Sr. Maria Goretti, OCD: Receive the Gift That You Are

Sister Maria Goretti, OCD, is a member of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.  She grew up in South Louisiana and graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in Mass Communication: Public Relations and Business.  While in college, she was very involved with Christ the King Catholic Student Center and developed a deep love for serving on foreign missions in Mexico.  It was during this time that she discovered her call to religious life. After graduating from LSU in 2008, she moved to California to join the Carmelite Sisters.  Sister currently serves as the Vocation Directress for her community.  She has been a Carmelite Sister for 12 years and had the great joy of professing her perpetual vows in 2019.

Simone Rizkallah: Realize the Gifts You’ve Been Given

Simone Rizkallah is currently the Director of Program Growth for Endow Groups. Previously she worked at St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Phoenix, Arizona as Theology Department Chair and Senior Theology Teacher. She is also an Institute of Catholic Theology Fellow based on the campus of St. Thomas the Apostle in Phoenix, Arizona.

Her graduate degree is in Theological Studies with an emphasis in Systematic Theology from Christendom College. Her undergraduate studies and professional background include marketing communications, media, radio, and theatre before discovering her passion for the Faith and the call to evangelize through teaching and speaking.

As the daughter of immigrants from the Armenian Diaspora in Cairo, Egypt, she has a particular interest in matters of religious freedom and culture. In her free time she enjoys teaching RCIA, speaking and writing. She has been published in ChurchPOP, Aleteia, Verily, CatholicU, Ethika Politika, The Catechetical Review and Angelus and was featured as a Guest Contributor in the book Road Signs for Catholic Teens published by Our Sunday Visitor. She blogs at www.culturalgypsy.com

Micaela Darr: Respond With the Gift Only You Can Give

Micaela is a happy Catholic wife and a mother of many: 7 on earth and 5 in heaven. Her days are spent helping her older daughters navigate high school, and homeschooling her school-aged kiddos. She is passionate about God and the truth He reveals here on earth. She spends her evenings discussing politics and the state of the world with her husband, and working behind the scenes on ministry: the Catholic women’s Fiat Conference and Take Up & Read Scripture Studies.

At her heart, Micaela would simply define herself as a Catholic woman, a daughter to the one True King, and she seeks to acknowledge every day how great He is and how blessed and undeserving she is.