Livestream
Church of the Resurrection
Sunnyvale, California
Parish Leadership Team &
Council Members' Biographies
OUR PARISH LEADERSHIP TEAM AND PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
The Diocese of San Jose has strongly encouraged every parish to form a Parish Leadership Team (PLT) to help implement the Diocesan Pastoral Team by providing long-term vision at the parish level and representation at a series of quarterly diocesan meetings where progress is reported and information is exchanged. Fr. Phong appointed Marie Bernard, Art Cereno, Deacon Mike Haas, José Léon, Elvie McCallon, Mike O’Connell and Marie Pham to our PLT in March 2025 and Fr. Mark has honored that decision since becoming pastor. Subsequently, Fr. Mark has reconstituted and revitalized our Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) by inviting the members of the PLT to serve, as well as those members of our pre-pandemic PPC that have remained active in the parish: Donna Beres, Eden Bonin, and Sherrin Franco. Deacon Mike is currently serving as chair of both the PLT and the PPC. Pictures and biographies of all members are published in preparation for their formal commissioning in November.
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Deacon Mike Haas
Deacon Mike Haas received his Ph.D. in Physics/Astronomy from Iowa State University in 1977 and then did research at the NASA/Ames Research Center until his retirement in 2017. He joined our parish in 1991, graduated from the Institute for Leadership in Ministry in 2009, and was ordained to the diaconate in 2012. He and his wife Kathleen have three children and five grandchildren. His current ministries include OCIA, Grief Support Group, Writing Letters of Consolation, Men’s Faith Sharing Group, and Kairos Prison Ministry. In addition, he regularly assists at Mass, preaches occasionally, presides at Benediction, and helps plan liturgical celebrations. He is the chair of our Parish Leadership Team and our Parish’s Pastoral Council. He just completed a three-year term as chair of the Diocesan Deacon Advisory Board and serves on the Kairos Council at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. His ministry helps him learn about himself, serve his community, grow his circle of friends, and get closer to the Lord
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Sherrin Franco
Sherrin Franco earned her Master’s in Computer Engineering from San Jose State University. She and her husband Rajesh are blessed with two children, Joshua and Alicia. After stepping away from her high-tech career to care for her family, Sherrin wanted to pursue her call to serve and glorify God in a deeper way. Since joining the Church of the Resurrection in 2006, she has joyfully served in many ministries including Ministry to the Sick, Catechist for CCD and Children’s Liturgy of the Word, Eucharistic Minister, Choir member, and current member and former Chair of the Pastoral Council. Sherrin finds joy spending time with her family and friends, gardening, painting, helping others and sharing Christ’s love wherever she can. Her heart’s desire is to live a life that points others to Christ and gives glory to God.
Art Cereno
Art Cereno received his MBA in Finance from Golden Gate University in 2004. He helped B2B companies drive strategy, scale growth and deliver best practices, and worked in business and technical management capacities at several high-tech Silicon Valley firms. He joined the Church of the Resurrection in 1998 and married his wife Lorraine here in 1999. Art is a Lector, a member of the Parish Leadership Team, and a volunteer catechist along with his wife. As a long-time Sunnyvale resident, loyal parishioner, and person of faith, he is excited to serve as a member of the Parish Leadership Team in order to assist our Pastor and Parochial Vicar in defining and implementing future initiatives to better serve our vibrant and growing Catholic community.
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Elvie McCallion
Elvie McCallion was born in the Philippines and raised in a devout Catholic family that immigrated to the United States in 1977. She has a B.S. in accounting with a minor in marketing. Elvie has two well-respected children and five beautiful grandchildren. She volunteered in the rectory office at St. Lawrence the Martyr in Santa Clara while her daughter was attending school there. She has served as a Eucharistic Minister at the Church of the Resurrection since 2008 and is a member of the Ladies’ Saturday prayer group. She has been a member and an officer of the Legion of Mary and San Jose Comitium for over 15 years. Elvie is involved in homebound ministry, bringing Communion to an elderly parishioner and distributing Communion at Rehabilitation Centers in Sunnyvale. She is currently enrolled in the Institute for Leadership in Ministry (ILM), serves on our Parish Leadership Team, and belongs to a Down Syndrome Awareness & Family Support Group.
