Rev. Dr. José Francisco Morales Torres is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology & Philosophy at Chicago Theological Seminary. As a historical and comparative theologian, he places historical voices into conversation with historically marginalized voices, within and beyond the Christian tradition, offering radical re-articulations of the affirmations of faith for today’s realities. His research interests include: comparative and contextual approaches to historical theology; the development of Christian doctrines; Jewish-Muslim-Christian encounters in medieval philosophy and theology; liberation theologies; and the history of Latin American and Caribbean philosophy. Thoroughly interdisciplinary in his approach, Rev. Dr. Morales weaves together comparative theology, history of thought, and philosophy (especially existentialism and phenomenology). His most recent book is Wonder as a New Starting Point for Theological Anthropology: Opened by the World (Lexington Books, 2023), which proposes a new theological anthropology informed by the experience of wonder. Rev. Dr. Morales is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). His ministry experience is broad, including congregational pastorate, advocacy, community organizing, wider denominational leadership, and education. He holds a BA from Judson University, an MDiv from McCormick Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the Claremont School of Theology. Rev. Dr. Morales is married to Rev. Daphne M. Gascot Arias, also an ordained Disciples of Christ minister, who is currently working on her PhD in Hebrew Bible. They share life and laughs with their daughters Daphne Magnolia and Yael Marie.

Dr. Dominick S. Hernández is Associate Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He teaches on an array of topics, including biblical wisdom, ancient Near Eastern literature, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Previously, he taught at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (where he directed the seminary’s Online Hispanic Program), Moody Bible Institute, and Israel College of the Bible. Dr. Hernández holds a BS in Kinesiology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania; an MA in Physical Education from the Teachers College at Columbia University, where he focused on curriculum and teaching in the biobehavioral sciences; an MDiv focused on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible from Princeton Theological Seminary; and a PhD in Hebrew Bible at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat Gan, Israel), where he was trained in Semitic Philology. He also received ministerial training at the Calvary Chapel School of Ministry in Costa Mesa, CA. During this time, he was ordained at Calvary Chapel Voyage in Fountain Valley, CA and served as the congregation’s youth pastor. Dr. Hernández is the author of Proverbs: Pathways to Wisdom (Abingdon, 2020), Illustrated Job in Hebrew (GlossaHouse, 2020), Engaging the Old Testament: How to Read Biblical Narrative, Poetry, and Prophecy Well (Baker, 2023), as well as forthcoming commentaries on Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Cascade) and Song of Songs (Eerdmans). He is committed to the church, having served in English, Spanish, and Hebrew-language ministries in the United States and abroad. Learn more about Dr. Hernández at: domshernandez.com.

Emmy Pérez, Texas Poet Laureate 2020, has lived in the Texas borderlands for 24 years and is originally from Santa Ana, California. She is a graduate of Columbia University (MFA) and the University of Southern California (BA). ​Pérez is currently a full professor of creative writing at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)–formerly University of Texas-Pan American–where she also serves as department chair, teaches in the MFA and undergraduate creative writing programs, and holds the Dr. Robert S. Nelsen Endowed Professorship in Mexican American Studies (2021-2024). For five years, Pérez held various administrative positions—interim director, associate director, and acting director—with UTRGV's Center for Mexican American Studies (B3 Institute), and she is an affiliate faculty member of the Mexican American Studies academic program. ​Over the years, she has also served as a creative-writing workshop facilitator in community-based programs and adult and juvenile detention centers; she has taught writing at three border region HSI institutions, beginning at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and El Paso Community College. 

Pérez is the author of the poetry collections With the River on Our Face (University of Arizona Press, 2016) and Solstice (Swan Scythe Press, 2003, 2011, 2019). Her latest collection, Paper america: New and Selected Poems  (TCU Press, 2025) is forthcoming. Her poetry has also been published with the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series and Split this Rock's The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database, and appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Indiana Review, and Pilgrimage Magazine; and anthologies such as Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology (University of Georgia Press), Other Musics: New Latina Poetry (University of Oklahoma Press), Orange County: A Literary Field Guide (Heyday), ​What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy & Outrage (Northwestern U. Press), The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press), and A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line (University of Iowa Press).

