Xavier Magazine: Summer 2018

The magazine for alumni, parents, and friends of Xavier High School

Summer 2018

Qui Sumus

SUMMER 2018

Xavier High School Jack Raslowsky P’16 President Michael LiVigni P’21 Headmaster Rev. John Replogle, S.J. ’51 Assistant to the President Shawna Gallagher Vega, APR Director of Communications Editor, Xavier Magazine Contributors Jeanette Alvarez James Costa ’02 Rev. James Croghan, S.J. Anthony Flynn ’19 John Foley P’77 ’79 ’81 ’84 ’86 Annie Happel Shane Lavin ’03 Peter McCord ’49† John Meditz ’66 Dr. Joseph Petriello Kyle Stelzer ’13 Lindsay Willert Lead Photographer Michael Marmora Contributing Photographers Harisch Studios Stephanie Massaro Mike Olivieri Mark Wyville Design Erbach Communications Group How to Reach Us Xavier Magazine Xavier High School 30 West 16th Street New York, NY 10011 Email: news@xavierhs.org Class Notes: classnotes@xavierhs.org

Xavier’s Mission

Founded in 1847, Xavier High School is an academically rigorous, Catholic, Jesuit, college preparatory school in New York City that educates intelligent, motivated young men of diverse backgrounds and means. Xavier teaches students to take responsibility for their lives, to lead with integrity, to act justly in service of others, to pursue excellence in every endeavor and to deepen their relationship with God. Ultimately, Xavier forms young men who will go forth to transform the world for God’s greater glory.

On the Cover

Five Xavier students— Julian Navarro ’19, Arthur Gange ’19, Lucas Vacco ’20, Alexander Stuhr ’19, and Will Shelton ’19—crossed Fifth Avenue together on their way to the Union Square subway in May.

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From the President News from 16th Street Advancing Xavier Maroon and Blue Class Notes Back Story

Featured in This Issue 12. Who We Are 18. Men for Others: 45 Years Later 24. Stand So All the World Can See: The 2018 Hall of Fame Class 34. One Parting Shot

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

Qui Sumus: Who We Are Dear Parents, Friends, and Sons of Xavier: These are complicated times.

Divisiveness in Washington, distrust of institutions, and a lack of civility are rampant. It is not the first time our nation has seen such strife, yet the strife invites us to consider who we are (qui sumus) and invites us to return to our roots. We hope to do so in this magazine—to consider who we are as a Catholic, Jesuit institution. Our intention is to invite reflection, prayer, and dialogue. It is not to “out-Catholic” or “out-Jesuit” anyone. It is not to add fuel to any fire; it is to bring light, not heat. We hope to provide a primer of sorts to our work—a reminder to some, a tutorial to others—an explanation of who we are, what we teach, and why we teach it. It is not to compel complete agreement. It is to provide clarity, and if there is disagreement, an agreed upon starting point for that disagreement. So I invite you to read, pray, and consider carefully who we are—and to set aside preconceptions and judgment—so you can find God in your reading, prayer, and reflection. Nothing could be more Ignatian.

When thinking about who we are, it is often helpful for me to think about the men of Xavier who by their lives embody the mission and vision of this institution. No one person gets it all perfectly. We all embody it in part, and some do it extremely well.

Peter McCord ’49†, John Meditz ’66, John Kelly H’15 P’09 ’10†, and Dan Dougherty are men who help us answer that question: “Who are we?”

I came upon Peter McCord’s One Parting Shot (A Buzzer Beater?) last September when celebrating with the Class of 1949 at their annual gathering in Spring Lake. I have spent a good deal of time with the class over the years, but somehow Peter’s reflection on his 50th reunion escaped me. If I had to pick one word on who we are, it would be Peter’s.

John Meditz is no stranger to readers of these pages. For decades he has been a generous benefactor, committed trustee, and source of wise counsel for presidents from Jim Keenan, S.J. to me.

John recently concluded his four-year term as chair of the Board

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of Trustees. His time as chair, like the years preceding it, has been characterized by a deep commitment to mission and a deep belief in the faculty and students of this great institution. For John, it has never been about him, but about Xavier. He is a man who enjoys a spirited debate, and he always remains anchored on the common ground of the Jesuit education we share. His time as chair is concluding, but his service will not. It will continue to be a gift to Xavier.

John Kelly was called home to the Lord in May. He was a great blessing to me and all who knew him. To be with John was to experience the words of the psalmist. Indeed goodness and kindness followed John all the days of his life and he now dwells in the house of the Lord forever. We were blessed to walk the road with him.

Dan Dougherty concluded his tenure on 16th Street on June 30. What a tenure it was. His work has earned the admiration of all.

His thoroughness and thoughtfulness, his ability to get to the heart of the matter, and his skill at asking the essential and insightful question helped Xavier to thrive over the last seven years. His partnership with me in the work will long remain one of the great undeserved gifts of my years in Jesuit education. There are few better than Dan. Please keep Dan’s work at Cristo Rey New York, where he now serves as president, in your prayers. Like our most recent graduates, Dan goes forth to transform the world for God’s greater glory. May he succeed in abundance.

As you read this, Fr. Jim Croghan, S.J. is safely ensconced as the new superior of the Boston College High School Jesuit Community.

As rector of the Xavier Jesuit Community, Jim shared with me the task of animating this work. He did so with great faith, friendship, love, and care. Godspeed Jim. There is a lot to read in this magazine. From my essay on who we are, to the reflections on Pedro Arrupe and Men for Others, to stories of great generosity and lives well lived, the magazine answers the question: “Who are we?” Through it, may we all come to a deeper understanding of Xavier and who we are in God’s eyes.

Be assured of my prayers.

Sincerely,

Jack Raslowsky President

NEWS FROM 16TH STREET

Lessons from Fr. Greg As the school year wound down in May, students paused to learn lessons outside the classroom—lessons of compassion and kinship. Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J., founder of Homeboy Industries (the world’s largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program) and author of The New York Times bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, visited Xavier alongside Jose Arellano and Steve Avalos, two former gang members whose lives were changed by Homeboy.

“Xavier is not the place you’ve come to, it’s the place you go from,” Fr. Greg told students. “You go from here to create a community of kinship such that God, in fact, might recognize it. There’s only one way to do that, and that is to go to the margins—for if you stand at the margins, that’s the only way they’ll get erased.”

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NEWS FROM 16TH STREET

Salvador, Sanchez Earn Bene Merenti Medals At Jesuit high schools and colleges around the world, there is a long tradition of honoring the dedicated service of veteran faculty and staff members. At Xavier, those who have completed more than 20 years of service are awarded the Bene Merenti medal.

This year, two members of the faculty and staff earned the prestigious prize—modern and classical languages department chair Israel Salvador and Jose Sanchez, a member of the maintenance staff.

President Jack Raslowsky awarded the Bene Merenti medal to Sanchez, a native of Colombia, at Xavier’s Ascension Thursday Mass on May 10.

“Jose Sanchez came to Xavier in 1997 to renovate the old band room in Hurtado Hall and the third and fourth floors of D building. The president at the time, Fr. Daniel Gatti, S.J. ’59, was so impressed with his work that he was invited to work at Xavier permanently,” Headmaster Michael LiVigni P’21 said during the medal presentation. “Since that time, Jose has probably painted and plastered the walls of our school 10 times over, and as many of you can attest, he is often seen around campus with a paintbrush in his hand. Quick with a joke and a smile, Jose’s 20 years at Xavier have been marked by a reliable and steady service to the school and her students.”

“Jose is a valuable asset to our community,” added Frank Leahy P’10, director of the physical plant. “His steady presence and hard work are a reflection of all that Xavier stands for.”

On June 14, Israel Salvador was awarded his Bene Merenti medal during graduation at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. LiVigni recounted Salvador’s history at Xavier, which began when he acted as a liaison to the Blue Night Band and coordinated its performance schedule in Mexico City in 1995.

“In the interaction with our students, Mr. Salvador came to realize that he could offer much more than organizing a tour for visiting students. He recognized the importance of being bilingual and how he could be a bridge between different cultures by knowing other languages,” LiVigni recalled. “Because of his experience, Mr. Salvador decided to give up his career in marketing for the Mexican government and become a linguist.

He came to the United States to study at Fordham University in 1995.” In 1998, he began working at Xavier.

“He is a gentleman in every sense of the word—a teacher who brings a multicultural outlook to Xavier and his beloved Spanish classes,” said Vicente Vargas, Salvador’s friend and fellow Spanish

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1. Jose Sanchez, center, with Frank Leahy P’10, left, and a friend after receiving his Bene Merenti award. 2. Israel Salvador after receiving his medal at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

teacher. “He is proud of his Mexican roots and instills in every one of his students a love for his culture and language.”

“He is the quintessential Jesuit educator—a man for others,” echoed French and Spanish teacher Cindy Castro. “He is kind, cares deeply for his students and colleagues, and challenges our young men to be the best that they can be. His warm and wonderful sense of humor, understated elegance, and dignified demeanor are much beloved among our Xavier family.”

SWEENEY TODD ENTERTAINS In April, the Xavier Dramatics Society staged Stephen Sondheim’s dark musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Keenan Commons.

The show marked the culmination of months of rehearsals to master the challenging score. “The music is very orchestral, very operatic,” said Will Shelton ’19, who played the title role. “It’s very dark, but I think everyone can relate to it. Past the darkness, Sweeney Todd is about love—family love, human connection, and what you would do to redeem that.”

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NEWS FROM 16TH STREET

Exploring the Role of Women in the Church

Shawna Gallagher Vega and Kaija DeWitt in the Aula of the Jesuit Curia. “Having the opportunity to take a seat in the Jesuit Aula in Rome, a room where Superiors General are elected, where Jesuits seek to re-evaluate the future of the Society, was wonderful,” DeWitt said. “Especially because we were there to discuss the role of women’s leadership in the Church.”

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Hundreds of Catholic women from around the world convened at the Jesuit Curia in Rome on March 8 for Voices of Faith’s fifth annual International Women’s Day symposium. Titled “Why Women Matter,” the event served as a celebration of Catholic women and a challenge to the Church’s hierarchy to work toward greater inclusion of women in leadership roles.

Director of Campus Ministry Kaija DeWitt and Director of Communications Shawna Gallagher Vega traveled to Italy for the symposium, which featured former President of Ireland Mary McAleese as its keynote speaker.

“Back in this hall in 1995, the Jesuit Congregation asked God for the grace of conversion from a patriarchal Church to a Church of equals—a Church where women truly matter not on terms designed by men for a patriarchal Church, but on terms which make Christ matter,” McAleese said, recalling the goals of General Congregation 34. “Only such a Church of equals is worthy of Christ.”

Other notable speakers included Tina Beattie, director of London’s Catherine of Siena College, and Luke Hansen, S.J., an American Jesuit living in Rome. Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson, a journalist and coproducer of 60 Minutes, served as master of ceremonies.

During the rest of their time in the Eternal City, DeWitt and Gallagher Vega took time to visit the Vatican, attending a papal audience and a special penance service at St. Peter’s Basilica. Led by Fr. Hansen, they also visited important sites in Ignatian Rome, including the Church of the Gesú, the Rooms of St. Ignatius, and the Church of St. Ignatius, where they attended a special Mass celebrated by Arturo Sosa, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on the 450th anniversary of the birth of St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

A Jesuit If This spring, Anthony Flynn ’19 penned a poem inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s If and the Profile of the Graduate at Graduation. An involved student whose activities range from the Regiment to co-presidency of the Hip-Hop Society, Flynn read his poem when he addressed the Class of 2019 at the Junior Liturgy.

Flanked by Brooklyn Prep Alumni Association president Brian Duffy and moderator Dan Fitzpatrick, S.J., Jack Raslowsky accepted the 2018 Brooklyn Prep Honorary Alumnus award on May 3. Brooklyn Prep closed in 1972, but its alumni remain active supporters of Jesuit education. Their offices are housed at Xavier.

“Each of you—the alumni of Brooklyn Prep—give witness to the greatest hopes of the Society of Jesus: to form men of faith who are committed to justice. Your lives, your work, and your support give life to Jesuit education today and directly make our mission real. … As long as Xavier stands, know that the gifts you have given, we shall never forget.”

— Jack Raslowsky

If you are open to growth, in both mind and spirit, And can cherish each chance rather than fear it, If you can challenge your creativity toward imagination, And yet acknowledge your own limitations; If you can love each intellectual endeavor and learning’s quest And strive hard to prepare for every test, But accept the importance of a faith beyond mere intellect, Because there are religious truths one must respect; If you can understand—and improve—your parish and Church, If you can make spirituality part of life’s search, If you can speak to and listen for your own conception of God, And proudly partake in rites and traditions others find odd; If you can move beyond your own interests and identity, And make fulfilling the needs of others a source of serenity, If you can take a chance at fully loving and cherishing another, In a way that accepts their mysteries and does not smother; If you can see your own world as embracing the local and global, And contribute to each such community in ways that are noble, Serving responsibly your fellow humanity with concern and competence, Always giving a devotion to what is right, a worthy prominence; If you can make all of these your marks and also earn your grades, Being done with the JROTC and marching in parades, You’ve earned something beyond some paper honors won, Indeed, you’ll be a worthy Jesuit grad, my son.

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NEWS FROM 16TH STREET

Reflections from the Border During Holy Week, guidance counselor Annie Happel, Director of Ignatian Service Programs Greg Stelzer ’11, and nine Xavier students traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to work with the Kino Border Initiative and spend time in solidarity with migrants. Below, Happel reflects on the experience.

By Annie Happel

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amilies divided by a wall: a mother torn between attending her own mother’s funeral and staying in the United States with her three children in order to care for her disabled son. A 62-year-old grandfather leaves his home in the south of Mexico and travels 20 hours to the border in an attempt to earn money to send back in hopes that his family back home might suffer less scarcity of food. These were just two of the many stories that touched me during the week I spent with Xavier in Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border this past Easter break. Nine energetic and concerned students gave up a portion of their vacation, spending their mornings spearheading breakfast service at El Comedor— just on the Mexico side of the border—for migrant men and 8 XAVIER MAGAZINE

women. Refilling salsa bowls, restocking plates of tortillas, and passing out hot portions of rice, beans, and some fragrant combination of eggs, potatoes, and meat, our students brought together the meal that brought together people from various countries and backgrounds with often dire life situations and plans filled with risk—but with hope.

Through service, reflection, and life in community, we were afforded the blessed opportunity to pass through the lives of people living in poverty with dreams for their families and for their future.

We returned to New York with a firsthand view of an issue at the forefront of the media, having seen human faces and heard real-life stories to put to the words we hear on the news.

Maggie Murphy Stockson Named Director of Strategic Initiatives

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After four years in Chicago, former Director of Annual Giving Maggie Murphy Stockson returned to 16th Street in July to serve in the newly created role of Director of Strategic Initiatives.

It’s been a busy few years for the Georgetown, NYU, and Fordham grad. During her time in Chicago, she served on the founding leadership team for Arrupe College, an innovative twoyear college housed by Loyola University Chicago that offers a rigorous liberal arts education to a diverse population—many of whom are the first in their families to go to college. “It’s the most exciting thing in higher education right now,” she said.

In her role as Assistant Dean of Advancement at Arrupe, Murphy Stockson partnered with Dean and Executive Director Steve Katsouros, S.J., on strategic planning and the identification, cultivation, and solicitation of principal, major, and annual donors. Fr. Katsouros is a former Xavier trustee who served as president of Loyola School from 2002-11.

As she worked to launch the college, Murphy Stockson took on a leadership role with the Ignatian Solidarity Network in 2016 when she was named to its Board of Trustees. And on March 12, she and her husband, Gil Stockson (who is currently finishing his Ph.D. in theology at Notre Dame) took on their biggest roles yet when they welcomed their first child, Luke Gilbert.

