About the Benedict XVI Institute

Salvatore Joseph Cordileone was born in San Diego in 1956. His roots run deep in San Diego. He attended Crawford High School, San Diego State University, the University of San Diego, and St. Francis Seminary in San Diego. He was ordained a priest of San Diego July 9, 1982. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego on July 5, 2002. He earned his Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. In 1995, he was called to Rome and served seven years as assistant at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest canonical court.

On March 23, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Cordileone as the fourth Bishop of Oakland. Three years later, on July 27, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the Archbishop of San Francisco.

Bishop Barber has deep roots in the East Bay. His father, Adlai Barber, was born in Oakland and his mother, Dolores, in San Francisco. Bishop Barber himself was born in 1954 in Salt Lake City, Utah, during a temporary job assignment for his father. As a child the bishop lived in San Francisco, Novato and Sacramento, graduating from St. Pius X Preparatory School in Galt. He has fond memories of holidays spent with relatives in Oakland, San Leandro and Castro Valley, and of teaching at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park.

Bishop Barber entered the seminary of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1973. He received his undergraduate degree from Gonzaga University in Washington, and graduate degrees in theology from Regis College at the University of Toronto and the Gregorian University in Rome.
After being ordained a priest for the Society of Jesus on June 8, 1985, in San Francisco, Bishop Barber continued his studies in Rome and at Oxford University. In 1991 he became a commissioned officer in the United States Naval Reserve and achieved the rank of Captain in 2012. He has served as Group Chaplain for the Marine Aircraft Group, as Deputy Division Chaplain for the 4th Marine Division and Deputy Force Chaplain for Reserve Affairs for Marine Forces Pacific, among many other assignments.

Pope Francis appointed him as bishop of Oakland on May 3, 2013, the first American bishop appointed by Pope Francis. He was consecrated and installed on May 25, 2013.

Locally, Bishop Barber has been Director of the School of Pastoral Leadership in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. From 2002-10 he taught at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park and was Director of Spiritual Formation there. Immediately prior to his appointment as Bishop of Oakland, he served as Director of Spiritual Formation at St. John’s Seminary in the Archdiocese of Boston. In addition to his native English, the bishop speaks French, Samoan, Spanish and Italian. 

Originally ordained a priest for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, the Most Reverend James D. Conley has served the Catholic Church in a variety of ways—as pastor, college campus chaplain, director of Respect Life ministries, theology instructor, and a Vatican official. He received a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in divinity from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He also earned a licentiate in moral theology from the Accademia Alfonsiana, part of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University.

On April 10, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named him auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Denver, and he was consecrated on May 30, 2008. On September 14, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Conley as the ninth bishop of the Lincoln Diocese in Nebraska. Bishop Conley was installed on November 20, 2012, in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln.

For his episcopal motto, Bishop Conley, a convert to the Catholic faith, has chosen the same motto as the great 19th century English convert, John Henry Cardinal Newman, “cor ad cor loquitur” which means “heart speaks to heart.”

Bishop Joseph Perry served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1998 to 2023. He was chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Subcommittee on African-American Affairs and vice-president of the board of the National Black Catholic Congress. He is an adjunct professor of canon law at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois. Bishop Perry is also vice-Postulator for the sainthood cause of Father Augustus Tolton 1854-1897.

Deacon Frank Reilly is a retired San Diego-based financial advisor and permanent deacon of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Ordained in 2003 after five years of formation and study, his diaconal vocation has run alongside, not followed, his professional career, giving him a distinctive perspective as someone equally at home in the secular and sacred worlds.

Deacon Frank co-founded Reilly Financial Advisors, where he served as President, a firm that has since become part of Creative Planning. Over his career he developed particular expertise in wealth management, international business, and fiduciary financial practice.

His liturgical ministry has been equally distinguished. Deacon Frank has served as a liturgical consultant to Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco and currently serves as Master of Ceremonies for the Archbishop. He has also spent more than fifteen years on the Liturgical Training Team for deacon candidates in the Diocese of San Diego, and has served as sacristan and deacon at the Napa Institute conferences.

Deacon Frank Reilly serves the Benedict XVI Institute as Treasurer and Board Member, bringing to BXVI the same conviction that has shaped his life: that faithful, reverent worship is at the heart of Catholic identity.

Mark Brumley has worked at Ignatius Press since 1995, and has been president since the early 2000s.

