USCMA New Board Members 


Four new USCMA Board members were elected during the Annual Membership Meeting in Baltimore, MD in October 2008. Below are the introductions of the newly- elected Board members. Their terms will begin at the March 2009 Board meeting in Washington, DC.

Madge Karecki, SSJ-TOSF

Madge is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis. She spent most of her religious life in teaching, especially adult education. She taught in the informal sector in women’s groups in poor areas. She taught in the National Seminary of St. John Vianney in Pretoria, South Africa for 12 years and in the University of South Africa for six years as an Associate Professor of Missiology. She spent 21 years in South Africa. She went there originally to help a congregation of Zulu Sisters, the Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi, to become independent from another congregation that was not Franciscan, but governed them for 62 years. I was the co-founder of the Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa in 1994. She has written three missiological texts: Patterns of Mission Praxis, Intercultural Communication of the Gospel and Dynamics of interreligious Encounter. Madge is currently serving as the Director of the Catholic Missions Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Education: BA is in Theology from Loyola University; MA in Franciscan Studies from St. Bonaventure University; MTh in Missiology, University of South Africa; DTh in Missiology, University of South Africa

Alisa Macksey

Alisa is the Director of Lasallian Volunteers responsible for leadership, overall direction, and management of the LV Program. Other Professional Experience: Lasallian Tutors Program – St. Stephen’s Academy, Kansas City, MO; Truman Medical Center Behavioral Health Network, Kansas City, MO; League of United Latin American Citizens National Educational Service Center, Kansas City, MO; CNVS/AEAP Advisory Panel; Saint Mary’s College of California Alumni Admissions Program. She was born in Manila, Philippines but was raised in Concord, CA, a suburb of the Bay Area. She is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College of CA, which was my first exposure to the Christian Brothers and the Lasallian Mission. Upon graduation she joined the Lasallian Volunteers and served in Kansas City, MO for two years working in mental health and tutoring middle school students. It was the time spent as a volunteer that exposed Alisa to the many ministries to the poor that the Brothers have across the country. It was these ministries that created her desire to be a part of the Lasallian Family. After volunteering she found herself continually finding ways to stay connected with the Brothers she lived with and the various activities she could participate in. When the Associate Director’s position became available Alisa thought it was the perfect way to become involved again with the Lasallian mission. She moved to the Washington, DC area three years ago to be a presence in the Christian Brothers Conference for the Lasallian Volunteer program. She was the Associate Director from 2003 to 2007 and became the Director in 2007.
Education: MA Candidate in Organizational Leadership, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA; BA in Sociology/Anthropology, Saint Mary’s College of California, CA.

Kathy Schmittgens, SSND

Kathy is a native of St. Louis, MO, the first of five children. After graduating from Notre Dame High School in St. Louis, she entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame. For the first 18 years of ministry she was a High School Science and Mathematics teacher in four different schools in Missouri and Illinois. Following a year of study at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, she went to Sierra Leone, West Africa to teach. She taught in two secondary schools in Sierra Leone. In her fifth year working in Sierra Leone, the rebel war reached the “diamond area” where she was teaching. Kathy's area was attacked by rebels, forcing the sisters to move out of the area. Six months later she returned to the United States. After a little recovery time, she moved to San Diego and was Mission Education Coordinator for the Office for the Missions of the Diocese of San Diego. While in that ministry she was able to visit Ecuador, Haiti, El Salvador and Kenya which broadened my experience. After nine years in that ministry, she was elected to the Provincial Council of the St. Louis Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Kathy has served in that capacity for the past five years. She has also served on the boards of From Mission to Mission (6 years) and Lay Mission Helpers (5 years) and so has been able to keep in touch with the missionary community.

Donald Ward, SJ

After ordination to the Jesuits (Maryland Province) in 1970 Don taught at Gonzaga High School Washington, DC for nine years. He then spent five years in Chile teaching, in parish work and as a chaplain in Santiago, Osorno and Arica. Following those years in Chile he taught at Saint Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for four years. He then returned to Osorno, Chile for another five years of teaching and parish work. Three years of parish work then followed in Camden, New Jersey. Then Don's journey took him to Tanzania for four years and a year in Dominican Republic all in parish work. A two-year return to parish work in Camden was followed by a four year term in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where he taught and did parish work. Now back in the United States Don is Assistant Parish Priest at St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville, North Carolina.

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