Faculty/Speakers Bios

Louise Baietto is the Deputy for Finance and Administration for the Diocese of Long Island where she has served since 1990. Prior to joining the diocese, she was the Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), a national non-for-profit organization created by the Ford Foundation, where she previously held an administrative position. She has a Masters in Business Administration from St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY. Louise also serves on the financial faculty of the CREDO Institute, a clergy wellness initiative created by the Church Pension Group. She is a member of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, NY.

The Rev. Dr. Adam Bartholomew was ordained as a United Church of Christ pastor in 1968 and as an Episcopal priest in 2002. From 1971 through 1995, he served first as pastor of two U.C.C. congregations near Harrisburg, PA. He also led four U.C.C. plus one Lutheran congregation near Reading, PA, then as Resident Theologian at the Indian Hill Episcopal Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, OH. Since moving to New York, he served as Interim Rector, first at Christ Episcopal Church, Poughkeepsie, and now in the same capacity at The Church of The Ascension, Rockville Centre. Having received his Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Seminary in New York in 1974, he taught part-time for 25 years at Lancaster Seminary in PA, and has taught as an adjunct professor at New York Theological Seminary, United Seminary in Dayton, OH, Penn State University, and the University of Cincinnati. He is Co-founder of the Network of Biblical Storytellers and Biblical Storytelling is his passion and central to both his pastoral work and his teaching. He is author of Pass It On: Hearing and Telling Stories from John, co-author with Ronald J. Allen of Preaching Verse by Verse, and has published numerous articles and pamphlets.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Denis C. Brunelle is the Director of the George Mercer, Jr. Memorial School of Theology in the Diocese of Long Island. He began his ministry as a retreat director in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. Ordained in 1978, Canon Brunelle worked for four years out of the MSC Center in Shelby, Ohio, and the Jesuit Retreat House in Parma, Ohio, where he was certified as a Spiritual Director in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. In 1978, Canon Brunelle received his M.A. degree in Liturgy and Homiletics from the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL; 1987 an M.A. in Theatre History from San Diego State University; and in 1991 he completed his doctoral studies in Medieval Theatre History at the University of Illinois-Champagne/Urbana writing on - The Theology of the ‘Pia Fraus’ in the York Cycle of Mystery Plays.

The Rev. Dr. Lawrence De Lion, Rector of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Smithtown, and Dean of the North Suffolk Deanery, was educated at Yale University, Vanderbilt University, and at Mount Union. He holds a BA, an M. Div and a Ph.D.

Dr. Ted Gerbracht is an experienced educator and strategic consultant in both the corporate and religious not-for-profit worlds. He has taught graduate level church history and has been active in stewardship ministry and training at the parish and diocesan levels. As Treasurer of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island for more than ten years, Ted has visited and consulted with many congregations on strategic and financial matters. Ted currently serves as Treasurer and Trustee of the General Theological Seminary in Manhattan, and is also Treasurer and an Executive Board member of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. He is a member of the North American Patristics Society and the American Historical Association. He has masters degrees in Asian History (St. John’s University) and History and Political Science (Butler University). His Ph.D. in medieval church history is from New York University.

The Very Rev. Christopher D. Hofer has been the Rector of the Church of St. Jude, Wantagh, since July 2004. He is active in Diocesan affairs serving as Secretary of Convention (and subsequently serving on Diocesan Council and Departments of Council as an ex officio member), Secretary of the Archdeaconry of Nassau, Dean of the South Nassau Deanery, SHE/CAP/RAP instructor, and Deputy to the General Convention (2009). He is an active member of the Episcopal Urban Caucus. Fr. Christopher was Associate Missioner with the Episcopal West Side Shared Ministry in Cleveland, Ohio, where he served on the Board of Trustees for the Episcopal Community Services Foundation and Community Corners. Prior to Seminary, Fr. Christopher had a career in marketing and communications, serving as Marketing Director for United Ways in Akron and Canton, Ohio. He attended graduate school in Communications at Kent State University and graduated summa cum laude, Communication Studies, from Walsh University, North Canton, Ohio.

The Rev. Dr. John Luttrell has been the Rector of St. Luke's, Sea Cliff, for the past twenty years. He has served the Diocese of Long Island in various capacities. He has been the chairman of the Committee on Constitution and Canons, the chairman (for six years) of the Commission on Ministry, and has served two terms on Diocesan Council. He is a graduate of Yale University, the General Theological Seminary, and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, from which he received the Ph.D. in 1977. His thesis dealt with the beginnings of Christianity in the Aramaic speaking Jewish communities outside of Jerusalem.

The Rev. Dr. Raewynne J. Whiteley is the Rector of St James Episcopal Church in St James, NY. She holds a Ph.D. in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary and has taught there and at two Australian seminaries. Her parish ministry has included cathedral, college chaplaincy, and multi-center church contexts. She has taught homiletics and theology at seminaries in Australia and the US, and has presented continuing education programs, retreats, academic papers, public lectures and adult education events. Raewynne has contributed sermons, articles and reviews to a range of books and other publications. With Beth Maynard, she co-edited Get Up Off your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog (Cowley Publications, 2003). Her first solo book, Steeped in the Holy: Preaching as a Spiritual Practice, has been published by Cowley Publications, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield. Her current project is a collection of reflections tentatively entitled: Walking the Edge of Silence: Reflections on Despair, Discernment, and Hope.