Speakers

Mary Beth is an internationally known speaker. In 1996 she conducted a national seminar for single adults in Uganda, Africa. She does frequent radio and TV work, and has even made several appearances on MTV. In 1999, she spoke to 22,000 people at the TWA Dome during the Pope’s visit to St. Louis. Mary Beth has written two books, We’re on a Mission from God and Real Love, and she writes a regular, syndicated column for various publications.

Mary Beth holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication from the University of San Francisco, and a master’s degree in Theology of Marriage and Family from the John Paul II Institute at Lateran University. She was also awarded an honorary doctorate in Communications from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and is listed in Outstanding Young Women of America for 1997. She is the Director of Evangelization, Catechesis and Family Life at St. Mary Parish in Littleton, Colorado. Her website is REALLOVE.NET.

MARIO ST. FRANCIS

Mario St.Francis was a fashion model and a nightclub VIP doorman. He worked with and for clients such as Cosmopolitan Magazine, GQ, MTV and HBO, as well as appearing on a Hallmark greeting card, 2 music videos, TV commercials, theatrical stage plays, and even a soap opera. But now he travels the world over working as a motivational speaker and producer of positive media.

An independent video producer and director, he is passionate to share his experiences with the world via public speaking, You-Tube videos and his blog. He travels worldwide to share his new passion in life, a life with meaning; a desire to be a role model, not just a clothing model. Mario is dynamic, funny, and expresses deep things in a simple way. His website is MARIOSTFRANCIS.COM.

ROY PETITFILS

Roy Petitfils holds a Masters in Counseling from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and is an alumnus of St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, LA. and studied ministry and spirituality in Rome, Italy at the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

He served as a Religion Teacher and Director of Campus Ministries at St. Thomas More Catholic High School before taking on the role of counselor and administrator at St. Cecilia School in Broussard, LA. Today he is a Counselor Intern at Pax Renewal Center in Lafayette, LA. His counseling ministry draws upon my own experience of the therapeutic process.

Roy has written, A Practical Guide to High School Campus Ministry, which helps campus ministers embrace a comprehensive model for ministry in Catholic high school,  What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About the First Five Years of Marriage and God Wears Running Shoes: Spiritual Reflections for Those Ministering to Young People. Over the last five years he has written a monthly internationally syndicated column, called Our Young Church. It is for all those “in the trenches” with young people who each day make Jesus present to young people. Roy’s website is roypetitfils.com

SR. HELENA BURNS, FSP

Sr. Helena Burns, FSP, is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation founded to communicate God’s Word through the media. She is finishing her M.A. in Media Literacy Education; has a B.A. in theology and philosophy from St. John’s University, NYC; studied screenwriting at UCLA; and holds a Certificate in Pastoral Youth Ministry. She is the movie reviewer for “The Catholic New World,” Chicago’s Archdiocesan newspaper. She is currently writing and producing a documentary on the life of Blessed James Alberione: MediaApostle.com.

Sr. Helena has been giving media workshops to youth and adults all over the U.S. and Canada since the 90’s, and believes that media can be a primary tool for sharing God’s love and salvation. Her websites are  www.hellburns.blogspot.com and www.pauline.org

DAVID CLAYTON

David Clayton is an artist and teacher who holds a permanent post as Artist-in-Residence and Professor at Thomas More College in Merrimack, NH. He designed the Way of Beauty program which focuses on the link between Catholic culture and the liturgy, and he wrote, co-produced and presented a 13-part TV series with the same title.  Before moving to the US from his native England in January 2009, he taught at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, England.

His artistic training is in both the Byzantine iconographic style, and in Western classical naturalism, which he studied in Florence, Italy. Aside from the work he is currently doing for the Thomas More College chapel, major commissions include: St Luigi Scrosoppi, for the London Oratory; the crucifixion at Pluscarden Monastery in Elgin, Scotland; and the Sacred Heart at Maryvale Institute. He has illustrated books for children including God’s Covenant With You, written by Scott Hahn and he and is currently working on one on the Sacred Heart which will be co-written by President of Thomas More College, Dr William Fahey and Archbishop Cardinal Burke. David has a weekly blog www.thewayofbeauty.org, which also has an archive of work and art. He is the sacred-art writer for the New Liturgical Movement website www.newliturgicalmovement.org.