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Semper Fidelis
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Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.
—1 Peter 3:15-16
Biographies of the Hosts (experts)
of the St. Michael
Question and Answer Forum
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Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)+
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Bro. Ignatius Mary (also known as Couer de Lion —the “Lionhearted” and “The Doctor”) was an apologist, catechist, theologian, lay Nouthetic counselor, spiritual director, poet, and writer. He was also an occult expert and Deliverance Counselor. He held the positions of Provost of the Oblates and Missioners of St. Michael, Commandant of the Confraternity of the Legionnaires of St. Michael, Director of the St. Padre Pio Center for Deliverance Counseling, and was Dean of the St. Michael Academy for Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance Counseling
Brother was a former Baptist preacher/evangelist who was received into full communion into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in 1993. The lectures of Scott Hahn on the faith and an intense study of the Bible convinced Brother that he must become Catholic. Later that year he met Scott and Kimberly Hahn who invited him to join, and did later join, a new organization that was forming at the time, the Coming Home Network.
Brother received permission from his priestly spiritual director to found, with eight other co-founders, a new and experimental association called the Order of the Legion of St. Michael (OLSM), and to a conduct deliverance counseling apostolate. The OLSM was founded on the Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 December 1993.
Since then the mission of OLSM has evolved. To reflect that evolution the OLSM name was changed on 1 August 2010 to the Oblates and Missioners of St. Michael [OMSM] with Bro. Ignatius Mary as its Provost.
In 1994 Brother received permission from his priestly spiritual director and the members of OLSM to begin formation for the celibate brotherhood as a Hermit. In 1995 Brother offered private vows of the evangelical counsels in First Profession received by his priestly spiritual director during a Mass, who vested him in the habit. He offered his perpetual vows in 1998.
In 2001 Brother co-founded with Joe Meineke the St. Padre Pio Center for Deliverance Counseling to better facilitate the deliverance work Brother has been doing as a Catholic since 1993. In 2004, Brother founded the St. Michael Academy for Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance Counseling to provide more comprehensive training to the growing number of prospective Deliverance Counselors. Then in 2011 he founded the spiritual warfare confraternity Legionnaires of St. Michael to be an anchor organization for the Counseling Center and the Academy.
Overall, Brother was experienced in a variety of disciplines that equip him for these apostolates, including apologetics, catechesis, evangelism, teaching, spiritual direction, lay Nouthetic counseling, deliverance counseling, moral theology, ethics, philosophy, praxeology, and the Divine Office.
In the area of spiritual warfare, Brother, when he was Protestant, was trained by the International Center on Biblical Counseling, and had six years of experience as a Protestant exorcist and deliverance counselor before converting to the Catholic Church. When Brother converted in 1993, he stopped being an exorcist in obedience to the Church, but continued as a Deliverance Counselor, which the Church allows. He studied Catholic exorcists such as Fr. Amorth and Fr. Fortea, among many others, to learn the Catholic approach to deliverance. He found that the differences were very few. He discovered that about 95% of what Protestants at the International Center for Biblical Counseling taught about deliverance was the same as taught by Catholics. The 5% difference was significant, however, to which Brother readily learned, co-opted, and obeyed. His services have been requested by psychologists and priests, and clients have been referred to him by various dioceses.
Brother held three certificates from the St. Michael Academy for Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance Counseling: Licentiati Artium Libertatis Consultandae (L.A.L.C.), Licentiate Certificate in Deliverance Counseling, awarded on the Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels, 29 September 2004, Magistri Artium Libertatis Consultandae (M.A.L.C.), Masters Certificate in Deliverance Counseling, awarded on the Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels, 29 September 2011, Doctoris Artium Libertatis Consultandae (D.A.L.C.), Doctoral Certificate in Deliverance Counseling, awarded on the Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels, 29 September 2014, and is a Certified Deliverance Counselor-Practitioner (C.D.C.P.) from that entity.
In the area of Theology, Brother earned the following degrees from the Schola Sancti Anthonii Domusque Studiorum Bibliorum in Montana: the Licentiatus Theologiae (L.Th.), Licentiate in Theology, on the Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels, awarded 29 September 2007, and the Divinitatis Doctor (D.D.), Doctor of Divinity, in Catholic Doctrine, Biblical Theology, and Apologetics awarded on the Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels, awarded 29 September 2011.
In other schooling, Brother also held a Diploma of Legal Assistant/Paralegal with Distinction from the prestigious Blackstone Institute; and Diplomas in Deacon Ministry, Adult Christian Development, and Sunday School Leadership from the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board.
His undergraduate studies were in Philosophy, Psychology, Photography, Chinese Language and Culture, Creative Writing and Expository Writing.
