Marists All August 1987

ISSUE # 2

Many liked the title "Marist at Heart" best, but in final analysis it does not seem inclusive enough. So with your indulgence, we'll use "Marists All."

GMC PICNIC: The annual Greater Marist picnic is set for September 19th from noon to 5 or 6 p.m.It will be held at FDR State Park near Peekskill just off Taconic Parkway at the exit for Route 202. Bring your own beverage and a pot luck dish. For further info, call Gus Nolan at 914-454-6116.

MONEY MATTERS: Each of the first two mailings of this newsletter went out to over 350 addresses. We are indebted to Marist College for the use of their computer and printing facilities, but we had to cover the nominal cost of the printing and the cost of mailing. That amounts to almost $100 for each edition, and if we include the introductory letter, this is the third mailing, bringing the amount spent to almost $300. We who are more closely involved in the Greater Marist Community, have shouldered this cost. We should appreciate it very much if you could send us some financial help: David Kammer, 107 Woodland Drive, Harwinton, Ct., 06791 or Gus Nolan, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 12601 ... AND JUST AS IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT YOURSELF & ADDRESSES OF MARIST FRIENDS!

MARIST CENTENNIAL: On the feast of Father Champagnat, June 6th, the Marist Brothers celebrated the closing of their 100th anniversary of serving in the U.S.A. Cardinal O'Connor concelebrated Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral with over a dozen bishops and priests associated with the Brothers. John Kirsch ('59) now of Brownsville, Texas, was the deacon. Br. Paul Ambrose, Br. Pat McNulty, Br. Vincent Moriarity, and Br. Simeon Ouellet were commissioned to Liberia and to Japan. Br. Hugh Turley ('54) pronounced the vow of stability and Br. Kenneth Curley made first profession.

Almost every seat in the cathedral was filled: Marist Brothers, many present and past students, relatives and friends, including a large number of former Brothers, some coming from great distances. There were Baron Holsenback from Augusta, Georgia; Frank Sutton from Manchester, Vt.; George Howard from Notre Dame, Indiana; Pat Kielty, Jim Gormally, and Pat Murphy from Maryland; Frank Reilly from Willimantic, Ct.; Charlie Scott from Madison, Wisconsin; Dom Cavallaro from Northfield, Mass.; John Trainor from Pittsburgh. And there were Brothers from distant places, too: Br. Pat Long from Santa Cruz, California; Br. Stephen Bosco from Boston; Br. Tom Petitte and Br. Erne st Beland from Lawrence; Br. John Mash and Br. John Mulligan from Whitinsville, Mass.

After the Mass there was a reception at the diocesan center on First Avenue. There were so many people that they had to gather in large roons on two floors ... and thus some of us missed friends and acquaintances. Yet it was certainly a very happy occasion for all. Thanks to organizers Br. Vincent Damian and Br. Roy Mooney.

PHILIPPINE Newsletter: Br. Leonard Voegtle has alerted us to the coincidence of a Philippine newsletter similar to ours. It, too, started in January of 1987. It states: "Each one of us has a story to tell, filled with joy, pain, happiness, love, adventure, Mary, God, and true brotherhood." Quoting Nemesio Blanco's letter to Leonard: "The gang of ex-Marists had several meetings and group activities, mostly social, one meeting with Br. Jim McKnight. There is an existing mutual understanding that the Marists wish to have contacts with us in the same manner that we don't want to sever our ties with them. This coming Holy Week we will have a family retreat; the speaker will be Br. Bernard Curtin. Last year we invited Br. Alfred George for retreat.

FROM ED CASHIN ('46): I like the idea of keeping in touch. Mike Shurkus dropped by on his way back from San Diego. We went to a restaurant, and there were Gene Michel, Mike Klug, Jimmy Brady, and Pat McNulty. Small world, he thought; I see these men at Aquinas High a lot. Am sorry Pat McNulty is going to Africa. He is a darned good school man and will be missed at Aquinas. My Eddie is a sophomore there; Milette an eighth grader. We plan to spend a week in Stowe, Vermont this August. Would like to see everybody.

