About us - CFCA presenters

Rev. Richard Bayuk, C.PP.S.

Father Richard Bayuk is a Missionary of the Precious Blood and has been preaching for CFCA since 1996.

Rev. Jerry Beat

Father Jerry Beat is a priest in the Diocese of Wichita, Kan. He was a member of the CFCA board from 1991 to 1999 and has been preaching for CFCA since 2006.

Father Beat worked in the Wichita Diocesan Mission's parishes in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, between 1973 and 1986. While in Venezuela, Father Beat helped CFCA set up one of its first projects in Venezuela. He assisted in setting up sponsorships and worked with some of CFCA’s lay volunteers.

Today, Father Beat is involved in many ministries in Kansas. He is a chaplain at Via Christi Health Systems, St. Joseph Hospital and St. Francis Hospital, all in Wichita. Father Beat also works with the Cursillo Movement, which provides adult education for immigrants from Latin America. In El Dorado, Kansas, he works in the Kairos jail ministry and on some weekends he substitutes in parishes.

In addition to the time he lived in Venezuela, Father Beat has traveled extensively throughout Latin America. He has visited Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Belize and Mexico.

Rev. Dennis Chriszt,

C.PP.S.

Father Dennis Chriszt, C.PP.S. is a Missionary of the Precious Blood. He was ordained in 1982, and served as associate pastor of two parishes in Indiana and Florida before returning to school in 1993.

He served as founding director of Precious Blood Parish Missions, working with members of his community, their sister communities, and associate members - forming teams of preachers to share their spirituality and proclaim God's abundant love with the people of God in parishes throughout North America.

Father Chriszt leads retreats, conducts workshops and invites others to share the blessings of sponsorship with CFCA. He has been preaching for CFCA since 2000.

Rev. Daniel Doyle, S.M.

Father Daniel Doyle, S.M., is a Marianist priest and was ordained in 1967. He began preaching for CFCA and Isaiah Parish Missions in 1994. In both of these ministries he has been impressed by the people who sponsor because they are so willing to share their blessings to help empower others.

In addition to working with CFCA and Isaiah, Father Doyle has several other ministries. He has served as a spiritual director, police chaplain and Knights of Columbus chaplain. Most of his ministry has been in secondary education.

Rev. G. William Fischer,

O.S.F.S.

Father G. William Fischer, O.S.F.S., was ordained a priest in 1969 with the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. He has served as pastor, hospital chaplain, retreat director, and teacher at secondary and collegiate levels. His education includes a bachelor's in philosophy, master's in theology from the De Sales Hall School of Theology, master's in psychology from Central Michigan University, and a doctorate in philosophy from the Oxford Graduate School.

Father Fischer has been preaching for CFCA since 1994.

Rev. Gerald Flater, O.M.I.

Father Gerald Flater, O.M.I., is a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate and was ordained in 1957.  He received his licentiate in sacred theology from Catholic University in 1958. He began preaching with CFCA in 1998 through Isaiah Parish Missions and he continues to preach for Isaiah, CFCA, and his religious community.

During his years as a priest Father Flater has served as a chaplain, pastor and mission speaker. In addition to these ministries he has also served in various functions at the diocesan level including the interim director for the Diocesan Office of Family Life in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Rev. John Fleming

Rev. John Fleming is a priest in the Diocese of Camden, N.J. Father Fleming was ordained in 1961, and since then has served in 16 parishes and schools and in several hospitals and nursing homes as chaplain. He has served as an administrator in several different parishes. Father Fleming retired in November of 2007, but still helps out in several parishes in the Diocese of Camden. He began preaching for CFCA in 1996. He now lives in Hammonton, N.J., and travels occasionally to visit missions and other CFCA projects in Brazil.  He substitutes in several parishes in the Diocese of Camden when he is not traveling on behalf of CFCA.

Father John Graden, O.S.F.S., joined the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales in 1964, and was ordained a priest in 1976. His ministries have included teaching high school biology and religion, working in parishes, serving as vocations and formation director for his province, and as director of Word Consultants, a Catholic evangelization ministry. He is currently the director of DeSales Resources and Ministries.

Father Graden’s educational background includes a bachelor's in biology and science education from Niagara University, a master's in divinity from University of St. Michael’s, University of Toronto and a master's in Religious Education from Seattle University.