Mark describes himself as a “double convert”, as he was largely unchurched as a child growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, later became an Evangelical Christian with extreme anti-Catholic views, and then converted to Catholicism after years of reading the Church Fathers, Frank Sheed, G.K. Chesterton, Louis Bouyer, and many others.

He worked for Catholic Answers from 1989 to 1991, and then for the Diocese of San Diego as Director of the Office of Social Ministries, which was the office for respect life and social justice activities, and as Director of the Office of Communications, in which capacity he handled the media and oversaw the diocesan newspaper, The Southern Cross. Once he discerned it was time to move on to something new, he reached out to Father Fessio to see if he knew of any other positions open in other dioceses. Of course, Father Fessio himself had a position for Mark: Ignatius Press was starting two magazines: Catholic Dossier (with philosopher and novelist Ralph McInerney), and The Catholic Faith (with Jesuit Father John Hardon), and both needed a managing editor. Mark said yes, and has been with Ignatius Press ever since.

In his work as managing editor, he oversaw subscriptions for all four Ignatius Press magazines: Catholic Dossier, The Catholic Faith, Catholic World Report, and Homiletic & Pastoral Review. He began to get involved in other Ignatius publishing projects, such as the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, and acquired or developed a number of apologetics books, including Will Catholics Be Left Behind?, The Da Vinci Hoax, and A History of Apologetics.

Mark’s wife, Debbie, works as reprint manager at Ignatius Press, and one of their five children, Cate Harmon, manages Ignatius’ social media efforts.

The first time he encountered an Ignatius Press book was around 1981, at the Daughters of St. Paul Bookstore in downtown St. Louis and at Catholic Supply. After receiving a flier about the initial batch of Ignatius Press books, he ordered C.S. Lewis and the Church of Rome by Christopher Derrick, and was immediately hooked on Ignatius Press books.

Moira was born in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong and attended Maryknoll Convent School (MCS) Primary and Secondary schools until her family immigrated to San Francisco in 1966. She graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1966 and in 1968 received an A. A. from San Jose City College. Pacific Telephone hired her in 1968 and between Pacific Telephone and AT&T she worked for 32 years and retired in 2000. While working full time, she received a B. A. in Business Administration from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA.

She has been a Patron of the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Symphony and Opera, and numerous museums and charitable organizations in New York and San Francisco for over 30 years and is a supporter of the Archbishop’s Circle and a member of the Benedict XVI Institute, and the Truth, Beauty and Goodness Initiative.

She is currently active in the Maryknoll Alumnae Association of Northern CA and served as Co-President for 3 years, and is currently the MCS Alumnae Representative for our Maryknoll Worldwide Network. (“At our last Gala Fundraiser,” reports Moira, “we rented Ellis Island for an evening. The event sold out quickly and we raised a million dollars for the Sisters’ Overseas Missions.”)

With her late husband Bruce Conzelman, Moira founded Harmonique Wine in 2002 and purchased what is now Conzelman Vineyards in 2007, which grows premium Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes for sale to other wineries and to Harmonique for her wines.

In addition to going to the Opera and Symphony, farming, and making wine, Moira also enjoys fly fishing, boating, and traveling. In her early twenties, she says, “I could be found at the Fremont Dragstrip racing my stock 55 and 56 Chevys and one Chevy Nomad.”

She is currently a parishioner at Star of the Sea in Sausalito.

Christoph Tietze began his career as church organist at age twelve in his native Germany. After his family immigrated to the United States, he received a Bachelor of Arts from San Jose State University, Master of Music and Master of Musical Arts from Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music, and Doctor of Sacred Music from the Graduate Theological Foundation, where he is now a fellow and faculty member. Between his Bachelor and Master degrees, he spent one year of private study in organ and improvisation with Jean Langlais in Paris and won the Tournemire Prize in Improvisation at the St. Alban’s International Organ Competition in England.

From 1984 to 1992, he was Music Director and Organist at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, NY, and for the last 33 years, he has been Music Director/Organist at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. In addition, he served as chair of the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians from 2017 to 2019. In 2009 he helped establish the St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir School, which he has directed since then. Tietze has presented numerous organ and choir performances throughout Europe and the United States, and he frequently presents workshops on Gregorian chant, children’s choirs, and the music of Sigfrid Karg-Elert. His books on the introits are published by Liturgy Training Publications and World Library Publications.