Fr. Charlie Archer is born and raised in St. Louis. Like the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings, he has a great love both for food and for things that grow. In his free time, you will likely find him out at his brother’s homestead chopping wood, riding a tractor, or starting fires with his young nephews.

He has a love for reading, especially the English Catholic intellectual tradition in the vein of St. JH Newman, GK Chesterton, and JRR Tolkien. Other loves include frisbee golf, preaching, the inner healing prayer of Dr. Bob Schuchts, and of course the Eucharist above all!

He has been leading Salt+Light since September of 2023, serves at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, and is beginning further studies in the art of preaching.

You will find him at many Salt+Light events, especially the Cathedral’s weekly Thursday evening Anima Christi holy hour, dinner, and social.

Eva Marie Haine is a native of New Jersey, where her parents were both Catholic high school teachers. She graduated from Princeton University where she majored in Art History and minored in Dance Performance and Composition, and she also has a Masters in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD. Eva has enjoyed various kinds of work, including being a farmhand at a Benedictine abbey, assisting curators at museums, teaching art, and freelance editing and writing, including articles published in Public Discourse and First Things.

She and her husband Tom now live in his hometown of Alton, IL and have six children, ages 12 to 1.5 years, She is in her seventh year of homeschooling with a Charlotte Mason curriculum and also has her two eldest sons at St. John Paul II Preparatory Academy. In her spare time, she loves to sing, make art, garden, write letters, and go on adventures with her husband.

Dr. Hefelfinger serves the Augustine Institute as Director of Content Development and Concurrent Associate Professor of Theology in the graduate school. He teaches in the areas of moral and dogmatic theology, specializing in Catholic social thought, marriage and family, and the theology of the interior life and prayer. Drawing on his teaching and research, he helps to guide the development of Institute’s multimedia content offerings, which enrich the lives of Catholics through various platforms, including FORMED, the Amen app, podcasts, and more.

Dr. Hefelfinger presents his work regularly at academic conferences and has published with Catholic University of America Press and in academic journals. His current research includes a book on marriage and a primer on Catholic social teaching.

For more of a view of his writings and titles, see Dr. Hefelfinger’s webpage at academia.edu.

Miss Mary Stirton teaches Latin at Lafayette Academy Classical School. She graduated cum laude from Hillsdale College in 2021, where she received her BA in Latin. Ms. Stirton first realized her love of the Latin language in 8th grade, and has been interested in linguistics ever since. In addition to Latin, she has taken several years of Greek and German, the latter of which she is working towards fluency in.

During her time at Hillsdale College, Ms. Stirton served as the librarian for Hillsdale’s Classics Department and administered an extracurricular Latin-teaching program. Her additional interests include music, travel, and the outdoors. Miss Stirton’s free time is divided between reading, outdoor activities, learning guitar, and baking.

Dr. Kent Lasnoski grew up in Green Bay, WI, earned his B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed a M.A. and Ph.D. in theology at Marquette University studying marriage, family, and sexual ethics. He went on to write the award-winning Vocation to Virtue: Christian Marriage as a Consecrated Life and a second book with his wife, 30 Days with the Married Saints.

He taught at Wyoming Catholic College for nine years before founding San Damiano College for the Trades in Springfield, Illinois. He and his wife Caitlin homeschool their eleven children and love Shakespeare readings and coaching soccer.

Julie Riley started Sparrow Montessori to offer St. Louis Catholic families a Primary Montessori program combined with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Sparrow serves children ages 2.5-6 in a three-year program that includes the kindergarten year. Julie has undergraduate degrees in French, English, and Secondary Education and an M.A. in Theology.

In the first 20 years of her career, Julie taught high school English and Theology and was a parish coordinator of religious education. Her daughters’ experiences in Montessori schools drew her to this work, and she is passionate to provide a faith-based Montessori program to our community.

Charlie Kinnison serves as the Assistant Dean of Fine Arts at John Paul II Preparatory School in St. Charles, Missouri, where he directs the choirs, prepares music for school Masses, and teaches music to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. As a pianist, percussionist, conductor, vocalist, and arranger, Charlie draws on a rich musical background to help students encounter the beauty of the Catholic artistic tradition from their earliest years through adolescence.

Deeply committed to classical education, Charlie approaches music not only as a skill to be learned, but as a formative encounter with order, beauty, and transcendence. His work with students emphasizes disciplined craft, imaginative engagement, and the integration of faith and reason—hallmarks of a Catholic liberal arts education.

Charlie also directs the St. Louis Archdiocesan Youth Choir, where he has grown the ensemble’s membership by over 100% in just his second year. Through this ministry, he helps young people throughout the archdiocese experience the Church’s musical patrimony and take an active role in the liturgical life of the community.

In addition to his educational leadership, Charlie is an entrepreneur and co-founder (with his wife, Carrie) of Kinnison Choral Company, which partners with choirs around the world to create studio-grade rehearsal tracks that support artistic excellence in both sacred and secular choral settings.

Charlie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education (K–12), with an emphasis in voice, from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. He lives in the St. Louis area with his wife and their five children, and is passionate about helping families and teachers cultivate a culture where beauty leads students toward truth, goodness, and a deeper love of God.

Angela Field began teaching at St. John Paul II Preparatory School in 2021.  She teaches 12th Grade American Literature, 11th Grade British Literature, 10th Grade Medieval Studies and 8th Grade American Literature and Writing.  She serves as a Middle School House Advisor and as the Faculty Advisor for the Pro Life Club.

Prior to joining the staff of St. John Paul II, Angela worked as an editor and contract reviewer for the publishing company, Directory Publishing Solutions.  Her most important role is, of course, a homemaker for her family.

Angela holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Legal Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.  Angela’s husband Russell served in the Massachusetts Air National Guard and has worked in the mapping and aerial imagery field for the past twenty years.  They have two children and have been parishioners at St. Gianna Parish since 2011, all serving and volunteering for numerous organizations and events.

Dr. Vennerstrom is an Assistant Professor of Theology and the Assistant Dean of Resident Students at the Augustine Institute. He studies patristic theology in general but in particular its monastic expressions, East and West. He earned his PhD in Early Christian Studies at the Catholic University of America and is the author of "'To those who have ears to hear': Clement of Alexandria on the Parables of Jesus" in Open Theology. At present, he is revising a translation of Evagrius' corpus of exegetical writings for publication at Oxford University Press.

Mrs. Michele Chronister is a wife to a theology professor, and the mother of a freshman at Chesterton Academy, and of a third grader and sixth grader at the St. Austin School. She studied theology and philosophy as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, and went on to her an MA in Theology from the same. She has worked as a freelance writer for various Catholic publications, as well as authoring several books, including Handbook for Adaptive Catechesis.

Chronister has also worked with the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, co-chairing their Council for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and serving as a course writer/presenter for their online platform. This is her third year teaching at the St. Austin School, where she has developed an integrated humanities seminar (incorporating the study of Theology, Logic, Literature, and Writing) for 5th through 8th grade.

A lifelong student, Adam Gordon is now in his third year of teaching
classically. Combining a passionate background in science and
engineering with an intellectual curiosity that has sparked him to
pursue degrees in philosophy and theology, Adam is thrilled to
constantly come to a deeper, multifaceted understanding of the world
which God made and all it contains.