The Stocksons are thrilled to return to the New York area, where they have many family and personal connections. “I’m looking forward to reconnecting,” said Murphy Stockson, who served at Cristo Rey New York High School as its first Director of Finance and Operations before coming to Xavier in 2011.

Her new responsibilities on 16th Street include leading task forces and committees addressing strategic issues, coordinating the work of the Board of Trustees to encourage best practices in nonprofit governance, serving as the Board’s secretary, and acting as Xavier’s ombudsperson.

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity to come back,” she said.

“Xavier is a very special place for me.”

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NEWS FROM 16TH STREET

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News & Notes At the New York/New Jersey Regional Botball Autonomous Robotics Tournament in May, Xavier’s robotics teams won multiple awards including 1st Place Overall, 1st Place Judges’ Choice, 1st Place Seeding Round, 2nd and 3rd Place Double Elimination Round, and a Judges’ Choice Award for Outstanding Engineering.

Xavier was led by Kwesi Frank ’18, Corey Sheridan ’18, Jonathan Geruso ’18, Ike Lyons ’18, Joe Ruocco ’18, and computer science and technology department chair Michael Chiafulio.

Three Xavier students triumphed in the 2018 New York Browning Society High School Poetry Contest, besting more than 120 of their peers from public, private, and parochial high schools. Julian Navarro ’19 won in the competition’s Original Category, while Eli Schuchert ’18 and Kalvin Singleton ’21 prevailed in the Browning Inspired Category.

In May, the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese recognized Melvin Martinez ’21, who earned third place in the bilingual category in this year’s National Spanish Exam. Martinez took Spanish I Honors with Colleen Rober during the 2017-18 school year.

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In May, Jonathan Logan ’18 received a Certificate of Accomplishment from the New York City Committee for the Princeton Prize in Race Relations.

During his senior year at Xavier, Logan served as president of The Spectrum, a student group that works to improve race relations at school and in the greater community. He now attends Howard University.

Xavier’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track teams brought home a triple crown for the second consecutive year, winning city and NYCHSAA titles in each of the three sports.

The varsity lacrosse team won its second consecutive CHSAA B division title on May 19, defeating Mount St. Michael Academy, 13-11, at Columbia University.

The varsity rugby team won its sixth consecutive New York State title on May 28, defeating Fordham Prep, 33-8, on the campus of Binghamton University.

Religion teacher Robert Cortegiano recently became a Fellow of the Academy for Teachers, an organization that honors New York City’s strongest educators. On April 30, he participated in an Academy

Master Class titled “Is Death Evil?” at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery.

The class, taught by Yale University philosophy professor Dr. Shelly Kagan, brought together public and private school teachers for a day of conversation about the philosophy of death and how educators engage students regarding universal questions of meaning and existence.

In May, Director of Campus Ministry Kaija DeWitt delivered the Joan Sexton Memorial Women in the Church Lecture at St. Boniface Church in Brooklyn. The following month, she and former Xavier science teacher Alex Lavy journeyed to Spain to walk the Camino Ignaciano (or Ignatian Way), a pilgrimage that traces St. Ignatius’ famous journey from Loyola to Montserrat and Manresa in 1522.

Incoming religion department chair Jonathan Dwyer traveled to Jordan for a nine-day immersion program for educators in March. The program engaged teachers with geopolitical, cultural, and religious issues in the contemporary Middle East.

Drama instructor Nicole DiMarco will star in a new film, Paris is in Harlem, which will begin shooting this fall.

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1. Julian Navarro ’19 and Kalvin Singleton ’21, winners of the New York Browning Society High School Poetry Contest. 2. Melvin Martinez ’21, one of New York’s highest scorers on the National Spanish Exam. 3. Drama teacher Nicole DiMarco, left, and David Orlando ’17 at the East Coast premiere of The Rainbow Experiment in February. Alongside them are the film’s writer and director, Christina Kallas, actress Lauren Sowa, and editor Natalie Reneau. 4. Jonathan Dwyer, second from left, in Jordan this March. 5. Members of the victorious Xavier robotics team at the New York/New Jersey Regional Botball Autonomous Robotics Tournament in May. 6. The varsity rugby team after winning Xavier’s sixth consecutive state title.

The film’s director, Christina Kallas, previously cast DiMarco and several Xavier alumni in The Rainbow Experiment, which premiered in January at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The film won the Audience Award at the Harlem International Film Festival in May. At the invitation of English teacher Margaret Gonzalez, Ciarán Madden, the Consul General of Ireland in New York, spoke about efforts to keep Irish culture alive before a standing-room only crowd of students, faculty, and staff in Arrupe Library in May. Earlier this summer, Dr. Stephen Haller ’05 participated in a program that brought New York City teachers together to craft family history assignments in conjunction with the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). The ultimate goal of the program, which was sponsored by the NHPRC and St. John’s University, was to foster student engagement and encourage citizen activism.

Religion teacher James Hederman, S.J. once again offered popular communitywide opportunities to pray the Rosary

during the month of May in the Student Chapel of Our Lady.

Fine arts teacher Denise Iacovone produced a musical called Mulberry Street this summer. Her husband, former Xavier music teacher Rocco Iacovone ’62, served as musical director and as a cast member.

English teacher Jennifer KennedyOrlando P’21 starred in a music video this summer. “My friend Paul Mahos put my roller derby league, Strong Island Derby Revolution, in the upcoming video for his new song ‘The Sign,’” she said.

Joe Korfmacher, Xavier’s Director of College Counseling, attended a counselor fly-in program at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, this spring. Along with 30 college counselors from around the world, Korfmacher was invited to spend three days near the Bocconi campus to meet students, professors, and administrators. “As more and more international colleges and universities are recruiting American students, these schools see the importance of getting the students’ counselors on their campuses to understand how their programs operate and to discover the culture of the area,” Korfmacher said. “Xavier has seen an uptick in international college

matriculation in recent years, so it is important that the college counselors understand the landscape of international college admissions.”

Director of Alumni Relations Zane Massey ’96 P’22 earned a master’s degree in Sport Administration from Canisius College this spring.

Director of Development Mark Mongelluzzo was appointed to the Board of Directors of his alma mater, Holy Cross High School in Queens.

Fine arts department chair Renzo Ventrella ’92 exhibited his artwork at Staten Island’s Garibaldi-Meucci Museum this spring and summer. “The exhibit featured work in pen-and-ink, watercolor, and digital media and explored my roots as a child of the ’70s and ’80s growing up in an Italian-American household, reflecting the artistic influences I found in pop culture,” Ventrella said.

In June, the Public Relations Society of America’s New York chapter honored Xavier with a Big Apple Award for its 2016-17 Annual Report, Legacy.

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WHO WE ARE

By Jack Raslowsky

MISSION MATTERS

had just climbed down from the dais during a break at the Cathedral Club of Brooklyn Dinner at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square in February when I saw a father making a beeline toward me.

“Are we a social justice school or a Catholic school?” he asked.

It was a variant of a question I’ve heard a whole lot this past year. “Who are we?” It surfaced around discussions of race and racist symbols. It surfaced when we dedicated the Antonin G. Scalia ’53 Conference Room. It surfaced when students walked out in memory of the students who died in Parkland.

It surfaced when we stood with Dreamers and advocated for comprehensive immigration reform.

It is a very fair question. Yet more often than not, it is not a question being asked, but a point being made: a feeling that Xavier is not being true to itself, or not being what the questioner wants Xavier to be. It is a question that has come from both sides of the political divide on every issue. At times the question is asked to ensure Xavier is on one side, and more importantly, against the other.

Given the pervasiveness of the question and the need for clarity, this article is our answer.

Who is Xavier? Who are we?

When I decided to accept the Board’s offer to be Xavier’s 33rd president, it was Xavier’s deep-rooted understanding of her mission that drew me to 16th Street. Xavier was an institution that knew who she was, why she existed, and what she stood for. Every day I have been at Xavier has confirmed these feelings of 10 years ago.

Our mission statement is clear, direct, and compelling.

Founded in 1847, Xavier High School is an academically rigorous, Catholic, Jesuit, college preparatory school in New York City that educates intelligent, motivated young men of diverse backgrounds and means.

Xavier teaches students to take responsibility for their lives, to lead with integrity, to act justly in service of others, to pursue excellence in every endeavor and to deepen their relationship with God. Ultimately, Xavier forms young men who will go forth to transform the world for God’s greater glory.

So who are we?

We are an institution that gives life to those 80 words each and every day. Often wonderfully well, occasionally less so, yet always striving for excellence, always striving to lead, and always striving to give glory to God. Great organizations think a lot about mission. They talk about it, examine it, test it, push boundaries with it, reflect on it, and pray about it.

For me, the essential word in our mission statement is Jesuit.

That word contains a world of words and ideas. Within Jesuit is the great history and spirituality of the Society of Jesus: the Spiritual Exercises and the Examen; our responsiveness to the needs of the Church; the wonderful lives of those who shape us: Ignatius, Xavier, Faber, John Courtney Murray 1920†, Arrupe, Kolvenbach, Bergoglio; the great missionary spirit and commitment to evangelization; the willingness to take risks and blaze new paths; our courage and our ability to live with conflicting tensions.

Within Jesuit is our Catholic identity and within that identity is our place within the Church, the grace of the sacraments, the

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MISSION MATTERS

From left: Pope Paul VI; Pope Francis; the dedication of the Scalia Conference Room. Opposite page: A scene from the Second Vatican Council

mystery of our faith, our lens to understanding and engaging the world, our philosophical and theological patrimony, our social teaching, and our history of saints and sinners.

The Church gave birth to the Society, nurtures her, and sustains her. It is the teaching of the Church that we teach, witness, and promote. God created the world. God became flesh and dwelt among us. He lived, died, and rose from the dead to redeem the world. God continues to be with us throughout history. The world has indeed been charged with the grandeur of God. God is present and active in our world.

The social teaching of the Church springs forth from this reality. And that teaching touches all aspects of our lives—work, capital, freedom, religious liberty, justice, relationships, war, and peace. Popes from Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum to Francis in Evangelii Gaudium have shown remarkable continuity in their teaching and their exhortations to the faithful.

It is our Jesuit identity that compels us to be explicit about our Catholic identity. It is something about which we are unapologetic.

Our treatment of every issue that caused some controversy this year was deeply rooted in our Catholic, Jesuit identity. It is not the liturgical, scriptural, or sacramental issues that were flashpoints, but the social teaching and pastoral issues related to that teaching.

This is in large part because the issues are seen as political and the mixing of religion and politics makes many uncomfortable.

While the Constitution guarantees the government will not interfere with the free exercise of religion, and the tax code and other legislation rightfully keeps churches and other religious institutions from partisan activities, not only are religious 14 XAVIER MAGAZINE

institutions not barred from political engagement, they may well have an obligation to engage. The history of the Catholic Church is a history—often for better, sometimes not—of the Church engaging in political issues. From the pacifism of the earliest Christians, which led many to martyrdom, to the call of John Paul II against the war in Iraq, the Church from the humblest of believers to the Bishop of Rome has been engaged in political life locally, nationally, and globally. This has been true in prayer and action, in teaching and preaching, and in the teaching documents of the Church from local bishops, bishops’ conferences, the Vatican, and the Popes. This engagement at its best works for the common good and seeks to create a more just society.

On December 7, 1965, during the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI proclaimed the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) which speaks directly to “the presence and activity of the Church in the world today.” It begins: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing generally human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds.”

In discussing political life, the Council makes clear: “There is no better way to establish political life on a truly human basis

Second Vatican Council by Lothar Wolleh

than by fostering an inward sense of justice and kindliness, and of service to the common good.” It goes on to state that “all citizens, therefore, should be mindful of the right and also the duty to use their free vote to further the common good.” The commitment to the common good is essential in the life of the Church.

In 2013, Pope Francis affirmed this message in Evangelii Gaudium: “Our redemption has a social dimension because ‘God, in Christ, redeems not only the individual person, but also…social relations.’ To believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in everyone means realizing that he seeks to penetrate every human situation and all social bonds. … Accepting the first proclamation, which invites us to receive God’s love and to love him in return with the very love which is his gift, brings forth in our lives and actions a primary and fundamental response: to desire, seek, and protect the good of others.”

In Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the bishops of the United States take up this theme as well: “Building a world of respect for human life and dignity, where justice and peace prevail, requires more than just political commitment. Individuals, families, businesses, community organizations, and governments all have a role to play. Participation in political life in light of fundamental moral principles is an essential duty for every Catholic and all people of good will.” (I commend Forming Consciences to your reflection as it builds squarely on the four principles of Catholic social teaching: the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity.)

In his morning reflection on September 16, 2013, in the Chapel

of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis noted, “We [all] need to participate [in politics] for the common good. Sometimes we hear: a good Catholic is not interested in politics. This is not true: good Catholics immerse themselves in politics by offering the best of themselves so that the leader can govern.”

I realize the difficulty of writing about politics in this time and place. No matter your age, we have rarely seen more divisive politics or greater partisanship. There has long been legislative gridlock in Washington and closer to home. There is ample distrust of political structures and political parties. The loudest voices often get the most attention and the thoughtful voices seem far too few. The friendships across party lines that were often models for civility and cooperation—Bob Dole and George McGovern, Joe Biden and John McCain, Nino Scalia ’53 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton—seem even rarer now. Nonetheless, as Catholic Christians, we remain people of hope and we have a responsibility to bring virtue and principle back to civil discourse, to model discipline and humility, and to look to our faith for guideposts. The teaching of the Church reflects years of insight and wisdom rooted in sacred scripture, grounded in prayer and responsive to the signs of the times. The potential of Church teaching to guide, inform, and assist us in creating a more just world is profound.

I recognize that we all bring our own history with certain Church teachings that we find troubling or complicated. I recognize as well that the sexual abuse crisis and other scandals have called many to question the moral authority of the Church. In this atmosphere my call to the wisdom of Church teaching may not always find

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Mass in the Church of St. Francis Xavier

fertile ground. The teaching of the Church, thankfully, reflects the collective wisdom of pastors, theologians, and the people of God through the years. There is great strength in collective wisdom and as we all know, difficulties in one area are often overcome by strengths in another.

I have been thinking and praying a lot about the tensions in the history of the Society, at Xavier, and in my own life. The more I do so, the more I find invitations for growth. I recently came upon an interview in Crux with Richard Gaillardetz, the Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology at Boston College.

Gaillardetz proposes that when encountering questions, doubt, and disagreement with Church teaching, we consider “wrestling” with the tradition. Wrestling by definition is not rejection.

Wrestling involves engagement and encounter. It is hard work. It is challenging. When we are wrestling, we cannot walk away. We cannot shut down. The process holds the potential for learning and growth. Wrestling with the tradition can open the possibility to encountering the world in new ways and repairing the breach. When we run into questions, doubts, or concerns with Church teaching or activities at Xavier based on that teaching, honest wrestling may be our best way to deal with those questions, doubts, and concerns.

Recognizing the God-given dignity of all and promoting the common good are the foundations of Catholic social teaching.

Following John XXIII in Mater et Magistra and the Second Vatican Council, the Church defines the common good as “the sum of the 16 XAVIER MAGAZINE

social conditions which allow people, either as groups or individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” The most complete realization of the common good occurs in the political community where the state’s role is “to defend and promote the common good of civil society, its citizens, and intermediate bodies.”

The Church notes three essential elements for the common good: respect for the individual, social well-being and development of the group, and peace which results from the stability of a just society.

The need for engagement in the world in service to the common good is clearly present in all platforms of the Church. As we give life to our mission, there are often political dimensions to doing so. We cannot shy away from politics. We must engage.

