Healing and Hope Retreat: Speakers
In Order of Appearance
Fr. Jon Vander Ploeg is currently at the St. Paul Seminary in the area of Spiritual Formation. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the oldest of seven. Sensing a call to the priesthood, he moved to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, having been positively influenced while serving with NET after high school, and to look at the Companions of Christ (of which he is a brother). After being ordained in 2001, he served for three years as pastor at St. Dominic, Northfield, where he also worked with students from St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges. He spent the next nine years as pastor of the St. Paul, Ham Lake. In 2013, he became pastor at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, also the Newman Center for the University of Minnesota students, serving there for six years.
Nataleigh Waters-Lang is a full-time student in the Catholic Studies Masters program at the University of St Thomas. She was the former Student Outreach Coordinator at Anselm House, serving Christians at the University of Minnesota. Before that, she was the Assistant Director of Drexel Newman and served Catholic students at the first Newman Center in the United States. Nataleigh has a master’s degree from the Catholic University of Lublin, where she studied philosophy at the school where John Paul II taught. She has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas and was initially introduced to the Twin Cities while serving with NET Ministries on the home team in 2008-2009. Nataleigh was involved in the pilot programs for both Camp Wojtyla and Christ in the City.
Sarah McCauley is a Licensed Associate of Marriage and Family Therapy (LAMFT) at a group private practice in Woodbury, MN. Sarah completed her graduate program at St. Mary’s University School of Graduate Professional Psychology in Minneapolis, and attended undergraduate at the University of St. Thomas. She enjoys working with adult clients, individuals or part of a family/couple. One of her favorite areas of focus is working alongside those facing multi-faceted challenges with life transition, wellness, and relational dynamics, from a holistic and inter-systemic viewpoint. She has worked in several integrated care settings, such as memory care and community-based mental health, to assist families and individuals of all ages manage mental health symptoms and relational stress.
Paul Ruff, MA, is licensed as a Psychologist in the state of Minnesota. For the past thirty-seven years, he has worked in the mental health field in a variety of settings including over twenty years in private practice. In addition, he has done extensive work with adults in individual and couples’ therapy. The treatment of trauma has been a significant part of this work. For the past five years he has been employed full-time at the Saint Paul Major Seminary in Saint Paul, MN as Director of Counseling Services and Assistant Director of Human Formation. Mr. Ruff and his wife of 36 years have four adult children and at last count, four grandchildren.
To help coordinate, publicize and organize support for victim/survivors, and to search for new avenues of healing, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis created a new position in 2019— Outreach Coordinator for Restorative Justice and Abuse Prevention. Paula Kaempffer was selected for this key role.
Kaempffer has served in Catholic Church ministry for more than 40 years, including the last 12 as Director of Learning at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Kaempffer said opportunities to discuss the impact of clergy abuse are important for victims/survivors and others across the archdiocese as people seek ways to grow from anger and other difficult emotions into healing. A native of New York City and a survivor of clergy sexual abuse she suffered as an adult working in the Church, Kaempffer said she knows firsthand about the kind of healing that can take place.
There are ongoing monthly support group meetings for victim/survivors and for families of those who have been abused. Contact Kaempffer at 651-291-4429 for more information.
Paula and her husband, Tom, live north of the Twin Cities. Their daughter, Martha, lives in Seattle.
Father Joseph Bambenek has collaborated with the John Paul II Healing Center, a ministry which “provides teaching, healing and equipping to bring about transformation to the heart of the church,” since 2013. On a sabbatical in 2017, he formulated a “Healing the Whole Parish” retreat, which set the framework for the Synod Healing and Hope Virtual Retreat. Fr. Bambenek joined the Archdiocesan Catholic Center staff in 2019 as assistant director of the Archdiocesan Synod.
Previously, Fr. Bambenek was pastor of St. Pius X (White Bear Lake) for a 6-year term, after serving as Associate Priest at Nativity of Our Lord (St. Paul) and at St. Michael’s (St. Michael). He was also the first Chaplain assigned to both Ave Maria Academy (Maple Grove) and Frassati Catholic Academy (White Bear Lake). Fr. Bambenek has much enjoyed being a chaplain for several other ministries, including the Cana Family Institute and the Archdiocesan Grandparents ministry, and pilgrimages (some of which included his parents). A Hastings native, Father Bambenek, who was ordained in 2010 after working on strategic projects with electric utility companies in Michigan, treasures the times spent with his parents, sister and her family, as well as with extended family and friends near and far, often finding his way to special life events.
Viviana Sotro, a native from Argentina, moved to Minnesota with her husband and their two older children in 2002. Viviana and her husband have been married for 25 years and are blessed with four children.
Viviana worked in the emergency field for 20 years. In 2011 she joined the staff at Saint Stephen in Minneapolis to work in the Marriage and Family Ministry where she served for eight years. She is currently the Latino and Family Ministry coordinator at Guardian Angels in Chaska.
While in Argentina and upon her arrival to Minnesota, Viviana was involved in family ministry helping with marriage preparation and marriage enrichment programs. Viviana and her husband are a mentor couple and NFP Instructors.
Fr. Steven Hoffman grew up in the small town of Prescott, Wisconsin, the second of three children. He converted to the Catholic faith as a young adult and was ordained a priest in 2007. Fr. Hoffman has served at the Church of St. John Neumann in Eagan, the Church of Gichitwaa Kateri in Minneapolis, and St. Luke’s in Clearwater. He currently serves as pastor of the Church of St. Peter in Mendota. When his schedule allows, he enjoys spending time with his family and being in the great outdoors. His greatest joys are celebrating the Sacraments and witnessing the healing and transforming power of God in people’s lives.
Dan Stokman graduated with a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Franciscan University and has been in the mental health field for 20 years. He is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), a certified Life Coach through the Adler Institute, and a Certified Clinical Supervisor. Dan is the director of Novare Counseling Center, P.A., located in St Paul. His specialties include marriage counseling, sexual integrity issues, and anxiety disorders.
