Elementor #6585

Bro. Raoul R. Roncal, SW

Fr. Johnny C. Go, SJ

Mathew Maru Ramarama
Ryanne Samantha C. Villalon

Jose Gabriel S. Castillo

Fr. Jerome Vallabaraj, SDB

Ms. Karen Joy Caramoan

Bro. Timothée Tillard, CCN

Ms. Florence Alexius

Ms. Mary Theresa Le Thi Tuyet An

Ms. Imelda Soidi

Bro. Raoul R. Roncal, SW

Bro. Raoul joined The Servants of the Word as an affiliate in 1986 and made his lifelong commitment to the Lord in 1994. He obtained his MA in Theological Studies at the Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University in 2001 and then served until 2007 as National Director of the Christ’s Youth in Action (CYA), a campus ministry organization in the Philippines. He started teaching in the Ateneo de Manila as a College Theology Instructor from 2007 until the present.

CYA is a Catholic missional movement formed by the call to evangelize and train the youth for the service of the Church and society. Its mission is carried out in colleges, universities, senior high schools, parishes, and renewal groups in the Philippines and some parts of Asia. CYA endeavors to evangelize the youth and train leaders for the service of the Church and society. It envisions the youth who are transformed in Christ, and are agents of positive change for the Church and society.

Fr. Johnny C. Go, SJ

Fr. Johnny is the Founding Dean of the Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design at the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. He was previously concurrently the Education Secretary for the Jesuit secondary and pre-secondary schools in Asia Pacific until 2023. After serving as the President of Xavier School from 2001 to 2013, he completed his doctorates in education in 2016 at the UCL Institute of Education, University of London, and the Singapore National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University. Afterwards, he established the Ateneo de Manila Institute for the Science and Art of Learning and Teaching (SALT), where he served as Director from 2017 until 2021.

He joined the Society of Jesus in 1987, trained in media communications at Kuangchi Program Service in Taipei for his regency, and was ordained a priest in 1998. For four years, he served as Executive Director of the Jesuit Communications Foundation before his assignment as President of his alma mater, Xavier School, in 2001, where he launched innovations such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme, the Apple One-to-One Learning Program, and the Xavier China Experience.

Enriched by his diverse background and experience in education and media, Johnny Go’s homilies are well known for their down-to-earth language, timely references to popular culture, and the occasional dash of humor. Long before the pandemic, he started his online ministry when in 2007, many of his homilies have been posted on the website Pins of Light (http://www.pinsoflight.net). He is best known for his online retreats for Advent and Lent, for his books on spirituality and education, and for the many songs he composed with Fr. Manoling Francisco SJ and Fr. Arnel Aquino SJ, among others.

Mathew Maru Ramarama

Matthew is currently pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering as a graduating student. Residing in Sampaloc, he has dedicated over three years to volunteering in the social mission of the Chemin Neuf Community in the Philippines. Additionally, he is a postulant within the community and has been actively engaged for nearly five months.

Ryanne Samantha C. Villalon

Ryanne is a fourth year accountancy student at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Residing in General Trias, Cavite, she is the eldest of two siblings. Throughout her academic journey, she has maintained a consistent record as an honor student, driven by her passion for learning. Currently interning at SGV & Co., she is gaining invaluable experience in the field of accountancy. Beyond academics, she is actively involved in student leadership, serving as Vice President of her PLM college council and Deputy Commander at the Corps of Sponsors. Her commitment to excellence extends beyond the classroom as she strives to make a positive impact both academically and within her community.

Jose Gabriel S. Castillo

Gab is a graduate of the BS Management Program of the Ateneo de Manila University. He has an appetite for seeking and creating opportunities that will allow him and others to be transformed into individuals that will impact society in positive way. Thus, he has sought leadership opportunities in some of the biggest, most established Ateneo projects and school organizations as well as created one of his own through the launching of his thesis business. He is currently a campus staffer of Christ’s Youth in Action (CYA) focused on engaging and evangelizing students, bringing them into a personal relationship with the Lord and then training them to be future leaders of the Church and Society after they graduate.

Fr. Jerome Vallabaraj, SDB

Fr. Jerome is a Salesian priest from Tamil Nadu, India. He holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology with specialization in Youth Ministry and Catechetics from the Pontifical Salesian University, Rome. From 2002-2013, he was Professor at the Faculty of the Sciences of Education at the same University. He is currently professor at the Don Bosco Theological Center, Kavarapettai, the theological center of the Chennai Province of the Salesians.

