The Strong Foundations for Catholic Leaders Program offers focused support for young lay leaders who have recently begun their professional service in the Church. The program addresses the unique challenges that face young ministers and provides them with the resources, guidance and support they need to thrive and find sustainable success in their ministry.
The program consists of two one-week conferences held during consecutive summers at the University of Notre Dame. During the week, participants receive professional and pastoral development, financial and career planning, and personal and relational support. Participants also meet with a mentor-minister dedicated to support, challenge and accompany them for the duration of the program and for at least two years after the program's completion.
The typical cohort consists of fifteen young lay leaders who have already completed formal training for ministry in the Church and who are still in the first few years of their ministry. This program, fully funded and underwritten by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame with the support of a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., provides lodging and meals on campus during the week-long conference.
Every participant in the first cohort of Strong Foundations has obtained new jobs in leadership in their area of ministry.
Cohort 2023 - 2025
Juan Miguel Alvarez
Current Job: Director of Haciendo Caminos
Juan Miguel Alvarez was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is the director of Haciendo Caminos, an initiative at the University of Notre Dame that seeks to identify and empower the next generation of Catholic Latino ecclesial leaders in the United States. He earned his B.A in theology and his M.Div. degrees from the University of Notre Dame. Juan Miguel previously ministered in the Archdiocese of Chicago for six years; his positions included director of faith formation at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and theology teacher at St. Rita of Cascia High School and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.
Alexandra Carroll
Current Job: Communications Manager for Social Mission USCCB
Through her work at the USCCB, Alexandra engages Catholics in the domestic and international justice priorities of the U.S. bishops as well as the work of the grassroots organizations supported by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Church. She also serves as a core member of the U.S. Synod Team for the 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality leading the USCCB’s communications efforts and strategy for the Synod. She received her B.A. in theology and religious studies from St. Mary's College of California, and her M.T.S. from Boston College.
Wesley Cocozello
Current Job: Communications & Program Manager, Missionary Society of St. Columban
Wesley Cocozello is the communications and program manager for justice, peace, and ecology for the Missionary Society of St. Columban in the United States. Among his duties with the Columbans, he is the host and executive producer of Jubilee for the Earth: Biodiversity and Our Sacred Story and is a member of the Columban working group on biodiversity. Before his time with the Columbans, he worked for Catholic Climate Covenant. He also serves as the communications lead for the Faiths for Biodiversity coalition and is a board member of the United States Catholic Mission Association. In addition to his professional work, Wesley is a creative writer. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Jake Coffman
Current Job: Associate Director for Content Development in the Office of Youth, Young Adults, and Campus Ministry
Jake serves as the associate director for content development in the office of Youth, Young Adults, and Campus Ministry in the Diocese. In this position he oversees all live content that comes from the office such as training, conferences, and live events focused on offering opportunities of encounter throughout the Diocese of Dallas, such as "The 635" young adult initiative and the Diocese of Dallas Catholic Youth Conference. Jake received a B.A. in elementary education from Belmont Abbey College in 2012 and a M.A. in religious education: youth and young adult ministry from Fordham University in 2020. He currently lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife of eight years and four sons.
Amy Deibert
Current Job: Evangelization & OCIA Director, Diocese of Green Bay
Amy Deibert has had a passion for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ since high school and has put that into action by working in apostolates and parishes for the past 15 years. Amy currently serves as the evangelization and OCIA director for the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin. In addition to supporting parish leaders she uses her degrees in music and theology to share the faith, lead worship, and help others encounter the God who loves them. In her spare time, she loves to travel and explore the beauty of God’s creation. When she can’t do that, she loves reading, knitting, grabbing a coffee with friends, or catching a baseball game.
Gabriela Del Rio Diaz
Current Job: Youth Ministry Coordinator, Diocese of Raleigh
For 12 years Gabariela Del Rio Diaz has participated as a volunteer for youth ministry in the Diocese of Raleigh. She has been a part of the coordination in the Ministry of Chastity and Alliance for Love. She took part in the writing of the Easter book with the Southeast Pastoral Institute (SEPI), in addition to serving as a catechist at our Lady of Guadelupe. Before she served as youth ministry coordinator in the Diocese of Raleigh, she served as director of youth programming at San Miguel Archangel in Cary, North Carolina, and as regional assistant of the Diocese of Raleigh.
Antonio Guzmán-Diaz
Current Job: Parish Director of Family Engagement, Archdiocese of Detroit
Antonio Guzmán-Diaz is the director of family and engagement for the Southwest Family of Parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit. He is an active board member of La Red, The National Catholic Network of Pastoral Juvenil Hispana; the Midwest Catholic Association of Hispanic Ministry; and La Casa Guadalupana in the Archdiocese of Detroit, a non-profit organization that helps Hispanic adults with literacy, guiding them to complete their GED, middle school and elementary school certification. He is the founder of the Saint Toribio Romo Young Adult group at Most Holy Redeemer Parish in Detroit and host of the podcast Imagen y Semejanza and Auténtica Masculinidad.
