Our Team
Annual Leadership Team
Fr. Ryan Richardson
Executive Director
Father Ryan serves as Chaplain at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He graduated summa cum laude in 2003 from Loyola University in New Orleans, where he obtained a B.B.A. in Economics. After graduation, he served two years as a missionary with Regnum Christi and, in 2005, joined the Legionaries of Christ.
During his years of priestly formation, he served as an Assistant to the Instructor of Novices in Cheshire, CT, and Co-Founder of Upper Room Rome, an apostolate that networks English-speaking Catholic college students in the Eternal City.
In 2016, he was ordained to the priesthood and graduated summa cum laude with degrees in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. He has since served as Chaplain of Young Catholic Professionals in Dallas, Texas, and a Spiritual Director for FOCUS New Staff Training.
Fr. Brett Taira
Program Director
Fr. Brett Taira, LC, is a native of Orange County, CA. A convert from Buddhism to Catholicism in college, Fr. Brett completed degrees in Electrical Engineering and Philosophy at Rice University in Houston, TX, prior to entering into religious life with the Legionaries of Christ in 2004. At Regina Apostolorum in Rome, he completed a Bachelor’s and Licentiate degree in Philosophy and a Bachelor’s degree in Theology. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2016. He holds a certification in Spiritual Direction from Divine Mercy University.
Since ordination, he has served as Regnum Christi Director in Chicago, as Territorial Secretary for the Legionaries of Christ, and as Regnum Christi Chaplain in New Orleans and southern Louisiana. He is currently working together with Fr. Ryan Richardson as the Assistant Chaplain at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS, and is also studying for a Master of Business Administration at Benedictine.
Anna Ketelle
Coordinator of Marketing and Communication
A fellowship alumna, Anna has great insight into the life of a fellow! She is currently a student at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, where she is studying Finance with minors in Theology and Mass Communications. In addition to her studies, Anna is a captain of the Cheer team, a member of Regnum Christi, and works for BC College Ministry. Following graduation, she plans to pursue a Master of Business Administration.
Maria Rivero
Coordinator of Alumni Engagement
A CWF alumna, Maria graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a double major in Economics and Marketing. She discovered many new interests on the Fellowship and has spent the past few years exploring the intellectual tradition of our Catholic faith. Maria has worked in the public policy think tank space and is currently serving as a Regnum Christi missionary in Spain.
Program Staff
Caroline Beecher
Rome Coordinator
Caroline Beecher is from Chicago, IL, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Saint Mary’s College of Notre Dame in 2018. After graduation, she worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse at Lurie Children’s Hospital before pursuing a master’s degree in Political and Corporate Communication at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. Caroline is an alumna of the Catholic Worldview Fellowship (‘17) and has been blessed to continue contributing to the Fellowship’s mission ever since in the areas of Student Life and Logistics.
Christina McShane
Student Life Team
Christina McShane received her master’s and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Arlington, VA, and her bachelor’s degrees in Communication Arts and Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Her training has included special emphasis on the integration of psychology and theology. She currently provides therapy and assessment to families and adults at a private group practice in Tempe, Arizona and to seminarians and candidates for religious life.
In addition to her clinical work, she offers assessment, coaching, consultation, and workshops for leaders and organizations to help in achieving healthier cultures and stronger teams. In the past, she has worked with a variety of clients, providing project management, event coordination, and customer service.
Aron Aziz
Curriculum Team
A former FOCUS missionary and Fellowship alumnus, Aron loves working with college students. His passions and knowledge range from practical program details and curriculum to the liturgy and living life as a missionary disciple. Aron has a background in computer science and works as a business analyst at a large parish in the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio.
Fr. John Bartunek
Curriculum Team
Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991.
After college, he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He has taught moral theology at various ecclesiastical institutions at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller, Inside the Passion, the only authorized, behind-the-scenes explanation of the film.
Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican¹s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
His most widely known books are “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer” and “60 Days to Becoming a Missionary Disciple“. His library of online, do-it-yourself spiritual retreats are available at RCSpirituality.org.
Fr. Michael Baggot
Curriculum Team
Fr. Michael Baggot is a Professor Aggregato of Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and an Adjunct Professor of Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) and the Catholic Institute of Technology. He also serves as a professor for the Joint Diploma in Leadership: Service through Virtues and the Catholic Worldview Fellowship summer program.
He was an Adjunct Professor of Theology at the Christendom College Rome program from 2018-2022. In addition, Baggot is a Research Scholar at the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights and a member of the Scholarly Advisory Board for Magisterium AI. His writings have appeared in First Things, Studia Bioethica, The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, and Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. Baggot is the chief editor of and a contributor to the book Enhancement Fit for Humanity: Perspectives on Emerging Technologies (Routledge, 2022).
Mary Schwarz
Curriculum Team
Mary Schwarz is happy to be consecrated to Christ as a member of the Society of Apostolic Life, Consecrated Women of Regnum Christ, having taken her first vows on the Feast of Christ the King, November 26, 2000. Over the years, she has lived and worked in Washington, D.C., Dallas, TX, Cincinnati, OH, and Chicago, IL, serving primarily as a spiritual guide for college students and young adults. She currently lives with her community in Manila, Philippines!
In addition to offering spiritual formation and accompaniment to those seeking to grow closer to Christ, Mary loves to teach and engage with others in the pursuit of truth, especially John Paul II’s Personalism and Theology of the Body. She completed her doctorate in 2020 on the Philosophy of Hospitality and is a passionate believer in the mission of the Catholic Worldview Fellowship.
