Instructors

This is a partial list of guest speakers, and regularly scheduled instructors.


Ann Marie Campell has received national recognition for her artwork. Her work has been photographed by the New York Times, and has been featured in Women's Wear Daily magazine, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Sacramento Magazine, Sacramento Bee, Folsom Telegraph, Catholic Herald and many more. In addition to many awards in art competitions, Ann has been honored by inclusion in Who's Who in American Women, Who's Who in the West, Who's Who in Art and more. Ann is currently a member of the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Oil Painters of America, the California Art Club, and The Portrait Society of America.

 


Nicholas J. Cammarota, Esq. is a native of Sacramento who graduated from Thomas Aquinas College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy/Liberal Arts in 1984.  He has been practicing law for 20 years and has been a registered lobbyist for the past 12 years. He has done post-graduate studies in the Church's teachings on Politics and Economics at Thomas Aquinas College sponsored by the Aquinas Review.


 

Tom Carroll is a former officer of the Clandestine Service of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  He spent years under cover in the Middle East, and is a specialist in Islam and Middle Eastern affairs.  Tom and his wife converted to Catholicism while living in Istanbul, Turkey.  For more information, visit tpcarroll.com


John S. Hamlon, M.A., earned his graduate degree in Theology from the University of San Francisco and did doctoral work in Systematic Theology from 1987 to 1994 at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.  He was the associate director of the St. Ignatius Institute, University of San Francisco, from 1994 to 2001 and taught an upper-division theology course on marriage at USF for 14 years.  Prior to that, he was the program director for national and international conferences on NFP, marriage, and family at St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN.  He’s the author of A Call to Families: A Commentary and Study Guide for Familiaris Consortio (revised 2015).  Currently he teaches classes on John Paul II's thought, Christian ethics, and the cardinal/theological virtues for parishes within the Diocese of Sacramento and for Easter’s Faith Formation Center.


Kathi Hamlon is a senior policy analyst for the Patients Rights Council (PRC), a human rights organization formed in 1986 to promote and defend the right of all patients to be treated with respect, dignity, and compassion and to oppose policies that threaten the lives of medically vulnerable patients. In addition, she is the editor of the PRC Update, a bi-monthly news publication, and speaks on various topics related to end-of-life issues. She has addressed medical groups, university and high school students, professional organizations, senior citizen groups, church organizations, legislative committees, and has appeared on various TV and radio programs. 

Ms. Hamlon has been an educator for over 40 years. She has developed and directed adult health education programs and has authored and co-authored numerous articles on issues dealing with medical ethics and end-of-life issues.

Ms. Hamlon is married and has three children, seven grandchildren, and foursoon to be fivegranddogs.


Cheryl Hoffman, M.A. has been married for over 50 years and has 5 children and 12 grandchildren. She became a Third Order Carmelite in 1976, and has been a member of the Legion of Mary for 46 years.  She taught Catholic Junior High and High School for 15 years. Cheryl graduated from Immaculate Heart College in 1965 with a BA in History and from Creighton University in 1969 with an MA in European History. She has been an RCIA catechist for 18 years, a Bible Study leader for 12 years, and an instructor of Natural Family Planning for 20 years. 


 

Dr. Joseph Hollcraft has taught at the middle school, high school and university levels over the past 11 years. Currently he is a Catholic radio host and is involved in educational and catechetical work throughout Northern California. He has written articles on Catechetics and Pastoral Theology for The Sower Review and the Homiletic and Pastoral Review. He and his wife, Jackie, have four children.


Rev. Vincent R. Juan, JCL, is pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Truckee, CA. In 2003, he graduated from St. Patrick's Seminary and University with an STB and MDiv. In 2011, he got his licentiate in Canon Law from The Catholic University of America. He has been a member of the Canon Law Society of America since 2010.


Rev. Edward P. Pepka, Ph.D., was a missionary in Kenya, East Africa, from 1987 to 1991. He has served his home parish in Natick, Massachusetts, several parishes in the Diocese of Sacramento, and St. Francis Catholic High School, Sacramento, where he was the full-time chaplain. He has taught graduate theology in Massachusetts, Kenya, and California. He was an adjunct professor of Theology at the University of Sacramento. He is an expert in early Church history, particularly the early papacy. His general expertise covers the history of the Catholic tradition. 


 

Ana Ramirez-Palmer, M.A., earned her M.A. from the Augustine Institute and a Certificate in Advanced Catechetics from the University of Sacramento. Ana retired from 33 years in State government service, ten years of which were as a warden in the California prison system. She and her husband, Steve, serve their parish as youth ministers and catechists.


Spencer Roundtree has lived in Northern California all his life. He has been an avid reader since childhood, and a reader of the works of G.K. Chesterton for 33 years. His first exposure to the writings of G. K. Chesterton, aside from seeing him quoted in the works of others, was Chesterton's book Orthodoxy given to him by his friend, a Protestant pastor, in 1984. It marked a turning point in his life that ultimately brought him and his family into the Roman Catholic Church. Spencer has been a longtime member of the American Chesterton Society, and with some friends, founded the Sacramento Chapter of the Chesterton Society in 2012. The Sacramento Chesterton Society meets the second Tuesday of each month at St. Stephen the First Martyr Catholic Parish in Sacramento. Spencer lives with his wife of 39 years, Anne, in the Placerville, CA area.  

 

Diane Walsh, M.A., C.P.G., is a credentialed gerontologist with an AA, BS, and MA in Gerontology.  She has a minor in religious studies, has training in Clinical Pastoral Education (C.P.E.) and attended the University of Sacramento.  Diane was a hospice chaplain and is currently an instructor at CSU, Sacramento teaching courses relating to aging and death and dying.  Spirituality, death and dying, and dementia are the areas to which she has dedicated most of her time and studies.

 


 

Fr. Art Wehr, S.J., graduated from the University of San Francisco.  Two years later, he entered the Society of Jesus.  He earned an M.A. in Philosophy from Fordham University and an S.T.D. in Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome.  He was ordained at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco and currently serves as parochial vicar at St. Ignatius Parish, Sacramento.