Lead Team

Rev. Jeremiah Boland

Jerry Boland currently serves as the Archbishop’s Delegate for Externs and International Priests. He is the administrator of Holy Family Church. He has been an associate pastor at St. James in Arlington Heights and Mary, Seat of Wisdom in Park Ridge. He has served as the executive secretary of the diocesan priest’s placement system. He has served as the Chairman of the Association of Chicago Priests and the Presbyteral Council. He was a participant in the Louisville Institute’s Pastors Working Group and completed a sabbatical at the North American College in Rome. The Inspire program is one of the more exciting projects to come along. The program affords much needed resources in assisting those in pastoral ministry to grow spiritually, personally and professionally.

Christopher Cannova

Christopher J. Cannova is the Director of the Department of Personnel Services for the Archdiocese of Chicago, taking over from Dr. Carol Fowler, Lead Team Emeritus.

Chris is responsible for the overall formation, revision and implementation of the comprehensive human resources function of the Archdiocese for priests, deacons, religious and lay staff of approximately 16,000 people. The Department of Personnel Services includes more than a dozen agencies, including Human Resources, Priests’ Placement Board and the Office for Protection of Children and Youth. He also is a member of the Cardinal’s Administrative Council.

Prior to this position, Chris held several positions in Personnel Services for the Archdiocese including Associate Director of Human Resources and, most recently, Director of Compensation and Benefits. Formerly, Chris held positions in Human Resources of increasing responsibility at Commonwealth Edison Company, Motorola, Inc., Salomon Smith Barney and Little City Foundation.

Chris holds a Master of Arts in Labor and Industrial Relations and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Robert O’Gorman

Robert O’Gorman has been a professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies for 20 years (since 1989). He was the founding Graduate Program Director of the MDiv. degree and served as field education director until 2006. He has taught religious education courses as well as courses such as Introduction to Theology and Ministry, Church and Mission and Liturgy and Sacraments.

His academic interests include: religious education, U. S. church history, liberation theology, church community, and sacraments.

Bob’s publications include: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Catholicism, third edition coauthored with Mary Faulkner, (August 2006) Alpha Books, New York; Social Work and Divinity, Binghamton, NY, Haworth Press, 2005 and simultaneously co-published in the Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, Volume 24, Numbers 1/2 2005. Co-editorship with Daniel Lee and one chapter, “Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and the professional identity of the dual degrees student.” Pp. 125-137; and Journal of Training and Supervision in Ministry, Co-editorship on Volume 28 (Spring 2005) “Theories of Supervision.

Bob lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Mary Lou who is the Director of Pastoral Care at St. Thomas Hospital there. He has commuted to Chicago each week since 1989. They have three adult children: Daniel, John and Timothy. They have three granddaughters Lucy, Edie and Alice.

Dr. Heidi Russell

Heidi Russell is assistant professor of pastoral studies at the Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University Chicago. She also serves as the Graduate Program Director of the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies degree program. Her areas of research include Christian anthropology, Christology, Trinitarian theology, and a special interest in the relationship between science and theology, specifically in the fields of neuroscience and quantum physics. Heidi’s publications include: The Heart of Rahner: The Theological Implications of Andrew Tallon’s Theory of Triune Consciousness, Marquette Studies in Theology, 2009; and an article entitled, “Karl Rahner and Keiji Nishitani: A Response to Nihility,” in the 2008 volume of Buddhist Christian Studies.

Having spent a number of years in ministry in a variety of settings, Heidi is delighted to be teaching at IPS working with students who are preparing for various types of ministry in parishes, non-profit organizations, healthcare, retreat centers, etc. She strongly believes that theology comes alive when it informs and is informed by everyday life experience.

Dr. Brian Schmisek

Brian Schmisek is the Director of the Institute of Pastoral Studies (IPS) at Loyola University Chicago, taking over from Dr. Robert Ludwig, Lead Team Emeritus.

Brian came to Loyola from the University of Dallas where he was the dean and associate professor in the School of Ministry. Under his leadership, the School of Ministry experienced unprecedented growth. Brian introduced an undergraduate degree in pastoral ministry, a master’s degree in Catholic school teaming, new concentrations and programs, off-site options and online programs, summer terms in Rome and the annual University of Dallas Ministry Conference.

Prior to the University of Dallas, Brian served in a number of capacities with the Diocese of Shreveport, Loyola University New Orleans, and the University of Mississippi, among others. Brian earned a BA in philosophy from North Dakota State University, an MA in classics from The University of Mississippi, and a second MA in theology and his PhD in biblical studies at The Catholic University of America.