Pérez is the recipient of a 2022 United States Artist Fellowship, a 2020 Poets Laureate Fellowship with the Academy of American Poets while serving as Texas Poet Laureate 2020. Other honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; the inaugural Modesta Avila Award from LibroMobile in her hometown Santa Ana, the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award; and residencies at MacDowell, the Ucross Foundation, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Since 2008, she has been a member of the Macondo Writers' Workshop for socially engaged writers and was part of the inaugural cohort of CantoMundo fellows in 2010. In El Paso, she was a member of the Women Writers' Collective and, in 2017, co-founded Poets Against Walls writing collective in the Rio Grande Valley. She also served as the 2021 Consulting Artist-in-Residence with UT San Antonio's Democratizing Racial Justice Mellon Foundation grant in collaboration with the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. 

Dr. Jeff Ming Liou is the National Director of Theological Formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, where he received his PhD in Theology and Culture.  Dr. Liou has written papers and contributed book chapters on race and justice, Asian American Christianity, theological ethics, and political theology. He is the co-author (with Robert Chao Romero) of Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation (Baker Academic, 2023). Ordained in the Christian Reformed Church of North America, Dr. Liou has served as a campus minister, pastor, and university chaplain. 

Dr. Robert Chao Romero is an attorney, ordained minister, and faith-rooted community organizer. He is also associate professor in the UCLA departments of Chicana/o, Central American, and Asian American Studies in Los Angeles, California and as director of the Brown Church Initiative at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Romero earned his PhD from UCLA in Latin American history and his Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley. His research explores the little-known history of Asian-Latinos, as well as the role of Christianity in social justice movements in Latin America and among U.S. Latinas/os. Dr. Romero is the author of several books, including The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 (The University of Arizona Press, 2012); Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity (IVP Academic, 2020); and co-author of Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation (Baker Academic, 2023). The Chinese in Mexico received the Latina/o Studies book award from the Latin American Studies Association, and Brown Church received the InterVarsity Press Readers’ Choice Award for best academic title. 

The Rev. Francisco J. García is a PhD candidate in Theological Studies, Ethics and Action at Vanderbilt University in the Graduate Department of Religion, and a Graduate Research Fellow at the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

A Chicano from Los Angeles, born to Mexican immigrant parents, he also serves as an Assistant Chaplain at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Chapel in Nashville, Tennessee. Informed by his work in community, faith, and labor organizing, The Rev. García’s doctoral project entails developing theologies/ecclesiologies of organizing—rooted in Latinx, Christian, and interfaith liberation traditions—reimagining the church as a social movement that challenges the pressing structural injustices of our time and constructs alternatives.

Nancy Gavilanes is an accomplished writer, a gifted communicator, and a passionate evangelist and Bible school instructor who loves to encourage, empower, and inspire women of diverse backgrounds to walk by abounding faith. She has been on short-term missions trips to five countries. Gavilanes has hosted several events and conferences and has spoken to numerous groups, including to Christians working at the United Nations and students at Nyack College. She has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and has authored five Christian-living books and devotionals. Her new book is God-Given Dreams: 6 Ways to Live Your Divine Purpose (NavPress, 2024). She has also written for The New York Times, the SpiritLed Woman’s and Charisma’s magazine websites, among other publications. Gavilanes is currently the host of the Abounding Faith for Today podcast and a contributing writer for Our Daily Bread Ministries.  She attends Times Square Church in New York.

