Meet Bob Laird, senior counselor to the president of The Cardinal Newman Society, as he shares his journey from West Point graduate to nuclear engineering, to family life work at the Arlington diocese, to spearheading our Task Force for Eucharistic Education, a program designed to revive Eucharistic understanding and devotion. What is the thread that draws this varied background together? Bob’s deep commitment to his Catholic faith.
The Podcast is Episode #21 and you can view it at this link.
Bob Laird is currently the Senior Counselor to the President at The Cardinal Newman Society located in Manassas, VA. Bob is also the chair of the parish finance committee and chair of the religious freedom committee at St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church in Springfield, VA. There, he and his wife, Gerri, teach the 9th grade religious education program.
Bob graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1970 with a B.S. in Engineering. He completed a M.S. in Physics and an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering at The Penn State University in 1978. He taught Physics and was an Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering at U.S. Military Academy from 1978 – 1982. In 1992, he led a delegation working group to Russia as part of the Nunn-Lugar Act to assist the Russians in removing their nuclear weapons. After serving in the Army for 22 years, he announced his retirement the day that he was promoted to Colonel.
In 1992, he was named the Assistant Director for Family Life of the Arlington Catholic Diocese, and in 1999 he was named the third Director for Family Life. While in that position, he expanded the Family Life office from four employees to 15. He expanded the respect life, marriage preparation and Natural Family Planning programs. He start a young adult program to include the popular “Theology on Tap;” Project Rachel the post-abortion healing ministry, and Gabriel Project, a parish-based crisis pregnancy program.
In 2005, he became the Executive Director of Tepeyac Family Center (now Tepeyac OB-GYN), a non-profit, pro-life OB-GYN practice in Fairfax, VA and shortly afterwards, the Executive Director of Divine Mercy Care, a non-profit medical organization bringing Catholic health care to Northern Virginia. While at Tepeyac, he organized the expansion of the practice from three practicing physicians to six, creating a business model that combines an authentically pro-life practice with excellent medicine while caring for insured, under insured and uninsured patients.
He joined The Cardinal Newman Society in 2012 and was the director of programs and the vice president for program development prior to his current position.
He is widely known as an accomplished writer and speaker on pro-life, marriage, natural family planning, and family life programs. He has appeared on local and national television, radio, and the printed media.
He and his wife, Gerri (Downing) Laird recently celebrated their 54th year of marriage. They have taught natural family planning with the Couple to Couple League for over 29 years. He has served on several boards to include Couple to Couple League. They have five adult children, 11 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. They reside in Lorton, Virginia.
Gerri Laird is a wife, mother of 5 children, grandmother of 11 and great-grandmother of 2. She has been married for over 54 years. During the 22 years that her husband Bob served in the military, she held leadership positions in various military volunteer organizations, and received numerous awards for her accomplishments from secular, non-Catholic and Catholic groups. During her husband’s second tour in Germany, she helped establish crisis pregnancy centers within the military communities in Augsburg and Munich.
Since her return to America, she has served in the Arlington Diocese as the founding director of Project Rachel and Gabriel Project, and was promoted to the position of Coordinator of Education and Training in 2004 to assist the Office for Family Life in adapting all educational programs into Blessed John Paul the Great’s new theological construct.
In 2004, she was asked to assist the late Father Richard Hogan in writing and editing the new Couple to Couple League materials on Natural Family Planning. This resulted in The Art of Natural Family Planning Student Guide (2008), The Art of Natural Family Planning Postpartum Student Guide (2009), and The Art of Natural Family Planning Premenopause Student Guide (2009).
She has edited PhD dissertations and worked as the assistant director for higher education at The Cardinal Newman Society from 2015 – 2019.
She has written and spoken extensively on numerous topics related to family life, such as marital intimacy, natural family planning, parenting, motherhood, the role of women in the Church, chastity, post abortion healing, and speaking the language of Blessed John Paul the Great via “Reframing the Abortion Debate.” Her audiences have included teens, young adults/singles/college students, engaged couples, married couples, mothers’ groups, medical professionals, and clergy.
We are often asked to recommend good Catholic educational websites. Here are a few. These are not in any particular order — perhaps with some of our personal favorites at the top. Many thanks to Mary Salmon, the former Director of Religious Education at St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church in Springfield, VA for her document “Website for Catechists” from which must of this material is obtained.
Formed – An initiative of the Augustine Institute. It contains the best of Catholic content — ebooks, talks, videos and movies — to help with Faith formation, sacramental preparation, Bible study, youth programs and so much more!
