Mercy Profiles

Immaculée Ilibagiza

a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, is an author and motivational speaker who has travelled the world sharing her story of finding freedom, hope and the power to forgive in the face of evil. Her first book, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, documented her 91-day ordeal hiding with seven other women in a small bathroom during the genocide, only to emerge to find most of her family murdered. Left to Tell has been translated into 15 languages, and her story has been featured in numerous domestic and international media outlets. Ilibagiza is also the founder of the Left to Tell Charitable Fund, which directly supports children left orphaned by the Rwandan genocide.

Det. Steven A. McDonald

a third generation police officer in the NYPD, was shot three times by a 15-year-old in Central Park in 1986, resulting in injuries that left him paralyzed from the neck down. At a press conference several months after the shooting, McDonald announced that he had forgiven the teen, and continues to credit God for using him as an instrument of peace when sharing his story.

Eric Mahl

was known as “the Mahler,” a ferocious linebacker who starred at Kent State University and thrilled his small, Ohio hometown when he was signed on to the Cleveland Browns in 2005. However, torn with his desire to serve God in a deeper way but reluctant to let down his community, Mahl began praying to be cut. When his prayer was answered, he found his way first into a Carmelite monastery, then ministering to Cleveland’s homeless population while living with them on the streets. Now based at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass., he serves as a missionary bringing the message of Divine Mercy to the poor.

Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC

is the Vocation Director for the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception and author of No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy. His autobiography recounts his tumultuous adolescence as a high school dropout whose addictions led him to the point of running drugs for the Japanese mafia. A radical conversion to Catholicism led him to consider the priesthood, and he was ordained as a Marian father in 2003 at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass.

Jennifer Trapuzzano

is a young Catholic mother and widow whose husband, Nathan, was shot and killed three weeks before their daughter was born. She announced Cecelia’s birth on Divine Mercy Sunday, 2014, and forgave Nathan’s killer in her victim’s statement at the 2015 sentencing. She continues to pray daily for her husband’s murderer. Since Nathan’s death, Jennifer has founded the Nathan Trapuzzano Memorial Foundation to support children who’ve lost a parent, as well as a Facebook community for young Catholic widows.

Frater Matthew Desme

is a Norbertine monk at St. Michael’s Abbey in Southern California. Drafted by the nearby Oakland A’s in the second round of the 2007 MLB draft and named MVP of the 2009 Arizona Fall League, Desme was well on his way to the major league when he made the stunning announcement that he was retiring and wanted to become a Catholic priest. He now coaches the Abbey’s high school baseball team while continuing his formation for the priesthood.