Brian looks forward to developing new academic initiatives and engaging faculty, students and alumni at IPS; and to continuing the work of Bob Ludwig in building strong relationships across a wide network of constituencies, including the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Carol Walters

Carol A. Walters is the Director of the Office for Lay Ecclesial Ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago. She is a certified Pastoral Associate and has served in that capacity at St. Andrew Parish in Chicago for six years. Carol is also a licensed attorney. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from the University of St. Francis, Joliet, 1977; Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School, Chicago, 1980; and Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies from Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, 2005. Carol is a candidate for the Doctorate in Ministry at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois.

Rev. William Vollmer

William Vollmer is Associate Pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish, Evanston. He has served as an Archdiocesan member of the INSPIRE Lead Team since 2008. Bill has also been an active participant in the CrossingOver pastoral exchange program between the Archdiocese of Chicago and six dioceses in Germany. He traveled to Germany in 2009 with a group of US pastoral leaders (including Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago) and has also actively assisted in hosting three German pastoral visitors who stayed at St. Norbert parish for six week periods in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Lead Team Emeritus

Dr. Carol Fowler

Carol Fowler served on the Lead Team when she was the Director of the Department of Personnel Services for the Archdiocese of Chicago until her retirement on June 30, 2012. She coordinated the work of sixteen Archdiocesan agencies, which oversee all of the human resources functions for laity, religious, and clergy of the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese employs about 16,000 people. As one of the seven Archdiocesan department directors, she served on Cardinal George’s Administrative Council.

Formerly, Carol was the Director of Ministry in Higher Education for the Archdiocese of Chicago. This Archdiocesan agency is responsible for campus ministry at public and non-Catholic colleges and universities in Cook and Lake Counties. She served nine years as a campus minister at Michigan State University. She also worked for an educational publisher and has ten years of teaching experience at the elementary and secondary levels.

Carol was the President of the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators and served on that board for nine years. Carol was a speaker at the Leadership Roundtable, Church in America, in 2004 and 2005 on human resources and the diocese and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management. She is Vice-Chair of the National Advisory Board of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University and she has been part of the faculty of the Church Management Institute of Villanova for four years. She has done workshops and courses for the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary, St. Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago and the National Pastoral Life Center. She is past president of the National Association of Diocesan Directors of Campus Ministry, served on the board of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association and was on the Bishops’ United States Catholic Conference Committee on Education. Carol was a contributing author and editor of the first edition of The Gospel on Campus, a handbook for implementing the Bishops’ pastoral letter on campus ministry, Empowered by the Spirit. She was also a member of the Board of Directors for Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, IL. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Carol holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Baltimore. Her doctoral project was on lay ecclesial ministry. She has a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from the Adler School of Professional Psychology and a B.A. in Social Science with a secondary teaching certificate from Michigan State University. The Human Resources Certification Institute of the Society for Human Resource Management certifies Ms. Fowler as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).

Dr. Robert Ludwig

Robert Ludwig served as Director of the Institute of Pastoral Studies (IPS) at Loyola University Chicago from 2008 through the Spring 2012 semester. He currently remains a full-time faculty member. Prior to his appointment at Loyola Chicago, Robert Ludwig served for 15 years as director of university ministry and as adjunct professor of Religious Studies at DePaul University in Chicago (1982-2004). His award-winning book Reconstructing Catholicism for a New Generation (Crossroad, 1995) has helped develop his reputation as an expert in connecting with today’s young adults. From 1982-1989, he served as director of the Loyola Institute of Ministry at Loyola University New Orleans. He is married, and he and his wife Kathleen have three adult children.

During his doctoral studies, he spent 15 months studying in Germany at Munich and Tubingen, with a focus in German political theology. His dissertation, Theology and Politics in America: Daniel Berrigan as a Contemporary Profile, explores the evolution of Christian faith in relation to public/political life from the New Testament into the 1960s. His current academic and research interests include constructive pastoral theology, peace and social justice issues, and ministry to young adults.

Bob is a frequent presenter at conferences, workshops, symposia, and ministry gatherings throughout the country. He welcomes the opportunity to bring pastoral theology into the crossroads of our contemporary life and is available to speak on the following topics: “Jesus in Galilee, Christ of the 21st Century,” “Saving Grace: Patterns and Practices Toward the Fullness of Life,” “Vatican II, Now More than Ever,” “Twenty-First Century Discipleship,” and “Pauline Boldness: Today’s Circumcisions.”

He is the current treasurer of the Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry (AGPIM), the past president of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association (1979-1980) and has served as consultant to the U.S. Catholic bishops in their pastoral letter on campus ministry (Empowered By the Spirit: Campus Ministry Faces the Future, 1984) and for the bishop-delegates to the international synod on the laity (1987).