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José León and Marie Pham
José León and Marie Pham have been married thirty-six years and have a son, Brian and a daughter, Sabrina. They were parishioners of St. Elizabeth Church in Milpitas for nearly thirty years. At St. Elizabeth’s they were members of the Parish Council, the Finance Committee, and several other ministries. Marie helped start a Vietnamese Mass at St. Elizabeth during the time of Bishop McGrath. Since moving to Sunnyvale a few years ago, they been attending Church of the Resurrection and are now members of the Parish Leadership Team. José has been active in the Knights of Columbus for over twenty-five years. They both volunteer regularly with various non-profits such as Sunnyvale Community Services (where José serves on the Board), Peninsula Food Runners, and Charles Street Community Gardens. José and Marie love being involved and contributing to the community.
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Eden Bonin
Eden Bonin retired from Space Systems Loral in 2013 as a Senior Engineering Systems Analyst after 35 years with the company. She served on the launch crew for the final tests of the Intelsat V Satellite before launch from Cape Canaveral. Previously, she served as a high school teacher in the Philippines for 10 years and then as a junior-high teacher at St. Mary’s School in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands and Guidance Counselor at St. Thomas, USVI Department of Education for 7 years. She has bachelor’s degrees in Biology/(Pre-Med), and General Science and a Master of Arts in Guidance and Counseling. Eden has been married to Henry for 46 years and has one son, Eddie living in Los Angeles. She joined the Church of the Resurrection in 1986. Her current ministries include Proclaimer, Cantor, Choir member, and formerly She coordinated the Eucharistic Ministers at the 10 am Mass. She is a member of our Parish Pastoral Council, a Fil-Am Council Member, and an auxiliary member of the Legion of Mary. She volunteers at Our Daily Bread, a non-profit outreach program that serves free hot meals to hungry people without restriction. Her volunteer work and ministry giver her joy and fulfillment for the greater glory of God.
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Mike O'Connell
Mike O’Connell received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1980. He began his career at a CPA firm and then moved to accounting and finance positions at publicly traded companies including Hewlett Packard , Xicor, and Intersil. He has been retired since 2014. He first joined the parish when was 10 years old when his parents moved from New York to Sunnyvale. He was an altar server when Mass was held in the Farana Center hall. In 1996, he and his wife purchased a house in Sunnyvale, and he has been an adult member of the parish ever since. They have three adult children. His current ministries, in addition to being a member of the Parish Leadership Team, include being the parish representative for the Tijuana Ministry, a Finance Committee member, a Pastoral Council member and a member of the Men’s Faith Sharing Group. He is also active in the Kairos Prison Ministry at the Salinas Valley State Prison and at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville and the Cursillo movement in the Diocese of San Jose.
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Donna Beres
Donna Beres was born in San Francisco and was raised in Sunnyvale. She attended St. Martin’s Grammar School and Holy Cross High School. She graduated from Cal Poly State University with a degree in Mathematics/Computer Science. She spent over 25 years working at Syntex/Roche Pharmaceutical company developing software and managing systems for Research and Development. She joined our Parish with her husband in 1986. After retiring in 2004, she became an active volunteer at Our Daily Bread, a community meals program located in Sunnyvale. She currently serves on the Management Board and coordinates the program three days a week. She is also a member of the St. Vicent de Paul and serves on the Santa Clara County SVdP Council.
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Marie Bernard
Marie Bernard has served for the past 15 years as the Executive Director of Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS), a local nonprofit working to prevent homelessness and hunger in our local community. Prior to SCS, Marie worked for 19 years at Hewlett-Packard in marketing, served as Director of Stewardship and Development for the Diocese of San Jose, and was the CEO of Project HIRED. Marie joined our parish in 2010 and formerly served on the Parish Council. She is a lector and
current member of the Parish Leadership Team and parish Council. Marie has served on nonprofit boards including Second Harvest Silicon Valley, Sacred Heart Community Service, and Sunnyvale Rotary Club. She holds an MA in Pastoral Ministries from Santa Clara University, an MBA from The Wharton School of Business/University of Penn., and a BA in History from Univ. at Buffalo. Marie is a graduate of the Institute for Leadership in Ministry (ILM) and the Center for Excellence (CEN) in Nonprofits’ Leaders’ Institute. She is a Senior Fellow of the Silicon Valley American Leadership Forum (Class XXXI). Marie and her husband Bruce Paton live in Sunnyvale and have one son.