Juliemarie G. Hernandez
Current Job: Youth Minister, St. Anthony of Padua Church, Archdioocese of New York
Ministry: Juliemarie was born and raised in the Bronx by Dominican parents. She serves as the youth minister at St. Anthony of Padua Church in the South Bronx and works with Young Life, an ecumenical Christian organization that focuses on introducing teens to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith. As a Catholic young adult who is the youngest person and the only Latina Catholic on staff, she finds herself bridging these two worlds. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Bernard M. Baruch College with plans to earn a master’s in theology with a minor in youth ministry.
Steve Joebgen
Current job: Director of Campus Ministry, Archbiship Moeller High School, Diocese of Cincinnati
Originally from Chicago, by way of Champaign, Illinois, Steve Joebgen and his wife Rachel live in Cincinnati, Ohio, with their two-year-old daughter Dorothy. After receiving a B.A. in communications from Eastern Illinois University in 2011, Steve lived in a Catholic Worker community in Charleston, Illinois, and then earned an M.A. in theological studies from the University of Dayton. He just finished his ninth year as campus minister at Archbishop Moeller High School, an all-boys Catholic school in the Marianist tradition in Cincinnati. His favorite soccer teams are FC Cincinnati and the Tottenham Hotspurs.
Vince Lujan
Current Job: Catholic Musician, Diocese of Dallas
Vicente (Vince) Lujan is a bilingual liturgical musician and praise and worship leader, who recently served as coordinator of youth ministry at St. Michael’s in McKinney, Texas. Through his work as a parish youth minister, workshop and presentation leader, and professional musician, he has invited people to build and cross bridges that span the gap between the English and Spanish speaking communities within the church. Vince attended the University of North Texas where he majored in jazz studies. He lives with his wife Charity and daughters Elena and Violet in Denton, Texas.
Daniel Oubre
Current Job: Parish Life Team Lead, Archdiocese of San Antonio
Daniel Oubre is a native of San Antonio, Texas, where he lives with his wife Veronica, and their daughter Leah Clare. They are expecting a son, Noah Anthony, in late August. Daniel currently serves with the Archdiocese of San Antonio as the parish life team lead, directing their team of parish life liaisons to consult and support pastors and parish leaders across the 14 deaneries in the diocese. He recently received his MBA with a concentration in leadership and organizational health from the University of Saint Mary-Leavensworth, Kansas.
Daniel Rodriguez
Current Job: Future Missionary Advisor, Damascus Catholic Mission, Diocese of Columbus
Daniel Rodriguez is working with Damascus, where he loves serving the youth, college students, and young adults of the Church. His greatest desire is for every human being to personally encounter the love of Jesus, particularly in the Eucharist, and to come to know the unique missions that they have as sons and daughters of God. Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Daniel has a big heart for different cultures and spreading the Gospel around the world.
Jaqueline Romo
Current Job:
Campus Minister, Cristo Rey High School, Archdiocese of Chicago
Jacqueline Romo began her ministry as a campus minister at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. She has been involved with youth ministry at her parish since she was a teenager and has continued to participate to this day. Jacqueline is a St. Oscar Romero scholar at the Catholic Theological Union, working on a master’s in Hispanic theology and ministry. She loves to find ways to connect art and theology. Her artwork, created in 2019, The Passion of the Monarca Migrante, is a prime example of how she combines theology, art, and culture on the topic of immigration.
Alyssa Salazar
Current Job: Religion Teacher, Loretto Academy School, Diocese of El Paso
Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Alyssa Salazar teaches theology at Loretto Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in El Paso. She is a student in the M.A. in theology program at Notre Dame as a recipient of Catholic Extension’s YALI scholarship, which is awarded to a layperson from a rural diocese. Alyssa served as a missionary with NET Ministries after high school, facilitating retreats around the country for young people, and then served on staff at the Diocese of El Paso.
Vanesa Zuleta Goldberg
Current Job: Resource Manager, TENx10, Diocese of Albany
Vanesa Zuleta Goldberg has worked in youth ministry for 15 years—as a youth minister, youth ministry service volunteer, worship leader, and speaker. She received her B.A. in theology at Providence College concentrating on the gift that young people are to the Church. She then earned her M.A. in theology and ministry from Boston College. She now works with the ecumenical collaborative called TENx10, working to make faith matter for 10 million youth in the next ten years.