As we do so, you can and should expect certain things. We will be thoughtful, prayerful, respectful, and deliberate. We will always act rooted in the teaching of the Church and the best of our Jesuit and Ignatian patrimony. We will respect those “wrestling” with both Church teaching and our intellectual and pastoral response. We will always be transparent. We will neither hide nor make decisions to avoid controversy. In the Xavier E-News, Xavier Magazine, Xavier social media, as well as the Xavier Express for parents and guardians, we happily share life at Xavier. We know that at times some alumni, parents, and friends will find things controversial and will disagree. We hope the disagreements will be an invitation to wrestle with the issues. You can always be sure we will be willing to engage in dialogue with you about what we say and do.

Two examples from the past year may shine some light on all this.

Last fall, the dedication of the Scalia Conference Room was a cause of disappointment for a number of alumni for a host of reasons. We knew the decision would be controversial for some. Inhouse, some counseled against it: “The controversy is not worth it.”

After consideration, I moved ahead with the dedication. There were many reasons in my mind for us to do so. It was a celebration of the work of the Supreme Court and the work of a Son of Xavier on the court. It was a recognition of the Justice’s impact on constitutional interpretation. It celebrated a life of faith. It had the potential to inspire Xavier students and alumni. Yet I also recognize those who disagreed with Justice Scalia and understand their position. One of the hopes in honoring the Justice was to send a clear signal about how we as an institution deal with disagreement. We may differ in perspectives, ideas, and policies, but they should not separate us. I always want to believe that what unites us—commitment to service, care for others, faith in a God who loves us—is bigger and more important.

Years ago when his son Paul was graduating from St. Peter’s Prep, Matt Laracy wrote me a beautiful letter about his experience of St. Peter’s. He noted that one of the great joys of his Prep experience was that it was a “big table” around which lots of experiences and perspectives could gather rooted in faith and the love of God. (Matt taught at Xavier for a few years in the early 1970s and ran into his own political controversy when he invited speakers

from The Catholic Worker to discuss peace and pacifism in the midst of the Vietnam War.) It seems to me that Jesuit schools should be “big tables,” and we should strive to be so at Xavier.

In February, we sent an email inviting alumni, parents, and families to join with the bishops of the United States to advocate with elected officials to support the Dreamers by making DACA protections permanent. The Church has long advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. Xavier has a long history of welcoming immigrants and helping them enter American society.

We have students now at Xavier who are immigrants or children of immigrants. We have or have had Dreamers at Xavier as well as children whose parents are undocumented. New York City is home to an estimated 500,000 undocumented residents. This issue is very close to home and goes to the very core of Catholic social teaching: the fundamental human dignity of all people created in the image and likeness of God. There are numerous ways to handle comprehensive immigration reform, but the teaching of the Church is clear—that it must be handled with care for the least of our brothers and sisters. Our outreach to alumni, parents, and families was an action rooted in faith and mission. The political dimensions do not make it any less so.

There are lots of issues out there, and lots of issues the Church cares about. While we deal with most of them in the classroom, parents and alumni will not see this. They will get a glimpse of certain actions, speakers, and activities. Those are likely to be directly related to our own history and the lives of our students and their families. We have an institutional responsibility to lead. We will continue to do so guided by the teaching of the Church. We will do so committed to ensuring the God-given dignity of all people, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity. We may not always get it right, but we work really hard to do so. Whether you feel we get it right or wrong, I am always open to discussion about what we do.

Know that my door is always open for conversation.

So who are we? We are a Jesuit high school and all the wonderful, exciting, and sometimes conflicting things that entails.

Xavier is now what we have always been. We are an apostolic instrument of the Catholic Church who by word and deed shares the good news of salvation and strives to make that good news real in the world.

Jack Raslowsky is the president of Xavier High School and the parent of a 2016 graduate, Christian. He holds degrees from the University of Vermont, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology at Seton Hall University.

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MISSION MATTERS

Men for Others 45 YEARS LATER

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In 1973, Pedro Arrupe, S.J., then Superior General of the Society of Jesus, addressed a group of Jesuit high school alumni in Valencia, Spain, at the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe. His focus that day, appropriately, was education, long one of the Society’s chief apostolates.

“Today our prime educational objective must be to form men for others,” Arrupe said in his immortal speech, “…men and women who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men and women completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce.” Education for justice must be the focus of the global Society, Arrupe said that day—and his words had long-lasting effects.

On the pages that follow, four members of the Xavier community reflect on the impact of “Men for Others” on 16th Street and in their own lives.

Living Arrupe’s Call

By Dr. Joseph A. Petriello “How, then, shall we live?” I was a wide-eyed freshman at the College of the Holy Cross when this question was posed to us as a guiding light for our four years ahead. It’s a question that I have kept to heart in some way or another throughout my journey in Jesuit education: from Fordham Prep to Holy Cross, to Xavier and Fordham University, to the Provincial’s Office and back to the Prep as principal these past two years. It is a question also at the heart of Pedro Arrupe’s “Men for Others” speech which continues to challenge and inspire me as an Ignatian educator in new ways each time I return to it.

During my 12 years at Xavier, I was blessed to serve the mission and our students in many different ways, whether teaching the senior elective on social justice, leading a Kairos retreat, or traveling to Tennessee or Tijuana on a Companions of Xavier service trip. My seniors would always have to read Arrupe’s speech for class early in the semester. With fierce debate and respectful dialogue, we would explore the striking words of Arrupe: “Have we Jesuits educated you for justice? … In all sincerity and humility: No, we have not.” Were we doing any better back then? Are we doing any better now? Is the answer still no? I don’t believe it completely is, but we ought to always do more in the prayerful spirit of the magis.

As we continually seek new ways to educate young people committed to a faith that does justice, Arrupe’s impactful words still echo throughout the halls of Xavier, Fordham Prep, Regis, Loyola, St. Peter’s, and Jesuit schools across our country and our world. We are called to constantly seek the will of God in all that we do. For as Arrupe reflects, “It is that sensitiveness to the Spirit which enables us to recognize where, in what direction, Christ is calling us at different periods of history, and to respond to that call.”

Sons of Xavier respond to the call of Christ with hammer and nail in Robbins, Tennessee, building homes for low-income families in rural America. They respond to the call of Christ on the border between the U.S. and Mexico, mixing concrete and sharing stories that build bridges rather than walls. They respond to the call of Christ in local nursing homes and day care centers, or when they feed the hungry and provide companionship to those on the margins, to those most vulnerable.

To experience these graced moments is a tremendous privilege, an encounter of loving service and personal relationships that lead the Xavier community to unmask the social injustices and root causes of pain and suffering that all too often afflict God’s people. For Arrupe, service and justice is love witnessing itself in community: “Only those who love fully realize themselves as persons. To the extent that any of us shut ourselves off from others we do not become more a person; we become less.”

I fondly look back on my earliest years at Xavier and remember how central Arrupe’s inspirational and demanding message was in our community’s ongoing commitment to living out this call in our times. I was blessed to work alongside Greg Harkness and Anthony SooHoo, S.J. in Campus Ministry to build up the Arrupe’s impactful CFX program, and to dewords still echo sign curriculum with Bob Reinhart, Vin Laurato, throughout the and Steve Noga in the halls of Xavier, religion department. Both Fordham Prep, efforts strived to keep Regis, Loyola, Arrupe’s vision central to who we are and what St. Peter’s, and we did at Xavier. Over Jesuit schools the years, I learned from across our wonderful colleagues what country and it means to be an Ignatian educator who discerns around our world. in a spirit of truth and

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holiness, responding to the needs of the world with humility, compassion, and critical understanding: Fr. David Ciancimino, S.J., Kaija DeWitt, Margaret Gonzalez, Mike LiVigni P’21, and Lindsay Willert, just to name a select few (the list is very long!).

Arrupe teaches us that the call of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is nothing less than justice, peace, and mercy rooted in Gospel love: “How can you love someone and treat that person unjustly? Take justice away from love and you destroy love.” We who are Jesuit educated and seek to form the young lives entrusted to our care must always be ready to carefully and critically engage with our complex world. Arrupe doesn’t hold back anything: “To be drugged by the comforts of privilege is to become contributors to injustice as silent beneficiaries of the fruits of injustice.” Forty-five years later, we each face the reality of costly discipleship that comes with a faith that does justice.

To live simply, to draw no unjust profit, to reform unjust social structures—none of this is easy. Nor will any of us accomplish this work in a lifetime. But the grace and joy of community is always a place where we can be with one another and ask ourselves each day, “How, then, shall we live?” And in the stillness of silence, in the busyness of our service, and in the meaning of our vocations, we will hear God’s voice answer: with love, with peace, and with justice, as Jesus, my Son and your Brother lives. AMDG. Dr. Joseph Petriello is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Fordham University. He taught at Xavier from 2002-14, serving as Director of Ignatian Service Programs from 2005-12 and religion department chair from 2009-14. He is now principal at Fordham Preparatory School, his alma mater.

What Do Arrupe’s Words Mean Today?

By Lindsay Willert Having the opportunity to reflect on Pedro Arrupe’s “Men [and Women] for Others” address inevitably led me to consider the world as it is today.

My formation as a student in Jesuit schools took place well after his 1973 remarks when the force of his words had been felt and their effects taken root (not without some controversy), and so it feels fitting to think about his words and their value for a contemporary context and issues of justice. In his introduction, Arrupe notes that “today our prime educational objective must be to form…men and women 20 XAVIER MAGAZINE

Arrupe notes: “To be just, it is not enough to refrain from injustice.

One must go further and refuse to play its game, substituting love for self-interest as the driving force in society.” who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men and women completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce.” The scriptural injunction to love God and neighbor is familiar and binding. But who are our neighbors? And who are the least among them?

As Arrupe asks us to do, I turned to Scripture to re-educate myself and to engage the Gospel in the hope of understanding what these questions and faithful responses to them might mean today.

Jesus engages these questions most memorably in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In the lead up to the parable, Jesus is asked by a legal scholar, “And who is my neighbor?” The scholar wants to know whom he must love in order to inherit eternal life. He doesn’t seem apprehensive about the command to love. The subtext of his question, though, reveals a worldview in which there are those to whom he has no moral obligation. If some people are neighbors, then others are not. The latter of these are owed, and possibly deserve, nothing. But Jesus shatters traditional notions of neighbor in the parable that follows. The true neighbor in the story is the nameless Samaritan, an archetype for the despised, the suspect, the excommunicated, the one who doesn’t belong to the tribe. The Samaritan, at risk to his own safety and when others had refused, cared for the victim of a robbery. In this character, Jesus shifts the definition of neighbor from an identity to an action. The Samaritan is the neighbor, the one who treated him with concern, mercy, and righteousness. To act other than the Samaritan did while claiming to love God sets up the farce that Arrupe warns us about. And this farce is not a comedic one, but a moral and spiritual charade that makes a mockery of the good news.

So maybe the questions I need to ask today are not: who are my neighbors and who are the least among them? The more critical questions are: how have I acted as neighbor (or failed to) to those for whom justice and freedom from oppression are not yet realized? What is my attitude toward those who are oppressed and dehumanized from structures that I may benefit from? Have I taken the position that evil and oppression should be met with goodness or more oppression and dehumanization? Do I expect that those who have suffered much should suffer more? As Arrupe

reminds me, my responses to these questions must consider both personal and structural elements. And he notes: “To be just, it is not enough to refrain from injustice. One must go further and refuse to play its game, substituting love for self-interest as the driving force in society.” It strikes me that the social and political debate about whether asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, deported veterans, and undocumented students and recruits for the United States military should be welcomed into this country as neighbors is one that is stuck in the mode of the legal scholar in conversation with Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. This is a search for an expedient and tidy resolution to the question of neighbor, so it’s clear who is deserving of love, justice, and freedom and who is not.

This depersonalizes our fellow human beings and renders them other. But as Jesus reveals, the examination of being neighbor is one we must do of ourselves. The answer isn’t found in paperwork or a birthplace, but in our free response in the call to love, as the Samaritan was able to do. In doing so, the Samaritan reveals the authentic meaning of what it means to be a neighbor for and with the least among us. The Parable of the Good Samaritan calls us to a radical reorientation.

Arrupe says of Jesuit education: “But it could not have been a complete failure if we were able to pass on to you this spirit of openness to new challenges, this readiness for change, this willingness—putting it in Scriptural terms—to undergo conversion.

This is our hope: that we have educated you to listen to the living God; to read the Gospel so as always to find new light in it; to think with the Church, within which the Word of God always ancient, ever new, resounds with that precise note and timbre needed by each historical epoch.”

A conversion here recognizes that it is we who must decide whether to be neighbors. Are we ready to be the Samaritan?

Lindsay Willert is Xavier’s Registrar. She is a graduate of Fordham University, Union Theological Seminary, and St. John’s University.

A Challenge Then, A Challenge Today

By James Croghan, S.J. Soon after Fr. Pedro Arrupe was elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus at the 31st General Congregation on May 22, 1965, the Congregation proceeded to elect a number of other Jesuits to roles in which they would assist Fr. Arrupe

in his work of leading the worldwide Society, which at the time numbered over 36,000 Jesuits. Among those elected was Fr. Vincent O’Keefe, a native of Jersey City who was then president of Fordham University.

I was a few weeks shy of turning 10 and just finishing fourth grade when this took place and cannot claim that I knew what was going on or that it mattered to me much at all. What I did know was that “Uncle Vince” was at a meeting in Rome and would be there for a while. Vinny O’Keefe was my mother’s uncle Many great Jesuits and so my grand-uncle.

Naturally enough, I don’t worked alongside remember being baptized Fr. Arrupe in a

by Uncle Vince, but I do profound renewal remember traveling one of the Society Sunday afternoon several years later with my parents of Jesus. They and siblings to visit him in were all deeply his office when he was at “men for others.”

Fordham. He told us that They lived “not the evening before the Supremes had performed for themselves on campus. My brother but for God and and sisters and I thought his Christ” and that was the coolest thing were “completely imaginable. It suggested a larger, more interesting convinced that world than the one I knew love of God which in downtown Jersey City. does not issue in When I was in eighth justice for men and grade, on a spring Saturday afternoon, I was invited women is a farce.” to accompany an aunt (one of Vinny’s nieces) and uncle to see Vinny off at JFK when he was returning to Rome after a visit to the U.S. That trip expanded my world even more. Air travel, especially internationally, was a really big deal at the time and Uncle Vince was the only person I knew who did it. Four years later, when I was a senior at St. Peter’s Prep and as part of a family contingent invited by Vinny, I met Fr. Arrupe at what was then St. Peter’s College, where he gave an address on Jesuit higher education as part of St. Peter’s centennial celebration in November of 1972. All of this is to say that because of Vinny, the Jesuits were always a part of my life and Fr. Arrupe was not a distant, unknown figure. He was someone I knew of and had met. Even more, he was someone Vinny spoke about with deep admiration, respect, and affection—and that certainly rubbed off on me.

Fr. Arrupe delivered his “Men for Others” address in Valencia

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on July 31, 1973. Five weeks later, on September 8, he convoked the 32nd General Congregation to begin the following year on December 2. I entered the Jesuits during this extraordinary time on August 20, 1974. From my first days as a Jesuit, the continued response of the Society of Jesus to Vatican II, which prompted Fr. Arrupe’s talk in Valencia on the promotion of justice and education for justice and the calling of GC32, permeated every aspect of life.

Perhaps the most impactful decree to come out of the Congregation, which concluded on March 7, 1975, was “Our Mission Today” which articulated the contemporary mission of the Society of Jesus as “the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement. For reconciliation with God demands the reconciliation of people with one another.” That mission, rearticulated in subsequent Congregations to include reconciliation with creation, has guided my life for the last 44 years.

And Vinny was one of several extraordinary role models to follow. He served as an assistant to Fr. Arrupe for 18 years and was one of his closest collaborators, but he was far from the only one. Many great Jesuits worked alongside Fr. Arrupe in a profound renewal of the Society of Jesus. They were all deeply “men for others.” They lived “not for themselves but for God and his Christ” and were “completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for men and women is a farce.” Fr. Arrupe’s address in Valencia was a challenge then and is a challenge today, and continues to serve as an inspiring critique of Jesuit schooling. It continues to call us to imagine a world where God’s love and justice is real and to work as hard as we can to make that world a reality.

