2026 Brunch Speaker Announced!

John Carroll Awardee and board of governors member Catherine Ronan Karrels will deliver the keynote address, “Faith and Learning in the Age of AI,” at the Society’s annual January Brunch following the Mass of the Baptism of the Lord on Jan. 11.

In 2008 Karrels became the first permanent lay head of school at her alma mater, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. In 2014, Bethesda Magazine named her “Best Private School Headmaster.”

A 1986 Stone Ridge graduate, Karrels helped celebrate the school’s centennial      anniversary from 2022-2023. “A Sacred Heart education is focused on the concept of bringing Christ’s heart into the world, and we are very proud of the fact that young women leave here with that spirit deeply instilled in them – to do good and to bring Christ’s heart and love to the world around them,” Karrels told the Catholic Standard during the centennial.

Prior to her appointment at Stone Ridge, Karrels served as the founding president at DeMarillac Academy, a Lasallian Vincentian Academy educating recent immigrants to the San Francisco area. Earlier she taught and held administrative positions at St. Peter’s School and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory School there as well.

Karrels earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College in 1990 and a master’s in education from San Francisco State University in 1995. Additionally, she completed one year as a Jesuit Volunteer and Teacher at St. Rita’s in San Diego.

Sponsored by the Society, the January Brunch is an annual event that highlights Catholic education and focuses on members of the academic community. This year the brunch will follow the 10 a.m. Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord at St. Patrick’s Church in D.C. The principal celebrant is scheduled to be Father Patrick Lewis, pastor at St. Patrick’s. Father Anthony Lickteig, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy Secretary for Ministerial Leadership, is scheduled to deliver the homily. Brunch will follow at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center.

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In January each year, the Society gathers to celebrate a Mass followed by a Brunch. The Mass traditionally falls on either the Solemnity of the Epiphany or the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

The Solemnity of the Epiphany commemorates the visit of the three wise men to the Infant Jesus. It recognizes the revelation of God in his Son as human in Jesus Christ. It is said that this feast of Christ's divinity completes the feast of His humanity.

The Baptism of the Lord Mass is celebrated to commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, an example of the continued manifestation of the Lord, as Jesus descended into the River to sanctify its waters and to give them the power to bring forth children of God. The feast of the Baptism of the Lord allows us to again encounter the truth of the Lord’s incarnation, as it offers to us the institution of the sacrament of baptism. Liturgically, it brings to a conclusion the season of Christmas.

The Mass is traditionally celebrated at St. Patrick Church, followed by a brunch (often referred to as the January Brunch) held at a nearby venue. The January Brunch traditionally focuses on members of the academic community, counting among its speakers many university presidents and professors. In recent years, the January Brunch speakers have included:

• John J. DeGioia, Ph.D., President of Georgetown University, who has led the university since 2001 and recently completed a $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign dedicated to enhancing the lifelong value of a Georgetown education, and who serves as Historian for the Society.
• Prof. Aaron Dominguez, Ph.D., Provost of The Catholic University of America, who oversees the academic life of the university's twelve schools as well as its libraries, research institutes and The Catholic University of America Press, and who is a specialist in particle physics and serves on the National Science Board.
• Rev. James R. Van Dyke, S.J., President of Georgetown Preparatory School, who has served as an administrator, instructor, and chaplain in Catholic primary and secondary schools for over twenty-five years.
• Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, President of Villanova University, who implemented an ambitious ten-year plan that has increased the university's fundraising, set admission records and heightened its academic prowess, while renewing its commitment to Catholic education.
• Rev. Matt Malone, S.J., then President and Editor-in-Chief of America Media, who was the youngest editor of American Magazine.
• Rev. Kevin F. O’Brien, S.J., then Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University, who also oversaw the largest campus ministry in the country and has written extensively about Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit formation.
• Rev. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., President of Assumption University in Ontario and CEO of the Salt and Light Media Foundation based in Toronto, who was a member of the Holy See Press Office staff and served as one of the official Vatican spokespersons during the historic papal transition that included Benedict XVI’s resignation and election of Pope Francis.
• Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, a patristics scholar and professor at the University of St. Thomas and St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas, who is also a former Episcopal bishop, married. Pope Benedict XVI tapped him to serve as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, which was established to welcome groups of Anglicans seeking to become Catholic as a group while also retaining aspects of their Anglican heritage and liturgical practices.
• The late Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., then President of Marquette University, and former President of the University of Scranton, who was an expert in medieval and Renaissance literature, and taught courses on a variety of subjects at several Catholic universities.

 

Through the January Brunch, the Society strives to help brunch participants to connect (or re-connect) with DC-area alumni of Catholic colleges and universities. The Society especially encourages its new members to attend the January Brunch, where they may meet JCS leadership, learn more about the Society, and participate afterwards in a photograph of new members.

 

St. Patrick Church, where the annual Baptism of the Lord Mass or Epiphany Mass is traditionally celebrated.

 

 

Prof. John J. DeGioia, President of Georgetown University, presents his talk, “Higher Education in a Post-Pandemic World,” at the 2021 Lecture on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
(To watch the 2021 January Lecture, which was held virtually, please click here. Prof. DeGioia's remarks begin around the 6:50 mark.)

 

 

Prof. Aaron Dominguez, Provost of The Catholic University of America, presents his address, “Faith and Science in Our World Today,” at the 2020 Brunch following the Baptism of the Lord Mass.

 

 

Fr. James R. Van Dyke, SJ (President of Georgetown Preparatory School) addresses attendees at the Brunch following the Baptism of the Lord Mass with his talk, "The Crying Need for Catholic Imagination."

 

 

Villanova University President and 2018 January Brunch speaker Fr. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, addresses attendees at the Brunch following the Epiphany Mass.
(To listen to Fr. Donohue's January Brunch talk, click here.)

 

 

JCS President Carol Bates and JCS Chaplain Msgr. Peter Vaghi gather with some of the newest members of the Society at the brunch following the 2018 Epiphany Mass.

 

 

JCS President Thomas Loughney and JCS Membership Chair Daniel Hardwick welcome some of the newest members to the Society at the brunch following the 2017 Epiphany Mass.

 

 

Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi, JCS Chaplain,
delivers his homily at the Baptism of the Lord Mass.