National Council:

Executive Committee

The Most Rev. Bishop Gabino Zavala – Bishop President
Bishop Gabino Zavala was ordained Bishop as Auxiliary of Los Angeles, heading the San Gabriel Pastoral Region in 1994. A native of Mexico, he was raised in Los Angeles and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and a Masters Degree in divinity from St. Johns Seminary in Camarillo. He was ordained a priest May 28, 1977 for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He then attended Catholic University in Washington, DC, where he earned a Licentiate in Canon Law.

He has served as associate pastor, associate director of the Marriage Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, served as professor of Canon Law and then as Rector of St. Johns Seminary. He is a member of the Boards of Don Bosco Technical High School, the Instituto de Liturgia Hispana, A Place Called Home and The House of Ruth. He serves on the Advisory Board for Detention Ministry for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and has been a passionate advocate against the death penalty. He has been a steadfast supporter of immigrant and worker rights and serves as co-president of the board of Interfaith Worker Justice. He is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops where he presently serves on the following committees: Administrative Committee, Priorities and Plan, and Ad-Hoc Committee on the Spanish Translation of the American Bible. The past USCCB Committees on which he has served include: Domestic Policy, Canonical Affairs, and Bishops Editorial Oversight Board for the National Adult Catechism, and he also chaired the Sub-Committee for "Encuentro 2000, Many Faces in God's House."

Pearlette Springer – Chair
Pearlette Springer, who has served on the council since 2005, has been with the Diocese of Gary, Indiana for more than six years as the diocesan director for the Office of African American Ministries. She has served three years on the Pax Christi USA Anti-Racism Team (PCART), and is currently on the board of directors of St. Jude House, Crown Point , Indiana , a domestic violence shelter for women. She is also on the board of Referral and Emergency Service, Gary , Indiana , an emergency referral and food pantry located in Gary with a homeless shelter and transitional housing.

Kathleen Pritty, RSM – Vice-Chair
Kathleen Pritty, who has served on the council since 2007, is a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and serves as the Justice Coordinator for the Sisters of Mercy's Northeast region, based in Albany, NY.

Sr. Josie Chrosniak, HM – Treasurer
Sr. Josie Chrosniak, HM, who has served on the council since 2006, is a member of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary. She is the director of Heartbeats, a non-profit organization that networks with, and markets the artwork for, women, developing world and minority artists. Much of her work at Heartbeats focuses on educating the public about the policies of fair trade and the impact of these policies on the people of developing world countries. Sr. Josie currently serves as chairperson for the HM Community Social Justice Committee and is the HM Community representative to the 8th Day Center Board in Chicago . She is a trustee on the board of directors for the Diocese of Cleveland Catholic Commission Office, and is a member of the Cleveland Diocesan Global Solidarity Council.

Adrienne Alexander
Adrienne Alexander will earn her Master's in Public Policy with a focus in labor policy in May 2010. She has worked on health care reform with the AFL-CIO in Washington, and before returning to school, got experience organizing in southwest Louisiana and doing policy work in DC around workers' rights. In addition to her studies, Adrienne serves as Vice President of the Black Graduate and Professional Student Association at the University of Minnesota. She received her B.A. in Political Science and minors in Spanish and History from Agnes Scott College in 2007.

Donna Toliver Grimes
Donna Toliver Grimes, who has been on the council since 2004, is a Poverty Education and Outreach Manager in the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development in Washington , D.C. She serves as a resource and collaborative partner for diocesan offices and national Catholic organizations that are implementing social justice education and action programs in the U.S. Her primary concentration in this work is on raising awareness, compassion and empowerment responses to domestic poverty. Other responsibilities include supporting the bishops in their efforts to teach and lead Catholics on various issues related to Catholic social mission such as global poverty in Haiti, Mother Africa and elsewhere, the U.S. criminal justice system and clergy formation for social mission. She writes, develops resources, presents workshops, plans large conferences and participates on workgroups. Donna also works with others on grassroots empowerment efforts in her community, serves as a catechist and Eucharistic minister in her parish, supports JustFaith Ministries on multiple levels and seeks to engage African American Catholics and others in Pax Christi and the Church's peace and justice efforts.

Diane Lopez Hughes
Diane Lopez Hughes, who has served on the council since 2005, is a retired hospice social worker and registered nurse, and local peace and justice activist in Springfield , Illinois. She is the mother of two draft-age sons, the wife of a retired public defense attorney, co-convener of Pax Christi Springfield ( Illinois ), Pace e Bene Engage facilitator, and a board member of the Sangamon Valley Group of the Sierra Club. She is also a member of St. Joseph parish (parish nurse minister), the Mary Wood Branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and founding member of the Grassroots InterFaith Team. Hughes participated in election monitoring in El Salvador in 2004, a Witness for Peace delegation in Cuba in 2005, and worked with a Springfield surgical team assisting in pediatric surgery in Guatemala in 1993. She is a member of SOAW and a former prisoner of conscience. She is also a freelance writer.

Jack Mchale
Jack is the former regional coordinator of Pax Christi-Metro D.C.-Baltimore. He is a resident of the Washington, D.C.-area.

Mary Pat O'Gorman
Mary Pat O'Gorman, who has served on the council since 2006, is currently a freelance grant writer and serves as chair of the development committee on the PCUSA National Council. Mary Pat started career managing the volunteer program at Ministry with Community soup kitchen and homeless shelter. She holds a Masters in Management and Urban Policy from the New School for Social Research and worked for five years as the director of development at Habitat for Humanity - New York City. She then worked at World Wildlife Fund in Washington, DC, raising funds to support environmental causes. A former Jesuit Volunteer in Graz, Austria, Mary Pat now lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Rev. Chris Ponnet
Rev. Chris Ponnet, is Southern California Pax Christi Regional Coordinator and Chair of Pax Christi Los Angeles. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese in 1983. He was the associate pastor for first 11 years and now 14 years as Pastor of St. Camillus Center for Pastoral Care(www.circlesofhope.org) and chaplain at LAC+USC Medical Center. He is a Board Certified chaplain and is connected with the LA Catholic Worker, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (Board), Death Penalty Focus (Board), AIDS Ministry LA Archdiocese(Director) and Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics( Spiritual Director), and the Center for Urban Chaplaincy (Board) for the training of chaplains. He was arrested first at the Nuclear Test Site outside of Los Angeles, then at the LA Federal Building for protesting against the Persian Gulf, Central American, and Iraq Wars and the health care system. Consistent Life Ethics is a central theme of his work, teaching and preaching along with connecting the dots between biblical parables and contempory Disneyland and movie themes. He is the youngest of 8 children and a large extended family and loves music and researching family geneology. He was elected to the Pax Christi USA National Council in 2008 and has a passion for making local units/groups develop.

Olga Sarabia
Olga Sarabia is a retired medical social worker who served 30 years in the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services hospitals & public health. Prior to her career in health, Olga worked 5 years for an anti-poverty program in the Latino East LA community as an organizer in a public housing project. She served on the Pax Christi Anti-racism Team for four years. She is currently a Board Member on the Eastern LA Regional Center for the devolpmentally disabled; a Transitional Living Home for women & children & a Commissioner on Housing & Community Development in her city of Alhambra where she has lived for 35 years. In her parish Olga is Eucharistic Minister, Lector & leader of a Small Christian Community since Renew 2000. Olga is an Associate of the Sisters of Social Service. She is the proud mother of three adult children who serve their communities well.

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