Our Leadership

 
 

Episcopal Advisory Board

Most Reverend Steven J. Lopes, Bishop, Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter

 

Founding Team

Monsignor Stephen Doktorczyk, J.C.D., M.B.A.

 

Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Orange in California in 2005, Monsignor Stephen Doktorczyk has served as parochial vicar, defender of the bond, Official at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, adjunct spiritual director at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, judicial vicar, vicar general, pastor, and is currently a local secretary at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C.

He earned a licentiate (2007) and doctorate (2016) in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. In 2013, he co-founded the Foundation of Prayer for Priests.

 

Kathleen Beckman, D.H.S.

 
 

Kathleen Beckman has served the Church for twenty-eight years as a Catholic evangelist, author, retreat leader, and media host. She has addressed laity, religious Sisters and Clergy in thirteen countries. Since 2010, Kathleen has served in her diocese as the administrator of deliverance ministry; and is a member of the diocesan exorcist’s team. She graduated from the Association of International Exorcists Course, “Liberation from Evil Spirits”, at Rome’s Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in 2017, and was on faculty for the Pope Leo XIII Institute. Presently she is a faculty member for the Diocesan School of Evangelization.

In 2013, with encouragement of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy, she, and Monsignor Stephen Doktorczyk, J.C.D. founded the Foundation of Prayer for Priests, a ministry to promote prayer, sacrifice, study and the offering of suffering for the holiness of all priests. Kathleen is a Dame of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. A wife and mother, she and her husband live in Orange, CA.

 

Fr. Charles Cortinovis, S.T.L., J.D. 

 

Father Charles Cortinovis is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington and is currently serving in the Holy See.  He was ordained to the priesthood in 2009 and completed his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas.  Father Cortinovis has served in various pastoral and administrative roles throughout the Archdiocese.  Before entering seminary formation, he practiced environmental law, having earned degrees in Biochemistry and Environmental Science as well as a Juris Doctor. Since 2013, he is a founding board member of the Foundation of Prayer for Priests.

 

Gabriel Ferrucci, K.C., H.S. 

 

Gabriel Ferrucci is a devout Catholic businessman and generous benefactor, with a long career spanning executive and board positions at various financial, educational, cultural, community, and Catholic institutions.
A 1965 graduate of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, Gabriel held executive positions at Raybestos Manhattan Inc. before acquiring and becoming president and chief executive officer of Keystone Engineering Company, a supplier for the aerospace industry.
Gabriel has been invested into both the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre (2003) and the Order of Malta (2007). In 2009, Gabriel received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal, the most prestigious award that a layperson can receive from the Pope.
He has especially demonstrated spiritual paternity of priests and seminarians through his generosity, not only for the temporal needs of seminaries but for the spiritual formation of seminarians and priests. Gabriel and Maria, his wife of 57 years, have three children, and six grandchildren, and live in Laguna Beach, California. 

 
 

Team Members

 

Jennifer Tucker, CPA

Jennifer Tucker is a cradle Catholic, a wife of twenty-five years and the mother of four children. Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, she is a CPA and works as an Audit Director in a community bank. Jennifer is involved in various Catholic ministries, including serving in the Church’s music ministry and retreat work. Also, she founded and leads the Vocation Awareness Commission at St. Joseph Catholic Church wherein she promotes vocation awareness that includes vocations to marriage, priesthood, chaste single life and consecrated religious life. Presently she serves as the Vice President of Vocations for the Serra Club of Greater Little Rock Board of Directors, and she is President-Elect. Jennifer co-founded the Central Arkansas “Foundation of Prayer for Priests” and compiled the “FPP Vianney Cenacle” Adoration prayer booklet in English and Spanish. She leads the “Foundation of Prayer for Priests” Quarterly Vianney Cenacles in Conway, Arkansas (live streamed on the St. Joseph Catholic Church YouTube Channel).

Cynthia Hunt, M.D., T.O.C.

 

Dr. Cynthia Hunt is a physician with over 30 years of experience and Co-founder of JMJ Maternity Homes, a non-profit apostolate providing homeless pregnant women with shelter, resources and support services. Since receiving her medical degree from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in 1984, she has achieved Board Certification in the areas of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Psychiatry. Today, Dr. Hunt maintains a practice in Child/Adolescent and Adult Psychiatry and also serves as President of the Fresno Guild of the Catholic Medical Association. Dr. Hunt has served bishops, priests and seminarians in various capacities, most recently as both a psychiatric consultant to the Diocese of Fresno and Adjunct Faculty Member at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California and the Pope Leo XIII Institute. An accomplished pianist and Lay Carmelite for over 20 years, Dr. Hunt lives with her husband and family in Monterey, California.

 
 

Advisory Team

 

Most Reverend David D. Kagan, Bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota

Rt. Reverend Eugene J. Hayes, O. Praem., J.C.D. - St. Michael's Norbertine Abbey (Silverado, California)

Mgsr. John Esseff- IPF, Institute for Priestly Formation, Omaha, NE

Mother Dolores Marie, P.C.P.A., Abbess, Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, Hanceville, Alabama Monastery (EWTN)

Denise Marie Scalzo, O.F.S., L.G.C.H.S. - Lay Franciscan, Founding Member of the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land and Foundation of Prayer for Priests

Allan Smith is the Editor of the book, "Cries of Jesus from the Cross: A Fulton Sheen Anthology".  He presently hosts the weekly ‘Your Life is Worth Living Program’ on Radio Maria Canada and FM 98.5 (CKWR).

Fr. Nick Schneider, S.L.D. is a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota. Ordained to the priesthood in 2009. Currently, Fr. Schneider serves in his home diocese as Pastor of  Christ the King Parish, Mandan, ND and Director of the diocesan Office of Worship.

History of The Foundation of Prayer for Priests

In 2007, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy issued a booklet to bishops throughout the world titled Eucharistic Adoration for the Sanctification of Priests and Spiritual Maternity. With its release, the initiative began on a small scale but did not spread on an international level into a movement of prayer as intended.

In 2013, while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, members of what would become the FPP Founding Team were praying in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

Co-founder, Kathleen Beckman was praying before the Icon of the Sorrowful Mother next to the Rock of Calvary. Reflecting on the Dicastery’s initiative for priests, and gazing at the Icon of the Sorrowful Mother, Kathleen was prompted by Holy Spirit to place herself at the service of the Vatican’s initiative for priests.

Co-founder Monsignor Stephen Doktorczyk, working in Rome at the time, suggested that Kathleen write a proposal letter to Rome’s Dicastery for Clergy, addressing it to the Prefect, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza. Monsignor asked that Kathleen send the letter through the US Postal service from California to Rome which she did.

Six weeks later, on May 31, 2013, the Feast of the Visitation of Mary, Kathleen received a written response with a protocol number, from Mauro Cardinal Piacenza. In the name of the Dicastery for Clergy, Cardinal Piacenza graciously conveyed his approval and encouragement for Kathleen’s proposals to develop a ministry dedicated to growing the Vatican’s initiative. A founding team of priests and laity was formed later in 2013.

Coinciding with the launch of the Foundation of Prayer for Priests ministry was the debut of this website and the release of the book Praying for Priests: A Mission for the New Evangelization, by Kathleen Beckman, 2014. Then in 2018 the book was re-named and released as, “Praying for Priests: An Urgent Call for the Salvation of Souls”, by Kathleen Beckman, 2018.