Regnum Christi | Legionaries of Christ

10 Nov 2016
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Catholic Worldview Fellowship: Creating the Leaders We Need

The Catholic Church needs strong leaders to evangelize the culture – the type of leaders who will be fostered by Catholic Worldview Fellowship.

A month-long summer experience for talented college students who desire to evangelize culture, the fellowship seeks to contemplate reality from the standpoint of Faith. The course aims to provide a life-changing experience where students see their life and future through the lens of the Catholic faith.

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Fellows will spend three weeks at Schloss Wissen, a picturesque castle in the German Rhineland with origins dating back to the 14th century, and one week in Rome.

“All these aspects of the Fellowship are harmonized to create a unique, life changing experience of the Catholic Worldview that empowers students to discover and develop their God-given talents,” said Fr Ryan Richardson LC, the program’s executive director. “Fellows will have opportunities for learning, thinking and contemplation during the month. They will address a variety of issues relating to personal, professional and social life and find creative responses in light of the Catholic Worldview.”

The Fellowship builds on four major areas of formation: academic, leadership, cultural and spiritual. Partners include Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, Acton Institute., Firm Foundation Inc., Schloss Wissen and Mission Network.

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Key Fellowship staff include:

  • richardson-ryan1Fr Ryan Richardson LC, executive director: Fr Richardson is a spiritual director for college age students and young adults in the Diocese of Dallas, Texas. He graduatedsumma cum laude in 2003 from Loyola University New Orleans, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Economics and received the John X Wegman Award for Most Outstanding Business Undergraduate. After graduation, he volunteered one year as Director of Chapter Development for COMPASS, a national network of Catholic college students. He was named the program’s Executive Director in 2004 and in 2005 joined the Legionaries of Christ. During his years of priestly formation he has served as an Assistant to the Instructor of Novices in Cheshire, CT and co-founder of Upper Room Rome, an apostolate that networks English speaking Catholic college students in the Eternal City. In 2016, he graduated summa cum laude with degrees in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy.
  • Katie Lundstrom, director of leadership formation: Katie Lundstrom, MBA, PCC, katiel1is the founder and President of Firm Foundations Inc (FFI), an executive leadership coaching and strategy and change consulting firm based in the Washington, D.C. area.  She has almost 30 years of experience serving hundreds of clients across all types of industries in the areas of strategic planning, organizational change, individual and business transformation, performance management, strategic and tactical alignment, and changing corporate culture.  She is most passionate about partnering with leaders who really want to see change for themselves, their teams, and their organizations.
  • Fr John Bartunek LC, course instructor: Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college,fr-john8-2-14-150x1501 he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller,“Inside the Passion”–the only authorized, behind-the-scene explanation of the film. Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican’s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. His most widely known book is called: “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer”. His most recent books are “Spring Meditations”, “Seeking First the Kingdom: 30 Meditations on How to Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength”, and “Answers: Catholic Advice for Your Spiritual Questions”. Fr. John currently splits his time between Michigan (where he continues his writing apostolate and serves as a confessor and spiritual director at the Queen of the Family Retreat Center) and Rome, where he teaches theology at Regina Apostolorum. His online, do-it-yourself retreats are available at http://rcspirituality.org/, and he answers questions about the spiritual life at SpiritualDirection.com.

Visit the website for information about curriculum, dates, applying and how to support the Fellowship.