Maka Akan Najin Black Elk (Oglala Lakota) is a Deep Learning Seminar teacher at The American School in Japan. He formerly directed the Truth and Healing initiative at Mahpiya Luta | Red Cloud School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota where he is both an alumnus and where he was born and raised. A descendent of Nicholas Black Elk, Servant of God, Maka has been a leader in both Indigenous and Catholic education and previously served as the chairperson for the American Indian Catholic Schools Network.Chioma Ahanihu, SLW; Director, The Center for the Study of Consecrated Life at CTU. She holds a Doctor in Ministry and her primary areas of interest as a Practical Theology scholar and minister are related to today’s Consecrated Life, Reconciliation, Spirituality, Mental Health, Immigration, and Racism.
Kayla August; Lay Preacher and Student at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Theology and Education and is a well-known lay preacher in Catholic tradition .
Timone Davis; Associate Professor in the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago and an instructor in New Frontiers in Preaching Academy at Aquinas Institute of Theology, and Associate Convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium.
David Matz, CPPS; Director of Sonnino Mission House. He holds a Doctor of Ministry ministers with Spanish-speaking persons, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community. He has led retreats throughout the country and accompanies and advocates for those who are on the margins of society.
Jung Eun Sophia Park, SNJM; Emerita Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Holy Names University in California. She has written several books and many articles in the areas of global justice and spirituality, postcolonial feminism, global religious life, and spiritual direction
Karen Ross, PhD; Director of the Pathways@CTU program at Catholic Theological Union, which seeks to engage and empower young people- especially those from marginalized communities- in co-creating the church of tomorrow. She received her PhD in theology and ethics from Loyola University Chicago, focusing on Catholic feminist theology and sexual ethics.
Daniel P. Scheid; Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University. His theological work focuses on interreligious ecological ethics, drawing on Catholic social thought and comparative theology, and he is the author of The Cosmic Common Good: Religious Grounds for Ecological Ethics.
Marvin Wickware, Associate Professor of Church and Society and Ethics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. His first book Loving Through Enmity: Healing the Broken Heart of Christian Antiracist Work will be released on May 20, 2025 by Fortress Press.
