Join Sharon Lanzi Pitts on Pilgrimage
Sharon is southern born and bred and she attended Catholic schools in Birmingham, Alabama where she resides with her husband Joe. Her son Vincent and his wife Candace and their three children live close by in a neighboring suburb. Sharon is retired with a successful 35-year career as a Human Resources professional behind her. She taps her management and administrative background for the planning, organizing and logistical skills necessary to orchestrate a smooth and successful pilgrimage. She also calls on her Human Resources experience to match priests and other resources with journeys, lands, and cultures to enrich the pilgrimage experience.
Sharon and her husband Joe have been on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and to Rome & Assisi and have traveled to Rome multiple times and visited other Italian cities as well. They also toured Ireland having visited Presentation Sister Rosario (Anna) in Galway whom they’ve known since their childhood. Sharon looks forward to planning pilgrimages to Greece to walk the way of Saint Paul, to Spain to walk the way of Saint James, to Ireland to walk the way of Irish saints and mystics, to Marian sites to walk the way of Mary’s apparitions, and to Italy to walk the way of the Catholic faith!
Sharon views a pilgrimage as not only a spiritual experience, but also a cultural experience and her organizing and planning as serving. She welcomes you to join her and her priest partner
to “Walk the Way”.
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Meet Our Spiritual Director
Fr. John hails from Kerala, India. He met a Franciscan at the age of sixteen in the religious class, and he fell in love with Franciscans. Fr. John attended minor seminary at Nirmalaram Minor seminary in Kerala. He professed Solemn Vows in 2000 and was ordained in 2001. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of St. Joseph Seminary, Managalapuzha, Kerala. He obtained Masters in Literature in 2007. And in 2020, he completed his Doctorate in Theology from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, Kentucky.
For ten years, before he arrived in Louisville, Fr. John served as the Director of Publications, Editor of Amalolbhava, a vernacular magazine Definitor, and Director of Retreats. He arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2010. He co-founded a young adult program(YAFraM) in Louisville, which celebrates a decade of the ministry. Currently, Fr. John works as the Campus Minister at Bellarmine University and Sacramental Moderator of Holy Family. He has a close connection with more than 300 young adults in Louisville and thousands of young adults in all around the world. He has a passion for ministering to young adults.
In addition to his work at Bellarmine University, he has also been involved in giving students a global perspective by teaching in IDC and Theology departments and taking students to visit India to learn about culture and religions. Fr. John is known for his hospitality and kindness. He won Bellarmine’s Hospitality Award 2016.