Enclosed is a recent news release from Augusta College: "Dr. Edward J. Cashin, Chairman of the Department of History, Political Science and Philosophy at Augusta College, will be one of six Georgians to receive a 1987 Governor's Award in the Humanities on February 10th in Atlanta. Dr. Cashin was selected because, in addition to his academic work, he has written textbooks for Augusta schools, served in leadership positions in various cultural groups and has been a regular participant in community based educational programs in history." 

FROM VINNY ANDIORIO ('67): After leaving the Marist community in Chicago almost 10 years ago, I briefly taught at another Catholic high school in the Roseland section of Chicago. There were too many situations in that setting that I found unconscionable and did the unthinkable right after the Thanksgiving break: I up and quit. Community-less, jobless, and full of brava I contacted a former acquaintance who worked at a local hospital. He convinced me that I was overqualified for an assistant counselor's position in the Alcoholism Treatment Center, massaged my resume for me, pulled a few strings, and magically I changed careers!

I've held a variety of positions over the last nine years. Currently I coordinate the adult outpatient program, with clinical and supervisory responsibility for about twenty staff members and 300 active outpatients. I find the work constantly challenging, quite rewarding, and it pays well, too. I finished a Master's in Counseling not long after I started to work for the hospital, and found myself teaching several courses this past year in the Alcoholism Sciences program at the university where I received my Masters.

From the moment I started working at the hospital, one of the nurses who was working with me kept bugging me to "just meet" her little sister. I held out for about seven months, then accepted an invitation to a 4th of July picnic. Well ... we were married the following June. Geri and I have two sons, Michael, age 4, and Gregory, age 21/2. The three of them give me more joy than I have ever imagined possible. We've been somewhat active in the local parish, working in the CCD and Youth Programs for several years until our own second son was born. We're "on sabbatical" now. There's a part of me that feels unexercised, and eager to work again.

FROM ED KELLY ('52): Just returned from visiting with my brother (Br. Thomas Kelly) at the Marist residence in Oakland, California. Had a wonderful time during the week I was there, and the hospitality extended me by all the Brothers in the community was just great. I am now retired from the NYC police department, and currently working with IBM in Poughkeepsie. Living close to the college has enabled me to keep close ties with the Marist family. Took my first vows with the class of '53 and left Marist College in '55.

FROM BR. BILL LAVIGNE ('50): Since leaving John Coleman H. S. in Kingston and Esopus in 1974, I have been in ministry here at St. Helen's Parish Community, Westfield, N. J. Officially, I am Director of Religious Education and Coordinator of Liturgy and Music for the parish, but one tends to get involved in many facets of parish life. St. Helen's is a relatively new parish in the Newark Archdiocese, being formed in 1968 with some 700 families from the only other parish in Westfield, Holy Trinity. Since then the parish has grown to over 1800 families, many from neighboring towns. There is a great spirit of community and much enthusiastic cooperation from the parishioners.

The pastoral staff numbers six of us and we work as a team, although there is a canonically designated pastor and associate pastor. Six years ago we added a full time youth minister to our staff and it has resulted in a vibrant Youth Ministry Program. The Religious Education program involves over a thousand students from public schools and since most classes are in a home setting, we need and get many volunteer catechists, about 125 plus the 40 adults and young adults that help with Youth Ministry. My main thrust in ministry is presently Adult Education and Adult Spiritual Development in the parish which I would consider a priority over a child-centered, school-model religious education program. It is a challenge to get adults out to participate in programs, though, since here in suburbia, parents are very involved with all their childrens' activities.

