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. While there, 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 later asked to be the principal of St. Jude’s K-8 school. While principal, she earned a second master’s degree, in School Leadership from Marywood University. Bernadette met John Regula and married him in 2003. She simultaneously became mother to John's three children from a previous marriage, Sarah, Michael and Laura. They moved to Clarks Summit, PA, and Bernadette taught in the Religious Studies departments at Marywood and Misericordia Universities. In 2012, Bernadette joined the Office for Parish Life of the Diocese of Scranton as the Director for Family and Community Development, a post she enjoyed for five years. After teaching in Villanova University's Department of Theology and Religious Studies for two years, Bernadette currently serves as program director for Cranaleith Spiritual Center. |
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 also 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!