AnnaMaria Cardinalli, Vice President
AnnaMaria Cardinalli, or “CC” to her friends, has led a life of surprising adventures in her attempts to follow the promptings of God’s plans. She has maintained a noted career in opera and with the Spanish guitar since her solo recital debut at the Kennedy Canter as a child prodigy. After completing high school at 13, she eventually became the youngest Ph.D. to graduate from Notre Dame. After the tragedies of 9/11, she brought her interest in cultural research to the service of her country as a counterterrorism analyst for the FBI and the Joint Special Operations Command, which resulted in her deployment to Iraq.
This first-hand experience of the profound heroism of our military inspired CC to commission in the U.S. Navy and also to deploy again embedded with the Marine Corps on a Human Terrain Team in Afghanistan. During her time with the Marines, she both helped to train and served on the historic initial USMC Female Engagement Team. Her experiences outside the wire in Afghanistan afforded her close relationships with the communities she encountered. Sadly, this allowed her to witness the devastating impact of the trafficking and exploitation of children which underlies much of the underworld of criminality and terrorism globally.
Her investigation of the issue resulted in UN sanctions against Afghanistan and a US congressional testimony. Later, upon her return to the States, while working as a federal and private investigator, she continued to see the even more extensive exploitation of children in our own country and along our borders. Now a service-disabled veteran and vowed member of Familia Victricis, CC sees all the paths on which God has led her culminating in the work of St. Catherine’s mission.
Her projects for the mission have included authoring Music and Meaning in the Mass with Sophia Institute Press. Her book Crossing the Wire: One Woman’s Journey into the Hidden Dangers of the Afghan War has been adapted into a screenplay, the proceeds of which will assist St. Cat’s. Drawing upon the background in tactical/emergency medicine and relief delivery she enjoyed among her collateral duties deployed, CC now serves as a street medic with SOSvan.org. Ultimately, she aspires to live up to her moniker and be a true carbon copy, a “CC,” of the model of life and faith she most admires, her mom Giovanna Cardinalli, the foundress of Familia Victricis.
