Speakers
Upon occasion board members and/or friends of CCWF are invited to speak to other groups. Contact us at info@ccwf.org if you are interested in any of the following speakers:
Michele Coldiron
Martha McRoskey
Marjorie Campbell
Suzanne Spence
Michele Coldiron, Executive Director of the California Catholic Women's Forum (CCWF), grew up in a nominally Catholic family in Canada. While studying Systematics & Evolution (MA) in NYC, she met her husband and moved to Los Altos, CA, where she has lived since 1978. She has worked as a teacher and tutor (MA Education, Stanford) while raising 4 children, one of whom died in 1998. Seven years after this fateful turn Michele was reborn to new life in faith. Recognizing the beauty inherent in Catholicism, she catapulted into a leadership position in the newly formed CCWF, a non-profit dedicated to exploring the apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem, and other Church documents on the meaning of femininity/masculinity. She has traveled to Rome to study contemporary issues facing women and she sees the end point of this work educational programs on authentic feminism/personhood.
Michele has spoken for:
Legatus Sacramento
Legatus Napa,
Diocese of Oakland Office of Social Concern,
San Francisco Council of Catholic Women,
Faith & Ale, a youth group from Auburn, CA
School of Pastoral Ministry, Diocese of Oakland
and she has spoken of her encounter with Christ at Bible studies and at a non-denominational Christian retreat.
Martha McRoskey, Graduate Santa Clara University, mother of 7. A busy mother, Mrs. McRoskey has developed a reputation as a go-to person for tips on how to raise children well. Her advice is sound and based on Catholic principles. She has developed a philosophy of parenting that is both practical and inspiring. Presently, Mrs. McRoskey is involved in issues affecting college students, the MySpace world of high school youth, and the busy lives of elementary school children. She is the founder of Parents in Prayer, a prayer ministry for Catholic schools in the San Diego Diocese and is an active member of St. James Parish in Solana Beach, California. A graduate of Santa Clara University, she worked in marketing and advertising prior to having children.
Marjorie Campbell, J.D. LL.M. An inaugural speaker for CCWF's True Feminism for Real Women forum, Marjorie has 15 years experience as a radical feminist followed by a reversion into the Roman Catholic Church. She practiced criminal and bankruptcy litigation; published as a law professor and, now, Catholic writer; raised a family and appears as a speaker on social issues from the perspective of New Feminism. She has blogged with Deal Hudson and has written for www.InsideCatholic.com, now Crisis online, which compiled her humor columns in a volume On The Way to the Kingdom, with an Introduction by Teresa Tomeo, and recently completed her Canon Law degree at Catholic University of America. In January of 2012, Marjorie launched newfeminism.com, dedicated to Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, and with bloggers including Teresa Tomeo, Dr. Angela Lanfranchi MD, Elizabeth Hanna Pham, Serrin M. Foster, Henry Karlson, and Jennifer Lahl. She currently writes for Catholic Womanhood at Catholic News Agency and is completing her Canon Law degree at Catholic University of America.
Suzanne Summers Spence, R.N., B.A. Graduate, University of San Francisco and the St. Ignatius Institute. Discovering John Paul II's Theology of the Body while homeschooling her 8 children introduced her to an expanded view of the essential role that Natural Family Planning plays as the foundation for the Culture of Life, even beyond that of its rightful place as a holistic, preventative basis for the diagnosis and treatment of women's health. Currently employed at the Stanford University School of Medicine's Center for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning, she looks to the day when all medical school curricula recognize and teach NFP for what it is: Good Medicine!