Our Advisory Board
Brother Adam Neri, BH, calls the great state of New Jersey home. He grew up in Berkeley Heights, NJ, one of eleven children, seven boys and four girls, full of the joy of life - God, family, close friends.
Br Adam attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, where he earned degrees in English and Spanish, and a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education. He also has a Master's Degree in Pastoral Ministry from the University of St Thomas in St Paul, MN. Br Adam taught high school prior to joining religious life with the Brotherhood of Hope in Boston, MA.
While traveling the world doing mission work, he encountered a group of religious brothers from the Brotherhood of Hope, whose authentic witness of radical love for God inspired, challenged, and attracted him. Through their witness, the desire to do something great for God was placed in his heart. In July of 2010 he professed perpetual vows in the Brotherhood of Hope.
Br Adam has had mission assignments as a campus minister at Rutgers University, Florida State University, and as the director of Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL. He currently works as the Director of SPO Missions for Saint Paul’s Outreach. He divides his time between organizing international mission trips, engaging the local poor, serving the brothers in his household, and finding reasons to visit one of his happy places - the Amazon jungle of Peru.
Brother Adam’s thirst for the Lord has carved a path for an adventurous life, taking him across the country and throughout the world seeking to serve others, elevate human dignity, and do great things for God.
It was Brother Adam who co-conceived, along with Brother Clinton Reed, the vision for the first retreats here at Remnant Ranch.
BH
Br. Adam Neri
Father John Lager, O.F.M. Cap., has been a FOCUS National Chaplain since 2013. FOCUS is a national organization serving college students at more than 255 campus/locations, including nine international locations, 29 parish venues, and nine digital expansion campuses. More than 1,048 FOCUS missionaries invite college students into a relationship with Christ and His Church, while equipping them for a lifetime of Catholic evangelization.
Ordained in 1979, Fr. John has served Capuchins as an associate pastor, a high school campus minister, and the order’s director of development and missionary activity. He has also served as the executive director of the Samaritan House in Denver and vocation director for the Capuchin Province of Mid-America.
Fr. John is the cofounder of Marked Men for Christ ministry, a Holy Spirit-led global ministry that builds stronger men for Jesus Christ through ongoing transformative experiences and authentic relationships.
As well, he serves as the chaplain for the Mother Cabrini Shrine in the foothills west of Denver, a unique and peaceful environment for visitors to experience God’s loving presence through quiet meditation and prayer. Cabrini Shrine is built on the site purchased and developed ca. 1910 by St. Frances Xavier Cabrini as the summer camp for her charges at the Queen of Heaven Orphanage in Denver, CO.
Fr. John was the most instrumental person in guiding the cofounders of the Retreat at Remnant Ranch through their discernment of whether, when, and how they were being called to start this ministry. His spiritual direction and practical guidance along the way have been critical to making the Retreat at Remnant Ranch a reality.
O.F.M. Cap.
Father John Lager
Todd and Kelly Amen
Todd and Kelly Amen live in Evergreen, Colorado. Both graduates of Colorado State University, they have been married 32 years and have four adult children. Todd is the founder and CEO of ATBS, the leading provider of tax, accounting, and business consulting services for truck drivers.
While in the throes of raising their family, Kelly experienced a reversion to her Catholic faith as part of losing a dear friend to cancer. A few years later Todd, a lifelong entrepreneur, converted to Catholicism after a family pilgrimage to Medjugorje.
They have since given of their time, talent and treasure to honor God's blessings by opening their ranch to be used as a retreat center for both lay and religious Catholic adults. Situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, Singing River Ranch offers peace and serenity with an onsite Catholic Chapel, Stations of the Cross Hike as well as a mountain river and adventurous hiking trails. With God's help, Todd and Kelly's mission at Singing River Ranch is to Lead All Souls to Heaven.
Todd and Kelly provide invaluable counsel and practical wisdom to the retreat center based on their depth of experience in similar ministry as well as inspired insights they receive in prayer.
Diane Buckley
Diane Buckley rejoices that the Lord allows her to live in sunny St. Augustine, FL with her husband, Tim, a 4th degree Knight and Treasurer of the local Knights of Columbus council. She and Tim delight in their daughter who is pursuing a graduate degree at Villanova University. Originally from Michigan, Diane has called Illinois, Louisiana, and Maryland home.
Throughout her career, Diane has worked in various leadership roles in science policy, planning, and communications at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She earned an MA in Educational Psychology from the University of Illinois following her bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Diane serves in various roles as a lay minister at St. Anastasia Catholic Church in St. Augustine. She is most passionate about accompanying others as they prepare for Marian Consecration. Since 2019, has led an annual program to prepare participants to make or renew an Act of Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary based on the spirituality of St. Louis de Monfort.
As a founding member of the Seven Sisters Apostolate at her parish, Diane offers an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament weekly for her parish Pastor. She has been a member of the leadership team for the women's scripture study, Walking with Purpose, for 5 years and co- leads small group discussions for WWP. As well, she leads a weekly special holy hour for the Relief of Suffering, a ministry she has done since 2021. Diane successfully completed the three-year Ministry Formation Program in the Diocese of St Augustine in 2022.
Diane has a particular charism for discernment of the movements of the Holy Spirit in adoration and focused prayer. She has been an instrumental source of guidance to the retreat center.