James Croghan, S.J. is a graduate of Fordham University, the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the former rector of the Xavier Jesuit Community. On August 15, he assumed the role of rector of the Boston College High School Jesuit Community.

Making Arrupe’s Words Real: A Personal Journey

By John Foley P’77 ’79 ’81 ’84 ’86 Pedro Arrupe, S.J. served as Superior General from 19651988. His ministry began during the Vietnam War, times of worldwide social unrest, cries for answers to racism and

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sexism, and questions about how to put into practice the work and hopes of Vatican II. In the United States, his ministry emerged against the background of the Kennedys’ and Martin Luther King’s assassinations and struggles to desegregate public education, address anger over opposing stands on Vietnam, and combat a growing resentment of previously unquestioned traditional values, especially by teenagers and younger adults.

In a 1973 address to alumni of Jesuit schools, Fr. Arrupe focused on education as the primary tool for addressing a hurting world.

He called for Jesuit educators to prepare students to become “men and women for others”—a rallying cry that has been acknowledged and practiced in Jesuit schools since Arrupe uttered the words. It is primarily an educational vision that calls a world in conflict to reflect, reform, and realize that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

After 15 years in business, I arrived at Xavier in September 1969—four years before Arrupe’s address—with the intention of getting two years of teaching experience and moving on to the college level. I had already taught a year at Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City. Vin Duminuco, S.J.†, the incoming headmaster, hired me. By the time I arrived on 16th Street, the idea of “men for others” was already taking shape.

The Jesuit Higher Achievement Program (HAP) had been instituted in three New York Jesuit schools in the 1960s to reach out to students of color and address a social injustice—primarily a racial injustice. It was a summer program developed to encourage those students to engage in Jesuit education. When I arrived, Mike Flynn, S.J.† was the dedicated director. Later on, the HAP program was led by a student of mine who became a colleague and friend. Dr. Franklin Caesar ’72 became a man for others because there were men for others at Brooklyn Prep and Xavier who shaped him, even before Father Arrupe gave his 1973 address.

In September 1969, Xavier was designated a “pilot” school.

This emerged from Fr. Arrupe’s focus on contemporary educational concerns, but it was still rooted in the Ignatian vision. Led by Fr. Duminuco, the Ratio Studiorum, the 400-year-old “Bible” that described the characteristics of Jesuit education, was explored and reapplied to a contemporary time without straying from such time-honored principles as cura personalis [the care of the whole student/person] and “finding God in all things.” Independent learning contracts, flexible day schedules, small group instruction, foreign language exchange programs, and museum visits were incorporated into the curriculum by men and women for others like Jim McCahery†, the brothers Scott†, Hank Woehling ’55, Grace Lamour†, Neil Doherty, S.J., Bill McGowan, S.J.†, Bob Cregan, S.J.†, George Febles P’83 ’88 ’90, Jim Keenan, S.J., Brian

Moroney, Jack Replogle, S.J. ’51, and a host of others. In many cases, the city became an extension of the classroom. Tom Curley† and I co-taught a religion and literature course modeled on the “Great Books” series initiated by Johns Hopkins University. For me, the great reward was Fr. Duminuco and Fr. Bill Wood, S.J.†, then Xavier’s President, agreeing that a class day in senior religious education could be conducted at my home in Brooklyn. We hosted breakfast, and students gave presentations on teenagers and the church or other relevant topics. There was always a priest to offer Mass around the dining room table, and then my bride Dona Foley P’77 ’79 ’81 ’84 ’86 served lunch. (We figured we already had five boys, so another 20 boys sharing the space was not a problem.) Many faculty members participated in this program throughout the 10 years it existed. Students and teachers encountered each other in our home. To this day, it is the most wonderful program I experienced, and it is the first topic many alumni talk about at Beefsteaks and other alumni events. It led to Dona and I doing a number of Pre-Cana preparations for some of them over the years.

“Men for Others” is primarily an educational vision that calls a world in conflict to reflect, reform, and realize that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

If the “pilot school” concept characterized the advent of “men for others” for me during the 1970s, then the Colloquium on the Ministry of Teaching carried the same significance during the 1980s. During the late 1970s, Fr. Wood led a group of four Jesuits and four laymen from the New York Province in developing a format that could help individual Jesuit secondary schools prepare for the 21st century. Russ Sloun, S.J.† and I represented Xavier, with Fr. Wood as overall director. The Colloquium grew out of concern for shrinking Jesuit vocations and how to encourage lay teachers to more fully engage in the “religious responsibility” for our students so as to continue forming “men for others.” We created a three-day program focusing on self-image, our image of God, spirituality, and seeing teaching as a ministry rather than a job. We incorporated the Ignatian vision and opportunities for individual schools to come together in small groups to focus on their own needs. The hope was that as each group returned to their own schools, their plans for the future would take concrete

shape. We traveled throughout the U.S. and to Canada, Puerto Rico, and Ireland. It was a great experience to meet and share both accomplishments and failures with fellow ministers in other schools. Camaraderie grew among teachers and administrators from Jesuit high schools around the world, reinforcing the mission of forming men and women for others that we had all embraced.

Fr. Duminuco was a big fan of the Colloquium. Long after he had left Xavier for international Jesuit educational pursuits, we remained in contact. He asked me to return to the Colloquium on the Ministry of Teaching to lead a group to Poland. Dona substituted for one of the original members, and we traveled to Eastern Europe. The Jesuit secondary schools there had reopened, and we presented a Colloquium experience for Jesuit educators from Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Hungary, and one from Egypt.

Later on, we conducted a mini-colloquium at Fordham University when Fr. Duminuco was leading the Father Joe O’Hare Institute for Jesuit Educators.

The 1980s ushered into Xavier another key element of forming “men for others.” The Senior Christian Service Program was introduced in 1981, with Vin Biagi, S.J. ’67 in charge. During second semester, members of the senior class would spend their Mondays tutoring, visiting the elderly, working in hospitals, and more. Faculty members would lead reflection groups in which students shared their service experiences. Since I only taught seniors, every Monday I would visit different sites and observe what students were doing. Essentially, they were living out what it means to be “men for others.” The Senior Christian Service Program continues shaping young men today.

Two years after I retired from Xavier, Fr. Duminuco edited The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum: 400th Anniversary Perspectives. It was presented at a seminar at the Fordham University Graduate School of Education. Fr. Duminuco said the Ignatian vision had not changed since Pedro Ribadeneira, S.J., described it in the late 16th century: “The proper education of youth will mean improvement for the whole world.”

Xavier High School is named for a man who thought so much of others that he left Paris to help and to heal those in India, China, and Japan. He was the model of a “man for others.” In the 45 years since Arrupe’s address, many have been helped and healed

by Jesuit-educated men and women for others. And we have many more of God’s creatures to help and to heal now. This is why Jesuit education is so important.

John Foley is an adjunct professor at St. Peter’s University. A graduate of Fordham University and The New School, he taught at Xavier from 1969-98 and was inducted into the Xavier Hall of Fame in 2008.

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HALL OF FAME

STAND SO ALL THE WORLD CAN SEE The 2018 Hall of Fame Class As Xavier marked its 125th anniversary in 1972, school leaders created the Hall of Fame to recognize those “who have been truly outstanding in the service of God, their fellow men, their country, or civic community.” Over the past 46 years, inductees have included teachers, doctors, bishops, congressmen, a Supreme Court Justice, two Pulitzer Prize winners, and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

On October 26, Xavier will induct seven men into its newest Hall of Fame class. On the pages that follow, their friends and colleagues share their accomplishments.

John V. Connorton, Esq. ’61

By Rev. Matthew F. Malone, S.J. President and Editor-in-Chief, America Media John Connorton is a pillar of the New York community and its political and social life.

His ability to work across the aisle with great respect, care, and insight—with a true acknowledgement of the inherent dignity of all people—is incredible. John is an outstanding representative of the bar and a faithful son of Xavier High School. His thoughtfulness, good humor, curiosity, and especially his compassion mark him as a true man for others.

Of Counsel, Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP 24 XAVIER MAGAZINE

Michael N. Ford ’63

By Rich Nolan ’83 Former Chair, Xavier Board of Trustees

Former Vice President, International Customer Group, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons

Among Hall of Fame inductees, Mike is not unique for his dedicated service to a variety of worthy charitable organizations and causes. However, few have committed as much energy and time as Mike on behalf of Xavier itself. For decades, this Son of Xavier has been fully engaged as a volunteer alumnus. Mike’s area of interest has been Xavier’s advancement programs—alumni relations and development. It’s hard to identify any such program that does not have Mike’s fingerprints on it. As a ​ trustee, Board ​v​ice ​c​hair, a longtime member of the Board’s Advancement Committee, including service as its chair, and as the c​ ​hair of the Hall of Fame Dinner Committee for decades, Mike has been a good and faithful servant to Xavier.

Hon. Edward J. McLaughlin ’63

By Joe Gorski Former Vice President for Advancement Through his former role as chair of the Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, Ed was one of the first Xavier alumni I had the good fortune of meeting. Our meetings, because of Ed, were open, concise, and decisive. He knew when to let a discussion of a candidate to continue and, more importantly, when it needed to be tabled. …

Once the final vote was taken and the nominees selected for induction, then he really

made his presence felt. Since it was Ed’s job to introduce and present each candidate for induction at the dinner, he spent an overwhelming amount of time researching the lives of the inductees. He had a creative and subtle comedic instinct that made his introductions of the inductees alone worth the price of admission to the dinners. I have always valued his talents as a leader and a speaker and I will always value his friendship.

Former NYC Supreme Court Justice

XAVIER MAGAZINE 25

LtGen John Toolan, USMC (Ret.) ’72

By Tom Driscoll ’72 Classmate John had an outstanding career as a Marine Corps lieutenant general, serving our nation with honor and distinction, and he remains a proud Son of Xavier.

When I asked him to speak to students at my school earlier this year, he didn't hesitate. But what I always remember most about John is his stubborn determination during our school days.

Whether it was a teacher or another student throwing down a challenge, he would never back down. He was a devoted and loyal friend and was always someone you could count on.

Retired Commander, Marine Corps Forces Pacific

Steve Vincent, Esq. ’75

By Gene Rainis ’58 Former Chair, Xavier Board of Trustees

Photo: Robert Essel

I’ve had the honor and the privilege of knowing Steve for more than a quarter of a century. His legal career has been impressive, but I have been even more impressed by his generous, steadfast support of the Jesuit institutions that formed him—Xavier, Boston College, and Fordham Law School. In everything he does, Steve is truly the epitome of a man for others.

Partner, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Legal Officer, Brigade Capital Management LLC 26 XAVIER MAGAZINE

HALL OF FAME

John Duffy ’78

By Daniel Denihan ’65 Chair, Xavier Board of Trustees John is the best. I first came to know him when my family office was looking for financial advisers, and we interviewed John and his team. We ended up doing business with John because of his integrity, his strong intellect, and his outstanding generosity of time and spirit.

After we became acquainted through our financial connection, I discovered he was a Xavier guy—which enhanced

the relationship, of course.

I convinced him to join the Board of Trustees because I thought he would be a great addition. He was one of the all-star Board members we’ve ever had. He brought a new vision and business acumen because of his background.

John is very talented in a very pleasant, humble way.

He’s incredibly deserving of the Hall of Fame.

Global Head of Wealth Management, J.P. Morgan’s U.S. Private Bank

Brian Moroney

By Denise Iacovone Art Teacher

Legendary Xavier Teacher

Brian Moroney is truly a Xavier icon. When I first arrived at Xavier 29 years ago, he was already an institution. I can remember many times during my early years when Brian would offer sage advice. It was always out of the greatest respect and love for the institution, yet it was always tempered with a strong sense of what was right and good.

He was the moral voice of the faculty and was unafraid to say what needed to be said.

Brian held us all to a higher standard. He did all he could to instill that in the young teachers who came after him in order to carry on that legacy. I have

been lucky enough to call him my friend, but he was also my mentor and example. During one particularly turbulent time Brian advised me to “plant my feet and sway with the wind” and to “make my mark on the place, and do what I do best, because it matters.” I have spent all of my time here with Brian’s words in my heart, as I am sure countless colleagues and alumni have done for decades. I am happy that Brian is getting the recognition he deserves for changing Xavier for the better by his presence. There are few people who could do that. What better example of a man for others could there be?

XAVIER MAGAZINE 27

A Milestone

Gift

To mark his 50th reunion, Michael Puglisi ’68 and his wife, Valerie, made a gift of $1.25 million to create the Puglisi

Scholars Program— a unique effort to make a Xavier education possible for underprivileged students while inspiring multi-generational giving

By Shawna Gallagher Vega and Kyle Stelzer ’13 28 XAVIER MAGAZINE

ADVANCING XAVIER

A

s his 50th high school reunion approached, Michael Puglisi ’68 fondly recalled the lessons of his most influential teachers, the camaraderie of Xavier’s athletic teams, and the development of lifelong friendships during his time on 16th Street.

Puglisi reconnected with Xavier more closely in 1998 after his 30th reunion, when he met former President Daniel Gatti, S.J. ’59. “I’ve been impressed with Xavier’s continuing leadership, as evidenced by the dedication and commitment to excellence shown at that time by Fr. Gatti and now Jack Raslowsky,” he said. Their leadership resonated deeply with Michael, who attributes his successes over his business career principally to his Xavier education and experiences.

In early June, he and his classmates reunited five decades after their graduation—catching up, trading stories, and strengthening the bonds of their shared Xavier experience. As a result of the hard work of the 50th Reunion planning and outreach committee (composed of Jim Tierney ’68, Jim Mantle ’68, Brendan Bruder ’68, Ron Conetta ’68, Gerald DiChiara ’68, Mathew Mari ’68, Richard Mayer ’68, and Leonard Sclafani ’68), the weekend became a historic celebration.

To mark his milestone reunion, Puglisi and his wife, Valerie, made a remarkable commitment to student access and affordability by establishing the Puglisi Scholars Program. Their transformational contribution catapulted the Class of 1968 to an all-time record class gift, with more than $1,360,000 donated.

The Puglisi Scholars Program will provide financial aid to attract highperforming students to Xavier. In its first

year, it will support six students. The ultimate goal of the program is to allow these students, who would otherwise not be able to afford a Xavier education, to come to 16th Street and thrive.

In their philanthropic efforts, Michael and Valerie Puglisi have focused principally on supporting those most in need. Both are descendants of Italian immigrants who came to the United States seeking opportunities unimaginable in Sicily. The couple feels they have been extremely fortunate, and they credit their parents for their hard work and emphasis on education.

“With that framework, we said that if we were fortunate and we could afford to do so, we wanted to help others who are starting on the ladder to success by giving them opportunities they might otherwise not have,” Michael Puglisi said. “As I approached my 50th Reunion, we were in the position to do something that we believed was meaningful. Thus, we created the Puglisi Scholars Program at Xavier with an initial gift of $1.25 million.” Michael and Valerie plan to make additional contributions to the program in the coming years.

“Valerie and Michael’s generosity to Xavier in establishing the Puglisi Scholars Program will help substantially in keeping Xavier affordable and accessible to students for years to come.

It is a remarkable gift,” said Director of Development Mark Mongelluzzo.

“Michael and Valerie have never hesitated to be generous to Xavier and to a host of other institutions and causes. They dream what they know is possible for others without means, and they are willing to make the investment to provide them the opportunity through education.”

A distinctive feature of the Puglisi Scholars Program is that it includes an

acknowledgment by student recipients that they have an obligation (if their eventual financial position permits them to do so) to help future generations of Xavier’s Sons. This understanding of a long-term commitment to financially support Xavier in a meaningful way is meant to inspire an ongoing, multi-generational effort to provide a Xavier education to students in need. Each Puglisi Scholar will be asked to sign a letter reflecting his understanding of the scholarship and his potential future financial commitments to Xavier.

