REV. MATTHEW KAUTH
Rector, St. Joseph College Seminary
Father Matthew Kauth was born and raised in Peoria Illinois, where he attended Catholic grade school and high school. A trip to Italy changed his life forever when he witnessed an elderly woman kneeling on the rocks during outdoor Mass after their bus broke down. Her devotion destroyed his indifference to the Eucharist and the Church. He wanted to know what that woman saw in the Host and began searching. His search eventually led him to the priesthood.
Fr. Kauth completed his studies in philosophy at St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia and transferred to the Diocese of Charlotte following graduation to assist in the missionary efforts faced with the burgeoning Catholic population. He completed his graduate work at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., earning his ecclesiastical degree (STB) and was ordained to the priesthood in 2000. After serving six years as a parochial vicar and pastor in the Diocese of Charlotte, he continued his studies in Rome and received a license and doctorate in Moral Theology. Fr. Kauth served as the Chaplain of Charlotte Catholic High School and a professor at Belmont Abbey College before he was appointed Rector of St. Joseph College Seminary in 2016.
Fr. Kauth is the author of two books, "Charity as Divine and Human Friendship: A Metaphysical and Scriptural Explanation According to the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas" and "The Sacraments: Discovering the Treasure of Divine Life".
REV. PHILIP G. BOCHANSKI, MDiv, MA
Executive Director, Courage International
Father Philip G. Bochanski, MDiv, MA is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Executive Director of Courage International. He is a member of the Catholic Medical Association. Father Bochanski received the degrees of Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Theology from Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Father Bochanski has more than twenty-two years’ experience in pastoral care, including parish, nursing home and hospital settings, as well as 11 years as chaplain for the Courage apostolate, which provides pastoral support for people who experience same-sex attractions and desire to live a chaste life. He is the author of numerous talks, articles and book chapters on pastoral care, including the chapter “Pastoral Care of the Sick and Dying” in Catholic Witness in Health Care: Practicing Medicine in Truth and Love” (Travaline & Mitchell, eds., CUA Press, 2016).
MARGUERITE DUANE, MD, MHA, FAAFP
Co-Founder and Executive Director, FACTS
Dr. Marguerite Duane, a board certified family physician, is co-founder and Executive Director of FACTS – the Fertility Appreciation Collaborative to Teach the Science, an organization dedicated to educating healthcare professionals and students about the scientifically valid natural or fertility awareness based methods of family planning. She is currently completing a primary care research fellowship with a focus on fertility awareness at the University of Utah. She also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University, where she directs an introductory course on fertility awareness based methods and their role in women’s health and family planning. Dr. Duane practices full-spectrum family medicine at Modern Mobile Medicine, a direct primary care house-calls based practice in the DC metropolitan area. Dr. Duane is the past-president of the St. Giuseppe Moscatti Guild of the Catholic Medical Association in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. She formerly served as the medical director of the Spanish Catholic Center of Catholic Charities, non-profit community health centers that care for an almost exclusively poor and uninsured population in the DC metropolitan area. Dr. Duane has also previously served on the boards of both the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the FMEC.
Dr. Duane received her M.D. degree with recognition in primary care from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed her Family Medicine residency at Lancaster General Hospital in Lancaster, PA. She received a Bachelor of Science with Honors degree and a Master of Health Administration degree from Cornell University in 1992 and 1994, respectively. Dr. Duane has been recognized for her leadership efforts by the American Board of Family Medicine which named her as a 1998 Pisacano Scholar, and by the American Academy of Family Physicians which awarded her the AAFP Bristol Meyers Squibb Graduate Medical Education Award in 2002. Dr. Duane is trained as a Creighton, FEMM and NeoFertility Medical consultant, as well as a TeenSTAR educator. She has published articles on the effectiveness of fertility awareness based methods for family planning and the use of apps for tracking fertility. She has also developed and delivered multiple presentations on the use of fertility awareness based methods for family planning and women’s health. Dr. Duane balances her career as a teacher and Family Physician, with her role as a mother and wife. She is proud to be accompanied on this life’s journey by her husband and fellow family physician, Dr. Kenneth Lin, and they are delighted to be the parents of 4 young children.
