Speakers
Order of Malta Speakers & Presenters
On behalf of the Order of Malta, we extend a warm welcome to all the distinguished speakers who will be gracing our religious conference. We are deeply honored to have them share their wisdom and insights with our attendees, and we are confident their contribution will enrich our conference and inspire all those in attendance.
Most Reverend Thomas A. Daly
Bishop of Spokane
Bishop Daly was consecrated bishop on May 25, 2011, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph in San Jose by Bishop Patrick McGrath, with Archbishop George Niederauer and Bishop George Thomas as co-consecrators. On September 16, 2013, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone named Daly the archdiocesan seminary’s interim president/rector. Daly was the seminary’s first rector who did not belong to the Society of St. Sulpice. Pope Francis named him the seventh Bishop of Spokane on March 12, 2015. Bishop Daly was installed on May 20, 2015, in Spokane’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes. He currently serves as the chairman of the USCCB Committee of Catholic Education and is the national chaplain for Serra International.
Raphael Vermeir, KM
Malteser International President
On March 24, 2023, Raphael Vermeir, from Belgium, and a member of the British Association of the Order, was elected as President of Malteser International. Malteser International (MI) works as an international humanitarian aid organization of the Catholic Order of Malta and particularly fulfills the order’s mission of “helping those in need”. The mission is to improve the health and living conditions of suffering and displaced people worldwide. The organization provides aid to people in need in over 140 projects in 35 countries, regardless of religion, political persuasion, origin or gender. Christian values and the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence form the basis of its work.
Fr. Robert Spitzer S.J., Ph.D.
Magis Center of Reason and Faith President
Fr. Spitzer was President of Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2009, where he increased the student body by 75%, oversaw the construction of 20 new facilities, and raised $200+ million for scholarships and buildings. He is the author of nineteen books, including the award-winning books New Proofs for the Existence of God; and Science, Reason, and Faith: Discovering the Bible. He has also authored many scholarly articles on faith and science, metaphysics, and happiness and ethics. Father Spitzer has his own weekly EWTN television show, Fr. Spitzer’s Universe.
Fr. Joseph Fox O.P.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles Vicar for Canonical Services
Fr. Joseph Fox has a licentiate degree in theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, a licentiate degree in canon law from the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome. Fr. Fox served in a variety of positions during 22 years in Rome including teaching in the faculties of theology and canon law at the Angelicum, and as the director of pastoral formation at the Pontifical North American College. He has served as theologian and canonical consultant to Adam Cardinal Maida in Detroit, while teaching on the faculty at Sacred Heart Majory Seminary. In 2008 he was elected Prior of St. Dominic’s priory in Washington. He currently serves as Vicar for Canonical Services in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Lance Izumi J.D.
Pacific Research Institute Senior Director at the Center for Education
Mr. Izumi has written and produced books, studies and films on a wide variety of education topics. Most recently, he is the author of the 2017 book The Corrupt Classroom and the 2019 book Choosing Diversity: How Charter Schools Promote Diverse Learning Models and Meet the Diverse Needs of Parents and Children. From 2004 to 2015, he served as a member of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the largest system of higher education in the nation, and served two terms as president of the Board. Lance served as a commissioner on the California Postsecondary Education Commission and as a member of the United States Civil Rights Commission’s California Advisory Committee.
Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone
Archbishop of San Francisco
On March 23, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Cordileone as the fourth Bishop of Oakland. His Mass of Installation was celebrated on May 5, 2009 at the Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland. Three years later, on July 27, 2012, he was appointed the Archbishop of San Francisco and was installed on October 4, 2012, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.
As the new Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of San Francisco, Archbishop Cordileone received the pallium from Pope Francis in Rome on June 29, 2013.
Archbishop Cordileone is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and also of its Committee for Canonical Affairs and Church Governance.
James A. Sonne J.D.
Stanford University. Professor of Law Director, Religious Liberty Clinic
Jim Sonne is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founding director of its Religious Liberty Clinic, the leading and only full-time academic program in the country where students can learn the practice and profession of law through supervised litigation in that field. He is an experienced and award-winning teacher, practitioner, and scholar, with particular expertise in law and religion issues.
Fr. Michael Sweeney O.P.
Dominican Priest Founder of the Lay Mission Institute
Fr. Michael was appointed in June 2004 as the President of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT) at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Ordained in 1979, Fr. Michael has served as both a university chaplain and as a pastor in a parish setting. He founded the Lay Mission Institute in Oakland, California. The Lay Mission Institute is an apostolate committed to igniting the Faith of lay Catholics and helping them discern and live out their unique vocations. During the three-year program, students learn what it means to have a lay vocation (yes, you have one!) and how you are called to live it out.