“It’s our hope that the program can lay the framework for Xavier students in the coming years to be successful—and ultimately continue in this tradition of impactful gift-giving for future generations of students,” Puglisi said.

“Valerie and Michael thought carefully about the Puglisi Scholars Program to be sure it would serve Xavier and the selected students well,” said former Executive Vice President Dan Dougherty. “Their gift will open Xavier’s doors wider to students who need financial support, encourage academic excellence, and promote philanthropy in the next generation of graduates. Michael and Valerie are generous, principled, forward-thinking people. I have been inspired by their example and hope others will be similarly moved to action by their story.”

The Puglisi Scholars Program will begin providing aid to students during the 2018-19 school year, and Michael and Valerie are excited to be involved with the selection committee.

“Fifty years have gone by so quickly, and I am lucky to still be around,” Michael Puglisi reflected. “For Valerie and me to be able to support Xavier and share our experiences with my classmates at the reunion this year—it doesn’t get any better.”

XAVIER MAGAZINE 29

MAROON AND BLUE

HOME ON AN

By Shawna Gallagher Vega

ISLAND Xavier’s teams hone their skills on the refurbished Parade Ground on Governors Island

30 XAVIER MAGAZINE

Field space: It’s been a quandary since 1947.

On Xavier’s 100th anniversary, The Review—the school’s student newspaper—broke the news of a landmark deal to build a field running from 15th to 16th Streets on 6th Avenue. “All who know the history of sports in the school are familiar with the enormous difficulties attendant on suitable practice facilities,” student journalists wrote in the February 21, 1947 issue. “Xavier football and baseball teams have never had a field of their own and have had to journey to remote points for practice, losing precious hours in transit.”

The deal ultimately proved impractical, and more than seven decades later, the Athletic Department faced a similar struggle finding suitable practice spaces in the nation’s most populous city.

Last November, for instance, 643 student-athletes could be found practicing at one of 21 venues on any given day.

“Field availability, primarily practice space, has always been a challenge at Xavier,” said Joe McGrane P’20, who served as interim athletic director last year. “Our boys do exceptionally well competing in all sports despite the obstacles.”

McGrane credited President Jack Raslowsky, Headmaster Mike

LiVigni, and the Board of Trustees for their support in tackling the field space issue. The creation of the Athletic Field Task Force in 2016 spurred more active discussions, leading Task Force co-chair and Xavier trustee Steve Winter ’04—a former multi-sport athlete on 16th Street—to a novel idea.

Winter, a senior vice president at the real estate giant Related Companies, had an “a-ha moment” as he hopped into a cab after a Xavier Board dinner last year. His former colleague at Related, Michael Samuelian, had just taken over as president and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island—the group charged with opening the island to more New Yorkers. Winter called him right away, and his timing couldn’t have been better.

“We had just completed a $2.5 million renovation of the Parade Ground, a huge, nine-acre field here,” Samuelian recalled.

Just 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, Governors Island is composed of 172 acres in the heart of New York Harbor. The Parade Ground Athletic Field—formerly a nine-hole golf course utilized by the U.S. Coast Guard until the mid-1990s—has been restored to feature a 500' x 250' natural turf field suitable for soccer, rugby, football, lacrosse, and more.

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MAROON AND BLUE

In November 2017, McGrane and Raslowsky met with Samuelian and toured the Parade Ground. The Trust for Governors Island issued a Request for Expressions of Interest in the fields in February, and Xavier responded with a proposal on March 6. It was accepted on April 6, and Xavier was granted use of the Parade Ground Athletic Field on May 11.

The lacrosse team and the freshman and JV rugby teams used the fields in May “to rave reviews,” according to McGrane, and they were also a hit at June’s football mini-camp.

Head football coach Chris Stevens ’83 said the beauty and convenience of the fields were a pleasant surprise. “I have heard talk of Governors Island for over a year and originally thought it was crazy. Take a boat to practice—are you kidding me?”

“The experience was a real eye opener,” he said. “It takes 30 minutes on the 1 train from Xavier to get to South Ferry and the Governors Island Boat Terminal. The ferry ride is a pleasant 11-15 minutes—great for a staff meeting. The players get a free sightseeing tour across the Hudson. Once off the boat, it is a threeminute walk to the field—no problem. We got to the field, and it was beautiful. Well-lined and the thickest, healthiest grass that I have seen in 20 years!”

Head freshman rugby coach Billy Maloney ’01 agreed. “Before, we had been practicing on a 40' x 40' chunk of field at Pier 40 or JJ Walker or in the gym or cafeteria,” he said. “Now, at Governors Island, we have so much room.”

Pat Drennan P’16, head coach of the lacrosse team, said he was thrilled when he and his players practiced on Governors Island in May. “Two years ago, we practiced at nine different locations—at Aviator, in Jersey City, in Brooklyn, in Manhattan. For the lacrosse team to have Governors Island be the mainstay where we practice and being able to have a lined field with goals is amazing,” Drennan said. “We’ve very rarely practiced on a lacrosse field that’s lined—a full field with proper goals. We typically have to carry our goals to our fields. Now we can create more game-like situations. We’ve done a fabulous job with the limited resources that we’ve had, and this will just accelerate the boys’ skills.”

Raslowsky said the current deal is for Xavier’s soccer, rugby, football, and lacrosse teams to practice on Governors Island for one year, and he welcomes the opportunity for a multi-year proposal.

“The Athletic Field Task Force wanted to cast a wider net to explore all sets of options for field space. Within that net, the timing worked with Governors Island coming online,” Raslowsky said.

“Governors Island wants this facility used. They want New Yorkers there. We have a building full of New Yorkers here. We can help get 32 XAVIER MAGAZINE

it used for a specific purpose. We win, Governors Island wins, the city wins. These are the best projects, when you can find these winwins and do it at a price point that’s accessible.”

“It’s the entranceway to New York,” he continued. “There are a lot of metaphorical parallels with life at Xavier—it sits there in the harbor and opens up the world. Xavier opens up a new world to kids. It inspires you and reminds you that you’re part of something bigger.”

At the end of the day, Xavier coaches emphasized the adaptability and resilience of their players—a historic attribute of student-athletes on 16th Street.

“We’ll play anywhere,” Drennan said. “That builds a certain character in the guys, too, to understand that we may not have a home field, but we’re just going to go and play. It’s a tribute to those guys for all the hard work and extra time it takes.”

“It’s why we do so well,” Maloney echoed. “We’re road warriors.”

XAVIER MAGAZINE 33

One Parting Shot (A Buzzer Beater?)

By Peter J. McCord ’49†

34 XAVIER MAGAZINE

MISSION MATTERS

Shortly after his 50th reunion, Peter McCord ’49† penned the reflection that follows. In it, he explored themes many alumni before and since have contemplated upon returning to 16th Street—the meaning of the Xavier experience, how it shaped the man he had become, and his own mortality.

In July 1999, just months after his milestone reunion, McCord passed away.

W

ell, there we were: some forty-five ’49ers, the Jubilee Class, sitting in the “new” Xavier gym (it wasn’t there in ’49, therefore it was new), baskets tilted up to make room for 450 alumni of the Jesuit almost-military school in Lower Manhattan, now over 150 years old, and an odd thing happens.

Right at dessert time, when the Reunion is getting ready to end, an elderly alumnus collapses on the floor near us and doctors rush to his aid, followed almost immediately by priests, with oils, to aid the maybe dying man. The New York Fire Department and police appear shortly thereafter, ready to take the man, sick or dead or dying, to wherever he needs to go. Was this a reminder to the assembled alumni, especially the Jubilarians, of their mortality?

Or had they already been reminded of this the night before, gathering exclusively as a class in a location remote from the school? Entering the hotel’s anteroom, they had been greeted with a nametag displaying their boyish picture from the original yearbook and a program for the evening’s events, containing a list of the dearly departed from the Class of ’49, all 38 of them.

Did I see 38? Could it be that almost a quarter of the class had already, as it is said, passed to their eternal reward? Thirty-eight?

Maybe 15 or 20, but 38? No one could believe it. But it was a grim reminder, amidst all the cheerful backslapping and howvyoubin and can it really be you and are you retired now and how many grandchildren do you have and where do you live now, that we may be closer to the end of our journey than we’d like to believe.

So there was a serious mood lurking behind all those smiles and rediscoveries and funny stories. Who will be next? Maybe me?

And this could well be the last time I’ll ever see these guys, maybe the only time I’ll meet their wives. How does one take all this in?

With our very pictures on the nametag, are we just older, grayer, balder versions of those bright young 17-year-old faces? How do we behave? Like reborn juveniles? Or are we really different folks

now? Do we have to start all over to know each other?

Can we simply assume that this is essentially the same person who graduated 50 years ago? No radical changes have taken place, just good ol’ Chip and Jim and Jerry and Bill and Joe and Bob and Jack and Ed? How do you span a half-century in a few sentences and try to communicate some sense of who you have become, absorb who they have become? The task being impossible, we revert to Black Jack stories and laugh ’til it hurts. In any event, it’s fellowship, right?

But we are not exactly the same. Appearances are there.

Personality traits are there. The stories are immediately recognizable. Something to share. Something to bridge the gap. A source of comfort and communion. A moment of relief from the impossible task of making up 50 years in a few sentences, in a large and noisy crowd.

So what, after all, was the Xavier experience? Fr. John Morrisson, S.J.†? Fr. Jerry Knoepfel, S.J.†? Maybe 15 or more energetic scholastics, vitally interested in our growth and development? Was it the military, the Regiment, or the incredible belief of Joe Reilly, S.J.† that we could be perfect? Why did so many want to return? Why was it important to come back to see each other yet one more time? To do something more together?

Why did we, for the most part, succeed in our life’s endeavors?

Why so many seminarians, priests, doctors, lawyers, teachers, military careers, large families? Are we just a remnant of an age that has passed away and will never return? Are the kids we see

XAVIER MAGAZINE 35

MISSION MATTERS

now in uniform basically like us, or are they very, very different? Is it still the same Xavier, in spite of all the differences?

I asked myself these questions before, during, and after the gathering. Eerily, perhaps, I could only come up with one answer. It emerged gradually from a thought in anticipation of the weekend and was enforced and clarified at every turn. Why was I so filled with joy in anticipation of seeing my classmates? Why did I feel so much love for them, beyond any ability to express it, when I was with them? Why did I feel so confident that the essence of Xavier was still there, despite so many changes in a half-century of monumental change? Why was I so grateful for what I had received during those pivotal years in my life? After all, I was terrified as a freshman that I would flunk out and disappoint everyone, myself included. I was intimidated by the priest with the permanent five o’clock shadow and a customary scowl, a believer in corporal punishment and the judge, jury, and punisher of infractions, real or imaginary, against the rules. I was sometimes angry at poor academic performance, bad teachers among the good, my inability to achieve athletic greatness. But, in retrospect, it was good, very good. Why? And so it came to me: Xavier, more than any other place in my life to that point, introduced me to the world of grace.

I would have been altogether incapable at the time of articulating this truth or even vaguely describing what was happening, but that is what happened. Here it was—an entire community of dedicated men, committed to bringing me at least to the threshold of manhood in the world of grace, the world understood, taught, and lived by the person after whom this community was named: Jesus Christ. They were “Companions of Jesus.” They were trained to walk with Jesus, to spend hours each day exploring the mind and heart of Christ and endeavoring to communicate the fruits of this prayer and study to others. No other purpose. No other meaning to their lives. No hidden agendas.

It was the world of grace, a world of consciousness filled

with the presence of a loving God, whose love was unmerited, unconditional, unselfish, purely gratuitous. It was love for the sake of love. And that was what they were about and what they tried to communicate to us pubescent young men.

They say, when people make grandiose and abstract statements or set vague goals, “Ah, but the devil’s in the details.” Here I say, the grace is in the details. That’s why we love to tell the stories.

The world of grace is not an abstraction. It was Fr. Morrisson, quietly pulling me into his office and asking if I needed a uniform, knowing that we couldn’t afford it without assistance. It was Fr. Tom Matthews, S.J.† standing by the hall clock before basketball games, saying, “Score 10 points, Pete.” It was Fr. Jerry Knoepfel at that early Wednesday morning Mass, encouraging us to go the extra mile. Grace was in the details, the stories. Being there day after day, with loving and caring guidance and examples like that, small wonder that 19 classmates marched up to St. Andrew’s right after graduation to attempt a life of companionship with a leader like Jesus.

And so I fear not that Xavier will fail in its mission for the future. With men like Fr. Dan Gatti, S.J. ’59 and Fr. Vinny Butler, S.J.† and their community, the world of grace will go on. Now the faculty is more diverse, with more lay teachers. The cadets represent only 30% of the student body. The whole world has changed. But the mission is the same: to introduce young men to the world of grace, the world of Jesus of Nazareth. If there were signs that the shepherds had lost this sense, we’d have reason to be concerned. The world still needs the saving message, still needs the world of grace, and Xavier’s mission remains the same. Living in this world, the world of Jesus, is what makes us different, makes us light and salt and leaven, makes us young when we are old, gives us joy despite the sorrows that surround us. I thank the community at Xavier, used by God to communicate to us this wondrous world of grace, and still doing it. And I hope this shot beats the buzzer.

Why did I feel so confident that the essence of Xavier was still there, despite so many changes in a half-century of monumental change? Why was I so grateful for what I had received during those pivotal years in my life?

36 XAVIER MAGAZINE

XAVIER MAGAZINE 37

ofXavier

Sons

Dr. Tom Draper ’44 and Bill Boyan ’45, the two most senior attendees at Reunion 2018.

Boyan’s father, William Boyan 1905†, was also a Son of Xavier.

38 XAVIER MAGAZINE

CLASS NOTES

1948 After working in the advertising and public relations business for 15 years, Raymond Strakosch opened his own business. Last January, he sold it after a 47-year run. “The Reflectory/Safety Premiums still continues in operation!” he writes.

“All is well here,” Vincent Vella reports. “I still hunt, fish, and split firewood. Best wishes to all my classmates.”

1949 Tim Burkhart ’18, the first Class of 1949 Scholar, graduated from Xavier in June. He will head to Texas Christian University this fall.

1950 Joe Brostek was honored by his alma mater, Queens College, at the school’s 2018 Baccalaureate ceremony. A scholarship presented to a graduating senior each year is named in Brostek’s honor to recognize his many years of service to the college and the community.

After a career in business, Brostek began working at Queens College in 1988. He retired from the college in 2010 as Executive Director of Special Events, Commencement, and Alumni Affairs.

1952 Dr. Don Miller recently retired from a military and civilian career in aerospace and occupational medicine that spanned more than 50 years. He lives with his wife, Yvonne, in the Monterey Bay area.

Dr. Chester Schmidt works full-time at Johns Hopkins HealthCare. His

’50

Joe Brostek

oldest grandson is a junior at the University of Miami, and the next oldest is a freshman at the College of William and Mary. His two youngest grandchildren are in high school.

1954 “Time flies,” Frank Frisbie writes. “I recently attended the 60th reunion of the Class of 1958 from Manhattan College. That means 64 years from Xavier. I don’t feel that old! Thanks to Xavier and the Jesuits for giving all of us such a great foundation.”

Dr. Don Miller

Alumni Profile WILLIAM DENHAM ’43

1959 Golden Rams Harry Lynch, Pat Burke, COL Larry Daly, USA (Ret.), and Dennis Huaman celebrated their 55th reunion at Fordham University over the weekend of June 1-3. Fordham’s alumni chaplain, Dan Gatti, S.J., joined them.

Before his untimely passing in July, Hon. Robert G.M. Keating† retired from his position as senior advisor to the president of Pace University.

To celebrate his service to Pace and to the legal landscape of New York, Pace’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws at its 2018 Commencement.