In writing, at the University of Iowa in the 1980s, Brother studied under poets such as Paul Engle, (former director of the International Writers Workshop), Donald Justice (former director of the Poetry Workshop), W.S. Merwin (former Poet Laurette of the U.S), Czeslaw Milosz (winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature), Daniel Weissbort (editor, along with the British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, of Modern Poetry in Translation published in London). Brother also studied under William Irwin (essayist and former director of the Expository Writing Workshop), and Reynolds Price (novelist, poet, dramatist, essayist).
In the 1970s he studied psychology at Midwestern State University in Texas, with additional studies in the 1980s in psychology at the campus of the University of Iowa.
During those years on the campus of the University of Iowa, Brother attended many psychological symposiums and workshops, including workshops on sexual dysfunction and counseling conducted by Hartman and Fithian (the "Masters and Johnson" of the West Coast). He has extensively studied existential psychology and philosophy. He has also been trained and experienced in crisis and suicide counseling. In the mid-1980s Brother was on the Board of Directors of Ray of Hope founded by the late Eleanora “Betsy” Ross as the first organization to help those with loved-ones who died from suicide.
In addition to experience in pastoral and Nouthetic counseling since 1978, Brother worked in a private psychiatric hospital, a state mental hospital, and the psychiatric ward of a state penitentiary. In that capacity he has worked with all manner of psychotics, rapists, murders, and a modern day Lizzie Borden, a kid who chopped up his parents with an axe when he was 13 years old.
Brother’s additional post-grad studies include Psychology, Philosophy, and Physics from Yale University, Philosophy from Northwestern University and from Fordham University, Theology from the University of Virgina, Biblical Counseling from Dallas Theological Seminary, the Constitutional Studies from Hillsdale College, the Society of Mind from MIT, Critical Reasoning from the University of Oxford (England), and other courses from various institutions.
Brother had been a lay Nouthetic counselor since 1978, a deliverance counselor since 1987, and a spiritual director since 1993.
Brother was the host of several Question and Answer Forums including the Faith and Spirituality, Spiritual Warfare, and Divine Office forums located on St. Michael’s Call (the website for the Oblates and Missioners of St. Michael). In the past he was a catechist and expert on Catholicism for many years on allexperts.com (the largest Q&A Forum on the Net).
Bro. Ignatius was a member several religious, philosophical, counseling, artistic, and Internet professional organizations. His active membership in associations requiring yearly dues varies from year to year depending upon his ability to pay yearly dues. As a brother he takes a vow of poverty and thus cannot always afford the luxury of association dues; and OMSM is equally as poor.
Religious organization memberships include the Pope John Paul II Society of Evangelists, Catholic Society of Evangelists, Institute on Religious Life, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Adoremus: Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy, Confraternity of the Brown Scapular, and Confraternity of Mary, Queen of All Hearts (Montfort Fathers), among others. Brother is also a member of the Founder’s Club of Ave Maria University.
Professional Counseling association memberships include the Association of Christian Therapists (ACTheals), American Association Christian Counselors, American Counseling Association, Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling, and the International Society for Mental Health Online.
Philosophical association memberships include the Society for Applied Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, England.
Web Design Professional association memberships include the HTML Writers Guild, the International Webmasters Association, and the Good News Web Designers Association.
On the other side of the professional tracks in brother’s life, he is a professional and published poet and writer, and an editor and publisher. In college, Brother was a member of the editorial review board of the University of Iowa Press, and on the governing board of Windhover Press at the University of Iowa. In this life-track Bro. Ignatius is a member of the Academy of American Poets, the Association of Authors and Publishers, and is listed as Editor and Publisher of St. Michael House Press and Writers House Press in the International Directory of Small Presses and Little Magazines and the WritersNet Online Directory.
In the 1980s Brother was awarded with the honor of induction the Who’s Who in American Poets, Writers, and Editors located in the United States, and the International Authors and Poets Who’s Who located in London. He was nominated, but did not make the final cut in the Who’s Who of North American Authors.
In addition, Bro. Ignatius was a recipient of the prestigious Kaltenborn Foundation Grant for his work on Beginning Magazine (a magazine that specialized in new talent). [Note: Kaltenborn was a contemporary of Edward R. Murrow. Murrow was at CBS and Kaltenborn at NBC]. He was also a recipient of the Outstanding Press Award from the Pushcart Press Prizes.
On the political life-track, Brother was experienced in political activism. In the 1980s he organized and participated in many political protests. He taught courses on Civil Disobedience, anti-Nuclear issues, political activism, and on other courses to teach people how to participate in social change. Brother was a guest lecturer at the University of Iowa on political topics ranging from Pro-Life issues to criticism of U.S. government policies.
Brother worked as a free-lance journalist covering people and events such as Phyllis Schafly of the Eagle Forum, then Vice-President Bush, the Democratic Caucasus, all the presidential candidates in the 1984 and 1988 election cycles, and other people and events. Brother was the producer of the Eyes on Justice TV show with guests such as Earl T. Smith, former American Ambassador to Cuba (the last Ambassador before Castro’s revolution), Carol Everett, former abortionist turned ProLife activist, the director of Emma Goldman abortion clinic, the number one abortion clinic in the country at that time according to the New York Times, Mitch Synder, national advocate for the homeless who killed himself shortly after his interview with us, and many others.