Anthony Lilles STD
St. Patrick’s Seminary Professor of Spiritual Theology
Anthony Lilles, STD, a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, completed his graduate and post-graduate studies in Rome at the Angelicum. His expertise is in Saint Elisabeth of the Trinity and the Carmelite Doctors of the Church. He is currently a professor of spiritual theology at St Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, CA. His work at St. Patrick’s began in 2014 when he helped start and teach an annual summer spirituality program. He was appointed Academic Dean from 2019-2022 before joining the full-time teaching and formation faculties. From 2024 through 2027, he will be committed to a new initiative for priestly renewal jointly sponsored by St. Patrick’s Seminary and the High Calling program of the Avila Foundation.
Barbara Nicolosi
Screenwriter and Producer
Barbara Nicolosi, PhD was the founder of the globally recognized Act One program (www.actoneprogram.com) to mentor Christians for mainstream entertainment careers. She was the writer of the film Fatima (2020) and is on the Board of the Catholic Art Institute. She won Catholic Press Awards for her media columns in 2002 and 2004. From 2014 to 2019, Nicolosi ran Catharsis: The Story Lab, a mentorship and out-sourced development program for visual storytellers. She is founder and Chair Emeritus.
Nina Shea J.D.
Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and Director at the Center for Religious Freedom
Ms. Shea has been a human rights lawyer for over 30 years. She works extensively for the advancement of individual religious freedom and other human rights in US foreign policy as it confronts an ascendant Islamic extremism, and other authoritarian regimes. Ms. Shea was appointed by the US House of Representatives to serve as a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom seven times from 1999 to 2012. During the Soviet era, Ms. Shea’s first client before the United Nations was Soviet Nobel Peace Laureate Andrei Sakharov. Since then, she has been appointed as a US delegate to the United Nation’s main human rights body by both Republican and Democratic administrations. She also served as a member of the Clinton administration’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. In 2009, she was appointed to serve as a member of the US National Commission to UNESCO.
Rev. Geronimo (Jerome) Magat, S.Th.D.
St. Patrick’s Seminary Vice Rector and Associate Professor of Moral Theology
Fr. Magat serves as Vice-Rector of St. Patrick’s Seminary, Director for the M.Div. Program, and as professor of moral theology, liturgy, and homiletics. Fr. Magat has worked in seminary formation for over 12 years, having served on four different seminary faculties. In 2023, Fr. Magat garnered the Joseph Koterski, SJ Fellowship as a new member of the Academy Catholic Theology, based in his native Washington, D.C. He also serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Guadalupe Free Clinic of Colonial Beach, the Arlington Diocese’s first free medical clinic for the poor, which he founded in 2005.
Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Boston College Professor of Philosophy
Dr. Kreeft is professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King’s College. A convert to Catholicism, he is the author of over eighty books on Christian philosophy, theology and apologetics. He is one of the most respected and prolific Christian authors of our time. His books cover a vast array of topics in spirituality, theology, and philosophy.
Robert Royal Ph.D.
Faith and Reason Institute President
Dr. Royal is a former Fulbright scholar and holds a B.A. and M.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The Catholic University of America. He has taught at both his alma maters as well as Rhode Island College. A prolific writer and sought after speaker on ethics, culture, religion, and politics, he has appeared on various radio and television stations nationally and internationally and his books have been translated into several languages. Dr. Royal is currently responsible for an online website and daily forum for intelligent Catholic commentary called “The Catholic Thing.”
Tim Staples
Catholic Answers. Senior Apologist
For over twenty-five years, Mr. Staples has served as a Catholic apologist, stating there is a “growing crucial need” for apologetics among Catholics. Staples is currently serving as the Director of Apologetics and Evangelization at Catholic Answers. In 1988, Staples converted to Catholicism and spent the next six years in seminary, preparing to enter the priesthood. During this time, Staples attained a degree in philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania, and studied theology at the post-graduate level at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Staples left seminary in 1994.
Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka Ph.D.
St. Patrick’s Seminary Director of Sacred Music
Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka is Professor and the Director of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where she holds the William P. Mahrt Chair in Sacred Music and serves as the founding Director of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. She serves as the Vice President and Director of Publications for the Church Music Association of America (CMAA), is the managing editor of the CMAA’s journal Sacred Music, and is a regular member of the faculty for the CMAA’s annual Sacred Music Colloquium.