THERESA FARNAN, PhD
Co-founder, Person and Identity Project
Theresa Farnan, PhD, is an author and moral philosopher who specializes in virtue ethics, moral education, philosophy of the person, gender and sexuality, and ethical issues facing the family. Theresa is the co-founder of the Person and Identity Project, which equips Catholic dioceses, schools, parishes and parents with formation and resources on Christian anthropology and gender ideology. Theresa served for six years as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and has taught for nearly 20 years in formation programs for the permanent diaconate and diocesan seminaries, including St Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD. She also has taught in the philosophy department at Franciscan University of Steubenville, serves the Diocese of Pittsburgh as a master catechist, and is a member of the Catholic Women’s Forum Advisory Council. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Our Sunday Visitor and First Things, and she speaks frequently on topics such as Christian anthropology, human dignity, disability, the family, and gender ideology. She is co-author of two books: Get out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It’s Too Late and an apologetics resource for teens, Where Did I Come From? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There? She and her husband Michael have ten children ranging in age from 28 to 10.
LEWIS D. LIPSCOMB, MD
Women’s & Children’s Institute Leader, Novant Health
Lewis D. Lipscomb, MD is a practicing Ob-Gyn, and physician leader of the Women’s and Children’s Institute at Novant Health.
Dr. Lipscomb received his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University with a major in chemical engineering. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, and completed his internship and residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Wake Forest University. He has practiced general obstetrics and gynecology in North Carolina since 2003, and has been a leader in advancement of minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery throughout his career.
A convert to Catholicism in 2004, Dr. Lipscomb was challenged by the moral and ethical teachings of the Catholic Church and how they conflicted with the secular view of the role of Ob-Gyn in women’s health. As a result, Dr. Lipscomb sought out formal training on fertility awareness and its applications in women’s health at the St. Paul VI Institute for Human Reproduction in 2010. In 2012, he opened Novant Health Triad Obstetrics & Gynecology as North Carolina’s only purely pro-life, non-contraceptive Ob-Gyn practice at the time. Since then, the practice has grown to 3 physicians, and 2 advanced practice providers.
Over the past 3 ½ years, Dr. Lipscomb has since moved into leadership at Novant Health, now serving as physician leader over the Women’s and Children’s Institute at Novant Health.
GAVIN PUTHOFF, MD
Founder and Medical Director, Veritas Fertility & Surgery
Dr. Gavin Puthoff is the founder and medical director of Veritas Fertility & Surgery in St. Louis. He specializes in the treatment of infertility, recurrent miscarriage, endometriosis and other gynecologic conditions. He is trained in surgical NaProTECHNOLOGY, a form of advanced reproductive surgery. Dr. Puthoff earned his medical degree at the University of Texas at Houston and completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. Following residency, he completed a fellowship in medical and surgical NaProTECHNOLOGY at the Saint Paul VI Institute and Creighton University Medical Center. Dr. Puthoff and his wife have six children.
STEPHEN J. BLAHA, MD, FACOG
Medical Director, Atrium Health Eastover OB/GYN
Stephen Blaha, MD, FACOG. Stephen is the medical director of Atrium Health Eastover OB/GYN and current Chief of Obstetrics at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center - Main here in Charlotte. Dr. Blaha received his BS degree from St. Mary’s College of California and his MD from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He completed his specialty training in OB/GYN at Carolinas Medical Center. He is active in medical student education and has a busy general OB/GYN practice while trying to adhere to Catholic moral teaching.
E. KELLY ANDERSON, MD
President and CEO, Anderson Family Medicine
E. Kelly Anderson, MD is the president and CEO of Anderson Family Medicine in Monroe, North Carolina. Dr. Anderson received her B.A. from Boston College and her M.D. from Yale School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Family Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center, and was an independent physician contractor before founding Anderson Family Medicine in 2006.