Father Graden, one of CFCA’s first preachers, has been preaching for CFCA since 1991.

Rev. Vincent Haselhorst

Father Vince Haselhorst is a priest in the Diocese of Belleville, Ill., and was ordained in 1957. He has served as an associate pastor in East St. Louis and Belleville, Ill. For six years, Father Vince lived in Guatemala serving as a director of the Belleville Diocesan Mission and pastor of Our Lord of Esquipulas Parish in El Progresso, Guatemala.

In 1970, Father Vince returned to Belleville. From the time he returned to the U.S. until his retirement in 2000, Father Vince served in a variety of ministries in the Belleville diocese. These ministries included being a pastor, serving on the Diocesan Presbyteral Council, dean and member of the Priest Personnel Board. He has also been a member of the College of Consultors for the Diocese of Belleville and assisted in the creation of sister parish relationships for 30 parishes in the Belleville diocese with parishes in Jalapa, Guatemala.

Father Vince has been a member of the CFCA board since 2002 and has been preaching for CFCA since 2000.

Rev. Peter Hereley, O.P.

Father Peter Hereley is a Dominican and has been preaching for CFCA since 1992.

Rev. Stan Kennedy, M.S.

Father Stan Kennedy is a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette and has been preaching for CFCA since 1999.

Rev. Arthur Kirwin, O.P.

Father Arthur Kirwin is a Dominican and has been preaching for CFCA since 1992.

Rev. George Knab, O.M.I.

Father George Knab is a priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He received a master’s in theology from Oblate College, Washington D.C., where he was ordained a priest on May 31, 1967.

Father Knab has served as a school and hospital chaplain, and was a pastor at parishes in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Miami, Fla. He has been preaching parish missions and renewal programs off and on since 1980. These parish missions include Isaiah Ministries, which he has been affiliated with since 1990.

Since 1990 Father Knab has been affiliated with Isaiah Ministries, a preaching corps in which clergy and laity, men and women, collaborate with one another as a team to conduct parish renewal programs around the country.

“The one-on-one connection contributes to the ongoing transformation of the sponsor while providing the sponsored person with a personal experience of God’s love and providence,” says Father Knab.

Father Knab has been preaching for CFCA since 2003.

Rev. Peter Kohler, M.S.

Father Peter Kohler, M.S., is a native of St. Louis, Mo., and has been a professed religious of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette since 1962. He was ordained in 1968.

Father Kohler has served as a missionary on the island of Madagascar. Father Kohler has also served in many different capacities including mission outreach and awareness, parish administration, and vocation and formation. He has a special love for ministries that work with the poor.

Currently, Father Kohler is in charge of his order’s pre-novitiate formation program in Washington, D.C. Father Kohler has been preaching for CFCA since 1994.

Rev. Samuel Lupico

Father Sam Lupico is a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Md., and has been preaching for CFCA since October 2007. Father Lupico was ordained in 1965 and has worked as a pastor and hospital chaplain throughout his priestly life. He taught at St. Mary Seminary and University and also at Loyola College (Md.). He currently serves as a sacramental priest at a parish in Baltimore and is a much sought-after speaker on the speaker circuit of Narcotics Anonymous. Father Lupico also teaches a class on the spirituality of recovery twice a month to recovering men in the inner city.

Father Lupico has degrees from St. Charles College, St. Mary Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary and Rutgers University. “I am a happy priest, filled with fire for the Gospel and for the hope it promises,” he said.

Rev. Don MacKinnon

Father Donald MacKinnon, C.Ss.R. has been preaching for CFCA since June 2007. He was ordained in 1959 and throughout his priestly life he has walked with the poor. For 10 years, Father MacKinnon served as mission procurator for the Redemptorist/Western Province and toured the Redemptorist missions in Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Nigeria. Domestically, Father MacKinnon has worked with the people of San Francisco's Hunters Point housing projects, in the fields with migrant workers and now with Laotian refugees in Richmond, Calif.

In addition to his work with Laotian refugees, Father MacKinnon is the Director/Pastor of the Kmhmú-Laotian Pastoral Center and the national representative for Kmhmú-Laotian people to the Committee on Pastoral Care of Migrants & Refugees.  He is the Redemptorists-Denver Social Justice Coordinator, the Superior of the Berkeley Redemptorist Community, and the vice president & social justice chair of a local ecumenical council.