When Brother was flirting with liberals he was on the National Committee of the Citizen’s Party and the Iowa Coordinator for the Sonia Johnson for President campaign for the 1984 Presidential election cycle. He also knew people in the infamous Acorn, Weather Underground, and other unsavory people. During those years he was investigated by both the FBI and the Secret Service. Nothing came of those investigations, however.
Brother was director of the Center for Social Justice in Iowa City. He investigated some 300 cases in three years that included consumer issues, landlord/tenant disputes, investigating corruption in organizations and government, and various issues of social justice. Investigations included an Iowa connection to the Iran-Contra scandal, corruption in an Emergency Housing Project, and exonerating a homosexual dying from AIDS who was falsely accused of Arson. He was acquitted.
In the late 1970s, Bro. Ignatius was among the top four or five activists working against the plague of pornography along side the late Father Morton Hill, S.J., who was a member of the Presidential Commission on Pornography and Obscenity and Founder-Director of Morality in Media. Bro. Ignatius still remains active in the cause against pornography. He currently runs the Catholic Support Group for Sexual Addiction Recovery, the first online Catholic support group for those addicted to pornography and sexual sins — one of the most hideous problems of Spiritual Warfare.
On December 13, 2019, Brother Ignatius passed peacefully from this life to his eternal reward.
PUBLICATIONS:
Religious Books:
- Regula Sanctus Michaelis (The Rule of St. Michael)
- Three Secret Strategies of Satan and Other Essays
- Answers for Troubled Times (multiple-volume book version of the Q&A from the St. Michael Q&A Forums
- St. Michael’s Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog
- Hope, Help, Victory: A Spiritual Warfare Workshop
- St. Michael’s Deliverance Counseling Manual (not available to the public)
Poetry and Non-Fiction Books:
- Life and Other Monsters (a personal memoir) [forthcoming]
- Only Silence is Shame (book of poetry)
- The Wilder Letters (book of essays) [out-of-print]
Magazines:
- Publisher & Editor, The Spirit that Moves Us: for people looking for a place to speak in the old way, (literary and art magazine), 2012-present
- Publisher & Editor, Beginning: the Magazine for the Writer in the Community, (literary and art magazine), award winning literary magazine, 1983-1986
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VACANT POSTITION
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Hosts Emeritus
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Mr. Jacob Slavek, OMSM(m)
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Although Mr. Slavek has been Catholic since childhood, it was not until fifteen years of age that he began to practice his faith seriously. Mr. Slavek has a degree in Classical Languages at the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where he has made a special study in Liturgical Law. Mr. Slavek, who lives and works in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is currently discerning a calling to the holy priesthood.
John Miskell
Liturgy & Liturgical Law Forum (10/9/1998 - 12/19/2000)
and Pro-Life Forum (12/4/1999-12/19/2000)
Mr. Miskell is a lay apologist and an active member of the Catholic Society of Evangelists. He speaks and write on many issues of apologetics with a specialty on Liturgical Forms. He is known by some, with affection, and by others with less affection, as the Liturgy Cop. With his wife Delia, Mr. Miskell is co-founder of Your Catholic Neighbors. A former Green Beret Sergeant and combat medic, Mr. Miskell later worked as a section manager for a large U.S. based financial services firm until retiring because of disc and joint disease. He and his wife Delia reside in Pennsylvania. The Miskell's have three sons, Jacob, Timothy, and Patrick.
Suzanne Fortin, B.A.
Church History Forum (9/3/1999 - 4/16/2001)
Mrs. Fortin is a cradle Catholic, but only started practicing her faith in high school. In 1998, she received her B.A. in History from Laval University in Quebec City, Canada, and married in 1999. She has done extensive personal research on Church History and has a thorough grasp not only of the history of the Church but also of the Catholic worldview, which is critical in properly understanding history. Presently she resides in Ontario, Canada.
Mr. Troy Martz
Pro-Life Forum (4/17/2002 - 4/17/2003) and
How to Answer a Fundamentalist Protestant Forum (7/17/2001 - 4/17/2003)
Mr. Martz is a lay apologist and Pro-Life activist. He has actively worked in Pro-Life efforts for many years including serving on the Board of a Crisis Pregnancy Center, starting the Gabriel Project at two parishes, and working at the parish, diocese, and state level to promote respect for all human life.
Mr. Martz has taught Bible Studies and Apologetics in recent years and is currently working on a MA Degree in Religion from Catholic Distance University.
His conversion from Pentecostalism stemmed largely through the consistent pro-life witness of a strong Catholic family and the Apostolic Authority of the Catholic Church.
Mr. Martz and his wife Mary live in Maryland and homeschool their three children: Joseph, John Paul, and Anna.