Conference Speakers
We're excited to welcome many amazing speakers to this year's Conference! Below are some of the speakers that will be attending. We will be adding additional names and biographies as they become available.
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All biographies are listed on this single page. You can scroll down to view them in order, or click the names on the right to go directly to the speaker's biography. Some biography's include the breakout session to be delivered below their name.
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Vinita Hampton Wright
keynote speaker
Vinita Hampton Wright is senior book editor at Loyola Press. An author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, she leads retreats on prayer, women’s spirituality, creativity, and writing. She hosts the Loyola Press blog, Days of Deepening Friendship: for Women Growing Wiser. Vinita lives with her husband in Chicago. To see what Vinita is doing currently, you can find her posting regularly on the Loyola Press blog, Days of Deepening Friendship. These days she is editing, blogging, giving workshops and retreats, and working on a new novel (yet to be named and too young and fragile to be exposed to the outside world). She's also on Facebook and Twitter.
Vinita has been a book editor for twenty-three years, currently senior editor at Loyola Press in Chicago. She leads workshops around the country on the creative-spiritual process--The Soul Tells a Story grew out of this work. Of her full-length novels, Velma Still Cooks in Leeway won a Logos Book-of-the-Year award, and Dwelling Places was selected by Christianity Today as Best Fiction of 2007. Wright has published an updated edition of Simple Acts of Moving Forward. Days of Deepening Friendship focuses on the spiritual experience of women. She now leads retreats on this topic. Her most recent book is The Art of Spiritual Writing: How to Craft Prose That Engages and Inspires Your Readers, based on her many years helping writers express their spiritual wisdom.
Vinita loves to cook, walk the city of Chicago, and watch movies. She and photographer/designer Jim Wright have been married 22 years. They share a bungalow on the far South Side with 2 cats and a dog, all of them rescues, all spoiled, and--depending on the day--helpful or not to Vinita's creative process. Vinita is finally learning to garden and now adds homegrown tomatoes, peppers, and herbs to her little feasts.
Fr. Brian Nolan
Fr. Brian Nolan was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2001 and received an M.A. in Moral Theology from Mount Saint Mary’s University. In 2008, he received a Spiritual Direction Certificate through the Institute of Priestly Formation (IPF) affiliated with Creighton University in Omaha, NE. This 9-week program is centered on Ignatian spirituality and the discernment of spirits. Ignatian Spiritual Exercises focus on “recognizing the voice of the Lord who is always speaking to our hearts”. Upon completion of the program, Fr. Nolan completed Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius on a 30-day silent retreat.
He has served as the associate pastor at St. Jane Frances Catholic Church in Pasadena, MD, from 2005-2008 and St. John Catholic Church in Westminster, MD, from 2001-2005. In 2006, Fr. Brian was the recipient of the “Messenger of Light Award” for his outstanding leadership and involvement with young adults in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Currently he is the Director of Campus Ministry and Campus Chaplain at Mount Saint Mary’s University.
Fr. Michael DeAscanis
Fr. DeAscanis is a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He was ordained in 2004. Prior to entering the seminary he worked for four years as a Civil Engineer. He began his seminary studies at Mount St Mary Seminary in Maryland and finished them at the North American College in Rome. Currently, he serves as the Vocations Director for the Archdiocese. Fr. DeAscanis also serves as the chaplain of the Catholic Medical Association in Baltimore and teaches a course at Mount St. Mary Seminary.
Theresa Greene
Conference MC
Theresa attended Mount Saint Mary’s University where she received her Theology Degree with a Concentration in Religious Education. She served as the Youth Minister and Religious Education Coordinator at St. John Parish for over 11 years. She also holds a Masters Degree in Educational Administration from McDaniel College. Theresa lives in Westminster, Maryland with her husband Tom and their 3 children. Shortly after the birth of their third child, Theresa became a "stay at home" mom where she had the joy of homeschooling their three children. She returned to teaching Doctrine and Morality at Mount de Sales Academy in 2011 where she introduced young woman to John Paul II's "Theology of the Body". Currently, she serves as the Vice Principal of Academics at Mount de Sales where her focus is to help young women discover that God has a specific plan for each life.
Ellen Marie Dumer
Spiritual Direction: A Map for the Labyrinth of Life
Ellen Marie Dumer, president and founder of Living Your Exceptional Life™, is a trusted expert in the field of transformational living and life success coaching. She is a guide and mentor for Catholic/Christian women seeking to harness and cultivate their aspirations for a life based on faith in Christ. Ellen joins with her clients in a journey to creating a life of spiritual, emotional, and physical balance. The crucial element in this journey is empowering and facilitating the development of the client’s spiritual core.
Using her background as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, her training in transformational co-active coaching with Mentor Coach, and her Master’s Degree from Loyola University in Pastoral Counseling, Ellen has developed programs that are both comprehensive and uniquely tailored to cultivate the best in each of her clients through their relationship with Christ.
Megan Mastroianni
Faithfully: Catholic Women in the 21st Century
Megan first began speaking in 2007. She has been featured as a speaker at World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, on EWTN’s Life On the Rock, on retreats for college students, and to high school students all over the United States in their classrooms, at retreats, conferences, assemblies, and rallies.
Although Megan’s primary focus at Generation Life was to speak to on chastity, Theology of the Body, and pro-life issues, Megan also began speaking on topics of Modesty, Femininity/Masculinity, Media, Vocations, Mary, Confession, and Conversion. Look for Megan at this summer’s Steubenville East Conference, speaking alongside Mark Hart, Fr. Leo Patalinghug, and others
Katie Dardis Singleton
Created for Love
Katie Dardis Singleton was born and raised in New Orleans as the youngest of 10 children. She has a bachelor’s from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and a Licentiate in Bioethics from the Pontifical Athenaeum of the Regina Apostolorum in Rome.
She worked for the Archdiocese of Boston, where she authored the Created for Love Parish Religious Education curriculum on life, love, and the gift of sexuality in 2008. She trained hundreds of priests, deacons, and religious educators in Boston on teaching Theology of the Body and chastity to young people and has spoken to thousands of teenagers on the gift of sexuality and the sanctity of human life. She currently offers presentations on bioethics and sexuality through the lens of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and has had several articles published on Truth and Charity Forum. She has been married for 4 years to Matt Singleton, who is in his last year of residency in Internal Medicine, and they have 2 sons: Matthew Jr., who is 2 ½, and Jack, who is 5 months. Her website is www.createdforhislove.com.
Patti Murphy Dohn
Setting the World on Fire: Spiritual & Practical habits for Making a difference in the World
Patti Murphy Dohn serves as Campus Minister of The John Carroll School in Bel Air, MD. Committed to making a difference in the lives of our youth and their families, she has served the school community since 1981. "God is in the Clouds," her blog for "The Catholic Review," shares stories of faith, hope, and inspiration along the faith journey.
A past board member for Msgr. O'Dwyer Retreat House, Patti is on the Screening Board for the Archdiocesan Office of Vocations, and a member of the Catholic Press Association and the Catholic Writers Guild.
Dawn Walsh
A Call to go Deeper: A look at Third Orders
A graduate of Mount Saint Mary’s University, Dawn is a wife and mother of three daughters. She and her husband Chris homeschooled their daughters and are happily involved in their parish of St. John’s in Westminster. Dawn is the president of the newly founded Carmel of the Infant Jesus and the Holy Face, a secular Carmelite Community in Westminster, MD. She is also pursuing a certificate in spiritual mentorship through the Apostles of the Interior Life Spiritual Mentorship Program in Kansas City, Kansas. A member of the Vocations Committee of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, she is very committed to fostering vocations both lay and religious.