DAMON OWENS
Founder of Joyful Ever After
Damon Owens, international speaker and evangelist, is executive director of Joyful Ever After (joyfuleverafter.org). The first executive director of the Theology of the Body Institute and chairman of the 2016 International Theology of the Body Congress, Damon founded Joyful Ever After as a non-profit ministry dedicated to encouraging and educating couples to understand and live marriage and family life together with joy through St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. A presenter at the 2015 World Meeting of Families, 2017 USCCB Convocation of Catholic Leaders, and 2019 Catholic Family Life Symposium, Damon keeps a full international speaking schedule at conferences, seminars, universities, high schools, seminaries, and parishes on the good news of marriage, sexuality, Theology of the Body, Theology of the Family, adoption, and NFP. In 2018, Pope Francis honored Damon with his Benemerenti Papal Medal in recognition for his work in support of marriage and family. Damon lives outside Philadelphia with his wife Melanie and their eight children. Damon has published numerous articles, appeared on many radio and television programs (EWTN, Catholic Answers, Ave Maria, Relevant Radio, Immaculate Heart Radio, ABC World News Tonight, CBS News, NPR), taught in many major Catholic faith programs, and has hosted and produced three 13-part television series for EWTN. He is also an accomplished gospel singer honored with a solo during the 1995 NJ Papal Mass at Giants Stadium presided by Pope St. John Paul II.
MOST REV. J. MARK SPALDING, JCL
Bishop of the Diocese of Nashville
Bishop J. Mark Spalding, the oldest of three children, was born on January 13, 1965, in Lebanon, Kentucky, and was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Fredericktown, Kentucky. After graduating in 1983 from Bethlehem High School, Bishop Spalding attended college at Saint Meinrad Seminary, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1987. He attended major seminary at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium where he earned an M.A. and an S.T.B. in Religious Studies in 1990. Bishop Spalding was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Louisville on August 3, 1991, by Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, O.P. After ordination, he continued graduate studies at Louvain, earning his Licentiate in Canon Law in 1992. He returned to the Archdiocese in 1992 and served as associate pastor of the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral from 1992 to 1996. He was appointed part-time judge for the Metropolitan Tribunal in 1993, Adjutant Judicial Vicar in 1995, and Judicial Vicar and Director of the Metropolitan Tribunal from 1998 to 2011. From 1996 to 1998, Bishop Spalding was associate pastor of St. Augustine Church in Lebanon, Kentucky, and from 1998 to 1999, he served as a part-time associate pastor at St. Margaret Mary Church in Louisville. While continuing to serve as Judicial Vicar, Bishop Spalding was appointed pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in La Grange, Kentucky in 1999 and served there until 2011. Appointed Vicar General by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz in 2011, Bishop Spalding was also named pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Louisville that year. In 2016, Bishop Spalding was appointed pastor of Holy Name Church while continuing as pastor of Holy Trinity Church. Bishop Spalding served on the College of Consultors, the Priests’ Council, the Archdiocesan Planning Commission, the Development Council for the Archdiocese, and the Catholic Services Appeal Pastors’ Committee. Other assignments included serving as presbyteral moderator at two parishes as well as filling the role as priest-chaplain at Bethlehem High School from 1992 to 1996, and at Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville from 2011 to 2017. His appointment as the 12th Bishop of Nashville by Pope Francis was announced on November 21, 2017. His episcopal ordination and installation as the Bishop of Nashville was on February 2, 2018.
ABOUT US
RYAN HANNING, PhD
Fellow, San Juan Diego Institute
Dr. Hanning is a Professor of Theology and Catholic Studies and is a founding Fellow of the San Juan Diego Institute which serves several Universities, non-profits and religious apostolates, and a Fellow of the Havard Institute for Virtuous Leadership Institute and the Institute of Catholic Theology. In addition to teaching and consulting, Ryan also serves as Asst. Editor at Hearth & Field a Christian Agrarian Journal and writes and speaks internationally on education, theology, ecological ethics and virtuous leadership. He is the co-author of "The WillPower Advantage: Building Habits for Lasting Happiness", along with Tom Peterson, Founder of Catholics Come Home. Ryan currently homesteads in Tennessee with his beautiful wife Rebecca, and their ten well socialized homeschooled children.
SR. ELIZABETH ANNE ALLEN, OP, EdD
Director, Center for Catholic Education at Aquinas College, Nashville
Sister Elizabeth Anne Allen, O.P. is the founding and current Director of the Center for Catholic Education at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee. The Center serves as a support for and collaborator with educators in Catholic elementary and secondary education. She also serves on the undergraduate and graduate faculties of the School of Education at Aquinas.
A member of the Dominican Sister of St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville, Sister Elizabeth Anne holds the Doctor of Education degree in Education and Policy Studies from the University of Memphis. She also has a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree in history from Middle Tennessee State University, a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas and a Master of Education degree in Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi.
With over 50 years of teaching and administrative experience on elementary, secondary and collegiate levels, Sister has also served as Director of Religious Education for two parishes. She is the co-editor, with Sister Matthew Marie Cummings, O.P., of "Behold the Heritage: Foundations of Education in the Dominican Tradition" and presents nationally on a variety of educational topics including the Dignity of Teaching, the Dignity of the Child, and the Nature, Mission and Purpose of Catholic School. She is passionate about Catholic education and believes that it has the unique capacity to form the whole child in truth and charity for flourishing in this life and the next.
