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Hope Awakens

An Online Regnum Christi Gathering

October 21, 2025 | 7:00pm Eastern Time

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Hope Awakens is an online event for the entire Regnum Christi spiritual family and apostolic body  October 21st, 2025 from 7-8pm EST, designed to build missionary zeal, deepen our sense of communion, and unite us around the shared mission.

In less time than it takes to binge-watch a couple episodes of your favorite show, you can connect with thousands of RC members around the continent for an interactive, informative, and inspiring online gathering hosted by Fr. Aaron Smith, LC.

As a new school year begins, members of all vocations from across North America will come together online to celebrate the gift of our vocation, encounter the broader Regnum Christi family, and be sent anew as apostles. The one hour interactive program will share the apostolic strategy of Regnum Christi and invite YOU to take the next step in your mission!

Hosted By

Fr. Aaron Smith, LC

TDC Delegate

Fr. Aaron Smith, LC, is the Territorial Directive College Delegate for Regnum Christi in North America. 

Fr. Aaron was born in Forest Lake, Minnesota, and has a brother who is also a Legionary priest, Fr. Jason Smith. He attended the apostolic school of the Legionaries of Christ in 1995, entered the novitiate in 1996, and was ordained a priest in Rome on December 24, 2010. After serving in youth work in Florence, Italy, and Santiago, Chile, he was named Regnum Christi Director in Detroit in 2014, as well as head of the board of Everest Collegiate in Clarkston, MI, until he was asked to take on the role of International Communications Director for Regnum Christi in Rome from 2017-2024.

For six years he worked with Regnum Christi in London, England. While working in the United States and during his time serving in Rome and London, Fr. Aaron has been deeply engaged in the renewal of Regnum Christi and the development of ECYD, Mission Youth, and Regnum Christi young adult work. He has also been instrumental in building collaboration and communion among the vocations of Regnum Christi.

Featuring

The Territorial Directive College of Regnum Christi

Fr. Shawn Aaron

Territorial Director of the
Legionaries of Christ

Regnum Christi General Convention Legionaries of Christ

Fr. John Bartunek

Territorial Vicar of the
Legionaries of Christ

Charles Bradley

Lay Member of
Regnum Christi

Maria Gaviria

Lay Member of Regnum Christi

Kathleen Murphy

Territorial Director of the
Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi

Regnum Christi General Convention Consecrated Women

Helen Yalbir

Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi

What is the Territorial Directive College of Regnum Christi?

On September 15, 2019, the Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation, the General Regulations, and the Rule of Life for lay members came into effect after being approved by the Holy See. They establish a collegial government for Regnum Christi through a Directive College made up of the directors of the Legionaries of Christ, the Consecrated Women, and the Lay Consecrated of Regnum Christi, as well as a number of lay members. This replaced the previous structure of one Legionary priest who was the territorial director of Regnum Christi. Now, Regnum Christi is governed by the college together.

What is the Evangelizing Strategy of Regnum Christi for 2025-2030?

How will you take the next step in building Christ's Kingdom?

The mission is clear, and YOU are a vital part of it!  How will you engage in reawakening hope by building Christ’s kingdom?

I need ideas! How can I evangelize?
Connect me to the Marriage & Family Commission!
I am interested in Mission Youth & Family
Tell me more about college & young adult ministry
I want to promote vocations & a vocational culture
Youth are the future! I want to help with ECYD
I want to help others as a Spiritual Director
I want to bring people closer to Mary
Connect to the nearest RC locality!
I want to discern the consecrated life for women
I want to discern the priesthood
I want to discern consecrated life for men
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Fr. Shawn Aaron, LC

Atlanta

Fr. Shawn Aaron was born in Ridgecrest, CA on January 25, 1968. He is the oldest of four children, with three younger sisters. On April 29, 1978, his family entered the Catholic Church. They later relocated to Modesto, CA, where he attended Central Catholic High School, lettering in several sports: football, basketball, baseball, and track.

After completing high-school Fr. Shawn attended Modesto Junior College where he studied liberal arts and ran track. In 1989-90 he served as a team leader for the National Evangelization Teams (NET) and traveled throughout the United States providing retreats for students. After NET he began working with St. Paul’s Outreach (SPO), in St. Paul, Minnesota, their mission is to build transformational communities that form missionary disciples for life.

In 1991, he joined the Legionaries of Christ in Cheshire, Connecticut. He studied at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy receiving degrees in philosophy (1996) and theology (2002). On Christmas Eve, 2002, Father Shawn was ordained to the priesthood at Colegio Internacional Legionarios de Cristo in Rome, Italy.

After ordinations, he served as development director for the Legionaries of Christ for several years, and from 2007-2009 also served as retreat director for Our Lady of Santa Clara retreat center in Cupertino, CA.

From 2009 through 2010, he was appointed as President of Southern Catholic College, in Dawsonville, GA. From 2010 – 2017 he was the National Chaplain of The Lumen Institute based in Manhattan. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Divine Mercy University and the Lumen Institute.

He was appointed as the North American Territorial Vicar General for the Legionaries of Christ in 2017, a role he held until being named as the North American Territorial Director on March 30, 2020 (effective April 1, 2020). He was appointed to a second three-year term on March 21, 2023. His second term began on July 1, 2023.

Regnum Christi General Convention Legionaries of Christ

Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Atlanta

Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991.

After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He has taught moral theology at various ecclesiastical institutions at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican¹s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. He is an accomplished author with many books. His most widely known books are “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer” and “60 Days to Becoming a Missionary Disciple“.