Besides my work here in the parish, I have been involved with Archdiocesan projects, chairing Religious Education Conventions, Executive Board of our Association of Parish DRE's and co-chairing our local clergy association for this coming year. All in all, I have enjoyed this ministry and found it very broadening and enriching. Thanks very much for your interest in promoting this sharing among all of us Marists. It's a wonderful project to get underway in our Jubilee Year.

FROM MARTY LANG ('47): All these years I have received my copy of the Marist newsletter for which I am very grateful. I read it, line for line, with interest, but slowly the new, unfamiliar names replace the old ones, and the friends of old are found more often in the necrology than in the new foundations begun since we left. The idea of the newsletter is great, a tender thread that could continue to hold us in the bond of caring. Losing contact is still painful, and I guess as long as that is the case, the bonds are still there. While I continue into my 17th year as Director of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Fairfield U., I see new kinds of students. The nuns are gone, and lay people replace them moving into all kinds of ministries in the Church. I spend a good deal of time with adult lay Catholics, teaching in three Lay Ministry Programs, aside from my regular university work. I am impressed by the depth of commitment, in terms of service and the giving of time to others in need, that I see on a daily basis with lay people. One thing is sure, there are plenty of Christian saints at work in the marketplace in the most unlikely places. They are unsung heroes, never to be canonized and of course, the very thought of it would be ridiculous to them. But they're there, in banks, in the mayor's office, in soup kitchens, nursing homes, police force, etc. I have been amazed by the spiritual depth of a person who is a buyer of fashionable women's clothes in an expensive department store. The incongruity is the marvel.

Would love to hear from the ones long silent; maybe the newsletter will summon them forth ! 

FROM G. PATRICK GALLAGHER ('55): I really have lost contact with the monks, although in trying to re-establish some of those ties, I have in the past five years gotten back to Marist for my 25th, driven up to the GMC picnic last year, and visited Tyngsboro this summer. I spoke with Vinny Poisella at length this year just before I went to Jersey for the 20th high school reunion of one of the classes I had as freshmen at Roselle Catholic.

There are a lot of people out there that I would be interested in keeping in touch with, and hearing how the years have been treating them. I find this more as I reach a certain age; I've just turned 50. It might be a question of looking back on some of your roots, it might be putting things in order, it might be restoring and reliving some of the good memories.

In the early 70's when I left FMS, I got involved with criminal justice work, then police administration, and then police training. At the present time I'm at the Police Foundation in Washington, D. C. as a consultant developing training packages on sting, arson, organized crime and the like. I've been immersed in police work and have made many contacts and good friends in Europe, especially in the UK.

I've now been married six years. Mary is an RN with an MA in Special Education. When we were in Florida, she coordinated all the state's multi-disciplinary child protection teams dealing with child abuse, and now she's back doing some nursing and some consulting. There are two children, girls, 10 and 16. In May of 1988 when Karen graduates we plan to move further west to Laudon County, and then we will be about 50 miles from DC rather than 12. We recently purchased a small bit of land with a pre-civil war farmhouse on it and some other buildings. One of these will be converted into an office since I do most of my work at home, and we then expect to live a quiet, more rural life. 

Pat received his MA from NYU and did his PhD work at Purdue; he has taught public safety and criminal justice courses at Indiana U., Purdue U., American U. in DC, and Golden Gate U. in San Francisco.

FROM BILL REGER ('61): 1965-1969: Trumbull, teacher of French and Spanish, athletic coach; 1969-71; Wellesley, Mass, teacher of French, athletic coach; 1972-74: University of Hawaii: research assistant, department of Political Science; 1974-82: W.Va. Community College and WVU, instructor in Holistic Health and in Sport and Exercise Studies, graduate division; 1982-87: Wheeling Hospital, Cardiac Center, research coordinator; 1985-87: W. Va. Legislature, elected representative. 1984 PhD in Exercise Physiology, WVU. 1984: spent a month in China and took four months sailing from Hawaii to Washington State and bicycling from there to Wheeling. "More personally, I'm attempting to get my body, mind, and soul together. Since I've been in politics, I've found myself too preoccupied with what I do and too little concerned with who I am. Instead of running 17 hours a day, I'm taking at least some time out. Rediscovering a spirituality has helped provide me with some serenity. Just had lunch with Leonard Voegtle; told him about my upcoming wedding, July 25th." 

