Meet the Team
Donna resides in Omaha Nebraska with her husband, Jeff, of 36 years, with whom she has four grown children, and they have five grandchildren. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and several certificates in catechesis, biblical studies, and most recently, spiritual direction from Divine Mercy University.
A Regnum Christi Member of 25 years, Donna has served as team leader, section director, local coordinator, and local director. She also served five years on the governance board of RC in North America and three years on the board of RC Education.
Currently, Donna is the Director of RC Life Department and Director of RC Spirituality Center, and she sits on the board for Catholic Worldview Fellowship.
Lucy Honner was the director of the Regnum Christi Spirituality Center since January 2013. She is currently continuing in an advisory role. Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, she worked professionally as an architect. In 1997 she felt drawn to dedicate a year of service to the Catholic Church through missionary work with Regnum Christi in the United States. The following year Lucy experienced God’s call to dedicate her life to serving Christ and others as a consecrated member of Regnum Christi. She received her degree in education and religious sciences, and since 1998 has exercised her apostolate as a speaker, spiritual director and retreat director for Regnum Christi throughout North America, including Washington DC, Minneapolis, MN, Atlanta, GA, Denver, CO and San Jose, CA. She currently resides in North Carolina.
Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010.
He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller, Inside the Passion, the only authorized, behind-the-scene explanation of the film. Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican’s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
His most widely known books are “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer” and “60 Days to Becoming a Missionary Disciple“.
His most recent book is Spiritual But Not Religious; The Search for Meaning in a Material World.
Fr. John currently resides in Atlanta, where he is serving as Territorial Vicar for the Legionaries of Christ. His online, do-it-yourself retreats are available at RCSpirituality.org.
Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC, ordained to the priesthood in 2001, taught theology and Scripture at the then Mater Ecclesiae College in Rhode Island and is now a part-time chaplain at Overbrook Academy in Greenville, R.I.
He holds degrees from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut, the Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum in Rome, and Northwestern University in Illinois.
He was an assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine, and an editor of the Zenit news agency’s English edition, and he has written for SpiritualDirection.com and ePriest. Fr. McIlmail also worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest and the South, and assisted with mission work in Mexico.
Born in Philadelphia, he worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement before entering the novitiate of the Legion of Christ in 1992. His contributions to RCSpirituality include responding to Ask A Priest questions and sharing his insights in our Weekly Newsletter.
Deb has been with RCSpirituality since 2018. Residing in Columbus, Ohio, she and her husband, Rick, have been married for over 30 years. They have five children – four of whom are grown and working. Deb has a degree in Accounting from Miami University and worked in public accounting until she became a full-time mom. She has been an active member of Regnum Christi since 2001, most recently serving as Section Director for the Central Ohio Women. Deb is involved in her parish and various other volunteer activities. She enjoys biking, reading, cooking, golf, and pickleball.
Fr. Nikola Derpich, L.C., S.Th.D., was born in California to a Croatian-American family and received a BA with a double major in Computer and Information Sciences and Literature with an Emphasis on Creative Writing from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1989. He worked in the computer industry for seven and half years as a technical support engineer and a technical writer. He entered the Legionaries of Christ in 1997, making his first vows in 1999, and received B.A.’s in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in 2001 and 2006, respectively. He was ordained a Catholic priest on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 2006, and continued his studies, receiving an S.T.L. in Theology in 2008 and a S.Th.D. in dogmatic theology in 2015. Since ordination he has worked inRegina Apostolorum as U.S. Enrollment Coordinator of the School of Bioethics, as theology instructor in Our Lady of Thornwood (Thornwood, N.Y.), Mater Ecclesiae College (Greenville, R.I.) during which he was also chaplain for Overbrook Academy, and Regina Apostolorum. As a Legionary he was a contributor toSacerdos magazine from 2000-2006, writing the column Priests of the Twentieth Century. From 2017-2020 he was Associate Pastor at St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church in Cumming, GA. From 2012-2021 he taught theology as a professor at Regina Apostolorum. He wrote the liturgy blog Finding the Plug for RCSpirituality from 2015-2018, and is currently the manager and contributor for the RCSpirituality Online Classroom.
Linda Bader is the newest member of the RCSpirituality team. Married over 20 years to husband, Dick, they live in Cincinnati and have three sons, high-school age and older.
She holds a B.S. in Physics and Masters in Theology from the Athenaeum of Ohio, worked as an Oracle programmer and database and application designer for 15 years, full-time Mom for 3 years, then part-time Coordinator of Religious Education for 13 years, coordinating “Sunday School,” second grade sacramental preparation and summer Bible camp, co-leading Confirmation preparation and adult faith formation and creating the religious education weekly newsletter. She is now a free-lance copy and line editor for Catholic publishers, helping RCSpirituality maintain their website.
A Regnum Christi member for over four years, Linda homeschooled her sons through junior high and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, Boy Scouts, her parish and her boys’ grade school, homeschool coop and high school. In her free time, Linda enjoys time with family in the outdoors and playing games, swimming, gardening, cooking, reading and pondering God with friends and in nature.
