CLARITYOct2022 Speakers
ERIN BREWER
PM Session
I Was a Trans Kid
Erin Brewer is the co-founder of Advocates Protecting Children, which supports efforts to stop the unethical treatment of children by schools, hospitals, and mental and medical healthcare providers under the duplicitous banner of gender affirmation. She is the author of Always Erin, a children’s book about Erin’s childhood gender dysphoria, Transing Our Children is a primer book about the transgender ideology, and Parenting in A Transgender World, a handbook for parents to equip them to protect their children from the transgender ideology.
She and Maria Keffler have produced two video series, Commonsense Care for parents of trans-identified children and Teacher Talks for educators. She has a YouTube channel, Truth Is the New Hate Speech, to raise awareness about how the transgender ideology is harming children and society.
Erin has a BS from Hampshire College and an MS and PhD from Utah State University.
MARY RICE HASSON
AM Session
The Cultural Landscape:
Where We Are and What’s at Stake
PM Session
The Facts About
Gender Affirming Care
Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded the Person and Identity Project, an initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions with resources to counter gender ideology and promote the truth about the human person.
An attorney and policy expert, Mary has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, addressing education, women and work, caregiving, and gender ideology, and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth. She speaks frequently at national conferences, universities, and in dioceses across the country, and has testified before the U.S. Senate and the Australian parliament and state legislatures on parents’ rights and transgender issues.
The co-author of several books on education, Mary’s writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, National Review, First Things, the National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor, among others.
Mary and her husband Seamus Hasson have seven grown children and three grandchildren.
MARIA KEFFLER
PM Session
Protecting Our Children & Families
from Transgender Activism
Maria Keffler, is a co-founder of Advocates Protecting Children, Partners for Ethical Care and the Arlington Parent Coalition (Virginia). An author, speaker, and teacher with a background in educational psychology, Ms. Keffler has fought to support families and protect children from unethical activism and dangerous policies around sexuality and transgender ideology since 2018. She is the author of multiple books, including Desist, Detrans & Detox: Getting Your Child Out of the Gender Cult.
Ms. Keffler lives in Arlington, Virginia (USA), with her husband and three teenage children.
SAMANTHA KELLEY
AM Session
The Amazing Design of Our Bodies
Samantha Kelley is the Founder and current President of FIERCE Athlete Inc. She played Division 1 Soccer at UConn and is currently involved in competitive rowing. She has spent the last 12 years working for Catholic nonprofits and outreaching to female athletes. She graduated with a Masters in Catholic Psychology, holds certification in Strength & Conditioning and has extensively studied the Theology of the Body.
It was actually through the teachings of Theology of the Body and the Catholic Church that Samantha has discovered what it means to be both feminine and athletic. These teachings have the power to heal and through FIERCE Athlete she desires to share those truths with female athletes and women across the world.
FR. CHRISTOPHER ROGERS
AM Session
Jesus: The Incarnate Revelation
of the Father’s Mercy
Fr. Christopher B. Rogers, is Pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Kennett Square, PA. Ordained in the Jubilee Year 2000 for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he has served in a variety of priestly ministries including Parish & Campus Ministry as well as Vocation Director for the Diocesan Priesthood.
Since 2017, Father has served as Chaplain to the Courage & Encourage Apostolates in the Archdiocese. These apostolates minister to persons with same-sex attraction or gender identity issues and those who love them. That work has put him in touch with faithful parents, families and individuals who seek to navigate the turbulent waters of our modern times. Walking with such persons, offering clarity, charity and Christ-Jesus has been a great joy of his priesthood.
JEREMY SAMEK
PM Session
PA Government & School Policies:
Seeking the Good of the City
in Which You Live
ONE (1) SUBSTANTIVE CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT AVAILABLE
Jeremy Samek serves as Senior Counsel with Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Independence Law Center, where he plays an integral role on the legal and legislative policy team. Since joining the staff in May 2015, Samek’s legal efforts have focused on the protection of religious liberty, protecting human life, strengthening the family, and the elimination of sex trafficking. Samek believes that religious liberty is the cornerstone of all freedoms.
Prior to joining, he gave lectures on religious liberty issues, counseled non-profit and religious institutions, and worked pro bono on religious liberty cases in Federal District Court and the United States Supreme Court while he was an attorney at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Aside from pro
bono religious liberty work, Jeremy represented clients in federal and state courts in commercial litigation, consumer protection, OSHA, US Customs, and product liability disputes.
Jeremy was also a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force Reserve, working in the Air Transportation Logistics field. In 2005, he was deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and, in 2006, he was deployed to Kyrgyzstan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
He is the vice-president of the Western Pennsylvania Christian Legal Society chapter, a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Civil and Equal Rights Committee, and a former elected public school board member at a Western Pennsylvania school district.
Jeremy received his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2006, where he served as an articles editor for the University of Pittsburgh Law Review. He earned his B.A. from Liberty University, magna cum laude in 2003. He received the Liberty Debate Team Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.
Jeremy and his wife have five children.
Admissions: U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, U.S. District Courts for the Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania, Court of International Trade, Pennsylvania
ANDREW SODEGREN
AM Session
Sexual Identity
Development & Healing
Dr. Andrew Sodegren, Psy.D., is a Catholic psychologist and Director of Psychological Services for Ruah Woods Institute, a Theology of the Body education and healing ministry in Cincinnati, OH. He earned his Masters and Doctorate in clinical psychology from Divine Mercy University’s Institute for the Psychological Sciences. He also holds a Masters degree in theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, DC, where he went on to teach as an Adjunct Professor for 13 years.
Dr. Sodergren recently contributed a chapter on the psychology of the sexual difference to the book Sexual Identity: The Harmony of Philosophy, Science & Revelation published by Emmaus Road in 2022.
He and his wife Ellie have been married 23 years and have five children.