FROM JOE STRANG: As Br. Joel Gilmary from '52 to '67, I developed principles that have stayed with me for life. After leaving from Manhasset, I taught public school in Mastic Beach for seven years and bought a house in Patchogue. Then I taught in the Virgin Islands before coming to California, where I left teaching in 1982. I am now a full time professional gardener on the Monterey Peninsula. 

FROM BR. SIXTUS VICTOR LUIZZO ('42): About ten years ago, when I was on a winter break for a week at my brother's home in Florida, I had a heart attack. To this day I am still shocked that it happened to me, considering that I have never been sick over the years. I thank the Lord each day for the good health he has since given me. I stopped smoking ten years ago, and I visit my cardiologist four times a year for an EKG. My last visit was about a month ago and the results were most gratifying.

My teaching schedule is a full one. Between chemistry labs and teaching Regents Chem, I have 26 periods a week. One of these classes is an Honors Chemistry. To keep myself out of trouble, I operate the bookstore. In community, there are ten of us; I do the food shopping for the Brothers. A couple of years ago I said to myself, if I must get involved with computers and their gadgets I would give up teaching. Well, I ate my words. Next school year, the three science labs will each have a computer and software. I have to keep up with it if I am to show the students how it operates. Last summer I started to teach myself on an old Commodore and then switched to a Tandy 1000. I went to school for a few lessons and sought help from one of the teachers who does accounting by computer.

FROM BILL GILBERG ('61): Since I left in 1971, I taught until 1978. Then I took over the operation of this retreat/workshop/conference center in Ossining owned by the Dominican Sisters. It's called Mariandale. 65 beautiful acres. Since that time this operation has gone from an annual income of $38,000 to $265,000. It certainly is a success story for the congregation. In 1975 I married and moved to Bronxville. My wife is a secondary educator of Spanish. In 1980 our twin daughters Marissa and Beth were born. They are part of our own personal success story. Both of them have been enrolled in a special education program for the gifted and talented for these past three years. 

FROM MANNY LOPEZ ('65): Many things have happened to me since I left comunity. Suffice it to say I now have my BA in Classical Studies with a minor in Archeology awarded in 1985 after going to school at night since 1969. For 13 years I had been singing in the first tenor section of a major choral society in New York. I've been jogging for seven years and in that time my weight and diet have gone from a high of 265 lbs on a six foot frame to a low of 190 lbs and a vegetarian diet.

For most of my working life I've been doing clerical work in brokerage houses and insurance companies; this year, after two years of temporary services and unemployment, I'm working in construction for the first time in my life. Also I am working as a volunteer at Gay Men's Health Crisis in the pediatric division for children with aids, the result of the grieving process after having lost my brother, Diego, to aids in September. I do weekly sittings with monks and members of the Zen Studies Society as a result of my readings on Thomas Merton and a Japanese Zen monk. This has added a significant dimension to my life. I try to get to Mass as often as I can, two or three times weekly in addition to my Sunday liturgy.

I really would like to find out what's going on with my classmates. I think I was in the class of '65, Esopus. I look at my novice class picture and recognize almost every face. Let me know what's going on with Ken Curtin, Joe Baker, etc. 

