought and the fundamental theological categories that serve as its substructure. She is a scholar of the work of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II and has written and presented or published several papers on how his philosophical anthropology informs his body of work as Pope.

Before pursuing her doctorate, Dr. Savage worked for over twenty-five years in the business sector, holding a variety of positions primarily in manufacturing organizations. This experience and the questions that arose as a result led her to investigate the theological meaning of work as a locus of personal conversion and sanctification.

Her writing has appeared in several publications, Nova et Vertera, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, First Things, The Humanum Review, Catholic World Report, and Public Discourse. Some recent publications include “Redeeming Woman: A Catholic Response to the Second Sex Issue,” published in the journal Religions and “The Therapeutic and Pastoral Implications of Pope St. John Paul II’s Account of the Person,” published in The Journal of Christian Bioethics. The most recent iteration of her theory of Man and Woman is a chapter in a volume entitled The Complementarity of Men and Women, edited by Dr. Paul Vitz and published by CUA Press (May 2021). She is currently at work on a book entitled “Woman and Man” for formal consideration by Catholic University of America Press.

Dr. Savage is a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology and the American Catholic Philosophical Association. She served for several years as a member of the Board of Trustees at Franciscan University, resigning in 2021. She moved to Steubenville along with her husband of 32 years, Andrew Percic, and their daughter, Madeline.


D. Brian Scarnecchia

D. Brian Scarnecchia

Brian Scarnecchia, M.Div., J.D. is an Associate Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida where he has taught Property law, Origin of the United States Constitution, Criminal law and Bioethics. He is the author of Bioethics, Law and Human Life Issues: A Catholic Perspective on Marriage, Family, Contraception, Abortion, Reproductive Technology, and Death and Dying (Lanham, MD, Scarecrow Press, 2010) and co-author of The Millennium Development Goals in Light of Catholic Social Teaching (New York, C-Fam, 2009). Brian has also worked as the Director of the Legal Studies program and of the Human Life Studies program at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville and as an Assistant County Prosecutor for Jefferson County, Ohio. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Catholic Social Scientists (SCSS) and is their main NGO representative to the United Nations. He is also the founding president of International Solidarity and Human Rights Institute (ISHRI), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in consultative status with the United Nations. Brian has also served as an expert on life and family issues for the Catholic Inspired NGO Forum (CINGO), which works in close association with the Pontifical Council for the Family and Secretariat of the Holy See.


Nina Shea

Nina Shea

An international human-rights lawyer for over thirty years, Nina Shea joined Hudson Institute as a Senior Fellow in November 2006, where she directs the Center for Religious Freedom. Shea works extensively for the advancement of individual religious freedom and other human rights in U.S. foreign policy as it confronts an ascendant Islamic extremism, as well as nationalist and remnant communist regimes. She undertakes scholarship and advocacy in defense of those persecuted for their religious beliefs and identities and on behalf of diplomatic measures to end religious repression and violence abroad, whether from state actors or extremist groups.

Shea was appointed by the U.S. House of Representatives to serve seven terms as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (June 1999 – March 2012). During the Soviet era, Shea’s first client before the United Nations was Soviet Nobel Peace Laureate Andrei Sakharov. Since then, she has been appointed as a U.S. delegate to the United Nation’s main human rights body by both Republican and Democratic administrations. She also served as a member of the Clinton administration’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. In 2009, she was appointed to serve as a member of the U.S. National Commission to UNESCO.

Shea played a leading role in building grassroot support for the adoption of the International Religious Freedom Act (1998). For seven years ending in 2005, she helped organize and lead a coalition of churches and religious groups that worked to end a religious war against non-Muslims and dissident Muslims in southern Sudan. In 2014, she initiated and helped lead a coalition of hundreds of prominent American religious leaders to issue The Pledge of Solidarity for Persecuted Iraqi, Syrian and Egyptian Christians and Other Minorities, which was released by a bi-partisan Congressional panel on May 7. In summer 2014, she met with Pope Francis to discuss the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

At Hudson, she has organized conferences for Nigerian schoolgirls and others who survived Boko Haram attacks, Christian converts formerly imprisoned in Iran, Coptic bishops from Egypt, Catholic bishops from China and the Gulf, Muslim scholars, and many others. Shea advocates in the nation’s capital on behalf of a broad range of persecuted religious minorities around the world; and, for such work, was honored by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA with the Community’s inaugural “Ahmadiyya Muslim Humanitarian Award.”

She has authored and/or edited four widely-acclaimed reports on Saudi state educational materials that promote extremist views and in 2011 had an opportunity to travel to Saudi Arabia and speak directly about her findings with the Ministers of Education, Justice and Islamic Affairs. Her reports include: Ten Years On: Saudi Arabia’s Textbooks Still Promote Religious Violence (2011), Update: Saudi Arabia’s Curriculum of Intolerance (2008), Saudi Arabia’s Curriculum of Intolerance (2006), and Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Invade American Mosques (2005), all of which translated and analyzed Saudi governmental publications that teach hatred and violence against the religious “other.”

She is the co-author of Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide, with a Foreword by Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid, the former President of Indonesia and head of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization (Oxford University Press, 2011). Her most recent book, which she also co-authored, is Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2013). She regularly presents testimony before Congress, delivers public lectures, organizes briefings and conferences, and writes frequently on religious freedom issues. Her writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CQ Researcher, Weekly Standard, National Review Online, CNN, Fox, The Daily Beast, HuffingtonPost, and RealClearWorld, among others.