Rev. Bill Martin

Father Bill Martin is a priest in the Archdiocese of New York and has been preaching for CFCA since 1996.

Rev. Richard Mauthe

Father Richard Mauthe is a priest in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., and has been preaching for CFCA since 2001.

Rev. Richard Maynard

Father Richard Maynard is a priest in the Diocese of Providence, R.I., and has been preaching for CFCA since 1999.

Msgr. John McClean

Rev. Msgr. John McClean was ordained for the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 1957. During his priestly life, Msgr. McClean served in education from 1957 to 1978, including time as principal of Newman High School. From 1978 to 2002 he was a pastor. He retired in 2002 and began preaching for CFCA in 2003.

Msgr. McClean enjoys working with CFCA because it gives him an opportunity to serve the poor.

He says, “I enjoy enabling people to reach out and enrich another’s life.”  “CFCA is very well organized and very efficiently uses the gifts people entrust to this work.”

Rev. Jerry Morgan

Father Jerry Morgan is a priest in the Diocese of Salina, Kan., and has been preaching for CFCA since 1995.

Rev. Charles Muwonge

Father Charles Muwonge, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kampala, Uganda, said that he travels on behalf of our sponsored children and aging friends because he gets to see the face of the Church.  “My ministry as priest and preacher for CFCA has enabled me to experience Jesus in a special way,” Father Muwonge said. “My background working in the developing countries exposed me to the plight of the poor that is the face of the suffering Christ. And now my stay in the U.S. and work with CFCA gives me a glimpse into the generosity of Jesus working in each and every sponsor who reaches out to embrace one of these poor children of God.”

Father Muwonge was ordained in 1993 and has been speaking on behalf of CFCA since 2003. He has served as a pastor and chaplain. Currently he is serving as a chaplain at a school in Michigan while working on his doctorate degree in Educational Leadership.

Rev. William Nordenbrock,

C.PP.S.

Father William Nordenbrock, C.PP.S., is a Missionary of the Precious Blood and has been preaching for CFCA since 1999.

Rev. James O'Toole

Father James O’Toole is a priest of the Diocese of Fort Worth. He entered the seminary in 1955 and was ordained in 1964 as a priest of the Diocese of Dallas-Fort Worth. He served in the Dallas-Fort Worth Diocese for four years and then joined the Air Force as a chaplain. He served in that capacity for 21 years and spent time at bases in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. While in the Air Force, he attended the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., where he graduated with a master’s degree.

After retiring from his work as a chaplain in the Air Force, he spent several months while on sabbatical working in Calcutta, India, with the Missionaries of Charity in Mother Teresa’s home for the dying. It was there that he was deeply touched. “I did nothing for those people in the home compared to what they did for me,” Father O’Toole said. Through this personal contact, Father O’Toole said, he realized that “I have understood the Scriptures with my head, and now I understand them with my heart.” Father O’Toole’s next stop after the Air Force was back to Ft. Worth where he served as a pastor for 12 years before deciding to retire.

Father O’Toole began working with CFCA in 2003 after retiring from parish work.  In addition to working with CFCA, Father O’Toole lives part-time in Guatemala where he assists the pastoral staff at the parish of San Lucas Toliman, and he volunteers at CFCA's Hermano Pedro Project.

Rev. Roger Plante, M.S.

Father Roger Plante was ordained in 1961 as a La Salette Missionary. He has a licentiate in sacred theology (STL) from the Angelicum in Rome and a master’s in guidance and psychology from Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. 

His ministries during 46 years of priesthood were varied, challenging and life-giving. They included being headmaster of a private boarding school for 140 boys in New Hampshire and organizing a food co-op for low-income people called FOOD (Friends Organization for Ongoing Development). Father Plante was pastor of the La Salette Shrine in Attleboro, Mass., and currently serves as the director of the Missionaries of LaSalette’s Retreat Center.

Father Plante has been preaching for CFCA since 1996. 

Rev. John Quinn

Father John Quinn is a priest in the Archdiocese of New York and has been preaching for CFCA since 1997.