Katie Lundstrom
Leadership Coach
Katie Lundstrom, MBA, PCC, is the founder and President of Firm Foundations Inc (FFI), an executive leadership coaching and strategy and change consulting firm based in the Washington, D.C. area. She has more than 30 years of experience serving hundreds of clients across all types of industries in the areas of strategic planning, organizational & culture change, individual and team performance, strategic and tactical alignment, and leadership.
She is most passionate about partnering with leaders who really want to see change for themselves, their teams, and their organizations. She uses coaching, strategic planning, appreciative inquiry, and facilitation as core techniques to make change happen. Using these same techniques, she helped our co-founders establish the Catholic Worldview Fellowship in 2015-2016. Katie is a convert to the Catholic faith and has served on the Fellowship team since its inaugural year in 2017.
Fr. John Klein
Spirituality Team
Fr. John Klein serves as Chaplain and Spiritual Director for Regnum Christi’s college and young adult ministry in Atlanta, GA, as well as Spiritual Director at the Georgia Tech Catholic Center in downtown Atlanta, where he guides college students in their daily growth in faith. Additionally, he works as Head Chaplain for Mercy Missions Atlanta, a non-profit missionary organization dedicated to youth street evangelization and homeless ministry throughout the streets of Atlanta.
Originally hailing from St. Louis, MO, Fr. John pursued studies in music production in Nashville, TN, before answering the call to join the Legionaries of Christ in 2006. Since then, he has been deeply involved in creating music and nurturing young Catholic musicians. In 2020, he founded the Regnum Christi Music Collective, a music ministry dedicated to composing music for evangelization purposes and providing formation for musicians.
Tammy Grady
Spirituality Team
Tammy Grady is the Associate Director for Vocations for the Diocese of Dallas and works as a Spiritual Director for university students at SMU Catholic in Dallas and Benedictine College in Kansas. She has been a consecrated woman of the Regnum Christi Movement for twenty-five years and is very grateful for her vocation.
Before Consecrated Life, she obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nutrition in Nova Scotia, Canada. After college, she volunteered for two missionary years at NET Ministries & SPO Ministries, which led her to discover her vocation. During her formation period in Consecrated Life, she obtained a Licentiate Degree in Religious Sciences magna cum laude from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. Recently, she received her Certification in TOB from the Theology of the Body Institute in Pennsylvania.
Tammy has worked with young people worldwide through missionary trips, pilgrimages, five World Youth Days, spiritual direction, and retreats in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Rome, the Holy Land, Mexico, Chile, Greece, Poland, and the USA. She has a heart for the new evangelization and the complementarity of men and women, especially among young adults trying to find their way, their place, and their mission in the world.
Staff Emeritus
Nathan Sullivan
Leadership & Program Direction Teams
Nathan is a 2019 fellowship alumnus currently residing in Germany while pursuing a Master of International Affairs at the Hertie School, The University of Goverance in Berlin. A Business Optimization Consultant, he served as CWF’s Director of Operations and Program Director from 2020 to 2024. A 2017 Terry Scholar, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Texas with a B.B.A. in Business Integrated Studies: International Business and Marketing and très bien from the Burgundy School of Business in Dijon, France, with a Bachelor in Marketing & Business: International Business Management.
Formerly, Nathan served as a Co-Founder and Director of Operations for Catholic Music Initiative, a nonprofit he helped build into an internationally known organization in the Catholic music world, and as the Director of Finance and Operations for Mindtap Marketing (now Hexa GTM), a digital marketing agency in headquartered in the DFW area.
A native Texan, Nathan is passionate about entrepreneurship and technology and enjoys working with start-ups and non-profit organizations. When he isn’t working, he can be found appreciating music, learning about new technology, playing ultimate frisbee, and traveling—especially internationally.
Danielle Trompeter
Leadership & Student Life Teams
A 2019 fellowship alumnus, Danielle Trompeter graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas where she studied Arts, Technology and Emerging Communication. She currently works as a Marketing Specialist for a home fitness company for seniors and enjoys providing marketing and business consulting to clients with her brother, Nathan. Dani is a Texas native and resides in Carrollton with her husband, Tommy. In her free time, she loves reading, playing ultimate frisbee, and facilitating philosophical and theological discussions to help young adults grow deeper in their faith.
Addie Lovejoy
Student Life Team
Addie Lovejoy was born and raised in Texas, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Development from Texas A&M University. She is finishing up her master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling. She is a management and change consultant for Firm Foundations, Inc. (FFI), where, for the past seven years, she has assisted companies in strategic planning, leadership strengthening, and team building. Addie is a convert to the Catholic faith and has been a part of the Catholic Worldview Fellowship staff since its inaugural summer. She currently resides in Florida with her son Landon and husband Connor, who serves in the U.S. military.
Jono Taccolini
Curriculum & Student Life Teams
Jono Taccolini grew up in a large Catholic family in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He studied music and French at Grand Valley State University where he graduated magna cum laude in 2016 and is currently a graduate music student at the University of Michigan. In addition to his studies, Jono has worked in fine dining as well as taught and performed both as a soloist and choral scholar throughout the state. Currently he is a member of the Schola Cantorum Detroitensis, a small professional vocal ensemble in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Jono is passionate about liturgy and music as well as facets of culture ranging from languages to the art of hospitality. He is an alumnus of the Fellowship class of 2017 and since then has been working with the curriculum team and assisting with liturgical music.
Julian Dewald
Student Life & Logistics Teams
Julian Dewald grew up in southern Germany for the first twelve years of his life. Afterward, he moved to France to see if he had a vocation to religious life. After finishing his high school in France, he did a year of service in Wisconsin where he worked as the dean of a boarding school. Since then, he has moved back and forth between Germany and other countries to do his studies in international business. After his undergraduate, he worked as a project manager for FrieslandCampina for about a year in the Netherlands. Currently, he is studying Business Management at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.