FROM BR. WILLIAM MIELKE ('59): The Lord has been good to me. I'm in my 5th year in Miami. After 19 years at Molloy, I left a place I loved so much. I'll always be a Stanner. I had the greatest kids there and I had tears in my eyes as I boarded Pan Am. But I was getting restless and had to move on. Since I've been here I'm very happy. I'm still teaching 9th graders history and have a Liturgical Choir of 20 singers with flute, trumpets, guitars. I never had that opportunity at Molloy. I'm also Music Minister at a nearby parish. You would be surprised to see me before a group of ladies teaching them "Here I am Lord." This summer I'll be enrolled in Liturgical Music Courses at St. Joseph's College in Rensaleer, Indiana, working toward a certificate in Church Music.

I've been fairly well these past five years. Before that I was seriously ill and almost made the journey to the lord. The diagnosis of cancer was wrong, since I had a massive bladder abscess and not cancer. Again praise the Lord: Frank Garza of '59 is also here, as principal. Leo Vincent at 81 years of age is still doing guidance here, a fantastic man.

FROM DONALD MULCARE ('57): A Marist Family newsletter would be welcomed here. I will contribute news to help get things started: My wife Nancy, three of our four children, and I have been involved in providing religious education in St. Mary's parish of Fairhaven (across the river from New Bedford). Nancy just stepped down as DRE for grades 7 to 10, in order to devote her full time to teaching religion at Bishop Strang High School. Our two daughters are about to become confirmation sponsors. Jennifer (18 next April) and Bridget (16 next April and about to be confirmed herself) were each asked by girls who are just about their age, to be their sponsors. Our daughters are taking this seriously and insisting that the candidates do the same. It was a surprise that our daughters were selected by their friends. Jennifer and Bridget have provided their parents with resistance and grief, but to their friends they were genuine witnesses to the faith.

My job in the Biology Department of Southeastern Massachusetts University is centered on teaching. The courses include Embryology, Biology of Aging, Tissue Culture and a number of introductory courses. The big project of the moment is the development of a course in Marine Biotechnology, the only course of its kind on the east coast. 

FROM JACK KELLY ('64): I started my own company in 1983, Money Manggement Resources, Ltd., and I work the hours that go with owning a business, long hours. I am a Certified Financial Planner, and provide comprehensive financial planning services for individuals and for small businesses. The work is enjoyable for me, and I've been successful at it. Two of the ex-monks I've kept in touch with are Joe McHorrow and Jim Schroeder. Jim was in the "other" province. Joe is living in Canada, Fort McMurray. He's in charge of religious education for a school district or diocese. 

.....Jack has authored several articles for the National Center for Financial Education Inc. "Rate of Return: Illusion and Reality", "12 IRA Myths" and "Financial Fitness Test"

FROM BR BRENDAN (LARRY) HAGGERTY ('50): This letter has been a long time in coming. I'll always consider myself a member of the Marist family and welcome all news of friends. Ken Voegtle has been a godsend to me, as to many, filling any void that developed over the years. I've stayed in touch with Jules Roy in Chicago and had visits from Kieran, Mike Sullivan, and others on occasion, but my wife, children, and I welcome all.

We've lived in a sleepy, neighborly little town of Cheverly, Maryland, for 17 years now. My wife, Evy, is a "Newport belle" hailing from Rhode Island. She came to Catholic U. to study at the same time I was asked to join the staff there. I was completing a degree, and we met in a Financial Problems course. We have two beautiful daughters, Mary 13, and Shaleen 12. Mary won the academic achievement award at St. Ambrose this year and is our reader/scholar. Shaleen is a gymnast and a student of Karate. Ev teaches English to speakers of other languages ESOL in the county school system, and for the past seven years I've been a developnent staffer for the Red Cross now senior development officer at National Headquarters, responsible for the Red Cross planned gift program.

I spent my last Marist years at Lourdes in Poughkeepsie and was saddened by its closing, as far as the Brothers are concerned. A blessing the Msgr. Matt Cox, my old mentor, had passed away. It would have broken his heart; he loved the monks and the school he founded with Eddie Lyons. 

