11
T H E E VA N G E L I S T
May 5, 2011
MOTHER’S DAY/WOMEN WOMEN IN THE NEWS
TOUR GUIDE
Have you heard? BY KATE BLAIN EDITOR
Local Catholic author MARY DETURRIS POUST has a new book, “The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass.” It includes lessons on Scripture, saints, prayer methods, the new translation of the Roman Missal that will be used at liturgies beginning this Advent, and more. It’s available at www.amazon.com.... BARBARA GUZMAN, an attorney and parishioner of St. Luke’s Church in Schenectady, recently gave a talk at the parish on faith and legal issues for families — including misconceptions about healthcare proxies and family law. “I just wanted to give back to my parish,” she told The Evangelist. “The better informed you are, the more control you have”.... In related news, the bishops of New York State have released a booklet on end-of-life decision making. “Now and at the Hour of Our Death” explains Church teaching, particularly on the distinction between “ordinary” and “extraordinary” means of preserving life, and urges Catholics to designate a healthcare proxy. To download the booklet, go to www.nyscatholic.org; to order copies, call 434-6195 or email kgallagher@nyscatholic.org.... This summer, the Daughters of Charity religious order, whose members serve in the Albany Diocese, will join three of its U.S. provinces into one called the Province of St. Louise. Based in St. Louis, it will be headed by SISTER LOUISE GALLAHUE, DC, who is the current provincial for the Albany Province. SISTER JANE GRAVES, DC, of the Albany Province will be the new province’s treasurer.... NICOLE KUJAN, a senior at Catholic Central High School in Troy, just won a second-place award for humanitarian efforts from the Zonta Club of Albany. She has taken mission trips to Mexico and Guatemala; volunteers at her parish, St. Ambrose in Latham; and has volunteered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, at a camp for children with disabilities and at a rescue ranch for horses. “We have only one life to live, and I want to live it the best way I know,” she said.... PATTI SCHWARTZ of the Hispanic Apostolate for the Albany Diocese was named by TV Channel 13 as an exemplary teacher recently. A Spanish teacher in the Galway Central School District, she represents St. Clement’s parish in Saratoga
Springs on the apostolate’s board.... DR. HOLLY EVANS MADISON, a nursing professor at Maria College in Albany, was selected to give a presentation on rural women and heart disease at a nursing research congress in Mexico.... The Academy of the Holy Names in Albany has named SUSAN O’BRIEN BRADSHAW its alumnae relations manager. She is an AHN alumna herself and the parent of a ninthgrader there.... Catholic Charities Disabilities Services has appointed ANNE OGDEN its new executive director. A Scotia resident, she has worked for Catholic Charities since 1998, including as associate executive director for Disabilities Services.... The College of Saint Rose in Albany held a “Take Back the Night” rally and march against sexual violence recently, and more than 500 students, faculty, staff and community members participated in the “Relay for Life” for the American Cancer Society.... Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady recently welcomed guest speaker KATHLEEN GALLAGHER of the New York State Catholic Conference, which advocates for the state’s bishops on public policy concerns. She addressed the junior morality class on stem cell research.... CASSANDRA BUTCH and HANNAH MYERS of St. Jude the Apostle School in Wynantskill donated their profits from selling Girl Scout cookies to the Mohawk and Hudson Humane Society. They also donated towels, blankets and sheets — and Cassandra adopted Harley the cat from the shelter.... The New York State Right to Life Committee held a “Lobby for Life Day” in early May at the state capitol, supporting legislation to ban sex-selection abortion. Catholic spokesperson AMANDA PAWLOWSKI addressed participants....
