Jennifer Ristine is a consecrated woman of Regnum Christi, a Society of Apostolic Life in the Catholic Church. She consecrated her life to God in 1997 and is engaged in faith and spiritual formation primarily through teaching, writing, conferences, retreats, and spiritual direction.
She is a contributor to RC Spirituality, an instructor for the new online Spiritual Director Certificate course at Divine Mercy University in Virginia, and the author of Mary Magdalene: Insights from Ancient Magdala and Nine Days with Mary Magdalene.
From August 2014 to July 2018, she served as the Director of the Magdalena Institute and the Visitors’ Center Coordinator in Magdala, the ancient hometown of Mary Magdalene, a first-century Jewish site and Christian pilgrim center.
Jennifer obtained degrees in Special Education from Western Illinois University, Pastoral and Religious Studies from Regina Apostolorum in Rome, and her Masters in Theology from Catholic Distance University in Virginia. She most recently continued studies in Ignatian and Carmelite spirituality in Spain.
Inspired by the spirit of Louis de Wohl’s lives of the saints and Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc, I offer this historical fiction for our times. Becoming Magdalene is more
Mary Magdalene was real. Her life challenges, struggles, and joys were real. Her life was truly transformed by Jesus. Therefore, it must be possible to “unearth” pieces of what was
Dear Friends, Thanksgiving is the time of gratitude and generosity: giving thanks and thankfully giving. I give thanks to God that even the secular calendar has marked this day
Dear Friends, My elders make me look forward to being a child again. How is that possible? Their wisdom confounds me and brings me full circle to the simplicity
Dear Friends, For most of us in the northern hemisphere, August’s end marks a time of transition from summer’s end to new beginnings; a transition into a new school
Dear Friends, Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the child who “grew and became strong in the spirit, and he was in
Dear Friends, It was three o’clock in the afternoon. The sun baked the stones as I stood in Ancient Magdala peering into an excavated complex. Jewish purification baths sat
Dear Friends, I have long admired Saint Thomas Aquinas. His keen intellect was capable of wading through tumultuous sofisms and heretical claims to defend doctrinal matters. His reverent heart
Dear Friends, By the time this email is published, I will have left Spain and a lovely community behind to begin a new mission in the United States. This marks
Alex Kucera has lived in Atlanta, GA, for the last 46 years. He is one of 9 children, married to his wife Karmen, and has 3 girls, one grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. Alex joined Regnum Christi in 2007. Out of the gate, he joined the Helping Hands Medical Missions apostolate and is still participating today with the Ghana Friendship Mission.
In 2009, Alex was asked to be the Atlanta RC Renewal Coordinator for the Atlanta Locality to help the RC members with the RC renewal process. Alex became a Group Leader in 2012 for four of the Atlanta Men’s Section Teams and continues today. Running in parallel, in 2013, Alex became a Team Leader and shepherded a large team of good men.
Alex was honored to be the Atlanta Mission Coordinator between 2010 to 2022 (12 years), coordinating 5-8 Holy Week Mission teams across Georgia. He also created and coordinated missions at a parish in Athens, GA, for 9 years. Alex continues to coordinate Holy Week Missions, Advent Missions, and Monthly missions at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Cumming, GA.
From 2016 to 2022, Alex also served as the Men’s Section Assistant in Atlanta. He loved working with the Men’s Section Director, the Legionaries, Consecrated, and Women’s Section leadership teams.
Alex is exceptionally grateful to the Legionaries, Consecrated, and many RC members who he’s journeyed shoulder to shoulder, growing his relationship with Christ and others along the way. He knows that there is only one way, that’s Christ’s Way, with others!
