-
2021 Speakers
-
Jesse Romero
Jesse 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, who is a recipient of several awards including: the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Award, The Fullness of Truth “Defender of Faith” Award, and “Sports Faith International Award”
Jesse has been on Catholic radio for over 15 years now hosting teaching and speaking in English & Spanish. He currently is 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, and 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!
Sr. Deirdre Byrne, POSC
Sister Deirdre Byrne is an active missionary sister and superior of her community in Washington, DC. She is double board-certified in family medicine and general surgery. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Sister Deirdre (known to many as Sister DeDe) is one of eight siblings, attended Langley High School, and graduated from Virginia Tech. After college, Sister DeDe followed in her thoracic surgeon father’s footsteps and entered medical school at Georgetown University, where she eventually completed a surgical residency. During that time, she also joined the Army. After a life of medical and military service in far ranging areas, she was led to the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts community, whose charism involves sisters placing each and every person they care for between the Heart of Jesus and Mary. Her apostolate has been performing overseas medical missionary surgery and providing free medical care for the poor and uninsured. The over 125-year-old community includes 400-500 members. By 2000, the board-certified Dr. Byrne made her commitment to the Little Workers and began her novitiate training in earnest.
Sister DeDe retired with the rank of Colonel from the United States Army in 2009 after 29 years of service in the military. She was extremely grateful for the opportunity to have served the “brave soldiers” while deployed to Afghanistan. Over the years, Sister Deirdre has found it easy to integrate her medical and military service into her religious vocation. Though comfortable in scrubs, she wears a full black or a white working habit when she can and is grateful for the impact it has on those to whom she ministers. Currently, she is the superior of the D.C. Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts house near Catholic University, where the sisters run a pro-bono physical therapy clinic and diabetic eye clinic, retirement home for her elderly sisters as well as a music school pre-school children.
Sister DeDe’s other charitable medical/surgical service includes hands-on ministry in the rubble of the twin towers following the terrorist attack on 9-11, caring for the sick during the earthquake in Haiti in 2011 and annual medical missions to Haiti and Iraq.
Father David Gunter, MIC
I In the early 1990s David had been working at the inn his family owned on Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island when he found himself discouraged and in desperate need of guidance. Though he didn't consider himself a very devout Catholic at the time, he was struck with the idea to pray three Hail Marys before drifting off to sleep. Then in the middle of the night, he awoke to a loud crash: a mirror hanging on the wall in his bedroom had mysteriously fallen to the floor.
"I looked up on the wall, and hanging on the nail where the mirror had been were my Rosary beads," David said.
This set-in motion David’s reversion to Catholicism. Years later, he would follow a call to become a priest for the Diocese of Boston. He was ordained in 2009 at age 50.
But Our Lady wasn't finished with him yet. "Not long after I was ordained, the Lord started giving me a teaching about Our Lady of Fatima," Fr. Gunter said. Father David felt called to spend his life spreading devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but he was having trouble figuring out how to do that in a parish setting.
After Fr. David finished his first assignment with the Boston diocese, he received permission to go on a 30-day silent retreat. "I meditated on Our Lady for 30 days," he said. "I got the impression that maybe I was being called to religious life to foster my devotion to Our Lady."
On Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, Fr. David Gunter, MIC, originally of Brookline, Massachusetts, professed perpetual vows to the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, promising to live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as a member of the Marians for the rest of his life.
Ever since he finished his novitiate with the Marians, Fr. David has been following a call to travel across the country to give parish missions about Our Lady of Fatima. His topic is the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, a reference to something Our Lady said when she appeared to three shepherd children at Fatima on July 13, 1917: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."
"If everyone understood the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, it would fill them with hope," Fr. David mused.
Mary Rice Hasson
Director, Catholic Women's Forum
Mary Rice Hasson is the Kate O’Beirne Fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. She also directs the Catholic Women’s Forum, a network of Catholic professional women and scholars seeking to amplify the voice of Catholic women in support of human dignity, authentic freedom, and Catholic social teaching.
Mary is an expert on topics related to women, faith, culture, family, sexual morality, and gender ideology. She has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women for the past three years (2019: “Gender Ideology: Ideological Aggression Against Women and Girls” and “Valuing Unpaid Caregiving: The Human Dimension”; 2018: “The Integral Education of Rural Women and Girls” and 2017: “The Distinctiveness of Women’s Work and Women’s Empowerment”). Mary is a Consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth. She speaks frequently at national, regional, and diocesan conferences and conducts workshops for Catholic parishes and dioceses on sexuality, gender identity, and pastoral care.
Mary’s writing has appeared in a variety of websites, policy journals, and scholarly publications; she has been interviewed by a wide range of national media and is a frequent commentator on EWTN and Catholic radio.
Mary is the co-author, with Theresa Farnan, PhD, of Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child From Public School Before It’s Too Late (Regnery: 2018), the editor of Promise and Challenge: Catholic Women Reflect on Feminism, Complementarity, and the Church (Our Sunday Visitor: 2015), and the co-author with Kimberly Hahn of Catholic Education: Homeward Bound (Ignatius Press, 1996). She is also the co-author of the report, What Catholic Women Think About Faith, Conscience, and Contraception (EPPC 2012), co-author of a study on parents’ use of media ratings, published in the medical journal Pediatrics (2011), and the author of a chapter (“What About Sex: Habits of Heart for a Fulfilling Sexual Relationship and a Happy Marriage”) in the recent book, Venus and Virtue: Celebrating Sex and Seeking Sanctification (2018).
Before joining EPPC, Mary worked as an attorney and writer and served the Church for over twenty years in leadership positions in Catholic marriage preparation programs, diocesan education efforts, and Catholic ministries to women and families. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Mary was the recipient of the 2019 Humanitarian Award from the Siena Symposium of the University of St. Thomas, and in 2015, Mary and her husband, Kevin J. “Seamus” Hasson, the parents of seven, were the recipients of the 2015 Saint John Paul II Award for the New Evangelization.
-
Conference Details
The 2021 Catholic Women's Conference in Worcester, MA will take place September 11, 2021 at St. Joseph's School in Webster, MA.
When: September 11th, 2021
Where:
St. Joseph School
47 Whitcomb St.
Webster, MA 01570
Register Now by clicking here!