New EC family in PA

Meet the newest family to join our EC-US family.

Stephen and Stefania are an Italian-Australian-American family with five children. They moved to Philadelphia at the end of March 2015, as Stephen joined his father and brother’s company in Philadelphia trading international textiles.

Stephen was born in Northern Italy from Australian parents. In Italy he attended La Salle Christian Brothers primary school. At the age of 12 his family relocated to America, Philadelphia, following his dad textile business. He attended Saint Joseph Prep in Philadelphia then went to the Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he studied theology under the aegis of Dr. Scott Hahn. Till this days Stephen’s passions are theology, business, and faith.

More than twenty years ago Stephen decided to discovered the birth country of his parents, and moved to Australia. As an entrepreneur in Sydney, he was involved in different businesses; primarily in the textile/cotton industry and starts up.  He has been involved with pro-life since he was in college and directed the office for evangelization in Sydney. Stephen has been part of EC for more than ten years and directed the EC preparation for the Sydney World Youth Days in 2008.

Stefania is Italian, studied philosophy in Milan, and earned a masters in international law at the Fletcher School of diplomacy (Tufts University) in Boston. She specialised in humanitarian relief. When Stephen and Stefania met through Catholic friends in Philadelphia they not only discovered they were born in the same little town in Italy (Biella), attended the same Christian brothers school, and had the same teachers but also had common friends, strong faith and same interests.

They married in Italy, and soon after Stefania followed Stephen to Australia and lived in Sydney for the last twelve years. There they had five children while Stefania completed a PhD in political philosophy. Stefania’s passion is creative writing and she also enjoys cooking and swimming.

Their children are twins Sebastian and Evelina now 11 years old, Allegra 10, Finian 6, Jonah Maria 4. in Sydney Sebastian, Evelina and Allegra attended the Catholic Maronite school “Saint Marouns College” with Lebanese nuns where they received their First Communion according to the beautiful Arabic/Aramaic Eastern rite of the Catholic Church. The children are now attending Regina Coeli Academy in Abington a traditional liberal arts Catholic school.

The family enjoys reading good books, singing, nature, rescuing animals, and all outdoor activities. They are bilingual Italian-English, speak an incomprehensible French; some words in Mandarin Chinese and a few Levantine Arabic words. Yet in spite of their limits they enjoy travelling and discovering new cultures, new people, new customs and food. With God at the center, life is an amazing journey!

Written by: Stefania (PA)