Meet Catholic Mobilizing Network’s Board of Directors. This dynamic group brings a wealth of experience and passion to the organization. Each member brings gifts to our ministry and mission of ending the use of the death penalty and promoting restorative justice.
Board of Directors
Chair
Ralph McCloud is the director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an anti-poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Vice Chair
Richard C. Dieter received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was named a Public Interest Law Scholar. Dick served as the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. from 1992 until 2015.
Secretary
Sheryl Wilson is the Director of the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (KIPCOR), one of the oldest regional peace institutes in the United States.
Treasurer
Sharon Burns retired in 2021 from over 30 years as a non-profit leader, accountant and clinical professor. She now volunteers with several non-profits that serve vulnerable populations.
Member/CSJ Liaison
Sister Rita Ann Teichman, CSJ, is pleased to join the Board of Directors at Catholic Mobilizing Network as liaison to the congregation of St. Joseph.
Episcopal Advisor
Most Reverend Daniel Flores was ordained for the Diocese of Corpus Christi in January 1988. He served as Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit before being installed as the Sixth Bishop of Brownsville in 2010.
Founder/Member
Karen Clifton is the founding Executive Director of Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN). She began her work against the death penalty in 1996 in Houston, Texas, when her social justice and advocacy projects intersected with those of Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ.
Member
Crystal Catalan is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Presentation High School in San Jose, CA. Crystal previously served as a missioner with Cabrini Mission Corps (a lay program of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – “Cabrini Sisters”) in New York, the Philippines, Swaziland, and Radnor, PA at Cabrini University, and it was the Sisters who first introduced her to jail ministry.
Member
Joe Cotton is currently the Director of Pastoral Care and Outreach for the Archdiocese of Seattle. Among other things, he oversees the archdiocesan Criminal Justice Ministry, which provides chaplaincy programs in various jails and prisons throughout Western Washington.
Member
Greg Erlandson has served in Catholic media as a journalist, author, editor, publisher and president.
From 2016 to 2022, he served as Editor in Chief and Director of Catholic News Service (CNS), which was based in Washington with offices in New York and Rome.
Member
Justice Janine P. Geske currently serves as the Director of the Andrew Center for Restorative Justice and as a Distinguished Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School. She is on sabbatical as a member of the Marquette University Board of Trustees
Member
Paul Kipfstuhl is the Director of the Diocesan Social Action Office for the Southwestern area of the Diocese of Cleveland for Catholic Charities.
Member
Stephen Schneck serves as Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. A political philosopher by training, Steve retired from The Catholic University of America in 2018, after more than thirty years as a professor, department chair, and dean.
Member
Father Stephen Thorne is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia, he was ordained in 1998 and has served as a pastor, educator and administrator. From 2004-2011, he was the Executive Director of the Office for Black Catholics for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Member
Gerald F. Uelmen is Professor of Law Emeritus at Santa Clara University School of Law, where he served as Dean of the Law School from 1986 to 1996. Gerry taught courses in Legal Ethics, Criminal Procedure and Evidence, and served as President of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, 1982, and as President of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, 1989.
