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Father John Riccardo
Father John Riccardo has hosted 155 episodes.
Fr. John Riccardo is the host of "You Were Born for This with Father John Riccardo", Executive Director of ACTS XXIX, and a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, ordained in 1996. He has served as pastor of St. Anastasia Catholic Church in Troy, MI, and at Our Lady of Good Counsel (OLGC) in Plymouth, MI. As pastor of OLGC, together with his parish team, he was witness to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to move a parish from maintenance to mission in a way that caught the attention of pastors and parishes across the country. As a result, he has done ongoing work with pastors, diocesan leaders, and parish staffs throughout the country to respond to the urgent call of the past four Popes for a new Pentecost and a new evangelization, and to equip parishes to be better able to respond to the times we live in. Fr. John was a member of the leadership team from its very beginning of what became Synod 16 in the Archdiocese of Detroit, a Synod focused on the New Evangelization. He continues to serve on the New Evangelization Council, whose task it is to assist the Archbishop in stewarding the graces of Synod 16. He also serves in several other advisory roles for the Archdiocese of Detroit. In addition to his work in Detroit, Fr. John has served as a member of the USCCB National Advisory Council and is currently a member of the Alpha USA Pastors Forum. He is the host of Christ is the Answer, a radio show that can be heard on EWTN, and is the creator of hundreds of podcasts and videocasts. He has spoken at diocesan events across the country and is passionate about the power of the Gospel to transform people’s lives. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, The Gregorian University in Rome, and The Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.
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Mary Guilfoyle
Mary Guilfoyle has hosted 90 episodes.
Mary Guilfoyle is the former Director of Evangelization and Discipleship at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, MI. In that capacity, in addition to serving on the parish leadership team, one of her responsibilities was overseeing and growing one of the largest Alpha programs of any Catholic parish in the United States. Mary served as a Hub Church Director for Alpha USA and trained more than 100 parishes on how to integrate Alpha into their pastoral planning so as to become outward-focused missionary parishes. Convicted that programs don’t make disciples but people do, Mary was committed to the development of discipleship strategies that moved away from academic models to lived models of discipleship where the goal was nothing less than the transformation of people, families, workplaces, neighborhoods and culture. Through training, workshops, small group communities and other relationally-based initiatives, Mary and her team equipped and accompanied ministry leaders, volunteers and parishioners to be fruitful disciples and disciple makers so as to live on mission bearing witness to Jesus Christ. Mary has also mentored parish staff leaders across the country as they discerned how to bring about a culture of evangelization and discipleship in their parish.
Mary was a member of Synod 16 on the New Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Detroit and witnessed the Holy Spirit moving in a powerful way. She eagerly shares the extraordinary pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel with parishes that are passionate about renewal and culture change.
Mary has her Bachelor’s Degree from Washburn University and has studied at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. She and her family are committed to the revitalization of Detroit.
Retired Hosts
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Nick Jorgensen
Nick Jorgensen has hosted 52 episodes.
Nick Jorgensen, co-host of "You Were Born for This with Father John Riccardo", is the Associate Director of Parish Renewal for ACTS XXIX and has been involved in evangelization and leadership ministries for over ten years. While completing his undergraduate degree in marketing and management, he worked in youth ministry at the parish level. He then went on to earn his MA in Theology and Christian ministry. While earning this degree, he led men’s ministry as well as a mission trip involving door-to-door, on the street, and inner-city evangelization. He also spent some time working for Lighthouse Catholic Media in order to help develop a door-to-door evangelization program. After completing his MA, he served as the Assistant Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, where he worked to equip parishes in evangelization and leadership. In 2015, Nick and his family moved to the Archdiocese of Detroit where he became the Associate Director of Evangelization. In this role, Nick has developed workshops, training, conferences, and retreats for hospitality, evangelization, formation, and leadership training. Nick has been trained for and successful in coaching leadership teams in organizational health with the goal of building a missionary culture among staff and volunteers throughout all levels of the Church. As part of this coaching effort, Nick trained leaders in the Archdiocese to work with parish leadership teams in their efforts to build a healthy parish culture.