Shoulder to Shoulder

Joe Heschmeyer’s first foray into the world of public speaking came as a high school and college debater, skills which he honed as a law student and eventually, a litigator. His introduction to Catholic apologetics came with his blog Shameless Popery which he launched in 2009 to share the truth of Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church.

Joe has a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., a philosophy degree from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, and a theology degree from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He enjoys speaking (and debating) on a wide range of issues, including the papacy, the beliefs of the earliest Christians, the Eucharist and sacramental theology, and pro-life issues. Today, Joe lives in the suburbs of Kansas City with his wife and children.

Yarden James Zelivansky is a husband and father of three, living out his faith as both an active reserve sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces and the head of the local chapter of the Association of Hebrew Catholics as well as the recently-elected president of the AHC internationally, seeking to help preserve the identity and heritage of the people of Israel within the life of the Church. A follower of Jesus for about two decades, Yarden entered the Catholic Church in November 2021.

Andrew Doran is an author and research fellow with a background in public service, nonprofit advocacy, and consulting. He has published widely on foreign affairs, human interest, and culture.

Prior to joining the Philos Project, he served at the State Department in various capacities over thirteen years, including three years on the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff, the office founded by diplomat George Kennan. He founded a nonprofit advocacy organization, In Defense of Christians (IDC), which played a pivotal role in the U.S. government’s recognition of the genocide by ISIS against religious minorities and the delivery of aid to those communities in the Middle East.

Originally from the Southern Tier of Western New York, he enlisted in the military at age seventeen, and deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995-96. (By chance, he encountered his older brother in Bosnia, an Army officer deployed with another unit.) After his tour and honorable discharge, he went to college and later law school, before nearly two decades engaged in foreign affairs.

His published work (selected pieces of which are included here) touches on various subjects, including foreign policy veterans, trauma, survivors, homelessness, religion, and culture. He recently joined friend and mentor Mary Eberstadt on a project related to upstate New York.

Dr. Lawrence Feingold is Professor of Theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis. He and his wife were baptized in 1988 and received into the Catholic Church in 1989. He is the author of Touched by Christ: The Sacramental Economy; The Eucharist: Mystery of Presence, Sacrifice, and Communion; Faith Comes from What Is Heard: An Introduction to Fundamental Theology; The Mystery of Israel and the Church; and The Natural Desire to See God According to St. Thomas Aquinas and His Interpreters.

Dr. Matthew Ramage is Professor of Theology at Benedictine College where he is co-director of its Center for Integral Ecology. His research and writing concentrates especially on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, the wedding of ancient and modern methods of biblical interpretation, the dialogue between faith and science, and stewardship of creation. In addition to his other scholarly and outreach endeavors, Dr. Ramage is author, co-author, or translator of over fifteen books, including Dark Passages of the Bible (CUA Press, 2013), Jesus, Interpreted (CUA Press, 2017), The Experiment of Faith (CUA Press, 2020), and Christ’s Church and World Religions (Sophia Institute Press, 2020). His latest book, From the Dust of the Earth: Benedict XVI, the Bible, and the Theory of Evolution, was published by CUA Press in 2022. When he is not teaching or writing, Dr. Ramage enjoys exploring the great outdoors with his wife and seven children, tending his orchard, leading educational trips abroad, and aspiring to be a barbeque pitmaster. For more on Dr. Ramage’s work, visit his website www.matthewramage.com.

Simone Rizkallah previously served as the Director of Philos Catholic, an initiative of the Philos Project dedicated to renewing Catholic understanding of the Church’s relationship with the Hebraic and Near Eastern foundations of the Faith through education, media, and community-building.

In October 2023, Philos Catholic launched the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism (CCAA)—a growing network of Catholic leaders committed to rejecting antisemitism and affirming the Church’s teaching on the irrevocable covenant with the Jewish people.

A first-generation American of Egyptian-Armenian descent, Simone describes herself as a “cultural gypsy”—Western-born and educated yet formed within an Eastern ethnic and cultural context. This unique background, combined with her experience in marketing, communications, media, radio, and theatre, gives her a distinctive lens on the universal longing for identity, belonging, and spiritual depth. She holds a graduate degree in Theological Studies with an emphasis in Systematic Theology from Christendom College.

Simone has served in youth and adult formation at St. Ambrose Parish in Annandale, Virginia, and taught moral theology and Church history as Chair of the Theology Department at St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Phoenix, Arizona. She also worked for Endow, a Catholic women’s apostolate inspired by Pope St. John Paul II, and hosted The Endow Podcast from 2020–2023. You can view her talks, publications and the Beyond Rome podcast at simonerizkallah.com.

Gideon Lazar received an MA in theology from Sts. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary and a BA in Classics and Medieval/Byzantine Studies from the Catholic University of America. Together with Yarden Zelivansky, he is the co-host of The Voice of Jacob, a podcast about Hebrew Catholics. He is also the Institute Coordinator for the St. Basil Institute for the Study of the Theology of Creation. He lives near Settle with his wife and three kids.

Aviva Lund is a neuroscience-trained speaker and consultant focused on applying insights from neuroscience and psychology to improve work performance and human flourishing. She is a Catholic Jew, and her work is shaped by an interdisciplinary formation bridging science, philosophy, and theology. She spent two years at OptimalWork as a public speaker, workshop facilitator, and account executive, helping organizations maximize performance through applied neuroscience and Aristotelian virtue ethics.

Because applied neuroscience remains an emerging field, Aviva has pursued a deliberately integrative path—currently studying with CatholicPsych at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, theology, and philosophy, and co-authoring a forthcoming book on bioethics.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Behavior from the University of Notre Dame and conducted biomedical research through Yale Medical School’s Discovery to Cure Program and neuroscience research through NYU’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program. She is now based in Washington, D.C.

Fr. Luke is the Director and Chaplain of the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas. Originally from Topeka, Kansas, he enjoys watching sports, traveling, and spending time with friends and family. His first car was a 1994 Subaru Loyale—way before they were cool! His favorite saints include the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Luke the Evangelist, St. Thomas (all of them), St. Peter, St. Joseph, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. John Paul II, St. Maximilian Kolbe, and St. Carlo Acutis.

Peter Wolfgang is President of Family Institute of Connecticut Action, a Hartford-based advocacy organization whose mission is to encourage and strengthen the family as the foundation of society. A widely-published writer, his work has appeared in The Hartford Courant, the Waterbury Republican-American, Crisis Magazine, Columbia Magazine, the National Catholic Register, CatholicVote, Catholic World Report, the Stream, National Review, Legatus Magazine, Catholic Answers, The Catholic Herald, and Ethika Politika. Peter lives in Waterbury, Conn., with his wife and their seven children.