Edge & Life Teen Core
About the Core Member
The Edge or Life Teen Core Member is a person with a deep love for Christ, the Church, and ministering to young people. Core Members are responding to their Baptismal call by serving young people, and are selfless enough to make sacrifices that ensure our young people come to know God through the love of Christ and the truth of the Sacraments.
Each Core Member is asked to discern his/her commitment to the ministry and essentially will make three crucial commitments: a commitment to God (Christ, the Church, and personal spiritual growth), a commitment to the pre-teens and teens (minister to teens through building Christ-centered relationships), and a commitment to Edge & Life Teen (present at Sunday night Mass, Edge & Life Nights, Core meetings, retreats, etc.). However, no Core Member is expected to ever allow these three commitments to override their primary vocation to their family.
Being a part of the Core Team is truly stewardship in action: recognizing the gifts that God has blessed you with, and returning those gifts to God by using those gifts at the service of those who need them. Leading teens closer to Christ is one of the most important works of the Church today.
We are so grateful to our Core Members who make up this diverse group of adults! If you are thinking about joining our Core Team, we encourage you to pray and to contact Joe or Fr. Greg.
Core Members
Barbara Bandarra
Barbara has been a member of St. Julie’s since 1983 and began the KIC (Kids In Christ) program in 1985. Since starting this middle school youth ministry program with her husband Brian, to whom she has been married to for over 30 years, she has seen hundreds of children grow into young adult Catholics, including her own four children. In addition to KIC, Barbara has taught the fourth and fifth grade Faith Formation for 8 years and is a member of the Parish Council. Barbara became a Core Member with Edge in 2010 and is coordinating the social and service aspect of the program.
Jane Brightman
Jane was born in New Bedford and is the oldest of three children. She graduated from Westport High School, Umass Amherst where she received her B.S. in nursing and Boston College where she received her Masters in Maternal Child Nursing. Jane has worked at hospitals in Boston and recently retired from St. Luke’s in New Bedford. Although Jane has retired from nursing, she has not retired from being a nurse.
She has taught CCD in the post-confirmation program at St. Gregory’s in Dorchester and in the confirmation program at St. Julie’s. Jane has been a Core member since the inception of Life Teen in 2007 and joined the Edge Core team in 2010.
David Burton
Dave joined as a Core Member for Life Teen in 2010 when his son became a Candidate for Confirmation. He has been a member of the St. Julie’s parish family for 5 years. Dave also participates in the Knights of Columbus as well as the parish greeter ministry. Prior to becoming part of Life Teen, he taught 6th grade Faith Formation at St. Julie’s. Dave holds a BA from University of Rhode Island and an MA from William Patterson University. He is employed with CVS Caremark as a Director of Strategic Sourcing. He enjoys spending his free time with his wife Olga and their two children Connor and Leandra. Dave strives to give back to others for all that God has given to him.
Bianca Carreiro
Bianca graduated from Westport High School in 2010 and will be attending Bristol Community College in pursuit of her degree in Culinary Arts. She was introduced to Life Teen by her Aunt Dina who also is a Core Member. Since then, she has had a growing desire to step forward and answer God’s invitation to share her gifts.
Bianca has been dancing with Smith School of Dance for the last 10 years and works part time at Lee’s Market in Westport.
Dina Carreiro
Dina has been a Core Member with Life Teen since her youngest son joined the confirmation class in 2008. Since then, Dina has dedicated countless hours of her time to Life Nights, social events and many service projects. She has been married to her husband Roy for over 20 years and has two sons, Michael and Dylan. In addition to helping with Life Teen, she also is a member of the Altar Guild which decorates the Church throughout the year. After Dylan’s Confirmation, Dina has remained on Core and Dylan has been a Peer Minister.
Gary Chouinard
Gary has been an Edge Core Member since 2009 and has decided to move to Life Teen Core. He works as a Mechanical Engineer creating implants for the hip and knee. In addition to Life Teen, he enjoys being a team member for organizations such as Boy Scouts of America which help shape are Teens into loving and caring members of our community. Gary is married and has one son and one daughter.
Kim Chouinard
Kim has been a member of St. Julie’s since 1984. She is married to Gary Chouinard and has two children, Kayla and Brett. In 2009 Kim joined the Edge Core Team and has decided to move to Life Teen Core. In addition to Life Teen, she also helps at the parish’s largest fundraiser: Septemberfest. She also works full time for the State Department of Education in Rhode Island as an Education Specialist.