1960 Bob Albracht and Bob Scavullo joined Mike Connor ’59, Joe Dooley ’59, and Bill Fagan ’59 at the South Carolina home of Tony Dente ’59 in April. “Enough of all those golf outing pictures,” Scavullo joked.

“We six Sons of Xavier engaged in the less aristocratic but more spirited bocce game at Dataw Island,

’52

Bill Denham and his classmates at a reunion (left to right): John Seguljic, Charles McAuliffe, Dr. Peter Curran, John Kehoe, Bob Vilece, Denham, Howard Dolan, Ernest Koenig, Tom Freda, and Dr. Thomas Doyle.

’54

Frank Frisbie receiving the Air Traffic Control Association Lifetime Achievement Award

Now 93, Bill Denham finds himself in a reflective mood. “I am the last man standing from the class of January 1943,” the Bay Ridge native said. “Twenty-six great guys were in the class.”

Their days on 16th Street were historic ones. World War II was raging; in December 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. “No one was thinking about going to college,” Denham remembered.

Still, they relished their youth. For his part, Denham was a “constant attendee at JUG.” After graduation, his nation called. Denham went to officer’s training school, then on to the Pacific. He was stationed on Ulithi, the Pacific island that housed a U.S. Naval base and a massive anchoring and refueling station for American warships. “When the ships got below 50 percent of their fuel, they had to come back to us,” Denham said.

After the war was over, he traveled to Japan, visiting Hiroshima and Tokyo before being discharged from the Navy in December 1945. Upon returning to the U.S., he earned a bachelor’s degree at Manhattan College and began a long, lucrative career as a Certified Public Accountant.

He and his late wife, Lillie, raised two daughters in Lakewood, New Jersey. During the week, Denham lived in an apartment on Park Avenue, and he traveled often, giving accounting seminars around the world. He retired at age 77.

16th Street never strayed far from his mind. Denham organized reunions for the class and communicated often with his fellow Sons of Xavier. When his classmate Peter Curran ’43† passed away in April, Denham was the one who relayed the news to the Alumni Relations office.

These days, he is enjoying life in Arlington, Virginia, where he moved nine months after Lillie’s July 2014 passing. He now lives in the same apartment building as his daughter, Patricia Denham.

Another daughter, Dr. Lilibeth Denham, lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

“I live in a lovely apartment on the sixth floor—I can see all of Georgetown and the Washington Memorial,” Denham said. “And I have a 6-year-old poodle, Winnie the Pooh. She’s my girlfriend!”

“I’ve had a good life,” he reflected. “My memories keep me good company, and I have many wonderful ones of being a student at Xavier.”

XAVIER MAGAZINE 39

’60

Bob Scavullo, Bill Fagan ’59, Bob Albracht, Tony Dente ’59, Joe Dooley ’59, and Mike Connor ’59

’60

’62

Jim Cuddihy P’85 ’86, second from right, receiving the Ignatian Volunteer Corps Madonna Della Strada Award

Ed Grant with his brothers, Ken ’64 and Bob ’68

’60 South Carolina. One evening Tony demonstrated his love of Xavier by bringing out his Xavier uniform.

Alas, it was a bit tight around the middle.”

Dr. Bob Weierman and his wife, Teresa

’62

Tom Ryan and family

’63

In April, the Ignatian Volunteer Corps—a program that connects men and women (most age 50 or older) with opportunities to serve others— honored Jim Cuddihy P’85 ’86 with its Madonna Della Strada Award for his work with Reconnect Brooklyn, a 501(c)(3) that provides employment and training opportunities to young, inner-city Brooklynites.

“I know there are many other Sons of Xavier in my class and all the other classes who continue to carry out the message of being men for others,” Cuddihy said.

“We recognize the wonderful achievements of the current Xavier students and are proud that they are following in our footsteps.”

Dr. Bob Weierman is looking forward to his 50th reunion at Georgetown University Medical School. He and his wife, Teresa, will travel to Washington, D.C. for the festivities in October.

1961

Rick Geffken in Vietnam

Dr. Edward Quinn is a cardiologist working in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

“Xavier was the best educational foundation one could ever hope for,” he said.

In May, Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed Fred Salerno to the Board of Governors of the State University System. A Hobe Sound resident, Salerno is the retired vice chairman and chief financial

40 XAVIER MAGAZINE

officer of Verizon. He previously served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York for six years. He was also a New York gubernatorial appointee chosen to head a task force known as the Salerno Commission, which examined the equity of state-funded education policies and practices.

1962 Joe Castoro and his wife, Anny, attended the 50th reunion of his Naval Academy Class of 1967 last October. More than 500 of his classmates, plus spouses and guests, joined them at the event.

Inspired by the recent Xavier Magazine edition focusing on alumni families, Ed Grant shared a photo of himself and his brothers, Ken Grant ’64 and Bob Grant ’68.

Tom Ryan reports that 2018 is a special year for his family.

“In April, our oldest son, Tom, celebrated 25 years as a priest. He is pastor of Our Lady of Victories Parish in Sayreville, New Jersey.

He is very active in his community and Catholic Charities. He is also a member of the New York Athletic Club and has taken over some of Fr. Joseph Latella†’s work with the club!” Ryan writes. “Our youngest son, Bob, retired from the Marines in May. He is a Master Sergeant with 23 years of service. Bob has three kids, and his oldest—our oldest grandson—graduated from college in May. One of Bob’s daughters is in the U.S. Coast Guard. Our oldest daughter, Debbie, is married with two kids, works in New Jersey, and will celebrate her 25th wedding

anniversary on September 11. Our daughter, Kelly, has six kids, and they all go to Catholic school in Annandale, New Jersey. Our youngest, Annie, has a 2-year-old. In total, we have five children and 12 grandchildren. Ann Marie and I will be married 52 years in September.

We share our time between Alexandria, New Jersey, where we are grandparents, and Marco Island, Florida, where we’re boaters and I’m the education officer in the U.S. Power Squadron.”

1963 On April 27 and 28, 22 alumni and their spouses and guests gathered to celebrate the Class of 1963’s 55th reunion. The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a fun-filled dinner at Niles NYC, a great restaurant near Penn Station. There was lots of chatter and very fond memories. On Saturday, members of the class joined the other “older” classes for the festivities at Xavier.

The new building is, in a word, fabulous! The newly renovated Student Chapel was comfortably familiar. It was inspiring to see how much things have changed and then be able to step back into the tradition-filled Arrupe Library for cocktails and dinner. As always, what made the reunion so enjoyable were the people who were there— the boyhood friends who happily journeyed back to Xavier to reunite.

The “long distance award” went to Marty Corrado, who traveled in from Abu Dhabi. It was a great reunion and now the class looks forward to the Hall of Fame Dinner on October 26, when they will

CLASS NOTES

Alumni Profile Assistant to President Jack Raslowsky. In that role, he oversaw much of Xavier’s expansion into Fernandez-Duminuco Hall.

His work garnered the attention of other Catholic institutions, and in 2017 Cappabianca was offered a role on the fundraising team at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “It wasn’t easy leaving Xavier—not by a long shot,” he recalled, but the Cathedral presented him a great opportunity for growth. Arriving at the tail end of its restoration, he helped implement all major gift initiatives with a special emphasis on increasing support for sacramental, musical, and social programming.

Earlier this year, Cappabianca was presented with another opportunity for growth—this time at America Media, where he now serves as associate director of advancement. “For over 109 years, America’s mission has been

JAMES CAPPABIANCA ’05 James Cappabianca ’05 arrived at Xavier in the fall of 2001, a pivotal time in New York’s history. “There were moments of desolation,” he said, but the community’s response to the September 11 terror attacks solidified his lifelong dedication to 16th Street.

“The leadership, care, and compassion from every administrator, teacher, and coach was extraordinary,” he said. “I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but they were models of the Jesuit charism of selfless service as women and men for others. Within days, I knew in my heart that this was the place I was meant to be.”

Cappabianca describes high school as a “whirlwind.” He played soccer, basketball, and baseball each of his four years, traveled to Mexico and Tennessee on service trips, and took home the Moynihan Award for the top student-athlete in the Class of 2005. “I always felt empowered, and pushed, to become my best self,” he said. “This was the foundation of why I was called to come back to Xavier after college.”

As a senior at the College of the Holy Cross, Cappabianca learned about a religion department opening from Dr. Joseph Petriello, his former teacher and fellow Holy Cross alumnus. He applied, and in the fall of 2009 he began teaching freshman and sophomore religion and coaching soccer, basketball, and baseball. In the years to come, he also served in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, as Director of Alumni Relations, and ultimately as Special

gather at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers to honor two of their own, Hon. Ed McLaughlin and Mike Ford.

On May 17, Pete Canning, Mike Ford, Gene Gaughan, Joe Kiely, Hon. Ed McLaughlin, Dr. Myron Pawliw, Ed Grant ’62, Kevin Cuddihy ’64, Bob Donnelly ’64, Ken Grant ’64, John Quealy ’64, Jim Keane P’00, their spouses and several childhood Stuyvesant Town friends, and Jack Raslowsky attended a memorial Mass for Frank O’Connell†, who passed away in February. They were honored that Frank’s wife, Shelley, traveled from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to join them. The Mass was celebrated

at Immaculate Conception Church on 14th Street, which was Frank’s boyhood parish and whose grammar school he attended. After the Mass there was a luncheon at a neighborhood restaurant where a toast was offered and a celebration of Frank’s life commenced.

Almost 50 years after he left Vietnam as a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer, Rick Geffken returned in December 2017 with two other veteran friends for a three-week stay. Geffken reconnected with a friend in Cu Chi, visited Hanoi, and was “heartened by the gracious and

simple: to lead the conversation about faith and culture in the service of the Church and the world. America Media has been, and continues to be, a model of the Ignatian charism, willing to actively engage in dialogue with the world in which we live,” he said. “It is my hope to promote this mission and vision in all that I do, and to do all that I can to move others in support of this ministry.”

His first few months on the job have been enriching ones. In February, he traveled to the Holy Land with president and editor-in-chief Matthew Malone, S.J., editor-at-large Jim Martin, S.J., and subscribers, supporters, and friends of America. “The pilgrimage is designed for pilgrims to get to know Christ more deeply through a real encounter with his ministry. We traveled to Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cana, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Bethany, and Jerusalem— places I thought I would never get to see in my lifetime,” he said. “I couldn’t have imagined a more profound way to start a new job.”

His days at America are full, but Cappabianca always makes time for his alma mater. He continues to serve as a non-trustee member of Xavier’s Board of Trustees, serving on the Plant Committee and the Athletic Field Task Force.

He is also a consistent presence at alumni events and a dedicated supporter of the Annual Fund.

“Xavier is the kind of place that you can never really get away from,” he said.

“It sticks with you and is always a part of who you are. I know that I’m not the only Son of Xavier who feels this way.”

open spirit of the wonderful Vietnamese people everywhere.”

1964 Dr. Francis J. Bremer is professor emeritus of history at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. He serves as coordinator of New England Beginnings, a partnership of historical institutions and individual scholars working to commemorate the cultures that shaped New England 400 years ago. Bremer is the author of more than a dozen books on Puritanism in the Atlantic world, including the award-winning John Winthrop: America’s Forgotten Founding Father and Building a New

Jerusalem: John Davenport, a Puritan in Three Worlds. He lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with Barbara, his wife of 50 years.

They have three daughters and nine grandchildren.

Dr. Michael Catalano relocated from Boulder, Colorado, to Jacksonville, Florida, in July.

“Back to the ocean!” he writes.

As part of his 50th reunion at Georgetown University, Paul McLoughlin participated in a wreath-laying ceremony— replete with taps—for all fallen soldiers at the gravesite of Vietnam veteran MAJ Larry O’Brien, USA (Ret.)† O’Brien is buried in front of his father, a World War II veteran and Silver Star recipient.

XAVIER MAGAZINE 41

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Photo by Terrance Bell

’67

Dr. Francis Dong

Ed Tweedy, left, with Andy Byers, a fellow traveler and father of four sons who attended the Jesuit High School of Sacramento.

Alumni Profile ED TWEEDY ’70 It’s been a long road to the Camino for Ed Tweedy ’70.

A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he spent decades in the business world, enjoying a lucrative career in the shipping and energy industries. He and his wife, Eileen, made their home in Ridgefield, Connecticut, raising two children there.

After September 11, 2001, Tweedy felt the need to change direction and give back. Eventually, he resigned from his business career, applied to the FDNY EMS, and was hired as a paramedic.

Along the way, the Camino de Santiago—the ancient Way of St. James, a network of pilgrim routes that lead to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain—remained at the back of his mind.

In the Middle Ages, pilgrims walked the routes to the shrine of the apostle, Saint James; today, people of all backgrounds from around the world travel the routes, in full or in part, for various reasons.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while,” Tweedy said. “But I never had the time, between life and being a papa bear.”

After resigning from the FDNY EMS earlier this year, the time presented itself. This February, Tweedy decided to travel to Spain at long last, choosing the Via de la Plata—at 1,000 kilometers, the longest of the pilgrim routes—as his path.

“You start in Seville, and then you start walking north and you end up in all of these wonderful places,” he said. “It doesn’t have as much infrastructure as other routes, but it has a lot more spirituality.”

Tweedy walked the Camino from early February through mid-March. Throughout his journey, he had his traditional Pilgrim’s Passport stamped at various points. On April 25, after returning to the U.S., Tweedy made a meaningful final stop at Xavier, where President Jack Raslowsky stamped his passport to mark the end of his Camino.

But the journey is not over yet. Tweedy said he plans to return to Spain for another Camino in the near future. The lessons he learned there were poignant—and there is yet more to learn.

“Christ is in everybody,” he reflected. “You just have to look hard enough.”

42 XAVIER MAGAZINE

Tom Driscoll, LtGen John Toolan, USMC (Ret.), Tom Healey, and Brian Burke

1967

1969

Dr. Francis H. Dong, a member of the Virginia/D.C. District Export Council of Washington, D.C., addressed attendees at the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Observance in Fort Lee, Virginia, on May 17. Dong, a veteran and citizen of Chinese descent, encouraged audience members to seek unity and pledge to work toward a better future for themselves and the nation.

Bob Hubbard is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his swim school and sports camps in Phoenix, Arizona.

His youngest daughter, Maggie, was married in December 2017, and he and his wife, Kathleen, welcomed their 21st grandchild this March.

“So things are hectic and fun in our ever-growing Hubbard clan!” he said. “Love to hear from anyone from the Class of 1969 who ventures west.” He can be reached at bob@hubbardswim.com.

COL Andy Mazzara, USMC (Ret.) ’67 recently retired from Penn State and remains active as executive director of the International Law Enforcement Forum. His Marine captain son, Joe, is a JAG at Quantico, and his youngest son, Michael, just graduated from Christendom College and will be married there this December.

Mazzara and his wife, Ellen, former Queen of the Xavier Military Ball, live in State College, Pennsylvania.

They have nine children and 16 grandchildren.

Ray Martinez visited Spain with his daughter, Laura, and son-in-law, Erik Durr, in May. They visited the birthplace of Ray’s mother, Trinidad Martinez P’69†, in La Coruña on the northwest Spanish coast. “I was last there in 1962 during our political migration from Cuba,” he said.

“Planning to return this October!”

1968 John Sterling, editor-in-chief of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, was selected to serve as chairperson for the plenary keynote session at the Cambridge Healthtech Bioprocessing/ Biotechnology Summit Conference in Boston in August.

1970 Donald Loar recently formed a consulting company, Loar Associates, serving the paint, adhesives, and plastics industries.

Frank Tirelli, former CEO of Deloitte Italy and former vice chairman of Deloitte US, led a roundtable discussion on the strategies and policies U.S. companies should pursue in order to attract, retain, and motivate professional talent during alliantgroup’s Technology, Legislative and Policy Summit in June.

