Meet the International Renewal Delegates 3: Stephen Grundman and Mary Williams

Stephen Grundman

Dr. Stephen Grundman guides the development of new online courses and programs at The Institute for the Psychological Sciences (IPS), located in Arlington, Virginia. He studied Liberal Arts at Thomas Aquinas College, and earned a doctorate in philosophy at The Catholic University of America. He has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses, is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), and speaks on a wide variety of topics. He joined the Movement in Washington, DC in 1994, has served as Team Leader, Group Leader, and AFIRE team member, and now serves on the Local Governing Board. His apostolic experiences include marriage preparation, transition courses, men’s local and national conventions, YTM missions, leading the Institute for Evangelization (IFE), and helping direct Our Lady of Bethesda Retreat Center, as well as teaching in the Spiritual Guide training sequence. Stephen is a native of California, an Eagle Scout, and enjoys reading, vigorous discussions, and shooting sports. He and his wife, Gwen, have been married for twenty-three years, and live in Northern Virginia with their six children, who range in age from five through twenty-one. He begs your prayers and sacrifices during this important stage of discernment.

Here are his reflections on his involvement in the renewal process.

My lessons learned from the Territorial Convention in Chicago:

Lesson #1. So many of us, regardless of where we have lived and when we joined this spiritual family share similar joys, sorrows and deep convictions.

Lesson #2. All the passion and strong opinions were always about what is in the best interest of this spiritual family of ours, and of the neighborhoods and countries that we live in today.

Lesson #3. Next to trust, the most important thing for a healthy family or team is the experience of constructive conflict. Nothing brings out wisdom from a group like respectful conflict. So, for me, even the differences I experienced in Chicago were so instructive. For example, the many strong opinions for–or against–having a second degree.

What do I hope to bring home from the International Convention in Rome?

In Rome, I expect a great human and spiritual experience of the Holy Spirit at work in so many different people, with different histories, needs, and hopes. A profoundly moving shared experience of life in the Regnum Christi Movement. My hope is to bring home from this convention an experience of union amidst differences, and a common set of convictions arising not merely in spite of, but actually through those very differences.

Mary Williams

Mary Williams lives in Michigan and shares her reflection on her preperations for the International Convention.

Tonight I knelt in Holy Hour surrounded by the students of the academy, pondering the question of three things I’m bringing to Rome and one thing I want to bring back. The students around me went forward one by one to light a candle, representing the light they want to share with others as they return home after their year of boarding school here at Everest Academy.

As I observed them, I held in my hands the working document for the international convention. It is dog eared and bent not, as one might suspect, from hours of pouring over its contents, but rather as a result of carrying it with me day after day in an effort to find time to read it. Holy Hour tonight presented such an opportunity. As I read the synthesis of the results from the territorial conventions worldwide, I was left with the same feeling of awe I felt upon leaving the territorial convention, summarized well in the words of our General Director regarding the goal of the first stage of the renewal. “It is to be hoped that this process will be a privileged opportunity for the first and second degree members to delve deeper into their identity and spirituality, for the gift of God that they have received to be kindled afresh in them (Cf. 2 Tim1:6), and for them to become more fully aware of the fact of being stewards of this gift (Cf. Pt 4:10).” This document with its contents is the first thing I am bringing with me. It represents not only my experience of the renewal and the territorial convention, but also that of each member of the Movement who has participated in this process.

During the territorial convention, I can’t count how many times I would meet another delegate whose eyes would drift downward to my nametag as they asked, “And where are you from?” Their gaze would inevitably return to mine more confused than it had left it. My name tag read, “Mary Williams, Virtual Young Adult Region.” As a young professional in an area without an active young adult section, I participated in the renewal “virtually” with other young professionals from across the country. Our phone calls filled me with hope. Here were young adults across the country, spanning four time zones, who cared enough about this renewal to come together on conference calls to discuss their identity and mission. I felt totally unprepared and inexperienced heading to the territorial convention, so I was forced to rely on the Holy Spirit. I was certain that this was something God was calling me to. The very last thing I expected from attending the territorial convention was to be elected to attend the international convention in Rome. Consequently, the second thing I am bringing with me is my youth and all that it implies: my inexperience, my feelings of inadequacy, the certainty of my call, and the resulting reliance on God.

And the last thing I am bringing with me to Rome is two jars of peanut butter, per the request of Br. Patrick O’Loughlin LC. Those two jars represent not only the happiness of several seminaries, but an awareness and a certainty of the family of the Movement, the universality of our mission, and the belief that what we are doing can help change the world.

Watching my students proceed forward to light their candles tonight brought me back to the territorial convention and the Holy Hour in which each of the delegates approached the altar to light a candle and bring one back with us. I firmly believe that each of these students, formed in our school, whom I have had the privilege of witnessing grow and mature, will return to their home countries and change the world. And that light, represented by the candle each of us brought back from the territorial convention, is the same thing I hope to bring back from the international convention. It is a light to share, a light to guide my path in this vocation, and a light to set the world ablaze.