Retreat Speakers

Learn more about this year's retreat speakers...

Father Hage, our Friday evening Keynote, attended Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH and earned his bachelor’s in philosophy.  Upon graduation from Xavier, he entered St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, MD and earned his Masters of Divinity as well as his Sacred Bachelor’s in Theology.  He spent the first three years of his priesthood at the largest parish in the diocese of Syracuse, and worked intensely with the youth and young adult ministry programs there.  Following that assignment, the bishop appointed Father Hage pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Hamilton, Saint Joan of Arc Mission in Morrisville, as well as sacramental responsibilities to the Colgate Newman Catholic Community.  He is also a member of the Syracuse Vocation Promotion Team and was asked by the bishop of Syracuse to lead programming for all college-age men discerning a vocation throughout the diocese.  Father Hage also specializes in retreat work and has offered retreats to numerous groups.  He currently serves on the Priest Personnel Committee, the Continuing Education for Priests Committee, the Diocesan Strategic Planning Committee, and the Vocation Promotion Team.

His talk will take us through the dream's of St. Joseph and his response to God, as an inspriation for how we might listen to God's call in our lives.    



Fr. John Paul Walker is a Dominican priest and currently the Pastor of St. Mary Parish in New Haven, CT.  He has tremendous campus and young adult ministry experience and formally the Chaplain at Johns Hopkins University and also at Providence College.  

His talk this year will focus on St. Joseph as a model of living your faith in the world and in your work.  We will learn from St. Joseph how our work both inside and outside the home can be an opportunity to grow in holiness.



Simcha Fisher is an award-winning writer who lives in New Hampshire with her husband and ten kids, aged 22 to six, and a cat, a bird, a lizard, and a puppy. She writes regularly for America Magazine, for her diocesan magazine Parable, and for Catholic Weekly, the diocesan newspaper for the diocese of Sidney, Australia. Simcha and her husband Damien record a movie review podcast called "Double Feature with the Fishers," and she maintains her own site, simchafisher.com with personal essays, investigative reporting, and most importantly, a weekly post about food.

What do we really know about St. Joseph? Not a lot. To make his life more accessible, Catholics have often turned him into something of a caricature -- either old and feeble, or meek and effeminate, or a macho crusader type. But if we look closely at the spiritual realities of his life, we'll find that he doesn't fall neatly into any stereotype.  Her talk, "St. Joseph: Mirror of Patience/Most Obediant" will be an exploration of St. Joseph's "fiat" inviting us to think more deeply about masculinity and femininity in general, and about what that means for our relationship with God.




Born in Manchester, England and educated in the UK and the USA, Gez holds degrees in Theology and Religious Studies, with courses undertaken at The Victorian University of Manchester, St Johns, Queens and Franciscan University of Steubenville. Gez Ford has both lived within the church as a community member for over ten years and worked for the church for over thirty years. An experienced conference speaker, retreat master and worship leader, Gez has travelled all over the world spreading the Gospel message of Christ's redeeming love and salvation to young and old alike. A devoted husband, father and grandfather, Gez works for the Diocese of Trenton, ministering to the youth and the men of the parish of St Raphael, Holy Angels. He is actively involved in addictions ministry and remains the co-founder of both Tabor and Carmel Houses, (recovery residences for addicts and alcoholics). 

Gez will draw on his personal experiences and education to illuminate St. Joseph as a role model both in the roles of husband and father, as well as an inspiration for us all as a protector of the vulnerable. 




Sister Mary Rachel Capets was born outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She entered religious life in 1996. Throughout her years as a Dominican Sister of St. Cecilia she has taught in schools throughout the United States and Australia. She currently serves as the Local Prioress of the Motherhouse. 

Her talk will focus will be on the virtues of St. Joseph and how we can imitate him; with an emphasis on how much he understands us and is close to us. 


 Katie is a New Jersey native and received her undergraduate degree in Theology from Catholic Distance University. Her talks and workshops have been featured in multiple venues, such as the Frassati Fellowship of New York City and the Edith Stein Project. Katie speaks often on the topics of: Prayer, Theology of the Body, Beauty, Healing through Art, and the Feminine Genius. 

Katie will use her experiences and education to lead a talk and prayer experience through the art of St. Joseph.