Thursday Night Streams GMU Catholic Patriots

Each person is created with an inherent dignity because each person is created in the image of God. Knowing how the human person is made, and for what the human person is made is essential to our flourishing. To that end, we'll take a look at what we are and how we pursue relationships with others and, most importantly, God.

Father Jacob-Bertrand Janczyk, O.P., is the Director of Vocations of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2010 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2017. Following his ordination, Father Jacob-Bertrand served as the assistant chaplain at Aquinas House, the Catholic campus ministry at Dartmouth College. He is also a host of the podcast Godsplaining and co-author of the book, St. Dominic's Way of Life: A Path to Knowing and Loving God

Franciscan Roots and Shoots of Laudato Si: Ecotheology, Catholic Social Teaching, & Caring for our Common Home
Do Catholic Christians care about non-human creation? What about environmental justice concerns? Who was Francis of Assisi, and what does he have to do with Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'? Was he an environmentalist? How does Franciscan ecotheology inform Church Social Teaching on the environment? In this talk, our speaker will offer us an overview of a Catholic cosmological vision for the 21st century. Brother Cristofer Fernández, OFM Conv., as a GMU alum, brings his professional and religious background to this discussion about the promise of nature and how the Catholic understanding of creation invites us to consider the Earth as our common home. Retrieving from Franciscan sources the riches of the theological tradition, this talk will elaborate on why we are in one sense both in the world and of the world, and tie the tenants of faith in revelation, creation, and eschatology together in the Pope's 2015 contribution to Catholic Social Doctrine.
The speaker for this episode is a Conventual Franciscan Friar of the East Coast/Our Lady of the Angels Province. Hailing from Lorton, VA, Friar Cristofer Fernández is a fellow Patriot and alumnus of GMU! In 2017, he obtained his Bachelors of Science in Environmental & Conservation Biology from Mason...As an undergrad he was greatly involved in CCM (student ministry team), FOCUS bible studies, and other extracurriculars on campus; he was a student of the Honors College and the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, and a research scholar and teaching assistant in the College of Science. Prior to entering religious life, Friar had worked for the Department of the Interior, conducted tropical ecology research in Costa Rica, and served on the Alumni Council of the Student Conservation Association (SCA). He is a religious brother completing his graduate studies at the Catholic University of America in Theology, Religion, and Culture.
What A Wonderful World With David Attenborough
The Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City - HD Drone Video

Terry Riggins will speak on the nature of the battle with evil in our lives, how to recognize the tactics of the enemy and what are our spiritual weapons, without which we cannot overcome.
For over 10 yrs, Terry Riggins has been Coordinator of the Diocesan Spiritual Assistance Ministry, appointed by the bishop to assist those who feel they are suffering from demonic affliction.  She has attended national and international conferences on Deliverance Ministry and  works to train and  develop lay deliverance  prayer teams that  offer the Unbound model of deliverance  prayer for our Diocese. She is a graduate of the Masters Catechist program and an RCIA catechist at Nativity Catholic Church. She has been on mission trips to Ukraine, China and Mexico, and even at the local strip mall, sharing the truth that God’s ways work and His promises are true!

The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist Sister Mary Kolbe and Sister Paula Jean Miller
The Mission of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist flows from our consecration to the Church within the Mystery of the Eucharist as the “Source and Summit” of the Christian Life. “In a world that knows the rupture between the Sacred and the secular, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist endeavor in all their apostolic works to lead the people they serve to a restored sense of the Sacred. As a means to this end the Sisters’ apostolic efforts in education, counseling, health care, care of the aging and manual work are directed to increasing a sense of the full meaning of the sacramental life of the Church.”
Sister Paula Jean Miller, F.S.E., is a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, whose motherhouse is in Meriden, Connecticut.  Sister Paula Jean received her license and doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Lateran in Rome, through the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C., in 1993.  Her teaching of marriage and family studies, the theology of the body, moral theology, sexuality, bioethics, and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, has spanned over 30 years in five seminaries, as well as the University of St. Thomas in Houston TX, where she founded, directed, and taught in a Catholic Studies Program. She now works in the Office of Canonical Affairs in the Diocese of Arlington, as Administrative Assistant to the Chancellor. Her research has focused on St. Bonaventure, communion ecclesiology, semiotics, and the thoughts of John Paul II, Benedict XVI., von Balthasar, and Maximus the Confessor. Publications include four books and numerous articles in theological journals. Books:
Religious Life: A New and Special Bond, Chapter II: “The Spousal Bond”, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2009.
Members of One Body, Prophets, Priests and Kings: An Ecclesiology of Mission, Alba House, 1999.
Marriage: The Sacrament of Divine-Human Communion, A Commentary on St. Bonaventure's Theology of Marriage, Franciscan Press, 1996.
Mapping the Catholic Cultural Landscape, (editor), Rowman and Littlefield (Sheed and Ward), 2004.
Sister Mary Kolbe Heffern, F.S.E, is a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist. After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of St. Thomas in Houston (where she was a student of Sister Paula Jean Miller, FSE), she entered the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. She completed an MA in Theology at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut and is a Montessori-trained Elementary guide. She has taught Religion, Spanish and Fourth Grade in Catholic elementary schools and currently teaches six-to-twelve-year-olds in the Montessori Elementary Environment at Siena Academy in Great Falls

As Catholic Christians we are called to love God with our whole selves, body, mind and soul. However, in the Christian journey, we often find ourselves neglecting our own health and well-being at the service of our God-given mission. Kara will share her story of how she has navigated her spiritual, mental, and physical health through her many years in ministry work and as she has stepped into her primary vocation of wife and mother.
Kara Lilly is a George Mason University and Catholic Patriot Alum. She graduated with a B.A. in music and theater in 2015. She served as a student leader within the Catholic Campus Ministry all four years including two years as Student Campus Minister. Upon graduating, she entered into full-time youth ministry in the Diocese of Arlington at the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria and St. Bernadette in Springfield. She married her CCM sweetheart, John Lilly, in May 2017 and gave birth to her daughter, Bella Therese, in April 2020. After leaving her full-time ministry work, she strives to continue her mission in leading others to Jesus through her entrepreneurial pursuits. She is the owner of Kara Loryn Photography LLC helping Catholic Christian couples, families and individuals capture sacred moments in their lives and she helps others experience freedom in their health journey as an Independent Optavia Health Coach.

Pizza, Pasta and Prescription: Go Out and Set the World Ablaze. 
Dr. Bruchalski earned his medical degree from the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in 1987. He completed his OB/GYN residency at Eastern Virginia Medical Center and the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, Virginia in 1991. He received board certification in 1993.
During his residency, Dr. Bruchalski performed abortions out of a desire to help women, but realized abortion was not achieving the freedom, health, and happiness they sought. Dr. Bruchalski returned to the Catholic faith and felt God’s call to start a medical specialty practice that truly helped women.  In 1994, Dr. Bruchalski founded Tepeyac in Fairfax, VA, committed to serving all women regardless of their beliefs, background, or financial situation.
In 2000, he founded Divine Mercy Care that raises funds to cover the cost of prenatal care for approximately 30% of Tepeyac’s pregnant patients who are in financial need.