Mackey Bios

Bro. Jack Ventura, a member of the Marianis (Society of Mary), Province of the United States, has worked in vocation and formation ministry, retreat ministry, spiritual direction, AIDS ministry, lay ministry formation and the development of small communities of faith. Bro. Jack is a native of New York City and has an MBA from Iona College, NY, a master's degree in Applied Spirituality from the University of San Francisco and a master's degree in Pastoral Ministry from Loyola University in New Orleans. Bro. Jack has served as Executive Director of the Center for Marianist Spirituality and Communities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until his current ministry in Provincial Administration. He has been a member of the Marist Family for over 20 years. He has published several articles and has co-authored a book entitled, "Creating Small Christian Communities: minimum Structure, Maximum Life." He currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Carol Ramey is a lay Marianist and the Director of the North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS), a resource center offering educational programs, publications, and retreats to the Marianist religious brothers, priests, sisters, and the lay communities in the Marianist tradition. She first came to NACMS in 1988 as an editor and lecturer. In addition to her work within Marianist circles, Carol has presented to various groups on topics of spirituality, Mary, social justice, and small Christian community development. She is married to David Ramey and is both a mother and a grandmother. Before coming to work with the Marianists, Carol held administrative and teaching positions--from pre-school instructor to college financial aid administrator.

Isabella Moyer is a lay Marianist who lives in Neepawa, Manitoba - a small rural town in the middle of the Canadian prairies. As a result, she is a product of online education with degrees in Catechetics and History. She is presently working on an interdisciplinary Master's degree through Athabasca University in Alberta. She has been both an online student and facilitator of Marianist Studies through the University of Dayton. Isabella is a member of the first cyber-Marianist Lay Community (MLC), Our Lady of the Round Table, an international community which was born from a Marianist Communities class in 2005. In 1997 she served the MLC as the Area Representative for Winnipeg, Canada. She also attended the 2001 International Meeting of MLC in Philadelphia, and the 2005 International Meeting in Bordeaux, where she was elected to the International Team as the representative for North America, Asia, Ireland and Australia. In February 2008, she represented the International Organization of MLC and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops at a Vatican sponsored Congress for Women. She and her husband, David, have five children ranging in age from 17 to 25.