Biography
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Bernadette Rudolph grew up in a large Catholic Christian family on an unworked farm in northeastern Pennsylvania. She first came to know God’s love through the love of her family, the deep faithfulness of her parents and the beauty of the land around her. She attended Catholic grade school and high school.
She received a BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD. Between her junior and senior year in college, she realized her vocation was to help others know God. Bernadette attended The Catholic University of America and earned an MA in Religion and Religious Education. Over the course of six years, she taught middle school and high school religion, literature and/or math on the Navajo Reservation in NM, in upstate NY and in Albuquerque, NM. In 1994, she returned to her home parish of St. Jude in Mountaintop, PA, as the Director for Religious Education and a pastoral associate. She was asked to be the principal of St. Jude’s K-8 school. While principal she earned a second master’s degree, this time in School Leadership from Marywood University. Bernadette met John Regula and they fell in love and married in 2003. John had three children from a previous marriage, Sarah, Michael and Laura, so Bernadette was doubly blessed. While raising the children, Bernadette and John moved to Clarks Summit, PA, and Bernadette taught part-time in the Religious Studies department at Marywood and at Misericordia University. In 2012, Bernadette joined the Office for Parish Life with the Diocese of Scranton as the Director for Family and Community Development, a post she enjoyed for five years. In late 2017, she moved with her family to the Philadelphia area for John’s new job. She now teaches part-time at Villanova University. She continues to give retreats and posts a weekly podcast on this website, www.GoodNews4You.net. |
Perspective
I believe, first and foremost, in the Love of our God. (1John 4) It is a rock-solid good and is at play in the world at all times. We may not be able to see this Love, but the Holy Spirit is always in our midst. “God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us” (attributed to St. Augustine). This Love wills the Good; it is self-sacrificing. It calls us to become one with God. Our whole life is a journey towards God, towards holiness (cf. Gaudium et spes, 39-40). God constantly turns towards us with mercy, and “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.” (Pope Francis).
In Jesus Christ, God’s saving love dawned on the world in a real and lasting way. He established God’s Kingdom and it will be fulfilled at the end of time. So we live in the “Already-and-the-Not-Yet” where God has already saved us from death and suffering and yet we still live in a world of death and suffering. Jesus’ followers must work to build God’s Kingdom and be the hands and voice of Jesus in the world today.
I have spent my adult life helping others to know of God’s love for them and the goodness God has planted inside of them. I focus on the implications of the Incarnation, the messages God has for us in becoming a human being in Jesus. Catholics believe in the Incarnational Principle, namely, God can be found everywhere and I try to help people recognize that:
It is amazing to me how few people know that God loves them and is near to them, even people who have been faithful Christians their whole lives. In retreats I have given and classes I have taught, it has been a great joy to watch people realize this. It is also a joy to watch people who already knew this be refreshed by the recollection of it. This realization or recollection is often life-changing. My faith, in turn, is renewed by it. God is good!
In Jesus Christ, God’s saving love dawned on the world in a real and lasting way. He established God’s Kingdom and it will be fulfilled at the end of time. So we live in the “Already-and-the-Not-Yet” where God has already saved us from death and suffering and yet we still live in a world of death and suffering. Jesus’ followers must work to build God’s Kingdom and be the hands and voice of Jesus in the world today.
I have spent my adult life helping others to know of God’s love for them and the goodness God has planted inside of them. I focus on the implications of the Incarnation, the messages God has for us in becoming a human being in Jesus. Catholics believe in the Incarnational Principle, namely, God can be found everywhere and I try to help people recognize that:
- God is at work in our day-to-day lives.
- God’s will for you can be found in what is before you today and in the talents God has given you.
- Each of us goes through the Paschal Mystery, the cycle of suffering, dying and rising, many times in our lifetimes.
- God may not be able to take away our suffering but God did not cause it. Rather, God is with us in it and brings us to new life, life we could not have imagined.
- God’s love comes to us in the love of others, e.g. our spouse, parents, dear friends, children, neighbors or co-workers.
- Christ is present in the needy and demands that we recognize him there and respond with love (Mt 25: 31-46).
It is amazing to me how few people know that God loves them and is near to them, even people who have been faithful Christians their whole lives. In retreats I have given and classes I have taught, it has been a great joy to watch people realize this. It is also a joy to watch people who already knew this be refreshed by the recollection of it. This realization or recollection is often life-changing. My faith, in turn, is renewed by it. God is good!