She brings Albany history to life BY ANGELA CAVE STA F F W R I T E R
She’s deflected zombies, tolerated sunburns and worn a furry duck suit — all to make people love her city as much as she does. Maeve McEneny, 27, uses her acting, writing and teaching skills to guide tours for Albany Aqua Ducks and Trolleys. And “there isn’t anything she won’t do” to make the tours fun and interesting, said Maureen Lundberg, an owner and operator of the company. “She’s magic.” For instance, Ms. McEneny has created theatrical pirate tours and “ghost hunter” tours, both infused with educational facts and historical reenactments about Albany. A 2006 graduate of Siena College in Loudonville with a bachelor’s degree in English education, Ms. McEneny fills her days with substitute teaching, test scoring and tour guiding. In her free time, she cleans the Aqua Ducks boat, directs and acts in plays, writes grants for children’s theater groups and mentors young actors. On her tours, Ms. McEneny can’t help but mention her Irish Catholic roots, perhaps because historic churches dot the routes. “I can’t tell the story about Albany without talking about churches. I know we’re condensing the parishes, but the buildings are important,” she told The Evangelist, pointing to the example of St. Joseph’s Church, which closed in 1994 but has hosted concerts and art exhibits, thanks to the Historic Albany Foundation. The tour guide is already brainstorming future uses for the recently-closed St. Teresa of Avila Church building, where she was baptized and her parents married. “We’ve got to get creative,” she declared. “Nothing makes me sadder than an empty historic building.” Ms. McEneny believes her role as a guide is to bring history to life and to “show people what an amazing city Albany is; what
potential it has.” Tourists often tell her they’ve lived in Albany their whole lives without learning about its finer points. “It’s basically literature,” Ms. McEneny said of tours she’s crafted, like the one focused on German neighborhoods. Another tour’s historical theme is “fires in Albany.” Customers range from history buffs to children looking for a fun time, so Ms. McEneny likes to create characters and catchphrases. “Here I am on this ridiculous boat, and you have to be silly,” she remarked. So, in addition to passing out “quacking” noisemakers, Ms. McEneny sometimes falls back on stories passed on by her father, Jack McEneny, a wellknown Albany historian and politician. Five generations of her father’s family and six generations of her mother’s lived along her routes. A favorite tale involves her grandmother’s lost yellow cat, which a brewer near Lincoln Park found rolling around in beer hops: “He did nothing but drink water for one week and sleep,” Assemblyman McEneny told The Evangelist with a laugh. Those little stories liven up his daughter’s tours, the assemblyman noted, boasting that “what makes her tours interesting is the trivia. She puts in the flesh and blood, not just the names and dates and brick and mortar.” Ms. McEneny often turns to her father to research a new topic: “She has very good writing ability, and you just sort of wind her up and she knows where to go,” he said. “She was always bent that way. We always had dinner together and there was always storytelling.” Tour customers often tell Ms. McEneny they attended Christian Brothers Academy in Albany with her father or knew her grandmother. “‘Smallbany’ stuff comes out,” she quipped. “That’s what I think is the most fun.” Sometimes, what happens off
MAEVE MCENENY the bus also entertains her. Passersby have called police when they saw actors dressed as zombies approaching the bus during her ghost tours — and when actors reenact the 1931 killing of gangster and bootlegger Legs Diamond on Dove Street, people sometimes run to the “dying” man’s aid. Assemblyman McEneny said his daughter’s finesse for acting stems back to childhood, when her older brother, John, directed his three siblings and neighborhood children in original productions. Her Catholicism was another role passed down by her family. Ms. McEneny calls herself a Franciscan — partly because her family owned a menagerie of pets, and partly because of the Franciscan clergy who educated her at Siena College. “They believe 100 percent in what they’re doing,” she said. The social justice lessons in college inspired her to attend death penalty protests and donate the proceeds of a play she directed to a Catholic Charities group volunteering in Juarez, Mexico. Still, she admitted, her advocacy efforts have slipped in recent years: “I wish I were better. I feel like it’s the only thing missing in my life right now.” Ms. McEneny wants to settle into a full-time career that involves education. “I’m super busy and I’m all over the place,” she said. “But I’m really happy. I’ve got to find the thing that pays the bills and makes me happy. I want to be that instrument that helps you discover something.”
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MAY 8th
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374-4414