FATHER JOSEPH BAMBENEK is pastor of St. Pius X and chaplain of Frassati Catholic Academy, both in White Bear Lake. As of July 1, he will join the Archdiocesan Catholic Center staff as assistant director of the archdiocesan synod and will help the Parish Services Team with parish planning. He was ordained in 2010 after working in strategic planning with electric utility companies in Michigan.
THERESE COONS is an accountant and attorney who is a member of the board of trustees of The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul and a parishioner of St. Anne in Hamel. She is director of the archdiocesan synod. She and her husband, Mike, have three children.
YEN FASANO is a parishioner of St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien in Minneapolis. She serves on the executive board of the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation and on the board of directors for the Aim Higher Foundation. A Catholic speaker, she has dedicated two decades to teaching in schools and parishes. She and her husband, Frank, have three children.
JILL FINK is the director of faith formation for Epiphany in Coon Rapids. She and her husband, David, have three children.
DEBBIE KELLER is a longtime parishioner of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake. She recently completed a two-year term as president of the board of directors for the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women. Debbie and her husband, John, have five grown children.
CHRIS KOSTELC is the director of faith formation at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, where he and his wife, Liz, and their three children are also parishioners. Kostelc is also a speaker and retreat leader.
PAT MILLEA is a senior high youth director at St. Joseph in West St. Paul, which is also his family’s home parish. He also ministers as a speaker and musician. Millea and his wife, Kenna, have six children.
SHERYL MORAN came into the Catholic Church in 1988 and is a member of Our Lady of Grace in Edina. She and her husband, Dan, have two adult children and the two of them have volunteered for various Catholic organizations in the archdiocese. Moran has recently been involved in evangelism initiatives at the parish and archdiocesan levels.
TERESA EDALI MENDEZ ORTEGA is a member of St. Gabriel the Archangel in Hopkins, where she is coordinator of Latino ministry and Spanish-language faith formation programs. She and her husband, Jose, have six children.
PATRICIO PENA is the director of Latino ministry at Assumption in Richfield and has worked for 19 years in Latino ministry in the archdiocese. He and his wife, Maria Enriqueta, have four children.
PATTI WATKINS is the director of faith formation at St. Ambrose in Woodbury, where she and her husband are also parishioners. She has served as a faith formation leader in the archdiocese and the Diocese of New Ulm for 29 years.
The synod executive committee also includes seven current members of the Archdiocesan Catholic Center staff: Crystal Crocker, director of the Office of Evangelization; Tom Halden, director of the Office of Communications; Estela Villagrán Manancero, director of the Office of Latino Ministry; Father Thomas Margevicius, director of the Office of Worship; Deacon Steve Maier, director of the Office for Parish Services; Jean Stolpestad, director of the Office of Marriage, Family and Life; and Amy Tadlock, director of the tribunal. Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens is the committee chairman.