Luz E. Herrera is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Education at Texas A&M School of Law. As dean, Herrera promotes entrepreneurial efforts to address the access to civil justice gap. Before entering academia, Herrera ran her own practice and founded Community Lawyers, Inc., a non-profit organization that encourages access to affordable legal services and develops innovative opportunities for legal professionals in underserved communities. These experiences have influenced her scholarship, which promotes legal “low bono” service-delivery models and post-graduate support programs for lawyers starting their own law firms. Herrera currently serves as a special advisor for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. Prior to her current position, Herrera was the Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, Experiential Learning and Public Service at UCLA School of Law. She has also taught as a visiting clinical professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, as an assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, as a visiting professor at Chapman University School of Law, and as a Senior Clinical Fellow at Harvard Law School. In her various academic positions, Herrera encouraged innovation and promoted access to justice through experiential learning. Her honors include an Academic Leadership Award from the Hispanic National Bar Foundation and Notre Dame Law School’s Graciela Olivarez Award. Herrera holds an AB in Political Science from Stanford University and a JD from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Willian Olmos lives Christian values ​​and the Gospel, and is a follower of the spirituality of Brother Carlos de Foucauld. He is a researcher of Venezuelan pre-Columbian art. He also creates artistic paintings, crafts, and percussion instruments. In Venezuela, Olmos is a primary school teacher in the ​​visual arts at a state school and is a promoter of culture, reading, and writing. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Education, with honorable mention in the Visual Arts, a Master's degree in Curriculum Development, specializing in Participatory Research for Local Development, and a doctorate in Educational Sciences. From 2018 to 2023, he served as coordinator of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity of the Americas and is a member of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity's international team. Olmos lives in Venezuela with his wife Elsy Mayela Seijas.

Elsy Mayela Seijas is committed to the values of the Gospel and the spirituality of Saint Carlos de Foucauld. She writes stories, designs mini gardens, and makes jewelry. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Education, with a specialty in participatory research for Local Development, and a doctorate in Educational Sciences. She works as a researcher in participation methodologies and accompaniment of training processes. In 2002, she retired from Venezuela’s National Institute of Prevention, Health, and Occupational Safety, having served as a promoter and trainer in occupational health. From 2018 to 2023, she served as the coordinator of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity of the Americas and is a member of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity’s international team. She lives in Venezuela with her husband Willian Olmos.

Dr. María Carrión holds a joint appointment in Religion and Comparative Literature at Emory University, where she has organized several conferences, including "Spain Before Spain. Encounters Between Muslims, Jews, and Christians (1500-1700).” She formerly held a Visiting Professorship at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (UPRRP), where she also served as Dean of Graduate Studies at the School of Humanities. Dr. Carríon specializes in the cultural and religious production of Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, with a particular focus on questions of drama, law, and architecture. She has also published articles and translations on the literature and culture of the Hispanic Caribbean. Her work analyzes religious and cultural matters in the many worlds of latinidad, ranging from Andalusi gardens and religious branding, to devotion and the sacred. Dr. Carrión has presented her work in the US, Spain, South America, Romania, and the former Yugoslavia, and her essays have been published in the US, Spain, France, and South America. Her books include Subject Stages. Marriage, Theatre, and the Law in Early Modern Spain (Toronto University Press, 2010) and Arquitectura y cuerpo en la figura autorial de Teresa de Jesús [Architecture and Body in the Authorial Figure of Teresa de Jesús] (Anthropos, 1994). She is currently working on a digital monograph exploring correspondences of nature and belief in 16th-century European dried gardens. Dr. Carrión holds a BA from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; two MA degrees from University of Tennessee, Knoxville and one from Yale University, where she also earned an MPhil and a PhD.

Dr. Jose L. Saldivar, Jr. is a first-generation college graduate who holds BA (Chicana/o Studies) and MEd (Social Sciences of Education) degrees from Stanford University, and a PhD (Cultural Studies in Education) from The University of Texas at Austin. He is an educational consultant and coach, specializing in college, career, and life readiness coaching, and faculty development. Dr. Saldivar, a Rio Grande Valley native, is a full-time faculty member at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is the founder of CREO (College and Career Readiness and Educational Opportunity Consultants), which provides college, career, and life readiness consulting services to a variety of clients, including K-12 institutions, higher education, community organizations, and private companies. As part of CREO’s initiatives, Dr. Saldivar hosts The Way to College Podcast.

Fr. Lorenzo Lebrija is the chief innovation officer of Virginia Theological Seminary and the executive director of TryTank Research Institute, which focuses on advancing theological research to meet the evolving needs of the church in the modern world.  Before launching TryTank, Fr. Lorenzo was the Chief Development Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. He also served as the Pastor on behalf of the Bishop at St. John's Episcopal Church in San Bernardino, CA, and as priest associate at St. Athanasius Episcopal Church at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles.  