CLASS NOTES

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Upcoming Events Tom Flynn

Bill McKiernan and Kevin McLaughlin

1971 John Frank and his wife, Carolyn Calzavara, will celebrate the fifth anniversary of their theater company, the 2nd Act Players, this November with a production of an expanded two-act version of the first play they ever produced, New Year’s Eve at Grandma’s House, which Frank wrote. The play examines the American immigrant experience as seen through the eyes of an Italian-American family in Brooklyn preparing for New Year’s Eve 1960.

1972 Tom Flynn is now a sales associate at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Greenwich, Connecticut. He specializes in buying, selling, and renting houses, condos, and co-ops for customers. He is licensed in Connecticut and can help facilitate domestic or international real estate transactions.

Richard J. Moylan, president of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, served as Grand Marshal of the Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 18. He was presented with the Chairman’s Award from The New York Landmarks Conservancy on June 7.

LtGen John Toolan, USMC (Ret.), who will be inducted into the Xavier Hall of Fame in October, was the honored guest speaker at the Somerset County, New Jersey Vocational and Technical High School Memorial

Michael Nardolilli

Day ceremony. Tom Driscoll, a chemistry instructor at the school, invited him. Tom Healey and Brian Burke also attended.

1973 Dr. Anthony Marinello recently retired from his family medicine private practice. He is now vice president for primary care services at Capital District Physicians Health Plan in Albany, New York.

1974 After 33 years at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Anthony Barricelli retired in March. He is expecting his first grandchild in September.

Summer Sunset at Xavier August 29, 2018

James Weatherall

payments processing company, Cybersource, bringing it public in 1994 and selling it to Visa in 2010. McLaughlin has more than 30 years of experience in investment management at Merrill Lynch.

He advises high net worth individuals, family offices, institutions, and private foundations, specializing in wealth management strategies for asset accumulation, distribution, and philanthropic and estate planning.

He also oversees the McLaughlin Group’s corporate services.

Rich Calangelo recently retired from ABC-TV and relocated to Orlando, Florida.

Michael Nardolilli was recently elected chairman of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, where he oversees 33 parks encompassing more than 12,000 acres of land.

Xavier Hall of Famer Bill McKiernan and his Boston College roommate, Kevin McLaughlin, both attended BC’s graduation on May 21. In his role as president of the Boston College Alumni Association, McLaughlin addressed more than 4,000 graduates that day, welcoming them to the BC alumni community.

McKiernan, a BC trustee, watched his son Scott graduate from the Heights; his older son, Will, graduated from BC in 2015. Both Will and Scott McKiernan are graduates of Bellarmine Prep, a Jesuit high school in San Jose, California, where Bill McKiernan is also a trustee. A graduate of Harvard Business School, McKiernan founded a successful

In December 2017, James Weatherall was elected president of the Société de Chimie Industrielle, a nonprofit independent organization based in New York City. The Société hosts numerous activities including its well-attended monthly luncheons featuring CEOs and other C-Level executives, government leaders, members of the investor community, scientists, and other chemical industry experts. Through the support of its members and donors, the Société also provides grants, fellowships, and scholarships to students pursuing the study of chemistry and chemical engineering.

Admissions Open House October 20, 2018 Hall of Fame Dinner October 26, 2018 Young Alumni Luncheon November 21, 2018 Turkey Bowl at Fordham November 22, 2018 Beefsteak Dinner January 11, 2019

Celebrate Xavier Scholarship Gala April 12, 2019 For the latest event updates, visit xavierhs.org/events.

XAVIER MAGAZINE 43

2018 Alumni Reunion New York City • Spring 2018

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CLASS NOTES

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1. Bernard Mordesillas ’98, John Foley P’77 ’79 ’81 ’84 ’86, and Victor Soto ’98. 2. Vito Pietanza ’98, Andrew Cruz ’98, and Peter Gonzalez ’98. 3. Steve Koch ’58, John Cerrado ’58, Alan Chapman ’58, Bob Vocchetti ’58, Norm Dauerer ’58, and Maurizio De Fina ’58. 4. William Croutier ’48, Gerard Pierce ’48, Anton Stifter ’48 (standing) and John Kapp ’48 and Gregory Hammill ’48 (seated) celebrating their 70th reunion. 5. Lou Jankovic ’88, Evelyn Suarez, Allan Suarez ’88, and Minal Patel ’88. 6. Joe LaRoche ’83, Eric Redding ’83, Darryl Washington ’83, Michael Johnson ’83, and Michael Chase ’83. 7. J.J. RonaldsonD’Albero ’13, Theodore Scanapico ’13, Clark Gentile ’13, and Patrick Bylis ’13. 8. James Mantle ’68, Bernard Smith ’68, Jim Tierney ’68, and David McGarvey ’68. 9. Ryan McDonald ’93 and Rob Thorburn ’93. 10. Patrick McDonough ’59, Leonard Lauricella ’66, Devin On ’18, and John Meditz ’66. 11. Brendan Bruder ’68, Allyson Bruder, Clare Bruder, and Audrey Bruder. 12. George Joost ’98, Margaret Gonzalez, and John McMahon ’98. 13. Jim Keenan, S.J. and Dr. Michael LaQuaglia ’68.

XAVIER MAGAZINE 45

Recently Published

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’75

Pat Whalen, Steve Florich, and Tom Maffey with their wives

1975

Stop Blaming Adam and Eve

By John Foley Xavier Hall of Famer John Foley P’77 ’79 ’81 ’84 ’86 unveiled his new book, Stop Blaming Adam and Eve, at a reading in Arrupe Library on June 27. Almost 60 former students and colleagues joined Foley that night to celebrate the legendary religion teacher’s achievement.

“Thanks to the students and colleagues of Xavier High School and Saint Peter’s University, Jersey City, for 50 years of challenges, opportunities, and growth as a man of faith, hope, and love,” he wrote in the book’s introduction. “You have made the Jesuit principle of cura personalis—care of the whole person—a reality in my life and have helped me to ’find God in all things.’”

John Telesca reports that the Xavier High School Class of 1975 Facebook group “has nearly 50 members currently, and we have added an online album with scans of our 1975 yearbook for all to enjoy the classic mid-1970s fashion and hairstyles that made that decade so…memorable.”

Pat Whalen and his wife, Mary, Steve Florich and his wife, Kim, and Tom Maffey and his wife, Alice, enjoyed a mini-class reunion outside of Assisi, Italy, in May. 1976 Elizabeth Bonica, the daughter of Louis Bonica, married Evan Coury on April 28. Elizabeth is also the niece of former Xavier registrar Janet Bonica.

Bill Rodriguez serves as chief marketing officer for Profile by Sanford, a national franchisor of nutrition counseling and weight loss centers, among the fastest-growing franchises in the U.S. 1977 Robert Kenny was recently promoted to director of the strategic intelligence unit at First Republic Bank in San Francisco, California.

1978 Joseph Re has worked at Knobbe Martens, a large intellectual property law firm headquartered in Southern California, for more than 30 years. He is excited that the firm

46 XAVIER MAGAZINE

Bill Rodriguez

has opened a New York City office, where he will be spending more time. “I look forward to hearing from former classmates,” he writes. Re can be reached at joe.re@knobbe.com.

For the past 26 years, Dr. Neil Watkins has been a practicing ophthalmologist in Northwest Indiana. He lives in Olympia Fields, Illinois, with his wife, Desiree.

They have a 26-year-old son.

1979 Dennis Campagna joined Zocdoc as the company’s controller in January.

Stephen Donini recently retired after 33 years in federal law enforcement as a senior special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Eduardo Sarduy works for Connections CSP in Georgetown, Delaware. His daughter recently graduated from the University of Delaware and will attend law school in West Virginia.

1980 Mark Khan is pleased to announce the invention and patent of the world’s first modular cricket bat as well as the invention of a new global sport called WIKTBALL. He is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his company, Silverbait Design, and writes that he is “grateful for a spectacular education at Xavier High School.”

CLASS NOTES

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’79

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Dennis Campagna

Andrew Dell’Olio

James Zerilli writes that his daughter, Jennifer, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business/ marketing from Montclair State University in May.

of 43 facilities and nearly 800 civilian and military personnel.

1981 Dr. Andrew Merola is happy to be working with Xavier students and the Medical Affairs Club under the auspices of James Hederman, S.J. Andrew’s son, Christopher, attended HAP this summer.

1982 Tim Sullivan earned a master’s degree in special education in June.

1985 John Imbornoni and Richard Imbornoni ’87 wish their dad, Herbert J. Imbornoni P’85 ’87, a very happy 90th birthday. Herbert Imbornoni is a 1946 graduate of Brooklyn Prep, the former Jesuit high school in Brooklyn. He reached his milestone birthday in July.

Dr. Thomas Moreo is co-founder and principal at Cornerstone Information Technologies, LLC. He recently earned his Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology.

CDR John Pucciarelli, USN (Ret.) is assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in the Memphis, Tennessee area. He was recently promoted to the position of deputy director of the Navy Corrections and Programs Office, where he is responsible for policy and oversight

John Pucciarelli

1986 In February, Andrew Dell’Olio P’20 received an MTA Award for Heroism for his actions during an incident in Downtown Brooklyn on January 12, 2017. Dell’Olio was a block away from his office when he noticed a woman engulfed in flames. He ran across Boerum Place to offer his assistance and used his windbreaker jacket to beat down the flames. Three other men also helped, and a school bus driver stopped and produced a fire extinguisher, which the men used to put out all the flames before responders arrived. The woman survived that day. Dell’Olio and one of the other men were taken to Long Island College Hospital for chest X-rays due to inhalation of extinguisher chemicals, but he didn’t let that stop him from participating in the 2017 edition of one of Xavier’s most-loved alumni traditions. “When I got out of the hospital, I went home, took a shower, and went to the Beefsteak Dinner,” Dell’Olio recalled.

Mark Jannone recently moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where he leads Banner Health’s operational management, strategy, and tactical execution for growth across the ambulatory network. “Would love to connect with my Xavier brothers if you find yourself in the area,” he writes. Fellow alumni can reach him at mark.jannone@gmail.com.

Dermot Shea was recently named the NYPD’s Chief of Detectives.

Patrick Tansery recently retired as an FDNY Battalion Chief after 29 years of service.

1987 Nicholas J. Panarella, a partner specializing in commercial litigation at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in New York City, was just named Kelley Drye’s firm counsel. He lives in Mount Vernon with his wife, Anne, and their four children. He is the proud parent of two students at Georgetown University, his “other” Jesuit alma mater.

Bill Peterson, Kenneth Marino ’95, and their team at Neuberger Berman were recently ranked #49 in the country for Wealth Advisors by Barron’s magazine.

1988 Allan Suarez recently launched the Newark Foundry Workspaces, a late-19th century historic mansion converted to co-working and professional office spaces.

Located in the revitalized High Street District of Newark, Newark Foundry Workspaces is a 6,500-square foot mansion restored to its original grandeur. It is poised to become a unique collaborative hub for Newark entrepreneurs and business innovators. The property is currently an affordable home for up to a dozen small businesses.

XAVIER MAGAZINE 47

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Allan Suarez

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Ray Lustig

Matthew Clagnaz, Marco Lepore, and Anthony Chionchio

MAJ David Del Cuadro-Zimmerman, USA, left, with COL John Giordano, USA ’91

’96 Alan Szydlowski is head of global expense management at BNY Mellon.

1989

JP Stathis and his fiancée, Courtney

’05

Manny Conduah, Pharm.D., J.D. started xyrisRx LLC, a pharmacy benefit consulting (PBM) firm in 2018 after 20 years of leadership at a top PBM firm. He looks forward to assisting plan sponsors in controlling skyrocketing pharmacy costs.

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1994 John Georges is the Director of International Admissions at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts.

1996

Jayce Bartok (Wilchusky) produced a documentary, Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story, which was released on July 31. He can be seen on Elementary on CBS this summer.

Mike Lee started a maritime security firm focused on cruise terminal security in late 2014.

Terminal Security Solutions, Inc. is now the fastest-growing company of its kind in the industry, currently providing services to numerous cruise lines in five major ports. Lee serves as the company’s president.

COL Doug LeVien, USA is now assigned as the XVIII Airborne Corps G4 (Logistics Officer) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Last December, his article titled “America’s Prescient Dissenters: Senator J. William Fulbright and Dr. Andrew J. Bacevich’s Principled Dissent of U.S. Policy in Vietnam and Iraq and Their Enduring Perspectives” was published in the Journal of Military Ethics.

Daniel Smith resides in Morristown, New Jersey. He recently celebrated 15 years at BD Medical, where he has served in several commercial roles with stops in Charleston, South Carolina, and Salt Lake City, Utah. While in Salt Lake City, Smith completed the executive MBA program at the University of Utah.

He currently leads the injection systems business platform for the U.S. region.

Ray Lustig is a Juilliardtrained composer. His opera, SEMMELWEIS (based on the tragic true story of medical visionary Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician and early pioneer of antiseptic procedures) is being premiered in Hungary, with 12 festival performances and repertory performances in Budapest throughout the 2018-19 season.

“Thinking of Xavier with gratitude

JP Stathis and his fiancée, Courtney Donahue (sister of Daniel Donahue ’12 and Aiden Donahue ’18), recently purchased their home in Breezy Point. They are engaged to be married at Saint Frances de Sales Church in September.

1990

Bill Lembo and Leonardo Mordasini

for all I learned there from so many,” Lustig writes.

1997 Adam Lynch graduated from the West Point Counterterrorism Leadership Program in April.

1999 Matthew Clagnaz, Marco Lepore, and Anthony Chionchio recently celebrated Clagnaz’s son William’s first birthday party at Gargiulo’s Restaurant in Brooklyn.

2003 MAJ David del CuadroZimmerman, USA was promoted to the rank of Major by COL John Giordano, USA ’91 at the United States Military Academy on February 28. Del CuadroZimmerman currently serves as an instructor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and Giordano is the Director of Plans, Policy and Partnerships at the Cyber National Mission Force.

Tony Gadaleta will teach physics and computer science at The Mary Louis Academy this fall.

On March 1, Salvador Rivas became a deputy pilot with the Sandy Hook Pilots Association.

2005 Jonathan De Castro was named head coach of the Philippines men’s national ice hockey team for the Challenge Cup of Asia.

Bill Lembo and Leonardo Mordasini recently traveled to the 78th parallel north, well above the Arctic Circle, to visit the archipelago of Svalbard. They spent a week in the Arctic night as part of the first trip for the company they founded, Brooklyn 2 Backcountry. They enjoyed a two-day snowmobile safari and dog sledding under the Northern Lights.

CLASS NOTES

Service Academy Graduations ​Annapolis and West Point • ​May 25 and 26, 2018

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This spring, five Sons of Xavier graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy. On May 25, Xavier President Jack Raslowsky and former Senior Army Instructor LTC Roy Campbell, USA (Ret.) traveled to Annapolis to see former Cadet Colonel Benjamin Heni ’14 and Joseph Kim ’14 commissioned as Ensigns. The following day, they headed to West Point, LTC Campbell’s alma mater, to see Luigi Cortez ’11, Dan Roman ’13, and Patrick Walsh ’14 become Second Lieutenants. “Our Sons of Xavier continue to bring great credit to their families and to our nation as they enter into selfless service in so many different walks of life,” Campbell said.

1. Raslowsky, Kim, Campbell, and Heni at the U.S. Naval Academy graduation. 2. Roman and Campbell. 3. Michael Stumpf ’17 and Kevin Strehle ’17. 4. Campbell and Cortez. 5. Raslowsky, Justin DeoPaul ’16, Patrick Walsh ’14, Nicholas Velez ’14, Andrew Rivera ’16, Brian Patterson ’17, Matthew LaSorsa ’16, and Campbell at West Point.

XAVIER MAGAZINE 49

’07

’10

Left: Christopher Pagnotta ’07, Jose Aquino ’07​,​and Christopher Grech ’07 ​in Tijuana, Mexico​. Right: The trio before Aquino’s wedding.

