Legatus comes to the wine country

Legatus members of the Napa Valley Chapter featured in Santa Rosa diocesan magazine . . .

North Coast Catholic
May 2011

One of the biggest challenges facing Catholic business leaders is finding moral and ethical support in the corporate world. It can be “lonely at the top” and CEOs and business owners often encounter a sense of isolation.

Legatus, Latin for “Ambassador,” is a faith-based national organization for business owners, and corporate executives. Founded in 1987 ….. fame, Legatus brings together Catholic leaders and spouses in a monthly forum to foster spiritual growth and integration of the Gospel in family, business and community life. The Napa Valley, which is home to many entrepreneurs, professionals and executives, also became home to a new chapter of Legatus, formally chartered late last year.

Members delighted and relieved to find a sense of community with like-minded people who can say, “You are not alone; we share your struggles; together we can make great things happen.”

Eager to learn more about this group, the North Coast Catholic recently spoke with several couples who are charter members of the Napa chapter about their personal journeys, their families and how they seek to live their faith within the challenges of daily life.

Chaplain Fr. Gordon Kalil greets Jim & Theresa Heim

Chapter President Jim Heim and his wife Theresa moved to Napa in 2004, when Jim became president of the Pet Division of Central Garden and Pet, the world’s largest pet supply and manufacturing company, based in Walnut Creek. The Heims have two grown children and three grandsons. Jim grew up in Little Rock, Ark., played football for Southern Methodist University and received his MBA from the Cox School of Business at SMU. Theresa, a San Francisco native with more than 100 relatives in the Bay Area (her father and Bishop Daniel Walsh are first cousins), earned her marketing degree at San Francisco State. Both have extensive experience in sales and marketing. Jim’s senior management positions with several companies gave the family the opportunity to live in several southern states and Canada prior to settling in the Napa Valley.

The Heims see Legatus as “a safe haven to meet with peers in a local community setting to discuss business and social issues.” Jim adds that with several vintner members in the Napa chapter, “meetings provide us with the opportunity to hear excellent speakers, sample great wines from around the Valley and visit some of the most beautiful wineries and venues in Sonoma and Napa counties.”

When asked about difficulties facing Catholic business leaders today, Jim says: “Obviously we face issues of corporate ethics, social morals in the workplace, fairness and justice, social prejudice and, of course, the old adage that nothing is more important than the almighty dollar. For me, the challenge is blending the teachings of Christ into the way I manage my corporate responsibilities on an everyday basis.”

As part of their ongoing way of “paying it forward,” The Heims bring their business expertise to the St. John the Baptist Capital Campaign Executive Committee, and Jim also serves on the Justin-Siena High School Board of Trustees. For St. John’s St. Vincent de Paul ministry, Theresa and Jim serve once a month at The Table, a shelter that provides weekday meals for the needy and homeless in Napa.

Bob & Valerie Fish

Cal graduates Bob and Valerie Fish see moral relativism and the growing secularism that make it socially unacceptable to express or promote one’s own faith as key challenges to Catholic leaders who seek to integrate their faith with the realities of the business world. They say they joined Legatus because “it is the perfect way, at least once a month, for us to see Catholic friends, make new friends who share our beliefs, share a Mass, hear an engaging faith-based presentation and do it all close to home!”

Bob, who has a master’s in hospital administration, was a regional CEO for St. Joseph Health System. Currently he is chairman of REACH, the air ambulance company that provides emergency medical transport services throughout the North Coast, Oregon, Southern California and Texas. For the past decade, he has served as an independent director for a number of publicly traded health-care companies. Valerie, for years, presided over her own corporate event planning business. She now divides her time between managing Blossom Creek Farm, their equestrian facility near Calistoga, and her volunteer activities as the local director of Rachel’s Vineyard – a group that serves the Santa Rosa Diocese in collaboration with other Bay Area dioceses, offering healing retreats several times each year for women and men who have been involved in abortions. Rachel’s Vineyard is an international program that provides emotional and spiritual support for those suffering from past abortion decisions.

