Q&A

Beginning his professional life as a product designer for Sears, Joseph Burlini took a leap of faith into the world of sculpting and has never looked back. A practicing artist for 50-plus years, Joseph Burlini has made a name for himself by creating inventive kinetic sculptures and soaring public works. A native of Morton Grove, Burlini has a degree in industrial design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spent six years designing for Sears, Roebuck and Co. before pivoting to making art in a variety of metals and other materials. Burlini’s works have been commissioned by …

Undaunted by a catastrophic injury, Mario DeMatteo has carved a place for himself as a graphic novelist and organic farmer in no small part because of his faith. Mario DeMatteo is the founder of Beartruth Books, a Christian comic-book ministry, and the co-founder of the Agrarian Institute, a nonprofit educational farm in Bonsall, California. He also uses a wheelchair, after suffering a spinal cord injury in a swimming pool accident at age 20. DeMatteo, who lives in Carlsbad, California, with his wife, Karla Cordero, talks to Fra Noi about his passion for comic books, his efforts to make healthy food …

A skilled wealth manager and real estate investor, Robert Barbera is pouring some of his profits into the creation of a series of books that showcase Italian and Italian-American heroes. Robert Barbera founded the nonprofit Mentoris Project with the goal of publishing accessible books about the lives of great Italian and Italian-American men and women who excelled in the arts, sciences, film, sports, music and many other realms. Some biographical subjects are well-known while others are more obscure, but all overcame obstacles and made a difference. Most of the biographies are historical novels, the rest are nonfiction. The Mentoris Project …

Having taught herself to sculpt marble, Jyl Bonaguro has set her sights on a contemporary re-imagining of one of the medium’s towering masterworks. For years, Jyl Bonaguro had a vision so clear it was almost haunting: sculpting a female figure in marble on the scale of Michelangelo’s David. Bonaguro, the current president of Chicago Sculpture International, is fundraising for her project to create Modern Athena, which has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation. Bonaguro tells Fra Noi about her passion for art, how she found her way to sculpting, and her determination to …

A devout Catholic with a long history of involvement in faith-based organizations, Gabriele Delmonaco has helped Boys’ and Girls’ Towns of Italy rebrand and export their initiative around the world. Gabriele Delmonaco says he fell in love with the nonprofit A Chance In Life from the moment he learned about it. The 52-year-old has served for nine years as president and CEO of the New York City-based nonprofit, which began in 1945 as an effort to help street children in Rome, Italy. Delmonaco tells Fra Noi about the journey that led him there and the work of A Chance In …

A native of Brooklyn, Michael Bonasera has invested countless volunteer hours in the creation and running of the History of Italian Immigration Museum in Philadelphia. Michael Bonasera is the designer, builder and curator of the History of Italian Immigration Museum in Philadelphia. A mechanical engineer by trade, Bonasera, 69, has poured thousands of volunteer hours into the museum, which is part of Filitalia International, a nonprofit that promotes and preserves Italian heritage, language and customs throughout the world. He spoke with Fra Noi about how he started the museum, its mission and how it has evolved over the last decade. …

A man of faith as well as letters, John Cavadini teamed up with his daughter to co-author a book that makes the lives of saints accessible to young and old alike. “Saints: A Family Story” is a collection of affectionately told and gorgeously illustrated narratives of 34 holy men and women. The title is fitting, given that the saints are “presented as a ‘Family,’ living in many different times and places,” according to the authors, the father-daughter team of John and Catherine (Katie) Cavadini, who wrote the book for friends and family. While the book is written for children, its …

A high-powered corporate executive for most of his career, Thomas Vozzo took a leap of faith more than a decade ago and dedicated himself to helping former gang members turn their lives around. As a middle-class kid who went on to forge a successful career in the corporate world, Thomas Vozzo hardly had anything in common with former gang members who’d been to prison. And yet, Vozzo has thrived personally and professionally in his role as CEO of Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit in Los Angeles that provides job training and support services to formerly incarcerated people who want to leave …

A summer intern at Fermilab in Batavia in the early years of her career, Anna Grassellino now heads one of the country’s major quantum research initiatives based at the lab. Nearly two decades ago, Anna Grassellino spent the summer as an intern at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, which sparked her interest in research. After rising to the top of her field, the Italian-born scientist now serves as director of the National Quantum Information Science Center at Fermilab, the same place where it all started. Her groundbreaking research has earned her a multitude of awards, most recently the 2023 New Horizons …

A proverbial knock on the door of a historical society in Boston led Jessica Dello Russo across the ocean to explore the burial practices of one of ancient Rome’s most storied minorities. The ancient catacombs of Rome — underground tunnels with slots in the walls where early Christians were interred — are well known to most connoisseurs of the Italian capital. Perhaps less known is the fact that there are also Jewish catacombs there and elsewhere in Italy. Jessica Dello Russo, who in January earned a Ph.D. from the Vatican’s Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology in Rome, is an expert …