Paul Vance, MA, PhD (candidate) currently works as the Director of Faith Formation for St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church. After twenty years in business, Paul began an academic career by pursuing a Master’s degree in theology from the Oblate School of Theology. He graduated in May 2010 and received the Outstanding Scholarship for Master of Arts program in recognition for his master’s thesis. He is currently completing his doctoral project at Oblate in addition to his work at St. Mark’s. He has been very active in the community, both as a businessman and a passionate volunteer: Founder and Director of The Tobit Ministry 2015-present, Board of Directors for Bill Miller Barbeque 2016-present, Board of Trustees for Oblate School of Theology 2011-present, Board of Directors of the San Antonio Living History Association 2011-2013, President of Board for Catholic Worker House 2010-12 (member 2009-12), Board of Advisors for Pilgrim Center of Hope 2010 – 2013, Board of Directors Catholic Charities San Antonio 2006-2010, ACTS Retreats Team leader since 2001 including directing a team for the US Air Force in Newport, Virginia, President of the San Antonio Restaurant Association 2005-2006 (member 1993-2007), Board of Directors for the Texas Restaurant Association 2001-2004.

Father John Markey, OP, is an Associate Professor of Theology at Oblate School of Theology and Director of the PhD Program in Spirituality. He is a native of San Antonio where he attended St. Gregory’s grade school and Central Catholic High School.  He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1984, then earned an M.A. two years later. He entered the Dominican Order and was ordained a priest in 1993 and received his PhD in Philosophy and Theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California in 1997. He taught at Barry University in Miami, Florida before coming back to San Antonio to teach at Oblate School of Theology. He taught as an adjunct professor of theology at St. Mary’s University for two years. He wrote and published a successful book on Vatican II, Creating Communion: The Theology of the Constitutions of the Church, in 2003. He also wrote Moses in Pharaoh’s House: A Liberation Spirituality for North America published in 2014.  He is currently at work on a three volume work on the foundations of Catholic thought for Anselm Academic Press due out this year.

Chris Plauche-Johnson MEd, MA, MD is the Founding Vice-President of the Board and also the volunteer Executive Director of HFCC. Chris is a Board Certified Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician and retired as a Professor of Pediatrics at University of Texas Health Center and as Director of the Village of Hope Center for Children with Disabilities in 2007. She served on the American Academy of Pediatrics National Committee on Children with Disabilities from 1997-07 and as Co-Chair of the AAP Autism Expert Panel and was the lead author of first national guidelines for the diagnosis and management of autism.  In 2008, she was a founding Board Member and volunteer Medical Director for the Autism Community Network. She was the Founder and Volunteer Medical / Executive Director (from 1979 to 2003) of Children’s Association for Maximum Potential (CAMP) Inc., a United Way agency that continue to serves children with disabilities and their families.

After retirement in 2007 from pediatrics, she volunteered at the Catholic Worker House while earning a Master’s of Spirituality Degree at Oblate School of Theology in 2010. A social justice course at Oblate introduced her to Housing First principles and ignited a dream to create a Housing First – Permanent Supportive Single-Site Housing community for those who have been chronically homeless, many with disabilities. She has been the volunteer Director of the Catholic Worker House since 2011 and has recently joined the Oblate staff as Associate Director of the new Forest Dwelling Program, a two-year formational program for older spiritual seekers who are retired and/or empty nesters and seeking a deeper, more contemplative relationship with the Divine.