Joan Chittister, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA, is one of the most influential religious and social leaders of our time. She is the author of over 60 books, including The Way of the Cross, A Passion for Life, There Is a Season, The Way We Were, and Illuminated Life. Mary Hembrow Snyder is professor emerita of Catholic Theology Religious Studies who taught at Mercyhurst University for over three decades. She edited Spiritual Questions for the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of Joan D. Chittister and co-edited Joan Chittister: Essential Writings with Mary Lou Kownacki. Dr. Snyder is also an Erie Benedictine Oblate. Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB, is the director of Monasteries of the Heart, an online monastic movement, and Benetvision Publishing in Erie, PA.

She served as executive director of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, and was presented its Teacher Peace Award in 2006.