He has authored a number of books on Youth Ministry, including “Empowering the Young Towards Fullness of Life: Seminal Thoughts on Some Pedagogico-Pastoral Requisites in Youth Ministry” (2003), “Animating the Young: An Introduction to a Holistic Paradigm of Youth Ministry” (2005), “Empowering Through Animation: A Pedagogical-Pastoral Paradigm for Youth Ministry” (2010, with S. Korath), “Faith-Focused Mentoring as a Paradigm for Youth Catechesis: Towards the Articulation of a Frame of Reference” (2012), “Transformative Learning and Catechesis with Adults” (2023), and “Cultivating a Faith that Transforms – A Handbook of Fundamental Catechetics” (2023, with A. Christy Lourdunathan).

Ms. Karen Joy Caramoan

Karen is currently the Chief Learning Engineer of SeeWorthy International. She has designed, developed, and facilitated programs focused on leadership, productivity, change management, critical thinking, team development as well as self-empowerment programs for both the private and public sectors. SeeWorthy International is a training and consulting organization which provides services in the areas of HR strategic planning and execution, process and performance improvement here in the Philippines and abroad.

Karen graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology for Teachers degree from the Philippine Normal University, Manila. She was a scholar of the PHINMA National Scholarship program, where she gained valuable experiences working with the youth, co-millennials, and the older generations as well. With her degree in education, she started her career as an educator (2013) before making the move to corporate consulting (2016). She continues to teach and serve through her volunteer works in PHINMA Foundation and in Bicol where she acts as a mentor to scholars, youth groups, and faith-based groups in the community.

Bro. Timothée Tillard, CCN

Timothée is a French religious and seminarian studying at LST. He came to the Philippines in December 2020. He has been involved in the youth ministry of the Chemin Neuf Community for 12 years. In France, Spain, and Poland, he was part the team that organized International Festivals for the Youth. He was appointed the leader the of the Chemin Neuf Youth Ministry in France. In Manila, he is in charge of the Chemin Neuf Youth Ministry and is a Campus Minister at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.

The Chemin Neuf Community is a Catholic community with an ecumenical vocation. Formed from a charismatic prayer group in 1973, it has 2,000 permanent members in 30 countries, and 12,000 people serving in the community missions. A product of the Charismatic Renewal, the community claims to adhere to an Ignatian spirituality. It brings together priests, lay celibates (men and women) as well as non-celibates and couples with or without children. The community directs its actions around the principle of unity: unity of Christians (ecumenism), unity of people (notably between different cultures and nations), unity of couples and of families.

Ms. Florence Alexius

Ms. Florence A. Alexius, from Malaysia, is presently with the Institute of Formation Fondacio Asia (IFFAsia) in the Philippines as the Director and with the Fondacio Asia Regional Leadership Team. She has been engaged in a private higher education institute in Malaysia from 1989 till 2004 as a lecturer and responsible in management. She has a Master Degree in Business Administration from the University of Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.A. and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Madras, India. In 2005, she completed the Certificate in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) to be an English teacher in a language school and teach English to Myanmar migrants and refugees in Kuala Lumpur. In September 2012, she was sent by the lay movement, Fondacio Malaysia to serve in IFFAsia, to apply her management capabilities and learn new charism. She has also accomplished her second Masters in May of 2019 from the Asian Social Institute, Manila, Master of Science in Pastoral Sociology. Her passion is to journey with young adults to engage and empower them in their journey of life.

Ms. Mary Theresa Le Thi Tuyet An

Mary An, from Vietnam, is a Program Coordinator in the Institute of Formation, Fondacio Asia (IFFAsia). She is a graduate of the University of Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City with a major in Information Technology. She served as a catechist trainor of the Eucharistic Youth Movement and was senior youth animator in the Archdiocese of Saigon in Vietnam. She had been with the youth ministry in the parish and diocese for more than 10 years before joining the formation in IFFAsia.

She is a graduate of the Introduction to Theological Formation Program of St. Vincent School of Theology, Philippines, and is currently completing her master’s degree in educational management and leadership at the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.

Ms. Imelda Soidi

Imelda is a member of the Dusun community,  an indigenous group in North Borneo, Malaysia at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu.  She is one of the Program Coordinators of IFFAsia – a school of Discipleship-Mission for young adults and lay people in Asia.  IFFAsia aims to enable and engage young people in local communities and Churches.

Together with her siblings, Imelda established an initiative called “PERPUS – The Human Library” which compiled the intangible heritage (folk stories and songs) of her community in order to transmit the language to the younger generation.

She completed a three-year project as a community researcher that had helped in the research, documentation and publication of the Protocol on Managing & Conserving (Winokok) Community Forest Reserve. She served as a full-time Youth Pastoral worker in the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu upon completing formation in the Institute of Formation Fondacio Asia.

Imelda has a Master of Arts in Sociology with Special Concentration in Development Leadership from Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan and a Bachelor of Economics (Planning & Development Economics) from the University Malaysia, Sabah.