For the ten years prior to joining Hudson, Shea worked at Freedom House, where she directed the Center for Religious Freedom, an entity which she had helped found in 1986 as the Puebla Institute.

She is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia. She is a graduate of Smith College, and American University’s Washington College of Law.


Janet Smith

Janet Smith, Ph.D.

Professor Smith is the author of Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later and A Right to Privacy. Her volume entitled Self-Gift contains her previously published essays on Humanae Vitae and the thought of John Paul II.

She edited Why Humanae Vitae is Right: A Reader; Life Issues, Medical Choices (with Christopher Kaczor); Living the Truth in Love: Pastoral Approaches to Same-Sex Attractions (with R. Paul Check); and Why Humanae Vitae is Still Right, a reader with 21 essays by various authors.

More than two million copies of her talk, “Contraception: Why Not” have been distributed.

Professor Smith served three terms as a consulter to the Pontifical Council on the Family, and 8 years on the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission III.

She authors a regular column for the National Catholic Register and has appeared on Geraldo, Fox Morning News, CNN International, CNN Newsroom, AlJazeera, and EWTN among others. Professor Smith has received three honorary doctorates and several awards for her scholarship and service. To learn more about Janet Smith, visit her website and blog at https://janetsmith.org


Pia de Solenni

Pia de Solenni

Pia de Solenni is a theologian who formerly served as the chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in California. Solenni is an alumna of Thomas Aquinas College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts-Great Books, and of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, where she earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology. Subsequently, she earned a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome; for this work, she received the 2001 Award of the Pontifical Academies, presented by John Paul II. Dr. de Solenni has worked at the Family Research Council. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Catholic Reporter, and she has appeared on CNN, ABC News, MSNBC, Hardball with Chris Matthews, The O’Reilly Factor, and other television programs.


Geoffrey Bedford Strickland

Geoffrey Bedford Strickland

Geoffrey Bedford Strickland, J.D., J.C.L., serves as International Associate and Rome Office Director for Priests for Life/Gospel of Life Ministries and as collaborator with the Pontifical Council for the Family. His research and publications pertain to the state of the family in the modern world and the dignity of human life in all periods of its existence.  In his role as Rome Office Director and International Associate, he provides research and analysis of canonical and international legal themes pertaining to family and life issues. In his role as collaborator with the Pontifical Council for the Family, he has provided research and analysis regarding legal issues pertaining to the family and human dignity in the modern world, compiling an international legal database (organized by topic, region, and law), focusing upon areas pertaining to the family, human life in all periods of its existence, demographics, and gender ideologies. He assists in language related work (translation and interpretation) of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Arabic, as well as in English language media efforts.


Dr. Marcela Szymanski

Dr. Marcela Szymanski

Dr. Marcela Szymanski lives in Brussels, Belgium, where she has been a public affairs consultant and an EU+NATO news correspondent (CNN en Español). She holds a BA in Communications, an MA in Economics and a PhD (abd) in International Politics from Georgia State University. She is an affiliate researcher with both the GSU and the University of the Americas in Puebla (UDLAP) writing on political change and democratization. Her public affairs clients have included not only industrial and financial concerns, but also Catholic Church foundations as they support the Church in countries at war, political prisoners, and non-Western countries suffering from substantial human rights violations by external actors. Since 2015 she is the Editor of the report “Religious Freedom in the World” for the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (her academic publications can be found online).


Elizabeth S. Westhoff

Elizabeth S. Westhoff

Known for her dedication to the Faith along with her humor and wit, Elizabeth is a strong believer that the Church should use every communications tool available to evangelize and share the beauty and truth of Catholicism. Elizabeth has a Master of Arts degree in English and American literature. A strategic marketing and communications executive who has served the Church for over 20 years, she is passionate about creating strong brands that communicate key messages, help inspire confidence, and take organizations to a new level. Known for her ability to craft effective messaging that resonates with both Catholic and secular audiences, Elizabeth has built brand recognition across Catholic and secular media, both nationally and internationally.

Elizabeth currently serves as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, FL, collaborating with various departments and faculty members to promote the law school’s mission as a Catholic, conservative, competitive school of law that is founded in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Prior to her arrival at Ave Maria Law, Elizabeth served as Press Secretary to His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.

Elizabeth is the recipient of the Catholic Press Association Awards: First Place, Best coverage of the Year of Mercy, the Catholic Press Association Award: First Place, Best newspaper story and photo package, the Catholic Press Association Award: Honorable Mention, Best in-depth news/special reporting in a diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Academy of Communications Professionals: Gabriel Award for New Media Campaign of the Year, Hermes Creative Award for Video Production: Gold Winner and Honorable Mention, the Archdiocese of St. Louis Women’s Visionary Award, the St. Louis Business Journal’s Thirty Under 30 Award, former President and Vice-President of the National Communications and Development Section for Catholic Charities USA, host of several long-running Catholic radio shows on EWTN affiliate stations, a contributing author and speaker for Women In the New Evangelization, a regular guest and guest host on various Catholic radio networks, M.C. and speaker for various Catholic and secular organizations, and serves as a judge for the Catholic Media Awards in the areas of video production, social media campaigns, radio production, and blog production. Elizabeth is a Daughter of St. Francis de Sales in the Association of St. Francis de Sales (formerly a tertiary order) and a Dame of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.