The St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary, 9/22/07 Reunion Program
This is the program, in a black and white pdf, that you'll need to reconfigure a bit to view.
Showing posts with label Reunion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reunion. Show all posts
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Pius Closing - Was it in the Works from '78?
I heard a number of good stories at the St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary 2007 Reunion held on September 22, 2007. However, a fellow '82 graduate also told me something that I should have known, and probably all of the other Pius graduates already know. This individual told me that Bishop McGann appointed Msgr. Nosser as Rector at St. Pius X in 1978 in order to prepare it for closing after the school's founder, the retired Bishop Kellenberg, died. The school was, however, closed in 1984 two years prior to his death.
Pius Reunion
September 22, 2007 was the annual reunion date for St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary . I had not been back to that home-away-from-home for four years of my life since I graduated in 1982. I had hoped that more of my priesthood-reticent fellow alumni would have attended, but in the end only five of the 52 made it. While I understand that last year a number of the former faculty had attended the gathering, this year only Dr. Ralph Leitner and his wife were able to participate. There was word that Chris Schneider might crash the party late but that did not happen.
The time for me was well spent. There aren't many high school reunions that start with a Mass. This institution was however for boys who were considering the priesthood (as much as one can in the eighth grade) and during my four years there seminarians were required to attend Mass each day. Mass was celebrated by Msgr. Guarino. Unfortunately, he and his concelebrants had already served and left before I entered the school in 1978. So even then I did not get to talk with any of the men who taught me in those formative days.
I did not attend any previous reunions for the Class of '82. Maybe because there were no girls in the school and thus no women to arrange reunions the events don't happen as one might like. This is not to say that the men of Pi-High could not arrange an event, as last night's organizers most certainly did so. However, the prime organizers were from the Class of '77 that was celebrating its 30th reunion. I understand hasty Class of '82 reunions were held over the years but again I was not there.
The Class of '82 attendees were Rich Duffy (the prime '82 organizer) who had just buried his dad the day before, Juan Cadavid, Rob McMullin, Jim Dotzler and me. Jim attended Mass with his wife but for health reasons he was not able to continue on to the reception. The remaining four found their way to the St. Agnes Parish Center in Rockville Centre for an open bar and vegetarian-friendly hors d'oeuvres and buffet very nicely arranged by Guy Bolognese from the Class of '77. Rich's wife, Denise, and son attended Mass but did not move on to the dinner. Juan brought his mom to Mass and she was beaming with pride for her successful son. Juan mentioned that his mom had come to many regular and holiday services at the Pius Chapel over the years.
The four of us sat at a table for quite some time discussing the old days, nowadays and the days in between. All of us are married. Some of us started families earlier than others but each of us has children. We actually wrapped up the evening rather early, around 11:00, the three locals citing those women and children to get home to. While my bunch was back home in Pittsburgh, I'm not so outgoing as to bust into the Class of '77 attendees to make small talk so I headed back to my room at the Hampton Inn.
My time at Mass was strange. I certainly remember sitting in the appropriate section for my year. (The whole goal was not to get to daily Mass so late that one had to sit in the row in front of the guys a year ahead. One just never knew what someone might be up to behind you. ) I was not taken back 25 years but I did definitely recall much. Again, though without the priests from my years at the altar, the stage was just not set for a truly proper reminiscence. The physical setting though was right - the dark blue stained glass and crucifix were as I recalled.
The time for me was well spent. There aren't many high school reunions that start with a Mass. This institution was however for boys who were considering the priesthood (as much as one can in the eighth grade) and during my four years there seminarians were required to attend Mass each day. Mass was celebrated by Msgr. Guarino. Unfortunately, he and his concelebrants had already served and left before I entered the school in 1978. So even then I did not get to talk with any of the men who taught me in those formative days.
I did not attend any previous reunions for the Class of '82. Maybe because there were no girls in the school and thus no women to arrange reunions the events don't happen as one might like. This is not to say that the men of Pi-High could not arrange an event, as last night's organizers most certainly did so. However, the prime organizers were from the Class of '77 that was celebrating its 30th reunion. I understand hasty Class of '82 reunions were held over the years but again I was not there.
The Class of '82 attendees were Rich Duffy (the prime '82 organizer) who had just buried his dad the day before, Juan Cadavid, Rob McMullin, Jim Dotzler and me. Jim attended Mass with his wife but for health reasons he was not able to continue on to the reception. The remaining four found their way to the St. Agnes Parish Center in Rockville Centre for an open bar and vegetarian-friendly hors d'oeuvres and buffet very nicely arranged by Guy Bolognese from the Class of '77. Rich's wife, Denise, and son attended Mass but did not move on to the dinner. Juan brought his mom to Mass and she was beaming with pride for her successful son. Juan mentioned that his mom had come to many regular and holiday services at the Pius Chapel over the years.
The four of us sat at a table for quite some time discussing the old days, nowadays and the days in between. All of us are married. Some of us started families earlier than others but each of us has children. We actually wrapped up the evening rather early, around 11:00, the three locals citing those women and children to get home to. While my bunch was back home in Pittsburgh, I'm not so outgoing as to bust into the Class of '77 attendees to make small talk so I headed back to my room at the Hampton Inn.
My time at Mass was strange. I certainly remember sitting in the appropriate section for my year. (The whole goal was not to get to daily Mass so late that one had to sit in the row in front of the guys a year ahead. One just never knew what someone might be up to behind you. ) I was not taken back 25 years but I did definitely recall much. Again, though without the priests from my years at the altar, the stage was just not set for a truly proper reminiscence. The physical setting though was right - the dark blue stained glass and crucifix were as I recalled.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)