Colleen Cregan
Colleen joined as an Edge Core Member in 2009 and prior to that taught third and fourth grade Faith Formation. After attending a Mass several years ago for the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, she decided that she wanted to join the parish. Since then, all of her children have received their sacraments here at St. Julie’s and currently her youngest child is in the Edge program. She is a proud Mom of three wonderful children, Mary, Patricia and William, all who bring her much joy.
Donna Fernandes
Alice Freitas
Alice joined the Life Teen Core in 2010 and has been a member of St. Julie’s parish for several years. She is married and has three children, one boy and two girls. Since 1987 Alice has worked with Children, Adolescents and their families as a Clinical Social Worker. She has her Master’s Degree from Boston University and currently works for New Bedford High School as a Crisis Counselor. What is most important to Alice is being a Mom, which she loves greatly. Any kind of family outings are most dear to her.
Michelle Furtado
Sue Geier
Nelia Harrington
Nelia has been an Edge and Life Teen Core Member since their inception here in the parish. Although at the time she had no children in the program, she decided that she wanted to be a part of this new ministry at St. Julie’s. Nelia has one daughter, whose son is now part of the ministry. Edge, Life Teen and her family keep her very busy, but through all that busyness she works full time for a company in Cumberland Rhode Island as a Research Chemist.
Diane Hodge
Diane has been a Life Teen Core Member since 2008 and is married with two children, George and Lezan. Diane joined Life Teen when her daughter was entering the Confirmation program and along with Lezan, decided to stay and continue to serve. Diane is a Teacher at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School in the Physical Education & Health Department. In addition to Life Teen, Diane volunteers as a teacher for gymnastics for New Bedford Recreation Department. She also loves to knit and sew.
Jeannine Jenney
Jeannine is the mother of 3; Nicole who is currently a peer minister with Life Teen, Timothy and Ryan who are both in the Edge program, grades 8 and 7 respectively. She works full-time as an executive assistant and is a devoted mother to her children. She has been a parishioner of St. Julie’s for many years and began sharing her faith with the children of St. Julie’s 10 years ago as a 1st grade teacher. She currently is teaching 2nd grade with her daughter, Nicole and is a Core Member for the Edge program.
Jim Lanagan
Jim has resided in Dartmouth since 1984 and has been a member of St. Julie’s for a number of years. He has been married to Suzanne, who not only is his wife and mother to their three children, but also his best friend. Jim has owned a contracting business for the last 24 years, has coached many sports for the past 15 years and enjoys outside adventures and triathlons. Jim has made God and his family a priority which has brought him much happiness in his life.
Joe Martino
Joe resides in Lakeville and is a vibrant member of St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown along with his loving wife Anne and his delightful daughter Olivia. He has been involved with Faith Formation and many other social and service programs at St. John’s, as well as, a member of the REC Ministry (Residents Encounter Christ) a prison ministry program for the Dartmouth House of Correction. In 2011 Joe became the youth minister at St. Julie’s Parish.
Kathy Nanopoulos
Kathy joined Life Teen as a Core Member in 2008 when her son Matthew was preparing for Confirmation. Since then she hasn’t left! She lives in Dartmouth and has been a member of the parish for several years. In addition to her son Matt, she also has an older son Ross who graduated from Dartmouth High School in 2010 and has moved off to college.
Kristen Ouellet
Diane Richard
Mike Tremblay
Mike joined Life Teen in 2007 and has been a member of St. Julie’s parish for several years. In addition to Life Teen, Mike is also in the Knights of Columbus as a Fourth Degree Knight. For fourteen years, Mike was involved with the Steubenville East Conference. For many years this Conference was held at the LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro. During the Christmas season, Mike also works at LaSalette with the LaSalette Community. Even though Mike has no children in the program, his Baptismal call has led him to devote hours to youth ministry.
Fran Vincent
Fran is currently a 4th grade teacher at Saint Joseph School in Fairhaven and in 2009 received her Masters Degree in Education. She spends her days busily involved with school, serving on math committees and an after school dance program. Fran is married and has three children: Amber, Alyana and Austin. Fran has been a Core member since the inception of Life Teen in 2007 and in 2010 became a Core Member with Edge. Her interest in Life Teen started when her oldest daughter entered the Confirmation program. In addition to Life Teen, she is also a member of the Parish Council.
Suzanne Walinski
Suzanne and her family have been members of St. Julie’s for 13 years. She joined the Edge program as a Core Member in 2010. Although she was raised in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Ohio State University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, she has lived in Massachusetts since 1989, which completely feels like home. She is the proud mother of three children, Christopher and Matthew, who have both been Confirmed and Jillian, who is a part of the Edge program. Suzanne had been a substitute teacher in Dartmouth for a number of years and is now working for Westport High School as the School Nurse.
