UPCOMING SPEAKERS FOR 2023
Welcome! Registrations are open on a limited first-come basis. See details below:
30 Limit ~ April 29, 2023 – Magnificat Tea
10:30-12:00 at the Martinez Residence – Sign up with the link below for more information.
We would like to thank all of you who volunteer to help our ministry and those considering becoming a volunteer and wanting to learn more! We will serve coffee and tea as well as wonderful sweets and snacks! All are welcome.
Please RSVP online here: https://MotherOfMercyTea.eventbrite.com
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September 29, 2023 – Save The Date – Magnificat Meal Details Coming Soon
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Past Speakers – 2023
Margaret Vasquez
Margaret is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Certified Trauma Therapist, Certified Intensive Trauma Therapy Instructor, both a Certified Traumatologist and Field Traumatologist, and is Certified in Myers-Briggs.
After over 15+ years of treating trauma clients of all ages, presenting to a wide variety of groups in-person and through guest appearances on EWTN, radio shows, and podcasts, she founded Sacred Heart Healing Ministries, which provides intensive trauma therapy, healing retreats, and trauma-informed care certification training. Margaret began serving as a consultant for Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Institute for Diaconal renewal, presenting workshops and retreats to religious, priests, deacons, and lay people. She now makes these same retreats and workshops available to you in her new book, Fearless, and through in-person and online retreats and workshops.
Margaret suffered for many years as a traumatized person before finding healing and freedom through a variation of the therapy she has honed. Due to this experience, coupled with a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, she sees life’s challenges from a perspective of human and spiritual integration. Understanding that wholeness and holiness are inextricable and interwoven, Margaret is passionate about helping you live in the freedom and peace the Lord has for you. Visit her podcast here.
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Copies of CDs are available for purchase at all of our meals.
Karen Dwyer
Karen Dwyer is an inspirational speaker and has been an award-winning college teacher specializing in helping students and adults of all ages conquer their public speaking anxiety.
Karen is the author of 10 books, including WRAP Yourself in JOY: Find the JOY & Fight the Fear, WRAP Yourself in Scripture, Esther for Such a Time as This: Prayer, Reversals & Joy, Nehemiah—Rebuilding Hope & Joy in Your Life, The Joy of Advent—Journey with the People, Events &, Prayers at the First Coming of Jesus Christ, and I Conquer Speech Anxiety.
Karen has been a guest on EWTN’s The Choices We Face and on several Catholic radio programs, including programs on Spirit Catholic Radio. She is the Coordinator for Magnificat-Omaha, founder of the Heart of Jesus Prayer Groups, a Council Member of USA Pentecost Today, and has served on the Board of Directors for KVSS Spirit Catholic Radio and the national Mission Advisory Council for the Institute of Priestly Formation (IPF).
Karen says, “The Lord Jesus Christ wants to share His joy with you (John 15: 11). He is the One who sustained me through great tragedy and gave me His JOY. Our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit want to give YOU more JOY.” Visit her podcast here
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Past Speakers – 2022
Maureen Nash
Maureen was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Her devout Catholic parents influenced her childhood, and her early education was in a Catholic school taught by Sisters. When she was in the sixth grade, the family moved outside Kansas City to a small farm town. No Catholic school was nearby, so the rest of her education was in public school. Her strong Catholic values continued thanks to her devout parents.
Maureen and her husband, Dave, of 56 years, have two sons. They moved to Florida in 1992. Maureen has been involved in many ministries, including Faith and Formation, Sacristan, Eucharistic, Hospital Ministry, and Respect Life most of her adult life. Her passion is Respect for Life which she has been involved in for the last 15 years. She has served on the Respect Life committee and has led the 40 Days For Life/Lee and Collier Counties Spring Campaigns for the last four years.
Maureen will show how God‘s grace has influenced her. Through His grace, God has shown Maureen how to use her God-given talents to bring awareness and knowledge to those who are unaware of the horrors of abortion. Her goal, “God’s goal,” is to change hearts and minds, to bring our culture of death into a culture of life, to encourage respect for the sanctity of all life, and to stand up for the most vulnerable, the unborn child in the womb. Her presentation shows how being present at Planned Parenthood is one of the most powerful ways to end this horror!
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Father Saji Ellickal
Fr. Saji Ellickal Joseph belongs to a religious congregation called the Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. The congregation began in 1933 in the southwest of India called Kerala, his home state. Father was born and raised in a small mountain city of Kerala called Bisonvalley. His parents, an older brother and a younger sister, both married, live there along with his five nieces and nephews.
When he was fifteen, he completed the 10th grade and joined the Minor Seminary of the Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in June 1989 to begin his seminary formation. Studies included Philosophy from 1993 to 1996 and Theology from 1997 to 2000 in the Pontifical Seminary Aluva, Kerala. After completing almost twelve years of formation and education, he was ordained on December 27, 2000. As a newly ordained, he was sent to the Northern State of India, Rajasthan, to start his ministry as the Administrator of a catholic school that his congregation runs and as the pastor of a small church from 2001 to 2005.
Later, he completed a year of studies in Education to become the principal of a school in a different Northern State of India, Maharashtra, where he had a small parish. In 2007 he was sent to the Diocese of Memphis in TN, where he ministered for ten years. In 2017, he came to the Diocese of Venice, where he was appointed as the Parochial Vicar of St. John XXIII in Fort Myers. He was recently reassigned and will be missed.
Father Saji says, “I really love being a priest, and thank the good Lord for trusting me with this divine call to minister to the spiritual needs of the faithful. The most important inspiration for me to be happy is my devotion to the Holy Eucharist and seeking the intercessions of Our Heavenly Mother Mary.”
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Debbie Herbeck
Our featured speaker, Debbie Herbeck, has shared her personal journey of faith from Judaism to Christianity and subsequent entrance into the Catholic Church. Debbie has worked extensively in youth and women’s ministry for the past forty years, speaking, leading mission trips, and mentoring high school and college-age women. She has spoken at Franciscan University Conferences, Legatus chapters, and women’s events throughout the world. She is the founder and executive director of Pine Hills Girls Camp. Debbie is also the founder and director of the Be Love Revolution, a ministry that exists to help young women encounter Christ and be His love to all they meet.
She has written Safely Through the Storm: 120 Reflections on Hope, Firmly on the Rock: 120 Reflections on Faith, and Love Never Fails: 120 Reflections on Love. She and her husband, Peter, have co-authored a book entitled When the Spirit Speaks: Touched by God’s Word. Debbie is a frequent author and speaker for Blessed is She and contributing writer for Undone: Freeing your Feminine Heart from the Knots of Fear and Shame.
Debbie and her husband, Peter, live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and have four young adult children and seven young grandchildren.