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Plenary Sessions Presenters
 Bishop William Skylstad
attended The Pontifical College Josephinum near
Columbus Ohio for the twelve years of seminary
training and was ordained in 1960 for the Diocese of
Spokane. In the early years of his priesthood he
taught primarily physics, chemistry and math at the
high school seminary in Spokane. In 1977 Pope Paul VI
named him the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Yakima.
In 1990, Pope John Paul II appointed him the bishop of
the Diocese of Spokane. On the national level Bishop
Skylstad has served in several capacities over the
years: chair of the diaconate committee, Episcopal
liaison to NOCERCC, chair of the ad hoc committee for
bishops' life and ministry, chair of the domestic
policy committee for the USCC office of Social
Development and World Peace, chair of ad hoc committee
on Catholic health care and labor. In November 2001,
he was elected vice-president of the USCCB.
 Dolores R. Leckey
has been a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological
Center, Georgetown University since 1998. Prior to
that, for twenty years she served as executive
director of the Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women
and Youth at the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops. She has lectured and led retreats in the
United States, Europe and Australia and is the author
of a number of books, the most recent being spiritual
reflections on September 11,
Facing Fear With Faith,
co-authored with Arthur Jones
of
The National Catholic Reporter,
and
Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders
(Paulist Press, 2003). Her current work is focused on
a book in development:
While Shepherds Kept Watch: Stories and Meditations
(American Catholic Leaders 1975-2000).
 Paul Wilkes
is the author of sixteen non-fiction books, a novel,
and the host, writer, director or producer of seven
PBS documentaries. His most recent books are
Beyond the Walls: Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Life,
Excellent Catholic Parishes: The Guide to Best Places
and Practices,
and
Excellent Protestant Congregations: The Guide to Best
Places and Practices.
Most recently, he was the project director for the
Parish/Congregation Study, which found 600 excellent
Catholic and Protestant churches throughout America,
and the Pastoral Summit, which brought together 700
clergy and lay people to further the cause of local
church excellence. His book,
In Mysterious Ways: The Death and Life of a Parish
Priest
, a Book of the Month Club selection, won a
Christopher Award. He has written for numerous
national magazines, such as The New Yorker, The
Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine, and is a
former reporter for the Baltimore Sun and the Boulder
(Colorado) Daily Camera.
Rev. Brian O. McDermott, SJ,
a native of Brooklyn, New York, is rector of the
Jesuit Community, professorial lecturer in theology,
and member of the Board of Directors at Georgetown
University in Washington, DC. Fr. McDermott is also
tertian director for the Maryland and New York
Provinces of the Society of Jesus, a consulter of the
Maryland Province, and a board member of the Woodstock
Theological Center at Georgetown, Jesuit Volunteers
International, and the Weston Jesuit School of
Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From 1973 until
2000 he was a faculty member at Weston; during his
Weston tenure he served terms as academic dean and
rector of the Jesuit Community.
Fr. McDermott
received a Ph.D. from the University of Nijmegen in
the Netherlands and has published numerous articles
and two books: What are they saying about the grace of
Christ? (Paulist Press), and Word Become Flesh:
Dimensions of Christology (Liturgical Press). His
teaching and writing interests include Christology,
theological anthropology, Ignatian spirituality, and
authority and leadership, an area in which he has also
collaborated with faculty at Harvard University’s
Kennedy School of Government.”
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