Bob is a member of the Diocesan Finance Council and serves on the Management Board for Beit Benedict, a peace initiative sponsored by the Benedictine Order located at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem; he and Valerie are committed to fundraising efforts to build a peace academy there. Valerie was co-chair of the St. Helena parish capital campaign that funded the historic church’s earthquake retrofit and organized the restoration of the stone chapel at Holy Cross Cemetery in St. Helena.

When asked about their faith journey, Valerie, a cradle Catholic, and Bob, an adult convert who was raised in the Presbyterian church, say, “both of us were ‘brought back’ to our Catholic faith by struggling through some of life’s hardships. As is often said, ‘the easiest place to find God is on your knees.’” They attend daily Mass and share a nightly family rosary to keep grounded in their faith and with each other. Valerie adds, “We find that the people around us are influenced by simple actions on our part, such as always saying grace before meals, or offering to pray with a friend who is troubled.”

Bruce & Mary Miroglio

Bruce and Mary Miroglio are from multi-generational Napa Valley families with deep roots in the wine business. They first met as classmates at St. Apollinaris parochial school and Justin-Siena High School. Married in 1983, the year after Bruce began practicing law. He now has his own private practice in St. Helena. Mary was a microbiologist at Queen of the Valley Hospital for many years and now is the administrator of Nimbus Arts, which provides classes and training in visual and performance arts for children and adults.

With their strong Italian heritage and as parents of five children, Mary says that life in the Miroglio household centers around the dinner table. “We love to have our friends and particularly their families come together and share a meal as a group,” says Bruce, “There is no better way to know your children than to watch them interact with their friends. We designed our home around the idea that we want our children and their friends to feel welcome. As Italians, of course, that means well-fed!” Bruce hand built a wood-fired pizza oven that is often the gathering place for local teens.

Bruce is about to take on yet a new job, as he enters the final year of his candidacy training to be ordained a deacon in the Santa Rosa Diocese. Bruce sees the call to ordination as a way to fulfill an early interest in a priestly vocation with what he considers his primary calling as a husband and father. He says, “To be able, at this stage of my life, to answer God’s call and fulfill my own yearning, is truly humbling. Mary and I have gained so much from the experience of attending classes and interacting with the talented and diverse deacon candidates.”

In addition to practicing law, training for the diaconate and being a husband and father, Bruce was recently cast in the role of a deputy sheriff in the upcoming Francis Ford Coppola movie, Twixt Now and Sunrise, appearing in many scenes with veteran actors Val Kilmer and Bruce Dern.

With this diverse background, Bruce sums up his decision to join Legatus in this way: “I see Legatus as a lifeboat for business leaders who are drowning in a sea of conflicting messages about what is proper and ethical business behavior. At these times we need the simple but profound message that God-centered, ethical leadership can be the guiding path through any crisis.”

Legatus encourages its members to inspire others through practical idealism and, in that way, translate their values and beliefs into living their faith in the real world. Members are called to use their talents, skills and station in life in a pragmatic way to evangelize the culture where they are.

While members are actively engaged in many charitable endeavors and share information and experiences, there is no fundraising or projects. The monthly meetings begin with Mass, followed by a social hour, dinner and topnotch speakers from the realms of Church, business and government. Some of the speakers scheduled for 2011 include Cardinal James Francis Stafford, Oakland Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, Doug Sherman of Immaculate Heart Radio, author Peter Kreeft and broadcast journalist Teresa Tomeo.

For information about Legatus:

Visit the website or contact Western Regional Director Paul F. Blewett at (661) 822-8887.

Click to contact the Napa Valley Chapter’s Membership Chair Mary Cunningham Agee or contact local Administrative Coordinator Carole Gruss at (707) 246-5444.

There are now 74 Legatus chapters in the United States and five other countries, with approximately 4,000 members making a positive impact on secular society.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Diocese of Santa Rosa. It was originally published in the May 2011 issue of the North Coast Catholic magazine.