FROM DANNY NOLAN ('56): My days with the Marist Brothers go from '52-'68, mostly at St. Helena's and Laredo-Br. Robert Fidelis. I am presently employed as a Probation Officer in New York Supreme Court. In my spare time I am studying counseling. I still have fond memories and feel strongly about my years as a Marist, the best and the brightest!

May I suggest that you, or anybody, or even me, start a Marist Retirement Fund. I don't know what kind of financial health the brothers are in, but I do know that many who gave their lives to teaching have not been remunerated financially, although rewards in other areas have not been wanting. I would like to pledge $100 to the fund, and I think that others who have had the pleasure of being friends of the Brothers would do likewise. Meanwhile, here's $5 to pay for postage. I hope to continue to hear from you via the newsletter.

FROM JIM GORMALLY ('65): I felt a very positive reaction to being in NYC at the centennial reunion. It validated a very important part of me. I left the Marists in 1970 after a fine teaching experience at Aquinas in Augusta. I was truly fortunate to work for Br. Luke Driscoll and for Sr. Mary, the principal. I left several close ties with high school students that probably had a big role in my choosing a helping profession as a career. I did graduate work in counseling psychology from '70-'73 at Southern Illinois U. (George Howard and Tom McGovern were to come to SIU later.) My internship was at the University of Florida and I studied community psychology. I suspect my Marist activist spirit was at play here. I got a PhD in '74. My first job was at American U. in Washington doing research and counseling students. After that, I did research and teaching at the University of Maryland. Now.. I am in a full time clinical job, as a private practitioner in Silver Springs, Maryland. I am married to a fellow SIU graduate student, now professor of psychology; we have two children --Kevin 8 and Katie 6--who give us much joy and grief.

FROM ROBERT LOPEZ ('59): I was delighted to be swept up in the FMS net that you cast. I have not had any contact with any of the Marist family since 1965. I once ran across Brother John Malachy at the University of Pittsburg (1970) the summer I finished by PhD at Purdue. Br. John was in Wheeling, and was attending some class at U Pitt while I was at a conference celebrating my new degree. Except for that chance encounter, this is the first contact with the Marist world since I left. Recently, however, I spoke with Richard Foy on the phone and he passed my name along to the Marist College alumni office.

After getting degrees in math from two mid-western universities and teaching for three years at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I took my family (wife and two young boys) to Canada. For twelve years I followed my dream: taught my kids to play ice hockey, played myself, coached, and even managed to earn a living teaching math at Memorial University of Newfoundland. It was great. A remarkable place to have lived, very romantic, very different, very interesting.

You get a fresh perspective on things when you step back and see them from some other point of view. For example, the Newfoundland school system is denominationally organized but supported with public funds. My two boys were able to receive parts of their educations from Chriatian Brothers at schools that turn out to be far superior to what is available here locally. There is a desperate need here in the midwest for a new apostolate.

In Newfoundland I served the youth of the community in the various sports programs available. I think I enjoyed it more than the kids. But gimpy knee have a way of telling you it's time to hang up the skates.

So all dreams end, and now we are back in the states where I teach at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute. This is a small (1300) private engineering college with over a hundred years of tradition and experience in turning out engineers and scientists. Being here lets me pursue another dream, engineering. When I graduated from college in '63, I remember saying that if the Fairy-God-Mother were to have given me one wish, it would have been to be an NHL hockey player. Now, I think my immediate response would be "to be an engineer." Well, you pay your money, and you take your pick. Only you just have but a handfull of chances.

My oldest son has finished a year at U Dayton, so he is already older than I was when you and I first met. I seems like only this morning I went off to school myself, and here I am reading about all these lives of people I once shared moments with. Will you put people in touch with one another if they request such a contact? 

Ed's note: request a name and address and we'll send same if we have it; thanks loads for the above, Bob.

Note from the Editor:

GMC Picnic at F.D.R. State Park will take place at the site close to Parking Area # 2. Directions to this location can be obtained at the Information Center.

 

Source: Original Marists All Site