Alice von Hildebrand Centennial

Dr. Peter Kreeft

Peter Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College, and is one of the most widely read Christian authors of our time. He has published over eighty-five books on a vast array of topics in spirituality, theology, and philosophy. They include A Summa of the Summa, Making Sense Out of Suffering, Ha! A Christian Philosophy of Humor, The Philosophy of Tolkien, and the forthcoming Socrates’ Children.

Dr. Ronda Chervin

Ronda Chervin has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University and an M.A. in Religious Studies from Notre Dame Apostolic Institute. She is a convert to the Catholic faith from a Jewish but atheistic background.

Dr. Ronda has been a professor at Loyola Marymount University, St. John’s Seminary of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Our Lady of Corpus Christi, and Holy Apostles in Connecticut. Dr. Ronda presents on EWTN and Catholic radio. She is a dedicated widow and grandmother.

More than sixty books of hers have been published by Catholic presses in the area of philosophy and spirituality. Her many books include Quotable Saints, Healing Meditations from the Gospel of St. John, and Catholic Realism.

Robert L. Luddy

Robert L. Luddy is a business and educational entrepreneur. A graduate of LaSalle University and a U.S. Army veteran, Luddy purchased a sheet metal shop in 1981 and transformed it into CaptiveAire Systems, leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation systems in North America. Today, CaptiveAire employs over 1000 employees, with 90 sales offices nationwide and sales over $300 million in 2015. However, Bob Luddy is more than just a businessman, he is a champion for children’s education and a school choice advocate.

In 1998, Bob established Franklin Academy, a public charter school in Wake Forest, which now serves over 1,200 K-12 students. In 2001, Bob founded St. Thomas More Academy, a private Catholic college preparatory high school in Raleigh. In 2007, Bob opened Thales Academy, a growing chain of independent Pre-K-12 schools offering high-quality education at an affordable tuition. The Luddy Schools are quickly growing, with nearly 3,000 students enrolled throughout the Raleigh area.

Dr. Marie Cabaud Meaney

Dr. Marie Cabaud Meaney is a specialist on the French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil, on whom she has written two books. She holds graduate degrees in modern languages and philosophy from Oxford University and the International Academy of Philosophy (IAP) in Liechtenstein. She taught at the University of Villanova in Philadelphia before the birth of her daughter. Since then, she has taught courses for the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria. Her previous work on infertility has been published in French, German, Croatian, Hungarian, and Spanish.

Fr. Gerald Murray

Father Murray was born in Brooklyn, New York in May 1959, and grew up in New Rochelle. He attended Regis High School and Dartmouth College. He entered St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie in 1980, and was ordained a priest on December 1, 1984. He was assigned to various parishes in the Bronx and Manhattan before being sent to the Gregorian University in Rome in 1993 to study Canon Law. He was awarded a Doctorate in Canon Law in 1998, and then served briefly as a Judge on the Metropolitan Tribunal before being named Pastor of St. Vincent De Paul Church on West 23rd Street in 1998. In 2012 Fr. Murray was named Pastor of Holy Family Church.

Vivian Warren

Vivian Warren is a member of the Bruderhof Communities, an Anabaptist community located in upstate New York. She works in the community kitchen and factory, as well as spending time caring for the elderly. She was a close friend of Lily’s for the last decade of her life, traveling with her on occasion to speaking engagements. Several sisters from the Bruderhof lived with Lily, providing care for her at the end of her life.