Bishop Andrew Cozzens was installed as the eighth bishop of Crookston, Minnesota on Dec. 6, 2021. Before that, he served for eight years as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Raised in Denver, Bishop Cozzens is the youngest of three children. He graduated from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, with majors in English literature and philosophy. After college, he spent two years as a missionary first travelling around the country, with Twin Cities-based NET Ministries doing retreats, and then for one year at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul doing campus evangelization with Saint Paul’s Outreach.

In 1992, he was a founding member of the Companions of Christ, an association of diocesan priests who pursue holiness together through commitments to fraternal life and the evangelical counsels. Entering seminary in 1993, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in 1997. After serving five years in two parishes, he was sent to Rome for doctoral studies at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in 2002. Upon his return to Minnesota, Bishop Cozzens began service as a professor of sacramental theology at the Saint Paul Seminary, where he also worked as a formation director for the seminarians until 2013.

In 2008, he defended his doctoral dissertation on how the priest is called to be a living image of Jesus Christ the Bridegroom of the church, exploring the theology of the priesthood and the evangelical counsels of obedience, chastity and poverty.

Bishop Cozzens is serving as Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, where he is leading a three-year National Eucharistic Revival that will begin in June.

Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich was born on March 19, 1949, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Blase and Mary (Mayhan) Cupich. He is one of nine children.

Cardinal Cupich was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Omaha on Aug. 16, 1975. He was pastor of two parishes in Omaha. He was appointed Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, by Pope John Paul II on July 7, 1998, and was ordained and installed on Sept. 21, 1998. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the sixth Bishop of Spokane, Washington, on June 30, 2010, and installed Sept. 3, 2010. Cardinal Cupich was appointed Archbishop of Chicago by Pope Francis on Sept. 20, 2014, and installed as the ninth Archbishop of Chicago on Nov. 18, 2014.

On Oct. 9, 2016, Pope Francis named him a cardinal and he was elevated to the College of Cardinals in a consistory on Nov. 19, 2016 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

Cardinal Cupich obtained his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1971. He attended seminary at the North American College and Gregorian University in Rome, where he received his baccalaureate in sacred theology in 1974, and his Master of Arts in theology in 1975.

Cardinal Cupich is a graduate of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he received a licentiate of sacred theology in 1979 and a doctorate of sacred theology in 1987, both in sacramental theology.

Additionally, Cardinal Cupich was secretary at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. from 1981-1987; and served as chair for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People from 2008-2011 and for the National Catholic Educational Association from 2013-2015.

In 2016, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Cupich to the Congregation for Bishops and in 2017, to the Congregation for Catholic Education. In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him to the committee that organized the Vatican Summit on the Protection of Minors in the Church for Presidents of Episcopal Conferences and in February 2020, appointed him to the Vatican Task Force to Assist Episcopal Conferences, Congregations of Religious and Societies of Apostolic Life in preparing and updating guidelines for the protection of minors.

Cardinal Cupich also serves on USCCB committees: Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and is co-chair of the National Dialogue Initiative with Muslims; Subcommittee for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, chair; and the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. He is an executive member of The Catholic Mutual Relief Society and chancellor of the Catholic Church Extension Society and the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois.

Deacon Steve Swope was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 2008 and is assigned to St. Mary Magdalene Church in Newnan, Georgia.

Deacon Swope serves the Archdiocese of Atlanta as the chair of the Diaconate Scrutinies and Evaluation Committee, as a member of the Deacon Personnel Board and as lead master of ceremonies at the Eucharistic Congress.

Deacon Swope formerly served as the associate director of formation for the permanent diaconate for the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

A Catholic Relief Services global fellow ambassador educator, he has traveled with CRS to overseas to witness the work being done by the American Catholic Church on behalf of the poorest in the world.

Deacon Swope is also a member of the National Association of Diaconate Directors, serves on the Newnan-Coweta County Airport Authority and is a board member of the Samaritan Clinic, which serves the poor and uninsured in Coweta County. He and his wife, Marie, support Elevate Coweta Students and serve as mentors/tutors each week at a Title I elementary school.

Before joining the archdiocese, the deacon’s business career was in the travel industry. He was one of the founders of The Rubicon Group, a company that provided critical business intelligence and pricing guidance to the travel and hospitality industries.

Deacon Swope and his wife live on a small farm outside of Newnan, where they raise chickens, grow vegetables and try to find time to relax. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

Donna Cori Gipson is a singer and songwriter of contemporary Catholic music. After years of working in New York as a professional, singer, songwriter and studio musician, Gipson now lives in the Midwest, far from the secular scene. A lay Carmelite since 1999, her music is focused on prayer and explaining the truths of the Catholic Church with Scripture. Songs include word for word prayers from the Bible (as singing makes for easy memorization) and well-known prayers of the church and saints. Setting prayers to music is Gipson’s way of helping brothers and sisters in the Lord to “Pray without ceasing.”

Dr. Scott Hahn has said of her, “I find Donna’s music to be prayerfully deep and inspiring. Simply and uncomplicatedly Catholic, her message is soaked in Scripture. When I listen to her music, I hear the same thing that I have discovered and try to share in my teaching: the beauty and power of the Catholic Faith. God has really gifted Donna with a powerful voice and a pure heart.”

Jesuit Father Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights from 1986 to 1992. Dolores Mission was the poorest parish in Los Angeles that also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city.

Father Boyle witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community during the so-called “decade of death” that began in the late 1980s and peaked at 1,000 gang-related killings in 1992. He and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings.

In 1988, they started what would eventually become Homeboy Industries, which employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises, and provides critical services to thousands of men and women seeking better lives

Father Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller, “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.” His second book, “Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship,” was published in 2017. And his new and third book is “The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.”

He received the California Peace Prize and was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, President Obama named Father Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame’s 2017 Laetare medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics. In 2020, he served as a committee member of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Economic and Job Recovery Task Force as a response to COVID-19 crisis. In the same year, Homeboy Industries was the recipient of the Hilton Humanitarian Prize validating 32 years of Father Boyle’s vision and work.