The Augustine Institute serves the formation of Catholics for the New Evangelization. It owns and operates Formed.
Magis Center – An initiative of Father Robert Spitzer, S.J. at the intersection of faith and reason. “Every century has its key questions, the driving themes that define its attitude toward God, faith, suffering, reality, and the person of Jesus Christ. Magis Center answers these questions.” Many of the resources used in the proofs of the existence of God based on science come from The Magis Center and its Credible Catholic website. The quality of the downloadable educational materials on the latest information on the origin of the universe, the existence of heaven and of a soul, the Shroud of Turin, and Eucharistic miracles originate from this website.
Catholic.com is the website of Catholic Answers: “Catholic Answers is a media company dedicated to sharing what the Catholic Church really teaches, and we are the world’s largest source for reliable information about the Church’s doctrine and tradition. Find your answers from your favorite media source.” This is an excellent website to find sound answers to common questions about the Catholic faith.
Word on Fire is a ministry founded by Bishop Robert Barron. It contains his sermons, videos, commentaries and other information; a good place to get quick information for yourself or others. We use several of Bishop Barron’s short videos in our 9th grade religious education class.
Ignatius Press is a popular major Catholic book and video publisher founded by Father Fessio.
EWTN is the website of the Eternal Word Network which connects you to their radio broadcasts and television telecasts. There you can find information on almost anything Catholic.
Daughters of St. Paul have a stored located in Old Town Alexandria on King Street. They have resources for kids such as saint of the day and coloring pages. They also publish books under the name Pauline Media and Books.
US Conference of Catholic Bishops is a source for Mass readings, information about youth ministry, life issues, marriage, and official Church proclamations.
The Vatican Official website has information about the current and previous popes; history of the Catholic Church; papal encyclicals, speeches, letters, and other publications; publications from the various Vatican offices. Their “virtual tour” of St. Peter’s Basilica is worth your time.
The Institute of Catholic Culture (ICC) is an adult catechetical organization dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization. Based in McLean, VA, this organization promotes the continuation of educating the Faithful. There are downloadable pod and webcasts with many of their lectures and seminars it has hosted over the past several years. Online classes and certificate programs are also available.
Also, through the ICC is the Institute of Catholic Culture’s Sophia Symposium which is designed to provide in-depth education for catechisms and active parish volunteers who can and are making an impact in their community. Sophia Symposium offers students the unique opportunity to study they fundamentals of the Catholic faith at no charge to the students or their parishes. Participation is by application only and is open to catechists and those who actively volunteer in their parishes.
Sophia Institute Press is a publisher of Catholic books by Catholic saints and the great enduring figures of the Catholic intellectual tradition.
Sophia Institute for Teachers serves all Catholic educators with faithful teacher-written, classroom-ready materials, and inspiring professional development programs.
with Christ Stefanick, Real Life Catholic‘s purpose is to ignite a bond, contagious faith int he heart of every Catholic in America, by building a movement of Catholics who share the beauty, power and truth of the Gospel with a world that has largely forgotten or ignored it.
New Advent website includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa, Bible, Catholic news, columns and much more. It is a great resource for anything about Catholic Church history.
Coming Home Network is for converts and others interested in the Catholic faith. It answers many questions about the faith and has many resources listed. It is run by Marcus Grade of ETWN’s Journey Home show.
The Cardinal Newman Society has a vast array of resources for educations, principals, superintendents, and parents.
How do we stay abreast of the latest news in the Catholic world? We are asked that question many times. Here is a list of e-news and e-commentary organizations and website that we read on a daily or near daily basis:
Cardinal Newman Society – Protecting and defending faithful Catholic education. Both of us have a professional interest in this work because we both have worked there (Bob is still there). Their main focus is on faithful Catholic education. Their latest project – their Eucharistic Education Task Force focuses on bringing Eucharistic education into the classroom.
The Catholic Thing – A forum for intelligent Catholic commentary of the Faith and Reason Institute founded by Dr. Robert Royal.
Catholic World Report – a free online magazine that examines the news from a faithfully Catholic perspective.
Inside the Vatican – brings to us issues from the Vatican and abroad. Of interest are the writings of its founder, Robert Moynihan – The Moynihan Letters which can be found on their website.
National Catholic Register – An online news and commentary service of EWTN.
EWTN – The largest Catholic news (television and radio) network in the world.
The Pillar is a relatively new Catholic media project “focused on smart, faithful, and serious journalism, from committed and informed Catholics who love the Church.” Their focus is investigative journalism which can help the Church to better serve its sacred mission, the salvation of souls.”
Bob & Gerri Focused 