Speaker

Fr. Jim Kubicki, SJ

Fr. Jim Kubicki was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1971 and was ordained in 1983.

From 1984 to 1988, Father served as the Vocation Director and from 1995 to 1999 as the Director of Formation for the Jesuits of the Wisconsin Province, a seven-state region in the upper Midwest.

From 1989 to 1995, he worked at the Sioux Spiritual Center, a retreat house for Native Americans in western South Dakota. During that time he was also the Assistant Director of the Diocese of Rapid City’s deacon and lay ministry formation program.

He has given retreats around the country since 1986 and was on the staff of Demontreville, the Jesuit retreat house in Lake Elmo, Minnesota from 2000 to 2003.

In 2003, he became the national director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer), a position he held for fourteen years. In 2017, he moved to the Rosebud Reservation in western South Dakota where he currently serves as the director of St. Francis Mission which was founded in 1886.

Fr. Kubicki appears regularly on Catholic radio shows around the country. His book, A Heart on Fire: Rediscovering Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was selected by the Catholic Book Publishers Association as among the three best spirituality books in 2012. His latest book is A Year of Daily Offerings.

Speaker

Fr. Michael Barry, SSCC

Fr. Michael Barry, SS.CC is an author, lecturer, and founder of “Mary’s Mercy Center, Inc.”, a non-profit that feeds and clothes the poor and homeless at its Mary’s Table, helps mothers with young children out of homelessness or abuse at its Veronica’s Home of Mercy, and is currently developing a home for homeless men named Mary’s Village.

A frequent speaker and guest lecturer at conferences, he has traveled nationally and internationally celebrating healing masses and encouraging prayers for the healing of the family tree.

Speaker

Fr. Jozo “Joe” Grbes, OFM

Fr. Jozo “Joe” Grbes, O.F.M. was born in Rama, Bosnia-Herzegovina on March 17, 1966. As a child, his family moved to Pozega, Slavonia, where he completed his first 12 years of schooling. He joined the Franciscan Order in 1986 in Humac.

Fr. Grbes studied philosophy and theology at colleges in Sarajevo, Canterbury and London, England where he graduated in 1992.

He arrived in the United States on October 2, 1992 and was ordained a priest on February 7, 1993 at SS. Cyril and Methodius Parish in New York. After his ordination, he continued his pastoral duties in the same parish while taking post-graduate courses at St. John’s University where he received a Master’s Degree in theology.

In 1996, Fr. Jozo was transferred to St. Jerome’s in Chicago as assistant pastor. He became St. Jerome’s pastor from 2001 to 2013. He continued his post-graduate work in pastoral theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

In 2012, he was elected Franciscan Custos/Superior for the Croatian Franciscan Fathers in USA and Canada. He resides at the Franciscan Fathers main friary in Chicago.

Speaker

Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT

Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT is a former Division I athlete who had a radical conversion and joined the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) in 1998. Her story has been featured on EWTN’s The Journey Home, the USCCB Convocation, SEEK Conference, Relevant Radio and other outlets.

She holds a Master’s degree in Theology from the Augustine Institute and speaks regularly on the topics of conversion, authentic love, forgiveness, healing (and sports!). Sr. Miriam’s podcast, Abiding Together, can be found on iTunes and her book, Loved As I Am, can be found on Amazon. She tweets at @onegroovynun.

main celebrant

Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted

Bishop of Phoenix

Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2, 1973. He was installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix, December 20, 2003. Prior to his arrival in Phoenix he served as Bishop of Wichita, Kansas, after being ordained Coadjutor Bishop on April 20, 1999. Before serving in Wichita, he served as the Rector/President of the Pontifical College Josephinum, a Catholic Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

For 16 years, Bishop Olmsted lived in Rome, Italy, where he obtained a master’s degree in theology, a doctorate in Canon Law, and worked more than nine years in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.

Main Celebrant

Fr. Steven A. Kunkel

Pastor, St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church Phoenix, Arizona and Spiritual Director of the Arizona Peace Center

Fr. Kunkel was raised in an Army family and graduated from Fayetteville State University with a BS in Computer Science. After working for Wachovia Bank, he entered the seminary, studying at St. Meinrad Seminary, earning a MDiv. He was ordained for the Diocese of Phoenix in 2001 and has been pastor of Resurrection Parish in Tempe and Christ the King Parish in Mesa.

main Celebrant

Fr. Sergio Muñoz Fita

Pastor, Saint Anne Roman Catholic Parish, Gilbert, Arizona

The second of three sons, Fr. Sergio M. Fita was born in Cuenca, Spain. He was ordained a priest on July 10, 2004 in his home town of Cuenca. That same year he joined the Secular Institute of Servi Trinitatis. He arrived in the United States in January of 2012 and since then has worked diligently to promote the goals of Servi Trinitatis, which include the cultivation of vocations to the consecrated life, missions, the education of children and young people, an apostolate with the secular community through the Catholic Action, and social media.

Fr. Fita was part of the Footprints: The Path of Your Life documentary. This document followed 10 men who agreed to walk the Camino de Santiago, 500-mile, 40-day trek that challenged their strength and faith.