Before entering seminary, Fr. Lorenzo was president and CEO of Seraphic Fire & Firebird Chamber Orchestra, Miami's professional choral and orchestral ensemble. He was also the Miami Program Director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation responsible for the Knight Arts Challenge, and was General Manager for RadioActiva Hispanic Radio and Editor/Director of Operations for Miami's Community Newspapers. 

Fr. Lorenzo holds an MDiv from the General Theological Seminary in New York City and is currently finishing the doctoral program at Virginia Theological Seminary. He also has an MBA and a B.A. from Florida International University, has completed the full training at the Fundraising School at Indiana University, is a Certified Foresight Practitioner from the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, CA, has a certificate in Design Thinking from IDEO in Palo Alto, CA, and is a graduate of Rice University's Executive Education Program. He is the author of How to Try: Design Thinking and Church Innovation (Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021).

Benedito de Queiroz Alcântara is a History professor at the Rede Pública Estadual [State Public Network]. As a member of Repam Brasil’s Rede Eclesial Pan-Amazônica [Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network], he serves as Repam representative in the Diocese of Macapá and as coordinator of the Eixo Justiça Socioambiental [Socio-Environmental Justice Axis] of Repam Brasil. He also coordinates the Projeto Guardiões Ambientais Ribeirinhos [Riverside Environmental Guardians Project], which trains youth from riverside communities located at the mouth of the Amazon between Pará and Amapá. In the Diocese, he additionally serves on the Comissão Justiça e Paz [Justice and Peace Commission] and on the Equipe de Formação Fé e Cidadania [Faith and Citizenship Training Team]. He was part of the Brazilian delegation to the 2023 Encuentro Continental Fraternidad Secular San Carlos de Foucauld América [Continental Meeting of the Secular Fraternity of Saint Charles De Foucauld] in Medellín, Colombia.

Yonar Brenes Masís is an assistant professor at the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica and host of the podcast El show de Yonar BM. He was a delegate from the youth Fraternities in Costa Rica to the 2023 Encuentro Continental Fraternidad Secular San Carlos de Foucauld América [Continental Meeting of the Secular Fraternity of Saint Charles De Foucauld] in Medellín, Colombia.

Father Federico Carrasquilla Muñoz is an Antioquian priest born in Itagüí, Colombia and assigned to the Archdiocese of Medellín. In 1958, he went to Rome to study theology at the Gregorian University and was ordained in 1959 in the chapel of St. John Lateran, Italy. He experienced up close the appointment of John XXIII as Pope and the events related to the Second Vatican Council. During his theological studies in Rome, he learned about the spirituality of Brother Charles de Foucauld, who left a deep impression on Fr. Carrasquilla for life. His philosophical work also draws from that of Karl Marx, whose method of analyzing reality Fr. Carrasquilla emulated. His book Escuchemos al corazón: Aportes para una antropología del pobre [Let Us Listen to the Poor: Contributions to an Anthropology of the Poor] (Indo American Press Service, 1997) takes cues from Marx, in addition to his reading of Jesus in the gospels. His other publications include essays in Volver a Jesús de Nazaret [Return to Jesus of Nazareth] (Boletín Horeb, 2011); Los escandalos de pedofilia en iglesia: Una lectura desde la fe [Pedophilia Scandals in the Church: A Reading from Faith] (San Pablo, 2014); and Escuchemos al corazón: Elementos de antropología de la afectividad [Let Us Listen to the Heart: Elements of an Anthropology of Affectivity], with Verónica Reyes Mercado (2022). Upon his return to Medellín in 1962, he began working as rector of Philosophy at the Conciliar Seminary. In 1967, he went to live and work in the parish La Divina Providencia, in the Popular neighborhood of Medellín, where there was a process of “invasion” underway by inhabitants who came from the different towns and regions of Antioquia due to the cycle of violence that the country was experiencing at the time. Alongside the community, he experienced the permanent tension brought on by police, precarious housing, and the subsequent cycles of violence due to the arrival of guerrilla groups such as the ELN and the M-19, and by the emergence of drug trafficking in the 70s and 80s. In 1984, the archbishop of Medellín transferred Fr. Carrasquilla to a parish in the municipality of Bello. He was later part of the Golconda group (“red priests”) and Sacerdotes para América Latina [Priests for Latin America] (SAL). Now octogenarian, he continues to produce scholarship, leading retreats and speaking before groups comprising lay people, educators, intellectuals, and at universities. –Hernán Ramírez

