Man, Woman, and the Order of Creation

Watch the full program and read about our speakers from the 2017 event. 

Walter Heyer was a husband, father, and a corporate executive who underwent gender reassignment surgery at the age of 42, going from man to woman. Eight years later, Walt changed back to a man again and has been restored to his male gender for over 20 years now. Walt’s mission is to raise public awareness about the incidence of regret and the tragic consequences suffered as a result. Through his website, sexchangeregret.com, Walt’s ministry reaches worldwide to 180 countries. Walt has spoken about his story at many conferences and has been featured in multiple articles and documentaries. He has appeared on worldwide news and participated in many radio and TV media events. Walt has written numerous articles for thefederalist.com, thepublicdiscourse.com, and dailysignal.com, and has written and published five books.

Anna Carter, Co-Founder Eden Invitation – (From Anna’s Bio on edeninvitation.com) Chronologically speaking, Anna loved books, exploring the outdoors, boys, Hanson, the Eucharist, girls, and, finally, an integrated life. After earning Theology & Catechetics degrees from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Anna spent seven years in active ministry with teens and young adults. She has led retreats across the United States with NET Ministries and speaks locally throughout the Midwest. Anna is an aspiring novelist, a lover of road trips, and a horrible cook. 

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and the founder and editor of Public Discourse. He is the author of Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom and the co-author of What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense and Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination. In 2017, a collection of his essays was released, entitled, “A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism? Perspectives from The Review of Politics.” Anderson received his bachelor of arts from Princeton University, and his doctorate in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. Anderson’s research has been cited in cases by two U.S. Supreme Court justices. Anderson has appeared on various news channels and is published in numerous journals and newspapers. His current research focuses on gender identity. His book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment will be released in February 2018.

Deborah Savage, Ph.D., is a member of the faculty at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where she teaches philosophy and theology and also serves as the Director of two Master’s Degree Programs: the Masters in Pastoral Ministry and the Masters in Religious Education. She received her Doctorate in Religious Studies from Marquette University in 2005; her degree is in both theology and philosophy. Dr. Savage is the co-founder and director of the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture, an interdisciplinary think tank at UST, organized to respond to John Paul II’s call for a new and explicitly Christian feminism. Her more recent publications include “The Nature of Woman in Relation to Man: Genesis 1 and 2 Through the Lens of the Metaphysical Anthropology of St. Thomas Aquinas,” and “At the Heart of the Matter: Lived Experience in John Paul II’s Account of the Person.” The theory she has developed concerning the “masculine genius” in light of the complementary of man and woman was published as “The Genius of Man” in a collection of essays. She is currently at work on a book entitled “Woman and Man” for formal consideration by Catholic University if America Press. Before her decision to pursue a doctorate, Deborah worked for over 25 years in the business sector, holding a variety of positions primarily in manufacturing organizations and taught in the College of Business at the University of St. Thomas for several years.

W. Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, obtained a doctorate from Princeton University. He is Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. Wilcox was a Jefferson Scholar while an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. He has held research fellowships at Princeton University, Yale University, and The Brookings Institute. His most recent book, which he co-authored, is Soul Mates: Sex, Love & Marriage Among African Americans and Latinos (Oxford, 2016).

Fr. Paul N. Check was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT, in 1997. He holds a STB from the Gr

egorian University and an STL from the University of the Holy Cross, both in Rome. Fr. Check teaches fundamental moral theology to seminarians and sexual and medical ethics to diaconate candidates. For 12 years, he taught a moral theology course in the “Gift of Faith” Syllabus for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. Fr. Check graduated from Rice University in 1981 with a BA in history. He served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for nine years prior to entering the seminary. From 2008 until 2016, Fr. Check served as the Executive Director of Courage International. He often traveled to present to clergy the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and her pastoral response. In 2017, he became the Rector of 

St. John Fisher Seminary in the Diocese of Bridgeport.

Michelle Cretella, M.D. is President of the American College of Pediatricians and a general pediatrician with a special interest in behavioral pediatrics. She was elected to the College’s Board of Directors in 2005 and elected President in 2015. She became one of the College’s chief researchers, writers, and spokespersons for pediatric mental and sexual health. Her article “gender Dysphoria in Children and Suppression of Debate” was published in the 2016 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Cretella serves on the Medical Committee of the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity. She also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Research and Therapy for Homosexuality (NARTH) from 2010-2015. Dr. Cretella received her medical degree in 1994 from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. After 15 years, she left clinical practice to devote more time to family and the College.