Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference
June 19 & 20, 2026
Meet Our Keynote Speakers
Olivia Spears
Olivia Spears lives in Kentucky with her husband and four children. She holds degrees in theology and catechetics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, educates her kids at home, and delights in a good period drama. She is the founder of Into the Deep, where you can find catechetical resources that help Catholic parents build a legacy of faith in their homes.
Samantha Stephenson
Samantha is the author of several books helping families navigate the spiritual and ethical questions of the modern age:
- Reclaiming Motherhood from a Culture Gone Mad, a theology of the body for mothers
- The Bellbind Letters, a creative take on C.S. Lewis’s spiritual classic
- Grow Where You’re Planted: Reclaiming Eden in Your Own Backyard, a prayerful guide to seasonal abundance and sustainable family life
Samantha holds master’s degrees in theology and bioethics, and is a former Paul Ramsey Fellow at the Center for Bioethics and Culture (2023-2025) and course instructor for Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute.
Samantha’s writing has been featured at Blessed Is She, CatholicMom, Crisis Magazine, Fairer Disputations, The Federalist, FemCatholic, Natural Womanhood, Notre Dame’s Grotto Network, Our Sunday Visitor, Public Discourse, and Word on Fire. She homeschools her four children and tends a sprawling garden in Idaho’s Snake River Valley.
Abriana Chilelli
Abriana Chilelli serves as the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education’s Diocesan Liaison, directing a superintendent formation program that equips bishops with superintendents who can renew diocesan school offices by reclaiming the Church’s tradition of education. She also serves Archbishop Alexander Sample as Assistant Director of Catholic Education for the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, where his leadership is shaping a nationwide example of Catholic school renewal.
Her work in education began in the classroom through years of teaching and curriculum writing and expanded into a decade-long tenure of leadership in the Archdiocese of Denver. There, she served as Associate Superintendent for Academic Renewal, where she led initiatives that elevated diocesan-level efforts in Catholic education to national prominence during her tenure.
Abriana holds a bachelor’s degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Colorado, and a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Notre Dame. She is currently a doctoral student at Christendom College, where she studies the philosophy of leadership in Catholic education and the academic effects of mass attendance in Catholic schools. She is the recipient of the Franciscan University 2025 John J. Carrigg Award for Leadership in Education and the 2025 Firestarter Award from the Denver FIRE Foundation.
She and her husband, Ryan, reside in Littleton with their four children—Giovanni (17), Eilin (14), Vera (11), and Pier (8). Two of their children attend schools steeped in the Church’s charter for education, and two are homeschooled.
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