As a pastor’s daughter, Dr. MaryJo Burchard was well acquainted with the challenges of reforming Christian communities due to her father’s work as a transitional leader for churches in crisis.
That experience led her to pursue academic studies in organizational leadership, and in doing so, she discovered the real St. Francis of Assisi: a radical disciple of Jesus who saw the brokenness of the Catholicism of his day, but rather than leaving it to start something new, gave up everything to rebuild the Church.