Team bio | La Salette R-House

OUR CREATIVE

TEAM

GET TO KNOW OUR TEAM MEMBERS

Our team includes Religious Priests, Brothers, and laity.

By joining our talents and gifts we love to witness our faith. We are passionate about helping men and women from the most different paths of life to advance in their spiritual journeys and human development.

Fascinated by the person of Jesus the Christ we are committed in sharing The Joy of the Gospel

FR. BERNIE

BARIS, M.S.

DIRECTOR, RETREAT FACILITATOR

Director of La Salette Retreat & Conference Center and Retreat Facilitator, Father Bernie is no stranger to La Salette of Attleboro. Matter of fact, his first assignment as a newly ordained priest was the La Salette Retreat Center in 1969. For many years, he was Director of the La Salette Missionary Association.

He has a varied parish pastoral experience since he was pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Lebanon, NH for nine years; and pastor for 17 years of Our Lady of the Cape Parish, in Brewster on Cape Cod. In 2015, he became director of the La Salette Shrine in France. And now, he returns to Attleboro as Director of the La Salette Retreat Center. Not as young as he was in 1969, but he returns to La Salette of Attleboro with a wealth of pastoral experience.

HERE TO WELCOME YOU

SYLVIA

SEYBERT

RETREAT COORDINATOR

Sylvia has been the Coordinator at the Retreat House for the past two years. She enjoys spending time with her husband and young adult children.

During her free time she enjoys the beach, going for walks, and especially biking on different bike trails in Massachusetts.

HERE TO SERVE YOU

FR. FLAVIO

GILLIO, M.S.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, RETREAT FACILITATOR

Associate Director of La Salette Retreat & Conference Center, Retreat Facilitator, and Spiritual Director. Father Flavio was born and raised in Chieri, Italy. Since his Diaconate Ordination, Fr. Flavio has worked in both Formation and Education, as a Professor of Scripture, Retreat Facilitator, and Speaker. He holds an M.A. in Jewish Studies from the Catholic University of Paris and an M.A. in Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He did his Post-Graduate Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in Biblical Narrative Analysis. He taught Scripture, Biblical Languages, and Jewish Exegesis in Italy and in Israel, where he lived for almost 10 years. While in Jerusalem, Fr. Flavio guided many retreats and pilgrimages throughout the Holy Land, running the program “Reading the Bible in the Land of the Bible”. Besides Scripture and Spirituality, Fr. Flavio has a great passion for photography, visual arts, graphic design and dogs! He has been blessed with the possibility to serve in a place, he loves to say, where “the only limit is your pastoral imagination.

HERE TO SHARE WITH YOU

JUSTIN

RICHARDSON

YOUTH RETREAT FACILITATOR, GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Justin Richardson is a native of Waltham Massachusetts. He attended Saint Joseph’s College of Maine and graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor's degree in theology and a minor in graphic design. Since then, he has served as a Director of Religious Education in two dioceses throughout Massachusetts as well as teaching high school Theology in both Providence and Boston. Justin began working at the Retreat Center six years ago where he served as Youth Retreat Facilitator before taking on additional roles. He now serves as a graphic designer, social media coordinator, as well as safe environment coordinator for the Shrine in addition to the aforementioned role at the Retreat Center. Justin has been married to the love of his life Meaghan for seven years and in 2018, they had their first child, Ryleigh. Justin’s hobbies include playing the guitar, traveling, and hiking.

HERE TO ACCOMPANY YOU

DR. SALLY

RICONSCENTE

RETREAT FACILITATOR

Dr. Sally Riconscente, a La Salette Lay Associate, has served in many areas of Shrine life including Liturgical Ministry, Adult Faith Formation, Prayer Group, and Inner Healing Leadership, Steubenville Youth Conferences, and Strategic Planning Board. She holds a Doctorate in Education with a concentration in Higher Education Leadership as well as National Certification as a Rehabilitation Counselor. Sally is a Past-President and Board Member of the New England Association on Higher Education and Disability as well as a member of the American Psychological Association and ACTheals. She was Assistant Director of the Academic Center for Excellence at Bryant University for many years before becoming Associate Dean at Wheaton College. Currently, she is a Visiting Professor of Psychology at Bridgewater State University and an Adjunct Instructor of Psychology at Bristol Community College. She is fascinated by the connection between psychology and spirituality and loves spending time with her grandchildren and taking long walks at the ocean.

HERE TO WALK WITH YOU

CHRISTINE

RUBISTEIN

RETREAT FACILITATOR

Christine Rubistein has been a clinical social worker for over forty years, and over thirty in a Christian counseling center. She is an enthusiastic and dedicated student of Scripture. In her previous life as a Protestant, she led women’s Bible studies and was a featured speaker at several retreats. In 2016 after an almost twenty-year faith journey, she left her Protestant roots and entered the Catholic Church, where she has found her spiritual home. She has a particular fondness for the Old Testament as well as the jewish roots of the Catholic faith. No one is more surprised than she is about this homecoming. She has a particular fondness for the Old Testament, as well as the Jewish roots of the Catholic Christian faith. Married for 43 years, mother of two adult children and grandmother of two, she is passionate about helping others to find their place in the Heart of God and live their lives as beloved children in His family. Recently, Christine started a blog entitled “Love School”, a virtual space where she strives to help others in learning and growing in their experience of being loved by God, called to love others as Jesus loved, by sharing some of the struggles and challenges, insights and accomplishments, and ongoing learning from her own experience thus far in love school.

HERE TO PRAY WITH YOU

ELLIE

McCONNAUGHY

RETREAT FACILITATOR

Dr. Ellie McConnaughy is a dynamic trainer and clinical psychologist. She facilitates groups for both learning and personal development. Dr. McConnaughy was a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Rhode Island and an adjunct professor at Dean College. When working with clients, Ellie values the importance of the spiritual part of people’s lives. She has led and participated in numerous Bible studies. She has created and taught classes to help people to live closer to God and to be more open to God’s guidance and love. She is currently working on a book entitled God’s Love: The Power to Find Peace and Acceptance.

SIMPLY HERE FOR YOU

DOTTIE

LEVESQUE

RETREAT FACILITATOR

Retreat Facilitator here at the La Salette Center. A native of Fall River (MA), Dorothy Levesque or simply “Dottie”, was a Religious of Jesus and Mary for 20 years. She was Director of the Ministry with Separated, Divorced, Remarried, and Widowed Persons in the Diocese of Providence, RI for 25 years. During that time, she wrote and presented (in RI and around the country) programs and retreats for men, women, and children suffering through grief. She was also Director of the North American Conference of Separated and Divorced Catholics. She has been on staff here at the retreat center since January 1, 2005, giving retreats and meeting with individuals for counseling and spiritual direction. She also facilitates the Prayer Shawl Ministry as well as 2 support groups -- one for Bereaved persons and the other for Separated & Divorced persons. In her free time, Dottie enjoys reading, walking along a beach, and a leisurely meal with friends.