2023 Speakers
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Fr. Derek Mobilio
Fr. Derek grew up in Barre & Worcester MA the son of Anthony F. Mobilio and Michelle A. (Robidoux) Mobilio,. His home parish is St. Francis of Assisi in Barre. He attended Our Lady of the Angels Elementary School and, in 2008, graduated from St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Senior High School, both in Worcester.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and meteorology from State University of New York at Oswego in 2012, his master’s degree in statistics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2014, and his masters of education degree from Providence College in 2016.
He taught mathematics and religion at St. Mary’s High School in Worcester from 2014-2016. In 2016 he entered St. John’s Seminary in Brighton where he is working on his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology. He was ordained June 18, 2022.
His local parish assignments were Blessed Sacrament, Worcester; Our Lady of Providence, Worcester; Good Shepherd, Linwood and St. Augustine, Millville; and St. Mary, Shrewsbury. He also participated in the 2019 Tertio Millenio Seminar in Poland which was created “to deepen the dialogue on Catholic social doctrine (and the teachings of St. Pope John Paul II) between North American students and students from new democracies of central and eastern Europe.”
Click here to read an article written about Fr. Mobilio in The Catholic Free Press.
Dr. Deborah Savage
Dr. Deborah Savage recently joined the Theology faculty at Franciscan University, 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 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.
Patricia Sandoval
Patricia Sandoval is an international pro life and chastity speaker who has traveled around the world since 2007 sharing her story of her three abortions, work behind the hidden doors of Planned Parenthood and followed by nearly three years as a homeless drug addict Her story is a testament to the saving love and mercy of Jesus Christ and His desire to bring this world's hidden dangers into the light for healing. Patrícia currently host a weekly television program, “Pro-Life Report,” (Informe Próvida) on EWTN español and is the author of the book “Transfigured,” which has been translated in several countries.
Fr. Colin J. Blatchford
Father Colin J. Blatchford, a born again Southerner from Chattanooga Tennessee, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Knoxville in 2014. He holds a Masters of the Arts in Theology from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary and a Master of Science in Psychology from Divine Mercy University. He has served in several parish assignments, as well as the chaplain for the Newman Center at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, and was the chaplain for both Courage and EnCourage in the Diocese of Knoxville.
In September 2020, Father Blatchford was appointed to the position of Associate Director of Courage International, which includes more than 180 Courage chapters and 80 EnCourage chapters in dioceses throughout the United States and in 15 other countries on five continents. Founded in New York in 1980, Courage provides pastoral care and spiritual support for Catholic men and women who experience same-sex attractions or gender identity discordance and who desire to live chastely in accord with the teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality and gender.
Dr. Christopher Klofft
Christopher Klofft is Associate Professor of Theology at Assumption University in Worcester, MA and Adjunct Professor of Moral Theology at Pope Saint John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, MA. He received his S.T.B., S. T.L., and S.T.D. from the Catholic University of America. His areas of specialization include sexual ethics, marriage and family, gender, Catholicism and modernity, and the intersection of Christianity and popular culture. He has lectured nationally on the Theology of the Body, virtue ethics, and contemporary challenges resulting from the Sexual Revolution. He is the author of Living the Love Story: Catholic Morality in the Modern World and has an upcoming text, Godlike: Sexuality and the Image of God, that offers a new anthropological framework for understanding the importance of the Church’s teaching on sexuality. He is also the author of several books of spiritual reflection for Bayard Press.
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Conference Details
Join us for the Worcester Catholic Women's Conference on Saturday, October 7th, 2023 to rediscover and renew your faith. The conference will once again be held at St. Joseph's School in Webster, MA.
When: October 7th, 2023
Where:
St. Joseph School
47 Whitcomb St.
Webster, MA 01570
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