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Edward Feser, Ph.D.
Edward Feser, Ph.D., teaches philosophy at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California. He has been a visiting assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a visiting scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an M.A. in religion from the Claremont Graduate School, and a B.A. in philosophy and religious studies from the California State University at Fullerton.
Called by National Review “one of the best contemporary writers on philosophy,” Feser is the author of On Nozick, Philosophy of Mind, Locke, and The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism, and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Hayek. He is also the author of many academic articles. His primary academic research interests are in the philosophy of mind, moral and political philosophy, and the philosophy of religion.
Feser also writes on politics and culture, from a conservative point of view; and on religion, from a traditional Roman Catholic perspective. In this connection, his work has appeared in such publications as The American Conservative, City Journal, Crisis, National Review, New Oxford Review, Reason, and TCS Daily.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and four children.
Msgr. Stuart W.Swetland, S.T.D.
MSGR. STUART W. SWETLAND, S.T.D., is a member of Envoy Magazine's editorial committee. He was ordained a priest in 1991 for the Diocese of Peoria. He received his undergraduate degree in physics from the United States Naval Academy, and was elected a Rhodes Scholar in 1981. He entered the Catholic Church while studying at Oxford. He has a B.A. and M.A. in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford; an M.Div. and M.A. from Mt. Saint Mary’s Seminary, and earned his S.T.L. and S.T.D. degrees from the Pontifical Lateran University where he studied at the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C.
He currently serves as director of homiletics and pre-theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and is the special counsel to the President for Catholic Identity and Mission and interim chaplain at Mt. St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
He has served as a theological advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Illinois and currently is the executive secretary for the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. Msgr. Swetland was named a Prelate of Honor in 2000 by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, is a Knight Commander for the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher, and is a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus.
Héctor Antonio Molina
Héctor Antonio Molina, Jr., is a dynamic bilingual lay-Catholic speaker and evangelist, who, for nearly 20 years, has proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Faith throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean.
From the age of 15, Héctor has devoted his life to responding to Pope John Paul II’s call for a “New Evangelization.” For eleven years he served as pastoral associate at the historic St. John the Baptist Parish in his home Diocese of Brooklyn. In 2003, he was appointed by (then) Archbishop Justin Rigali to serve as director of hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. And in June of 2007, Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke appointed Héctor to serve as the founding director of the new Archdiocesan Office of the New Evangelization. Héctor has preached to tens of thousands at parish missions, retreats & revivals, as well as at diocesan, regional and national conferences. He often appears as a guest on radio programs such as “Catholic Answers Live" and “Kresta in the Afternoon.”
Héctor has developed a solid reputation as a passionate and articulate expositor and defender of the Catholic Faith. His soul-stirring presentations have inspired many who are searching for meaning and purpose in their lives. His fervent desire is to reach others for Christ, who, as St. Paul the Apostle put it, “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Héctor is a devoted husband and father of three. He, his wife, and children are parishioners of the historic Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis.
Benjamin Wiker, Ph.D.
Benjamin Wiker, Ph.D., is a senior fellow with the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and with Discovery Institute. He has written seven books: The Darwin Myth (Regnery); Answering the New Atheism (Emmaus, with Scott Hahn); Ten Books that Screwed Up the World (Regnery); A Meaningful World (IVP, with Jonathan Witt); Moral Darwinism: How We Became Hedonists (IVP), The Mystery of the Periodic Table (Bethlehem Books), and Architects of the Culture of Death (Ignatius, with Donald DeMarco).
Benjamin received his bachelor of arts in political philosophy from Furman University, and his masters in religion and Ph.D. in theological ethics from Vanderbilt University. Both he and his beloved wife Teresa entered the Catholic Church together a bit over two decades ago, and they have seven wonderful children. They live on a 20-acre homestead west of Steubenville, Ohio, with six of their children, too many goats, not enough chickens, and an indeterminate number of rabbits.
Dawn Eden
DAWN EDEN was born to a Jewish family in New York City. When she was in high school, she lost her faith and became an agnostic. During her 20s, in the 1990s, she worked as a rock journalist, interviewing bands for music magazines. From there, she went to work for New York City tabloid newspapers the New York Post and the Daily News.
She underwent a dramatic conversion to the Christian faith at age 31, which eventually led her to enter the Catholic Church. With her new faith came a change in lifestyle as she discovered the truth and beauty of Church teachings on chastity. That led to the publication last year of her first book, describing her personal transformation in the hope of helping others make positive change in their own lives: The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On. Now in its eighth printing, The Thrill has also been published in Spanish, Polish, and Chinese.
Since her book came out, Dawn has been featured on NBC's “Today Show” show and EWTN's “Life on the Rock.” Now living in Washington, where she is pursuing a master's degree in theology at Dominican House of Studies, she has spoken about chastity to colleges and young-adult groups throughout North America, England, Ireland, and Poland, as well as World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney.
Ken Hensley
KEN HENSLEY is a well-known Catholic teacher and apologist. As an Evangelical Protestant, he received his masters degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, before being ordained into the Baptist ministry, where he served for 11 years. In 1996, he decided to resign his pastorate and enter the Catholic Church. Since his conversion to the Catholic Faith, Ken has appeared on EWTN’s “The Journey Home” program and spoken at numerous parishes around the country on subjects ranging from apologetics, Scripture, theology, Church history, and spirituality. He has been a frequent speaker at the National Catholic Family Conference in Anaheim, California.
Ken is married, a father of two, and resides in the Los Angeles area.
Patrick Madrid
PATRICK MADRID is the publisher of Envoy Magazine and the director of the Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College. He has authored 14 books on Catholic themes including, Pope Fiction, Search and Rescue, Does the Bible Really Say That?, and 150 Bible Verses Every Catholic Should Know, and he edited and co-authored the acclaimed multi-volume Surprised by Truth series (over 500,000 combined copies in print in English and Spanish). He has published numerous popular articles on Scripture, Church history, patristics, apologetics, and evangelization in various Catholic and Protestant periodicals and has contributed scholarly articles on apologetics to the New Catholic Encyclopedia. He earned a bachelor of science degree in business from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor of philosophy degree (B.Phil.) from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, where he is completing a master's degree in dogmatic theology. He has also done graduate studies in theology at the University of Dallas.
The host of four EWTN television series, including “Pope Fiction” and “Search & Rescue,” Patrick also hosts the Thursday edition of EWTN Radio's “Open Line” broadcast, heard on approximately 150 AM & FM stations across the United States, as well as on the Sirius Satellite Radio Network.
Patrick has conducted hundreds of seminars on Catholic themes, in English and Spanish, at conferences, parishes, and universities across North America, as well as throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and in Latin America. He is a veteran of a dozen formal, public debates with Protestant ministers, Mormon leaders, and other non-Catholic spokesmen.
Cardinal Edward Egan, the former Archbishop of New York, recently commented on the effectiveness of Patrick's approach to apologetics saying, “How do you bring a friend or relative back into the Church? First you pray. Then, you follow Patrick Madrid's advice in [his book] Search and Rescue.”
Patrick and his wife Nancy have been married for 28 years and have been blessed by the Lord with 11 healthy and happy children and eight grandchildren (who are also happy and healthy). His personal website is www.patrickmadrid.com.