Board of Directors

Jim is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, a combat veteran and has devoted his life to leading and serving others. He holds an M.A. in Computer Resources and Information Management, a B.A. in Psychology and certificates in beer brewing, cybersecurity and computer forensics.

Jim joined Lourdes Volunteers board of directors in 2019. He serves as the Chief Brancardier, as an “A” Team Leader for Supportive Care Pilgrimages and serves as a leader for Franciscan University Student Pilgrimages supporting the sanctuary. He is also a Hospitalier with the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes as a Chef d’Équipe for the Year of Discovery in St. Joseph service.  Jim also serves as the lead of travel safety and security planning.

Jim and his wife Pam help to bring the message of Lourdes to parishes and schools across the Midwest as Lourdes Virtual Pilgrimage Experience® guides. He is a devoted husband, father, grandfather and lives in Random Lake, Wisconsin with his awesome wife.

Tom and Marie Buchanan | Board Members | Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Tom and Marie Buchanan joined the Board of Directors in 2025.

Marie is an experienced nurse with 30 years’ experience at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania and its affiliated institutions. She has served as a Lourdes Volunteer nurse since
2015. Her various roles have included Supportive Care Pilgrimage Nurse; Head Nurse on the
Pilgrimage Advance Teams; and Supervising Nurse for the Franciscan University of Steubenville
nursing student volunteers.

Tom was an Attorney for the U.S. Government for many years. He became a Lourdes Volunteer
in 2022 and has served as a brancardier and co-leader of the Franciscan University student
volunteers. In addition, he has assisted with editing and promoting the best-selling book
“Everyday Miracles of Lourdes,” written by our foundress Marlene Watkins.

Tom and Marie serve in liturgical ministry at their home parish, Our Mother of Good Counsel in
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania – Tom as a Lector and Marie as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy
Communion. In addition, they serve as volunteers for the Missionaries of Charity, the order
founded by Saint (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta.

Father Hyde is the pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Camillus, NY. He also serves on the Diocese of Syracuse Tribunal, as well as a local hospital chaplain.

Father has served as our Spiritual Director since March of 2017. Ordained in 1988, he holds degrees in history and Spanish, and received a Licentiate in Canon Law in 1995 from Catholic University of America.

Joining the Board of Directors in 2015, Jim Kernell brings his legal experience and insight to the canonical and civil needs of the Association. Jim provides reporting and documentation of legal records for the Association in the Church and to governmental agencies in both the United States and France. An intellectual property attorney and partner in private practice, Jim and his family are active in parish and parochial school activities across Kansas City.

An attendee of the very first Lourdes Virtual Pilgrimage Experience® in 2004, Tonja joined her husband Jim on the Board of Directors in 2019.

A former chemist, she is an active member of Curé of Ars Parish in Leawood, Kansas. Tonja is also a mother of four and a passionate advocate for inclusive, Catholic education for those with special needs.

Nurse Melinde joined the board of directors in 2020, after faithfully serving on our medical team since 2008. Melinde is our Head Nurse and Supportive Care Plan Specialist, having developed hundreds of detailed plans to best accompany the seriously ill and profoundly disabled to Lourdes.  Melinde graduated in 1979 from CLMMH School of Nursing in Bacolod City, Philippines.  She has practiced Trauma and Neuro ICU nursing for over 30 years, currently with the VA Hospital in Surgical ICU.  Melinde is a Certified Critical Care Nurse (CCRN) and a Certified Neurology Nurse (CNRN). 

Additionally, she is a Holy Adorer, an active Pro-Life advocate and Secular Franciscan.

Nancy Pease is a leader of our Supportive Care Pilgrimages, serving on the Board of Directors since 2017. She is also a stagiaire with the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes in St. Jean de Baptiste service. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Intelligence Defense Language Institute and George Washington University, Nancy works as an ITIL certified global Project Manager with Verizon. She resides in Virginia, where she is an active member of Blessed Sacrament Church as a Eucharistic Adorer, daily Mass lector and St. Monica Devotion leader.