Hernán Darío Ramírez is the Coordinator of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity of Colombia and one of the main organizers of the Continental Meeting of the San Carlos de Foucauld Secular Fraternity America 2023 in Medellín, Colombia. He has published several writings related to this movement, including the profile “Testimonio de primavera eclesial [Testimony of ecclesial spring]: Federico Carrasquilla Muñoz” (Kairós Educativo) and the foreword to Volver a Jesús de Nazaret [Return to Jesus of Nazareth] (Boletín Horeb, 2011). After earning a degree in mechanical engineering and working in private industry for a few years, he was seduced by Latin American theological thought and made the leap to working with socially conscious efforts from a perspective of faith. He works to support popular organizations–urban and rural–as well as farming and indigenous communities. In the last nine years, he has worked through the Pepe Breu Foundation, an organization that defends the victims of the Colombian internal armed conflict. Foucauldian spirituality has served Ramírez as a source of inspiration and light, as a criterion for making decisions in his life.

César Leonardo de León is the author of speaking with grackles by soapberry trees (FlowerSong, 2021), winner of the Texas Institute of Letters John A. Robertson Award for the best first book of poetry (2021) and of the Philosophical Society of Texas Best Book of Poetry award (2022).  Also a Golden Circle Award recipient from The University of Columbia Press, he holds an MFA in creative writing, with a certificate in Mexican American studies from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is an educator, one of four poet-organizers for Poets Against Walls, and a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. His work has appeared in Queen Mob’s Tea House, Pilgrimage, The Acentos Review, Yellow Chair Review, La Bloga, Zócalo Public Square, and in the anthologies Asina is How We Talk: A collection of Tejano poetry written en la lengua de la gente (Flowersong Press, 2022), Pulse/Pulso: In Remembrance of Orlando (Damaged Goods Press, 2018), Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands (Aunt Lute Books, 2016), The Border Crossed Us: An Anthology to End Apartheid (VAGABOND, 2015), and Texas Weather Anthology (Lamar University Press, 2016), among others.

Alejandro Enríquez is a Boiler Engineer for the New York City Department of Education (DOE) and a parishioner of Transfiguration Parish in Brooklyn, NY, where he worked in maintenance at the parochial school Our Savior for many years. He also worked as Second Chef at a French restaurant in Manhattan. For more than a decade, Enríquez has led a Jesús de Nazaret [Jesus of Nazareth] Fraternity at Transfiguration, which he represented as a delegate at the 2023 Encuentro Continental Fraternidad Secular San Carlos de Foucauld América [Saint Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity Continental Meeting] in Medellín, Colombia. Born in Puebla, Mexico, Enríquez lives in Ridgewood, NY with his wife Petra; they have three daughters and live with a daughter and two grandchildren.

Daniel García Ordaz, a.k.a. The Poet Mariachi is a singer-songwriter, teacher and author from Mission, Texas. He is also a TEDx Speaker, Navy veteran, 2018 Pushcart Prize nominee, and the 2023 McAllen Poet Laureate, City of McAllen, Texas. García Ordaz’s Christian faith permeates much of his writing, which is seasoned with influences from his Mexican American upbringing. He earned a BA in English from The University Of Texas-Pan American (UTPA, now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) and an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), and he appears in the documentary ALTAR: Cruzando fronteras/Building Bridges (2009). His books include You Know What I'm Sayin'? (El Zarape Press, 2006), Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment (FlowerSong Press, 2018) and its YA Edition, as well as Read Until You Bleed: Funny & Thoughtful Poems For Funny & Thoughtful Children (El Zarape Press, 2023). García Ordaz's work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Asina Is How We Talk (FlowerSong Press, 2022); Good Cop/Bad Cop (FlowerSong Press, 2021); Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican In America (Penguin Random House, 2021); Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century (Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, 2020); Poetry of Resistance: Voices For Social Justice (University of Arizona Press, 2016); Twenty: In Memoriam (El Zarape Press, 2014); and Boundless, the anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, which he founded. He may be found on social media at @poetmariachi.