Most Reverend Roger Gries, OSB attended Loyola University Chicago, earning a bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He entered the Benedictine Order of Cleveland at Saint Andrew’s Abbey and was ordained a priest on May 18, 1963. He became prior of the abbey and was elected the fifth abbot of the abbey in 1981, a position he held for over 20 years. He was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland on June 7, 2001. Bishop Gries, while officially retired, continues to actively serve people across the diocese, bringing joy and hope to every encounter.

Reverend Thomas Pipp, S.J. currently serves as Director of Ignatian Formation at John Carroll University. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1979. Afterward he served for two years as a Jesuit volunteer in Newark, NJ, and then entered the Society of Jesus in 1981; he was ordained in 1992. For most of his Jesuit life, Tom was missioned to St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo, Ohio, where he served in a variety of positions, including superior of the Jesuit community, vice-president for Jesuit Identity, director of campus ministry and acting president. From 2010-2017, he was director of novices for the Chicago-Detroit and Wisconsin Provinces at the Jesuit Novitiate in St. Paul, MN. As a Jesuit, Tom obtained an MA in English from Northwestern University and two degrees in theology from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California.

Brother Loughlan Sofield, S.T., is a member of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. He served as the director of the Missionary Servant Center for Collaborative Ministry; director of the Washington Archdiocesan Consultation and Counseling Center; and assistant director of the Center for Religion and Psychiatry, Washington, DC. Sofield has worked as a speaker and consultant in more than three hundred dioceses on six continents and served on the faculty of or lectured at many colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. Sofield is senior editor of Human Development magazine, has published numerous articles on ministry, and is coauthor of several books.

Rick Krivanka serves as Executive Director of the Jesuit Retreat Center of Cleveland. Rick has an extensive background in leadership and organizational development. He previously served as director of the Pastoral Planning Office for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland for over 32 years. He also worked as an independent consultant locally and nationally with religious, health care and non-profit organizations. He has been a leader in bringing Appreciative Inquiry to Church settings. Rick has an M.S. in Organizational Development and Analysis from Case Western Reserve. In 1995, he received the Lumen Gentium Award from CPPCD in recognition of outstanding leadership and contributions. In 2016 he received the Yves Congar Award. Rick has certification as a Spiritual Director from the Ignatian Spirituality Institute at John Carroll University. He received the Smart Business Medical Mutual Pillar Award as Non-Profit Executive Director of the Year in 2017. He and his wife Barbara are the parents of four young adults.

Ricardo Medina is the Pastoral Planning consultant of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. He actively collaborates in the development of a culture of active lay leadership among nearly 150 parishes, with the goal of contributing to the evangelization task of the Church through data-based planning and implementation. He addresses parishes´ needs, facilitates discernments, conducts leadership development workshops and retreats, oversees planning implementation, creates communication campaigns, and implements research projects, both in English and Spanish. He is also Pastoral Council Member at St. Faustina in Fulshear TX, his home parish. Ricardo is the founder and Managing Partner at Factor Delta consulting, a business management firm oriented to improve capacity and capabilities for sustained growth in business, non-profits, and start-ups. His formation includes Industrial Engineering, an MA in Human Development and a Ph.D. in Business Administration (ABD). He is the author of the books Despliega tu Propuesta de Valor and Diferenciarse no Basta published by Lid Editorial, and weekly contributor for Vida Nueva Digital, serving Spain and Latin America with his column Círculos Virtuosos.

Tim Weiske is the Director of Strategic Planning & Implementation for the Archdiocese of Chicago. In his current role Tim focuses most of his time on the local structural planning phase of the archdiocese’s ‘Renew My Church’ renewal effort. Tim previously served as the leader of Parish Transformation, an archdiocesan initiative to improve parish mission vitality and financial viability by supporting individual parishes to develop and implement parish-based plans. Prior to the archdiocese, Tim was a consultant in McKinsey & Company’s Minneapolis and Sydney offices. He holds bachelor’s degrees in accounting and history from the University of Minnesota and recently completed his MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Tim and his wife Sarah live in the City of Chicago with their daughter Annie.

JESUIT RETREAT CENTER
5629 State Road
Parma, Ohio 44134
www.jesuitretreatcenter.org

(440) 884-9300