Brian joined the board of directors in 2020. He first served with Youth Volunteer Pilgrimages and Supportive Care Pilgrimages in 2007. Brian is a Board Certified Advanced Nursing Executive as well as Certified in Infection Prevention and Control. He spent 30 years in the Army with 19 years as a nursing executive as well as serving in Iraq as the Head Nurse of an enemy prisoner of war ward. He is active at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Antonio with youth confirmation, as an extraordinary minister, and the Knights of Columbus. He is married to Beth Adoue-Polk – they have four children. Beth and two of his children have travelled to Lourdes as well.

Edwin and Charo Rojas have served on the Board of Directors since 2016 and are leaders of our Supportive Care Pilgrimages. As Spanish-speaking Lourdes Virtual Pilgrimage Experience® Guides, Edwin and Charo spread the Message of Lourdes across the Americas and beyond. They are stagiaires with the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes, with Edwin in St. Joseph and Charo in St. Jean de Baptiste services. Originally from Peru, the Rojas relocated to Miami, Florida, to found an international industrial design manufacturing firm. Active parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes parish, they serve on the Pastoral Council and as Lay Ministers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, and Eucharistic Adorers. The Rojas are also Facilitators for the True Devotion to Mary St. Louis de Montfort Consecration, in three languages, with annual Consecration on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Dr. Linda Satterlee joined the Board of Directors in 2019, after faithfully lending her medical expertise since 2004 in her role as Medical Director. Over her tenure, she has traveled to Lourdes on a Supportive Care Pilgrimage seventeen times! 

A family physician for nearly 40 years, Dr. Satterlee is a devoted wife, mother, grandmother of nine, and great-grandmother of ten. She resides in Florida and is active in local medical and parish ministries. 

Dr. Belen Tan joined the board of directors in 2019, after serving faithfully as a medical volunteer since 2017. In addition to her service on Supportive Care Pilgrimages, she was instrumental in bringing Lourdes Virtual Pilgrimage Experience® to the Central Philippines in 2019. A 1983 graduate of the Cebu Institute of Medicine, Dr. Tan immigrated to the U.S. in 1988, where she trained in Pediatrics and then specialized in adult and pediatric Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.  

Dr. Tan resides in Florida, where she is a pro-life supporter and devoted parishioner of St. Madeleine, attending daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration regularly.   

The first North American Lourdes Volunteer, Marlene Watkins made her Commitment to the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes in Piscine Service on April 11, 2006, and is now a Hospitalité Formation teacher. Marlene oversees our Association, leading both Supportive Care and Volunteer Pilgrimages and sharing the Message of Lourdes in Lourdes Virtual Pilgrimage Experiences® around the world. A Secular Franciscan, she lives her married vocation as wife, mother and grandmother in Syracuse, NY. With a special devotion to St. Bernadette, Marlene is also a guide at Lourdes and Nevers.

Originally from the nearby Diocese of Buffalo, Most Reverend Cunningham was first appointed a Bishop to our northern neighboring Ogdensburg Diocese in 2004. In May, 2009, he became the tenth Bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse, bringing deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist.

As Bishop of the Syracuse Diocese, the Most Reverend James Moynihan, following a one-year canonical observation and prayerful discernment, issued a Letter of Praise on January 30, 2004, and erected Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers as a Public Association of the Christian Faithful under Canon 312§3 on June 10, 2005. This decree commended the apostolate for the worthwhile evangelical mission and Christ-centered Marian ministry to assist the sick and suffering at Lourdes and at home.

David Braden served as Chairman of the Board for 10 years guiding the Association through the beginning years, leaving a legacy of holy leadership and setting the example of a holy transition from this world to the “other world” as promised by the Immaculate Conception to St. Bernadette in the Grotto.

Upon his retirement in June, 2014, Father Menei dedicated his time to our Supportive Care Pilgrimages, offering daily Mass for the Association. The former Director of the Prison System Chaplaincy for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and pastor of St. Richard’s Catholic Church in Manheim.