He has also written three Regnum Christi Essays: “Sharpening Your Tongue: An RC Essay on Charity in Our Words”, “What Is Regnum Christi? An RC Essay the Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation and the Rule of Life for Lay Members”, and “Our Formation Pathway: An RC Essay on Integral Formation and the Journey to Christian Maturity.” His series of Do-It-Yourself online Catholic Retreat Guides are available in multiple formats at RCSpirituality.org.

Fr. John currently resides in Atlanta, where he is serving as Territorial Director for the Legionaries of Christ and president of the Regnum Christi Territorial Directive College for North America.

Charlie Bradley

Cincinnati

Primary Vocation: Husband to Mimi, married 28 years

Family: Five Children – Alec (27), Lilly (25), Hannah (25), Tommy (23), Liam (13)

Regnum Christi:  Incorporated to Regnum Christi in 2000;

Lay member of Territorial Directive College; Chair, Camp River Ridge Board; Greater Cincinnati Men’s Section Director

Community: St Pius X parishioner, lector, past member of board of Catholic education, youth sports coach, past chair of Catholic Charities, chair of board of executive advisors, Xavier University College of Business

Professionally: started career as CPA at Deloitte, leader at Third Bank for last 25+ years currently serving as Director of Enterprise Transformation

Maria Gaviria

Sarasota, FL

Maria associated to Regnum Christi in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2007. Over the years, Regnum Christi has been a spiritual family for Maria and her family, helping them grow in friendship with Christ, deepen their Catholic faith and discover the joy of living as apostles together.

After moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, Mari and her family quickly found a familiar Regnum Christi community through Challenge, Conquest, weekly Encounters with Christ, spiritual retreats and the shared experiences of journeying in faith together. Maria experienced that same sense of communion during her visits to Colombia, where she was born, and often connects with the local Regnum Christi community when she is there.

Her mission in the Movement has included leading three international World Youth Day missions, helping establish Holy Week Mercy Missions in Cincinnati, serving as a guest lecturer at Anáhuac University Puebla in Mexico, accompanying young adults, and serving in local and territorial leadership. She is also a parishioner at Our Lady of Angels and enjoys serving in parish life.

Maria spent her professional career in leadership roles at Procter & Gamble, where one of the accomplishments closest to her heart was establishing the company’s first Catholic employee network, now present in more than 20 countries. Today, she provides people and organizational development consulting and mentors young professionals. She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology, which she pursued from a desire to deepen her Catholic faith and relationship with Christ and to grow in service and apostolic leadership.

Maria is co-founder of Catholic Caregiver with her daughter Natasha Goodwin, a mission born from their family’s experience caring for Maria’s mother. Catholic Caregiver cares for the caregiver, helping daughters and sons care for their aging parents with dignity while navigating this season with greater clarity, strength, and peace.

Among Maria’s greatest joys is her vocation as a mother to Natasha and Philip, and she is joyfully entering a new chapter as an abuela. She loves cooking and gathering family and friends around the table, morning gratitude walks by the lake, and participating in works of mercy and missions, locally and internationally. Maria currently lives in Sarasota, Florida and is serving her second term as a lay member of the North American Territorial Directive College of Regnum Christi.

Kathleen Murphy

Atlanta

Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, Kathleen Murphy is the second oldest of ten children and has been consecrated for twenty-nine years. Kathleen completed her formation in Rhode Island, lived her apostolic internship for three years in California, travelling the west coast of the US and Canada, giving retreats and accompanying young women who were discerning their vocation. She spent eleven years in Atlanta, GA serving at Pinecrest Academy as a formation instructor and mentoring high school girls.

Kathleen then served the Cincinnati locality from 2012-2015 as the director of the community of the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi and as a spiritual director for the women’s section and for young professionals. During this time, she also provided various formation courses for the young consecrated women who had made their temporary vows. She spent a year in Spain 2015-16 to help with the transition and accompaniment of the Consecrated Women in the studies stage of their formation. During that same year, she served on the international spiritual life commission for the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi. She returned to the states in 2016 to serve for a second term as the director of the Cincinnati community.

Kathleen has served as a member of the Territorial Council for the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi since 2018. In 2019 she was the director of the community in Chicago and in 2020 she was asked to serve as the Territorial Director. She has been residing in Atlanta since 2020.

Kathleen has a Bachelors in Education and Development from the Anahuac University and is currently finishing a Masters in Spiritual Accompaniment and Vocational Discernment from the University of Comillas in Spain.

 

 

 

Helen Yalbir

Dallas

Helen Yalbir is originally from Saskatoon, Canada. She completed her BA in English Literature at the University of Saskatchewan. From 2005-06, she was a Regnum Christi missionary in Calgary, Canada, and in 2006 was consecrated to Christ within Regnum Christi in Rhode Island, USA. She completed her BA in Religious and Pastoral Studies, Magna Cum Laude, at Mater Ecclesiae College in RI. She received her certification in Catholic Youth Ministry through Franciscan University.

From 2013 to 2021 Helen served in Washington, DC, accompanying and forming youth and young women. She also completed the Divine Mercy University Spiritual Direction Certification course.

Helen is currently serving young adults in Dallas, Texas, and supporting the national work of Regnum Christi with young adults. On April 3, 2023, she was appointed as a new territorial council member for the consecrated women in North America. In 2026 she was appointed as first councilor of the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi in North America. In this role, she also serves as a member of the Territorial Directive College of Regnum Christi.

 

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Alex Kucera

Atlanta

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!