Esteemed BFEFP Faculty (and staff)
Esteemed BFEFP Faculty
Bobby Fisher (Program Director, Ensemble, Guitar, Keyboard, Mandolin, Ukulele )
Bobby Fisher is a world-renowned guitarist, recording artist, composer, and clinician. He has served a number of years as program coordinator for the NPM Guitar Schools and Guitar and Ensemble Institutes. Bobby has recorded and produced a number of his own recordings and has worked as producer and guest musician on countless others. With his daughter, Serenity, and her husband, Michael G. Ronstadt, he currently records and performs with Serenity Fisher and the Cardboard Hearts. Bobby has recorded and published a number of music collections for OCP, GIA, Franciscan Media, and Heart to Heart Ministries and is the author of “The Pastoral Guitarist,” a guitar instructional book and “The Liturgical Guitarist,” an instructional video. As a children’s recording artist, Bobby is best known for “Hymns and Hers for Happy Hearts,” a collection of fun and creative music for children, both young and old. Some of his best selling collections include Play Before God, Guitar Prayer, Catholic Classics Vol. III, If We Dare to Hope, and Go Out and Tell. Bobby lives in Cincinnati, OH with his wife and family.
Steve Petrunak (Ensemble, Guitar)
Steve Petrunak is the Director of Music at St. Blase Parish in Sterling Heights, Michigan where he has served in music ministry for more than 43 years. He is a composer, recording artist, author, editor and clinician. Steve was the President/CEO of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians for nearly 4 years and served two terms as a member of the NPM Board of Directors. He has recorded and produced multiple recordings, has written the book with his pastor Fr. Randy Phillips entitled “Managing Music Ministry” and a three-volume liturgical guitar methodology entitled “Beyond Strumming,” all with GIA Publications. Steve has also recorded more than 800 guitar-based instrumental recordings distributed across multiple streaming and download platforms (including Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music and Apple Music). Steve lives in Washington, Michigan with his wife Ruth.
Jaime Cortez (Ensemble, Guitar, Keyboard)
Jaime Cortez holds a degree in music composition from Arizona State University. He has served as a pastoral musician for over 30 years in the Diocese of Phoenix, currently as the Director of Liturgy & Music at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Scottsdale, AZ. As a clinician Jaime has dedicated his ministry to promoting better Hispanic liturgies and bringing cultures together for worship. He is a teacher of instruments and of music ensembles, and gives several workshops on pastoral music ministry and presents parish missions in English and in Spanish. Primarily a guitarist, he is proficient in piano and string instruments, including carango, vihuela and bass guitar. He lives in Mesa, AZ with his wife Kari (a pastoral musician) and their three sons (also pastoral musicians).
Lynné Gray (Ensemble, Voice, Keyboard)
Lynné is a respected liturgist, arranger, director, and composer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree and Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Catholic University of America, with additional voice and organ training. A respected vocal coach and accompanist, she shares her love of voice in ministry throughout the United States. As a liturgist and worship leader, she has served on the Arch-Diocese of Washington Liturgical Music Committee and given numerous workshops. She is currently the Director of the Archdiocesan Gospel Mass Choir. Lynné was blessed in 2008 to direct the Gospel Mass Choir during the Mass for Pope Benedict XVI.
ValLimar Jansen (Retreat)
A highly regarded inspirational/catechetical speaker, singer, composer, and recording artist. She is also a college professor, worship and prayer leader, and workshop presenter at conferences across the US and abroad.
Ken Gilman (Ensemble, Obligato)
When he is not impersonating a psychologist, he serves St. Michaels & All Angels in Albuquerque as music director. In addition to planning the liturgy, he plays one or more instruments in that service — mandolin, violin, octave viola, bass mandolin, etc. He loves thinking through what voices do and enhancing the melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic elements in music in worship.
Brian Malone (part time instructor – Percussion)
Brian is one of the most in-demand percussionists and educators in the mid west. He has been at All Saints Catholic Church for over seventeen years. He is a regular performer at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and has performed from New York to the Kennedy Center, to South America.
Jeff “Mac” McLemore (part time instructor – Bass)
Most musicians in the Cincinnati area know “Mac” as the “first call” for bass guitar, a veritable driving force for both onstage and studio performance. After the release of his first solo guitar studio album, Jazz with Friends, Mac puts himself in a league of his own.
Esteemed BFEFP Special Focus Faculty and Staff
Rob Ellig (Luthier, String Instruments: Care, Repair & Innovations)
Master Luthier, with over thirty-five years experience, Guitar Tech, and Concert Promoter, owner of Ellig String Instruments. Rob will be available to inspect and perform repairs on guitars and other string instruments throughout the week. An additional fee will be required, based on the work to be completed.
Peter Maher (Webmaster, Music Technology)
Earned a Bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of America in 1978. He is currently enjoying retirement after a varied career, including sixteen years with the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Peter began his career fifty-two years ago as an ensemble musician in 1969 when Sister Maureen, who knew he played guitar, asked him to help form the first “folk group” in the parish. Aside from a few breaks for Covid and jobs along the way, he has been an ensemble musician since.
Andrew Wallace (Audio, Working with Sound Systems)
Andy is an experienced professional with over thirty years experience in Music and Liturgy including: Musician, Songwriter, Arranger, Clinician, Composer, Singer, and Performer, He manages hundreds of volunteers through his daily work from Liturgy, Audio-Visual and Music. He has successfully managed and arranged for many musical ensembles including traditional, contemporary, and Praise and Worship Bands.
Mary Lou Cantrell (Program Coordinator)
Mary Lou Cantrell is a joyful guitarist who has been a dedicated music minister for over 45 years. Mary Lou has served as an Ensemble Member, Co-Director, or Ensemble Director in many military and civilian parishes in the US, Europe, and Asia. When Mary Lou’s family relocated to the Northern Virginia area in 2004, Mary Lou accepted a position as the Ensemble Accompanist at St. Dominic Church in Washington, DC., where she continues to serve. When not at St. Dominic’s (where Mary Lou is also the coordinator for liturgical environment), she works at the Hattie M. Strong Foundation. Mary Lou lives with her husband, JC, in Springfield, VA, and they have two adult children. Mary Lou is excited to work with other extraordinary musicians this July and is happy to be the Program Coordinator and chief “Cat Herder” for the Bobby Fisher Ensemble Formation Program.
Chris St. Clair (Assistant webmaster, social media)
Chris got his start as a pastoral musician in the late 1970’s while still in high school and hopes that his old parish eventually forgave him for that. (This was many years before he met any of our esteemed faculty). He is a retired embedded software engineer who specialized in Real-Time, Embedded software for testing such things as communication satellites and The US Laboratory Module of the International Space Station. He has written flight software for one human-rated spacecraft and done a whole lot of ‘odd job’ software assignments for his former employer. He describes himself as a pastoral musician trapped in an engineer’s body.
Dr. Mary Dumm, DMin, (Liturgy, Program Book)
Dr. Mary Dumm, DMin, is the Pastoral Associate at St Blase Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Additionally, she teaches at Siena Heights University and Ss Cyril and Mehodius Seminary. Her areas of study include Scripture, Liturgy, and Sacrament. Also, Mary has enjoyed participating in ventures with LTP, NPM, and other organizations that serve the people of God and their worship. When she’s not locked to her computer or in pre-Covid life running around the country giving workshops, she can be found with a book in her hand, cross-stitch in her lap, or diligently (albeit unsuccessfully) learning chord shapes.
Bobby Fisher Ensemble Formation Program 2021 
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