Father Richard Chiola is pastor of St. Cabrini Church and Director of Ongoing Formation for Priests in the Springfield Diocese
A native of Springfield, Fr. Chiola has served several parishes in the Springfield Diocese, including St Thomas in Decatur, St. Louis in Nokomis, St. Agnes, in Springfield, and St. Augustine Parish in Ashland.
Fr. Chiola holds several degrees in theology including a Ph.D. from St. Louis University and M.A in counseling from UIS. He has served as Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology at Yale University, Catholic Chaplain at University of Chicago, and a consultant for Hospital Sisters Health System. He is the author of “Catholicism for the Non-Catholic” published last fall by Templegate.

Bishop William L. Higi is the fifth Bishop of Lafayette-in-Indiana. William Leo Higi was born in Anderson, Indiana, August 29, 1933, and ordained a priest May 30, 1959.
Appointed Secretary to Most Reverend John J. Carberry August 13, 1962, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese on January 14, 1965 and Chancellor on June 16, 1967. Pope Paul VI named him a Prelate of Honor on November 16, 1976. Appointed Vicar General of the Diocese on June 29, 1979, he was elected Administrator of the Diocese on January 26, 1984, upon the death of Bishop George A. Fulcher. He was appointed Bishop of Lafayette-in-Indiana by Pope John Paul II, and ordained and installed as Bishop of the Diocese on June 6, 1984.

James Davidson, Ph.D. specializes in the sociology of religion. His current research is on religious stratification and trends among American Catholics. He is author or editor of eight books, including Catholicism in Motion (2005) and The Search for Common Ground (1997), which received the 1998 Research Award from the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership. His articles have appeared in journals such as Social Forces, Social Problems, the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Sociology of Religion, and the Review of Religious Research. He is president-elect of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. His previous posts include president of the Religious Research Association and the North Central Sociological Association; editor of the Review of Religious Research; and executive officer of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. He has won his department’s Excellence in Teaching Award and Indiana’s Community Service Award.

Father John Iffert, O.P. is a Dominican priest and Associate Pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas in West Lafayette—the Catholic Center at Purdue. He is a Doctor of Ministry candidate at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. His academic work is in communication theory and preaching.
Relationship and gratitude are central to Fr. John’s theological understanding. He sees all life as a call to be grateful for the gifts God has poured out on each one of us. “I have always encountered God most powerfully through the people God has placed in my life,” he says, “so relationship with one another in Christ—in imitation of the life of the Trinity—is the center of my approach to Catholic life and faith.”
Growing up in a southern Illinois town where the population is less than 5% Catholic, Fr. John had to learn quickly how to befriend people of many religious traditions (and none at all). He finds friendship to be a very important category for Catholic Christian life and for ecumenical and interfaith relationships. This is the perspective he will bring to our Theology on Tap event.

Deacon Ralph Poyo has been in Ministry for over twenty years and has just founded a new ministry based out of Ohio called the New Evangelization Ministries. This ministry is available to Pastors and Church Staffs to equip them with training, resources, and strategies for evangelization that could be easily adapted to the charisma of their parish. Deacon Ralph is extremely passionate about helping people experience the person of Christ in every day life. Having committed his life to the pursuit of Truth and to the service of the Church, he is faithful to her teaching Magisterium and always seeks to be in union with Rome. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Susan, and they have five daughters. Deacon Ralph enjoys spending time with the all his girls in various outdoor activities, like hiking, soccer, and tennis.