ACP Speakers 2024
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February 15 - George Weigel
Ethics
Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center, George Weigel is a Catholic theologian and one of America's leading public intellectuals. He holds EPPC's William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.
From 1989 through June 1996, Mr. Weiglel was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he led a wide-ranging, ecumenical and inter-religious program of research and publication on foreign and domestic policy issues.
Mr. Weigel is perhaps best known for his widely translated and internationally acclaimed two-volume biography of Pope St. John Paul II: the New York Times bestseller, Witness to Hope (1999), and its sequel, The End and the Beginning (2010). In 2017, Weigel published a memoir of the experiences that led to his work as a papal biographer:Lessons in Hope - My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II.
George Weigel is the author or editor of more than thirty other books, many of which have been translated into other languages.
Mr. Weigel received a B.A. from St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore and an M.A. from the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto. He is the recipient of nineteen honorary doctorates in fields including divinity, philosophy, law, and social science, and has been awarded the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, Poland's Gloria Artis Gold Medal, and Lithuania's Diplomacy Star. -
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May 16 - Angela Gunderson
Oklahoma City Catholic Schools Demographic Study
Angela Gunderson serves as the Managing Director and senior consultant with Meitler. She brings experience in Catholic school education as an administrator and teacher. Most recently she was Principal of a K3-8th grade Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Angela's experiences include mentoring teachers in a large regional archdiocesan school. She worked with teachers on triangulating data to monitor progress and student learning, aligning curriculum to standards and benchmarks, and supporting teachers in their instructional practices. Angela implemented the Archdiocese of Milwaukee framework for educator evaluation and professional development to improve teacher instruction and student learning through professional goal setting. Angela fully implemented personalized learning in blended learning environments by using new and innovative curricula and creating a STEAM lab. She also executed Standards-BAsed Grading and created multiple tuition assistance programs.
Since joining Meitler, Angela says she especially enjoys the collaborative approach our team uses, and she is excited to learn and grow within our organization. Angela and her family are members of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Waterford, Wisconsin.
Angela earned her bachelor's degree in teaching from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and her master's degree in education and leadership from Cardinal Stritch University. -
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August 22 - Curtis Martin
FOCUS
Curtis A. Martin founded the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) in 1998. He holds a master's degree in Theology and is the author of the best-selling books, Made for More, and Making Missionary Disciples.
In 2023, Pope Francis appointed Curtis as a Consultor to the Section for the Fundamental Questions of Evangelization. Curtis and his wife, Michaelann, live in Colorado. They have been blessed with nine children and eight grandchildren...so far. -
November 7 - Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley
State of the Archdiocese
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley was born to John and Mary Coakley in Norfolk, Va. in 1955 and lived there with his father, mother, and older brother, John, until he was age 2. The family relocated to Metairie, La., where his sister, Mary Christina, was born. After beginning his elementary education at Saint Mary Magdalen Catholic School, the family moved in 1965 to Overland Park, Kan. Archbishop Coakley’s secondary education was completed in public schools in Overland Park.After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Kansas where he completed his undergraduate studies in English and Classical Antiquities in 1977. During this period he was a student in KU’s Integrated Humanities Program, where he studied under John Senior, Dennis Quinn and Frank Nelick.
Upon completing university studies, Archbishop Coakley traveled in Europe and briefly considered a monastic vocation at the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault in France, before returning to begin seminary studies for the Diocese of Wichita in 1978.
He completed his studies at Mount Saint Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., and was ordained a priest on May 21, 1983 at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. After serving as a priest of the Diocese of Wichita for 21 years, he was appointed Bishop of Salina on Oct. 21, 2004. He was ordained and installed as Bishop of Salina on Dec. 28, 2004.
On Dec. 16, 2010, Bishop Coakley was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the fourth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. He was installed as metropolitan archbishop on Feb. 11, 2011.
Archbishop Coakley has selected "Duc in Altum" (Put Out into the Deep) as his episcopal motto. It is found in Saint Luke’s gospel when Jesus, after teaching the crowds from Simon’s boat, invites the apostles to "put out into the deep" and lower their nets for a catch (Lk.5:4). Obedient to Jesus’ command, Simon Peter and his companions cast their nets as directed, and “caught such a great number of fish that their nets were at the breaking point” (Lk. 5:4). Jesus calls the Church today, as always, to put out into the deep, as a witness to hope, to hear and to respond joyfully to his word with faith and confidence. It is a call to embrace the challenges and opportunities of the New Evangelization.