Rev. Mike Rieder

Father Mike has spent time in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, where he studied Spanish, and has traveled with students on CFCA mission awareness trips to Guatemala and El Salvador. He has felt connected to CFCA for a long time as a sponsor and says that he has “used” CFCA mission awareness trips for his own spiritual benefit and as a way to expose his students to the work of CFCA. He says, “I thought that preaching for CFCA would be a natural outgrowth of my experiences with CFCA and a way to ‘be used’ in a mutual relationship with CFCA.”

Rev. Thomas Singer

Father Tom Singer is a priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was ordained in 1957. He has served in various roles in the Oblates including Provincial Mission Secretary, Personnel Director for the Central U.S. Province and on the Oblate General Council in Rome, Italy. During his time on the General Council and as Mission Secretary, Father Singer traveled extensively throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. His education includes degrees from Spring Hill College, University of St. Thomas and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Father Singer is semi-retired, but he continues to serve as spiritual director for several people and conduct retreats. He has been preaching for CFCA since June 2007, because, as he says, “Of all the organizations I know, I believe CFCA is one of the most personal and effective in making a real difference in the lives of needy children and elderly. Plus CFCA has a sterling record of stewardship.”

Rev. Stephen Smith, O.P.

Father Stephen Smith, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, and was ordained a priest in June 1958. Father Smith has a canon law degree from Propaganda University in Rome. He was posted as a foreign missionary in Pakistan from 1962 to 1982 with diplomatic involvement with the Vatican Embassy for a few years, parochial ministry and program director for Catholic Relief Services.

He returned to the United States in June 1982 and has been involved with parochial ministry in places including Atlanta, Ga., Elizabethton, Tenn., and Raleigh/Cary, N.C. Father Smith currently serves as vicar for priests in the Diocese of Raleigh.

Father Smith has been preaching for CFCA since 2002.

Rev. Richard Tillman

Father Richard Tillman is a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Mo., and has been preaching for CFCA since 2006.

Rev. Abraham Vettuvelil,

M.S.F.S.

Father Abraham Vettuvelil is an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales and has been preaching for CFCA since 1997.

Rev. Kelly Demo

Mother Kelly Demo was ordained to the priesthood in 1997. She served her curacy at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lawrence, Kansas. She has served as Canon Missioner for Youth in both the Dioceses of Kansas and Arkansas. Mthr. Demo has lived in Sierra Leone, West Africa and has taken youth mission trips to Venezuela, Mexico, and Haiti. In addition to her preaching, she works on special projects for CFCA in the Kansas City office.

Jim & Joanne Rogers

Jim and Joanne have been speaking in Roman Catholic Churches on behalf of children, youth and elderly in CFCA’s program of sponsorship since 1994. Jim and Joanne began advocating for CFCA after they traveled to Guatemala on a CFCA mission awareness trip. When they returned they asked their pastor if he would speak on behalf of CFCA. He suggested that they tell the congregation about their experiences – and they did – and have continued speaking in Catholic churches in the Pacific Northwest ever since.

Jim is a retired high school physics and math teacher, while Joanne left the teaching profession to devote herself to raising their seven children. They are currently enjoying their 10 grandchildren. In their own parish, they are active members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Knights of Columbus. Joanne also takes Communion to the sick in a local hospital.

Rev. David Draim, O.S.B.

Father James Maurice "David" Draim, O.S.B., who had been a CFCA presenter for seven years, died in an automobile accident Jan. 23, 2007 in rural North Carolina. 

Father Draim was a Benedictine monk. Along with preaching for CFCA, Father Draim was parochial vicar of St. James Church in Hamlet, N.C., and Sacred Heart Church in Wadesboro, N.C. A major portion of his ministry was spent serving the ever-growing Hispanic population in North Carolina. He established the Hispanic Center in Ellerbe, N.C., where English as a Second Language is taught and the GED is offered to Hispanics, as well as courses in computer skills. He also operated a Food Program for the poor in his parish, which distributed around 1,000 pounds of food per week.

Father Draim had a bachelor's from St. Meinrad Seminary, a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Indiana University, and a master’s Degree in Biblical studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

"Father Draim was a gifted preacher who had a deep connection with the people he served at St. James Parish and the children, youth and aging people in the CFCA program of sponsorship," said Paco Wertin, CFCA's chief executive officer. "His dedication to the poor both in his community and around the world is an inspiration to us. The simplicity, generosity and genuineness with which Father Draim lived his life is a model for us all."