Linda F. Kracht

Linda and her husband, Dave, have been a CCL Teaching Couple since October, 1979, and have been married since June, 1976. Linda has a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of North Dakota along with a Masters in Business Administration (1980) from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN. Linda worked for five years at 3M Company as a Process Engineer before “retiring” to stay at home with their first baby. Linda has been home ever since, and their family grew to include seven children. Dave and Linda currently have three grandchildren, with two more on the way, and their oldest son and his wife have followed in their footsteps by becoming a CCL Teaching Couple.

Before joining the CCLI Board of Directors, Linda held a variety of offices in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of CCL. She has been a member of the Board since 2002 and was elected Chairman in 2003.

Linda is the founder of Daughters and Sons Forever, a senior high program which focuses primarily on the issues of sexuality, chastity, and vocations. She is an avid reader, and loves to quilt, camp, and jog. One of her hopes for the future is to open a Catholic special needs school, a desire that springs from their family’s experiences with their youngest child, Kyra.

John S. Burnham, M.D.

Dr. John S. Burnham is a family physician who lives with his wife, Judy, and their seven children in Dover, Ohio. Dr. Burnham has been an NFP-only physician since 1990 and delivered babies for over 15 years. He and his wife have been certified teachers with CCL since 1994.

In addition to teaching, the Burnhams have been active promoters of NFP through speaking to various RCIA groups as well as marriage prep classes and at the local Catholic high school. Dr. Burnham has also presented at CCL’s Clergy Seminars over the last five years. He joined the Board of Directors in June of 2002. One note of interest is that he and his brothers were conceived with the aide of a temperature-only method of NFP taught in the late 1950s.

Tom Bengtson

Tom Bengtson is a writer and small business owner living in Minneapolis with his wife, Susan, and their four children. Tom and Susan have been involved with CCL since 1989 when they became certified Promoters through the organization's Twin Cities Chapter. Tom is the former editor and co-founder of the Catholic Servant newspaper, a former host of the television program "All Things Catholic," and a former co-host of the weekly radio program, "Soul Search." Tom, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, is owner of NFR Communications, a publishing company. Tom's first book, Emerging Son; a memoir, was published in December 2004. He maintains a blog where he writes about business, family, religion and politics at www.tMichaelB.blogspot.com.

Robert R. Desmond, M.D.

Dr. Desmond and his wife, Doris, are one of the longest-serving Teaching Couples the League has — they are TC #33 and were certified in 1975 — and Dr. Desmond has served on the Board of Directors since 1999.

After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Desmond received his M.D. from the University of Loyola Medical School. He interned at Mercy Hospital in his hometown of Toledo, OH, completed a two-year General Practice Residency at Sacramento County Hospital in Sacramento, CA, as well as a one-year Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Desmond's professional experience includes a family practice in Santa Rosa, CA, serving as a Student Health Center physician at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH, and as an Emergency Department physician in Ohio. He also served three years in Germany as a military physician. He is currently on the staff of Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green, and a member of the Catholic Medical Association.

Dr. Desmond and Doris have six children and 18 grandchildren.

Shane C. Goettle

Shane Goettle lives with his wife, Brenda, and their four children in Woodbridge, Virginia. Shane was a practicing attorney for seven years in Minot, North Dakota, before his career path took him to Washington, DC, in 2002, where he has held several political positions and currently serves as Chief of Staff for Rural Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Shane and his wife have been certified teachers with CCL since 1994. The Goettles have written many articles on marriage and family life for CCL's Family Foundations as well as for diocesan publications. They also have spoken at pre-marriage weekends and parish events to hundreds of married and engaged couples throughout the years. Shane joined the CCL Board of Directors in December, 2004.

Rev. Richard M. Hogan

Rev. Richard M. Hogan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 31, 1951, the oldest of six children. He attended Catholic grade school and high school, graduating summa cum laude from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul in 1973 with a B.A. in history. The next year was spent studying history at the University of Munich in Germany on a Fulbright grant. Returning to the Twin Cities, Fr. Hogan attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota earning a M.A. and Ph.D. in medieval history in 1975 and 1978 respectively. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1981.

Since his ordination, he has co-authored two books on the theology of Pope John Paul II with his classmate, the Rev. John M. LeVoir, also of the Archdiocese of St. Paul. In these books, the two priests argue that Pope John Paul II has a new way of presenting the Catholic faith more appropriate to our century. Seeing the need to teach young people the Pope's new understanding of the faith, Fr. Hogan was one of the authors and editors of the Image of God series, a textbook program for use in Catholic religion programs for grade-school age children. In addition to this work, Fr. Hogan has been a pastor and served several parishes in the Twin Cities.

Fr. Hogan currently works with NFP Outreach, an organization based in Oklahoma City, OK, where he travels throughout the world giving parish missions on NFP, marriage, and the Theology of the Body. He joined the CCL Board of Directors in November, 2003.

Bob Laird

Bob Laird is the Executive Director of Tepeyac Family Center, a non-profit obstetrics and gynecological medical practice in Fairfax, VA. He was the Director of the Family Life for the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia from 1999 to 2005. He and his wife, Gerri, have been certified teachers with CCL since 1984. They have been actively speaking and writing about NFP and other marriage and family life issues to a wide array of audiences both locally and nationally to include CCL Conventions. In 1992, Bob joined the staff of CCL as the Middle Atlantic Regional Representative, retaining that position until 1999. Bob joined the CCL Board of Directors in December 2003 where he acts as the education liaison. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where he was on the faculty as an associate professor of nuclear engineering, Bob retired from the Army in 1992 after 22 years of service. His personal interest is the presentation of the moral teachings of the Catholic Church in a manner than can be understood by the culture of today.

Paul A. Busam, M.D.

Dr. Paul Busam is retired from practicing family medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio for 35 years, followed by seven years of volunteer work at an inner city clinic, which has since closed. He received his Bachelor of Science from Xavier University and his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Busam is one of the original members of the CCL Board of Directors. He was served as chairman from 1974 until 1999, and then in 2002 was granted the status of “emeritus.”

Dr. Busam was married for 45 years to his wife, Rose, until she passed away in August of 2000. Together they had 4 children and 15 grandchildren.