Chris Corrado

’11 Salim Lewis recently passed the Washington State bar exam and is now working with the Chris Christie Law Group in Seattle.

2006

Mike Sansevere

’12

After 11 years at Morgan Stanley, Sanjeevan Iswara started a new role as deputy chief operating officer for Rockefeller Capital Management. He and his wife, Rebecca, are expecting their second son this fall. He will join his older brother, Winston Xavier Iswara.

2007 CPT Michael Chiaia, USA will soon finish his career as a U.S. Army captain and Blackhawk pilot. Chiaia will be relocating to New York City from Hawaii and is looking forward to reconnecting and networking for employment opportunities in the Big Apple.

Andrew Solberg

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In July, ​longtime friends Christopher Pagnotta, Jose Aquino, and Christopher Grech chaperoned a group of Xavier students as they traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to build homes in impoverished neighborhoods. Pagnotta and Grech made the same trip as students.

Aquino reflected: “This week I was able to share a memorable week with two of my best friends. The three of us have had a relationship since we were young men at Xavier.

As students, we played football, went on trips to Europe, and shared retreats together. This week we worked side-by-side mixing cement, moving buckets of gravel and sand.

The work was difficult, but we were so happy just being together. I

strongly believe that our friendship is a testament to what makes Xavier great. Xavier is more than just a building to learn, it’s a home where friendships are born and fortified.

Thank you to my two brothers here with me and all my Xavier brothers for always making moments like this last forever.”

2008 At the end of June, Rev. Nicholas Colalella completed his studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute with a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (SSL). “The licentiate thesis I worked on was on the concept of discipline in the Book of Ben Sira,” he writes.

On June 27, he celebrated three years in the priesthood. After seven years in Rome, Fr. Colalella will return home to the United States and continue his studies at the Catholic University of America as he pursues a master’s degree in Semitic Languages. He will reside at St. Luke’s Parish in Whitestone, Queens, and live at Little Flower Parish in Bethesda, Maryland, during his time in Washington.

2009 Dylan Kitts recently returned to Brooklyn. He works as a scheduler for a New York City Council Member and serves as president of the Board of Directors for Planet Indonesia. Kitts is currently pursuing a master’s degree in sociology at The New School.

He welcomes classmates to contact him at dylanfranciskitts@gmail.com.

Peter Kouretsos recently earned a master’s degree in strategic studies

and international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

He works as a defense and national security analyst in Washington, D.C. Jose Miranda recently graduated from Columbia Law School. The son of immigrants from Ecuador, he was awarded a prestigious postgraduate fellowship—the Immigrant Justice Corps Fellowship—that will support him for two years as he works fulltime at Catholic Migration Services, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to immigrants in Brooklyn and Queens.

2010 Chris Corrado lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where he works for Johnson & Johnson as a senior software engineer.

Sean Kelly won first place in the American Bankruptcy Institute 2018 Law Student Writing Competition for his paper, “SEC v. Creditors: Why SEC Civil Enforcement Practice Demonstrates the Need for Reprioritization of Securities Fraud Claims in Bankruptcy.”

2011 Mike Sansevere plays in an indie rock/electronic band called Future Generations, based in New York City. The band is signed to Frenchkiss Records, a notable record label, and its members are now embarking on a tour to promote their second album. The band’s first album was released in 2016, and they now have more than 170,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

CLASS NOTES

’14

’14

Jake Nicholson, Frank Musaruca, Mike Fernandez ’72, James Amodeo, and Marco Raffa

’14

Mark Tam, left, after his commissioning

Felipe Diehle

’15 After graduating from Xavier, Sansevere roomed with Director of Ignatian Service Programs Greg Stelzer at Fordham University.

Sansevere earned a business degree at Fordham, where he met most of the members of the band that became Future Generations.

Besides producing and performing with Future Generations, he also produces for local hip-hop artists, including other Xavier alumni, and has worked part-time for local record labels and studios in Hoboken and Brooklyn.

2012 Jack Johnson recently finished his fifth year as Xavier’s head golf coach. In March, he was named the assistant golf professional at Bethpage State Park, home of the 2019 PGA Championship and the 2024 Ryder Cup. Johnson continues to work towards his PGA Class A Professional certification.

Anthony Pucik works for ESPN NY 98.7 FM as a board operator.

Andrew Solberg recently earned a master’s degree in mathematics education from Brooklyn College, graduating at the Barclays Center.

2014 On May 19, James Amodeo, Frank Musaruca, Jake Nicholson, and Marco Raffa graduated from Loyola University Maryland. Their graduation speaker was Xavier Hall of Famer Mike Fernandez ’72, lead benefactor of Fernandez-Duminuco Hall. “He gave a very powerful and moving commencement address,” Amodeo writes. “I approached the

University’s president and asked if graduates who had attended Xavier could be allowed to meet and take a picture with Mr. Fernandez.

The inquiry was welcomed, and the gathering took place an hour or so before Mr. Fernandez’s lifechanging speech.”

Felipe Diehle writes: “After going the non-traditional route and getting an associate’s degree in liberal arts, I traveled to South America and taught English for about a year. Since then, I’ve decided to return to the States to further pursue my bachelor’s and doctorate in nursing. This summer I will be volunteering with a psychiatrist who serves the mental health needs of Mexican-Americans in Texas.

Taking some time off school taught me some valuable lessons and gave me time to spend with family and friends. Xavier is always in my thoughts and prayers. As soon as I can, I’m going to make a trip back to reconnect with old brothers. For now, onward to glory!”

James Lavelle graduated magna cum laude from Marist College with a bachelor’s degree in history/ adolescent education. He will attend SUNY Binghamton’s history Ph.D. program this fall. He looks forward to continuing his research into the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era. Mark Tam recently graduated from Loyola University Maryland with bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology. He has been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army and will serve with the 250th

Brigade Support Battalion in the New Jersey Army National Guard.

2015 Patrick Caoile graduated from Saint Peter’s University as valedictorian of the Class of 2018, earning his bachelor’s degree in English Literature in just three years. He will pursue a master’s degree in English at Seton Hall University this fall.

Matthew Chan is a proud member of St. John’s University’s President’s Society. Founded in 1968, the President’s Society honors students who combine scholarship, integrity, maturity, and a well-rounded personality with University-wide awareness, participation, and leadership, demonstrated by their significant contributions to the academic, co-curricular, and extracurricular life of St. John’s. Members of the President’s Society are considered to be part of the president’s support staff. The President’s Society is the highest honor society at St. John’s University.

Patrick Caoile

’15

Matthew Chan

Michael Martell, known as “The Hammer” during his bowling seasons at Xavier, was named to Junior Team USA 2018.

His selection was based on his 3rd place finish at last year’s National Junior Gold Competition, which saw more than 1,000 bowlers compete. He was named 2nd Team All-American at the NAIA National Championships.

At the Intercollegiate Team Championships, he was an honorable mention for NCBCA

XAVIER MAGAZINE 51

’16

Jonathan Caracappa

’17

Isaiah Blake

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All-American. He recently averaged 213.7, which was the ninth-highest average for collegiate men in the country. Martell is a rising senior at Robert Morris University in Chicago.

JC Rice, a member of the track and field team at the University of Texas at Austin, posted several noteworthy results during the 201718 season. He won the 3000m at the Texas A&M Quadrangular, finished first at the New Mexico Classic, set a personal best time of 8:04.59 in the 3000m at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, placing 4th, and took 5th place in the 5000m at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.

Following his successful indoor season, he won the Big 12 3000m steeplechase and qualified for the NCAA finals.

2016 For two weeks in May, Jonathan Caracappa attended a Clemson University faculty-directed medical mission trip in Panama. The program provided Panamanians with free health clinics where they could receive treatment for many acute medical problems while allowing students to gain hands-on experience that cannot be gained in the United States. The clinic saw a total of 741 patients and made a great impact on the local community. Caracappa writes that

in memoriam

ALUMNI Harold White ’38, 4/8/18 Frank Pietrowski, Jr. ’40, 3/13/18 Anthony Earley, Jr. ’41, 4/14/18 John Esposito, Sr. ’42 P’77, father of John Esposito, Jr. ’77, 4/9/18 Joseph Radigan, Jr. ’42, 7/17/17 Richard Lohr ’45, 3/30/17 Charles Four ’46, 5/22/18 Edward Heiskell ’46, 5/20/18 John Bohuslaw ’47, 7/14/18 William Darmody ’47, 4/27/18 Joseph Davey ’47, Unknown 52 XAVIER MAGAZINE

most of the patients rely on the program, Clemson ISL, to provide healthcare once a year. He is a rising junior whose goal is to become a dentist.

2017 Isaiah Blake, who just completed his freshman year at Williams College, attended the premiere of The Rainbow Experiment (a movie in which he, drama teacher Nicole DiMarco, and several other Xavier alumni starred) at the Slamdance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah, in January.

Connor Buckley, a rising sophomore rugby star at Iona College, was named FloRugby.com’s 2017-18 Men’s Division I Freshman of the Season.

Ryan McGraw writes that he had a good first year on Fordham University’s track and field team, posting personal records in the long jump, triple jump, and 200-meter dash. He serves on the board of the Fordham Marketing Association and now works with ProHoops, training NBA draft prospects and players in their offseason.

Brandon Sapienza recently transferred to Fordham University, where he will continue his studies in journalism. He is a reporter at Brooklyn Reporter.

Herbert Doan ’47, 6/19/17 Joseph T. Loughlin ’47, 11/9/17 Joseph F. Mansfield ’48, 2/16/18 Thomas Hebert ’49, 5/9/18 Thomas McCarthy ’51, 3/12/18 Vincent Savino ’51, 2/20/18 Dr. John Tokar ’51, 7/9/18 James Clark ’52, 8/11/16 Thomas Ilaria ’52, 10/16/17 Richard Jablonski ’52, 11/16/17 Francis “Jerry” Lunden ’53, 3/22/18 Edward Handler ’55, 7/5/18

Dr. George L. Negron ’55, 4/7/08 Louis Turco ’56, 4/15/18 Kevin Flood ’57, 4/24/18 Francis Stella, Jr. ’57, 9/16/17 Joseph Bradt ’59, 3/24/18 Hon. Robert G.M. Keating ’59, 7/14/18 Louis Lanzillo ’59, 3/16/18 Joseph Milo ’60, 3/31/18 Dr. James Brassel ’64, 10/22/17 Raymond Mocarski ’66, 9/2/07 John Morrison ’66, 5/13/08 Charles Raia ’66, 8/3/95

Kevin Fox '08 and Audrey Hix

Milestones WEDDINGS Neil Sorrentino ’02 married Kimberly Steib on September 22, 2017, in Florham Park, New Jersey. James Coccaro ’02 served as best man, while Gino DiStefano ’02, Michael Pagano ’02, John Toomey ’02, Ted Serro ’02, and Eric Sorrentino ’04 made up the wedding party.

Patrick Brunton ’03 married Enza Cacace on May 27.

Dr. Jonathan M. DePierro ’04 married Vivian Khedari on October 11, 2017, in Warwick, New York.

Anthony Viscomi ’66, 8/4/13 George R. Brix ’67, son of Harry J. Brix, Jr. ’39 P’66 ’67 ’71 and brother of Stephen Brix ’66 and Harry J. Brix III ’71, 5/17/18 William Casciani ’67, 12/18/17 Tod McDougald ’68, brother of Gilbert McDougald ’67, 4/27/18 Christopher J. Taylor ’68, 9/21/08 Kevin Nugent ’70, 3/29/18 Santiago Armstrong ’73, 6/1/18 Mark Pietro ’78, 5/11/18

CLASS NOTES

Liam Xavier Scaturro with his parents, Pete and Kristin Marguerite Scott

Kevin Fox ’08 married Audrey Hix, whom he met at The College of New Jersey, at Our Lady of the Mountain Church in Long Valley, New Jersey, on July 22, 2017.

The Foxes recently moved to northern Virginia after spending several years in Vermont.

BIRTHS Bob Hubbard ’69 and his wife, Kathleen, welcomed their 21st grandchild, Juniper Maureen, on March 29.

Matt Hickey ’94 and his wife, Brigitte, welcomed their second son, Anderson, on April 26.

John Fernandez ’95 welcomed twin boys, Joseph Christopher Fernandez and Sergio Daniel Fernandez, on May 24.

PARENTS Antoinette Casullo P’67, mother of Albert Casullo ’67, 4/27/18 Jean Girard P’70 ’75, mother of Joseph Girard ’70 and Christopher Girard ’75, Unknown Donald Gross, Sr. P’72, father of faculty member Donald Gross ’72 P’03 and grandfather of Daniel Gross ’03, 3/27/18 Juan Vargas P’75, father of Ramon Vargas ’75, 5/28/18

Joaquín Gutierrez

Wesley Lazzara ’95 and his wife, Stephanie, welcomed their son Oliver Greyson to the world on November 14, 2017.

Kwame Ohemeng ’96 and his wife, Christine, welcomed their third child, a daughter named Louise Helene Agyarko Ohemeng, on June 7. Louise joins her proud older siblings, Gabe and Tina.

Adam Lynch ’97 and his wife, Kate, welcomed a son, Finn Cornelius Lynch, on February 6.

Arthur J. Curcuru ’00 and his wife welcomed their first child, Maddalena Rose Curcuru, on May 2.

Eric Gutierrez ’02 and his wife, Karol, welcomed a son, Joaquín Federico, on April 1.

Stan Tolkin P’80 ’82 ’85 ’87, father of Doug Tolkin ’80, Chris Tolkin ’82, Mike Tolkin ’85, and Matt Tolkin ’87, 6/16/18 Frances Gori P’82, mother of Kevin Gori ’82, 7/7/18 Edward Ryan P’82, father of Kevin Ryan ’82 and Kenneth Ryan ’82, 4/18/18 Kathleen Hallahan P’87, mother of Michael Hallahan ’87, 4/14/18 James Mullen P’87, father of James Mullen ’87 P’19 and grandfather of John Mullen ’19, 3/21/18

Oliver Lazarra

Anthony Hohmann ’03 and his wife, Kimberly, welcomed their second child, Luke Anthony Hohmann, on September 14, 2017.

Pete Scaturro ’03 and his wife, Kristin, recently welcomed a son, Liam Xavier. They celebrated his Baptism at St. Mary’s Church in Louise Ohemeng Rutherford, New Jersey.

Christopher Silvestri ’03 and his wife, Stephanie, welcomed their first child, Mia Joelle Silvestri, on May 17.

Patrick Galvin ’05 and his wife, Andrea, recently welcomed their first son, Jack Galvin.

Julian Scott ’06 and his wife, Kaylee, welcomed their first child, Marguerite Louise, on March 31.

John Kelly H’15 P’09 ’10, father of Seamus Kelly ’09 and Sean Kelly ’10, 5/31/18 Brian Daly P’17, father of Kevin Daly ’17, 6/1/18 Maria Minunno P’20, mother of Thomas Minunno ’20, 7/20/18 Phillip George P’21, father of Tyler George ’21, 3/31/18 SPOUSES Joan Cleary, wife of Tom Cleary ’57, 7/16/18 Judith Malarkey, widow of William Malarkey ’48†, 3/19/18

Luke Anthony Hohmann

Linda Smith, wife of Douglas Smith ’71, 4/7/18 Dorothy Stack, wife of Kevin Stack ’70, 6/24/18 FACULTY & FAMILY Br. Emil Dennis Denworth, former Xavier administrator, 2/8/13 Daniel A. Mongelluzzo, father of Mark Mongelluzzo, Xavier’s Director of Development, 4/26/18

XAVIER MAGAZINE 53

1.

Remembering John Kelly After a fierce battle with ALS, beloved former football and rugby coach John Kelly H’15 P’09 ’10† died on May 31.

Surviving him are his wife, Janine Kelly P’09 ’10, sons Seamus Kelly ’09 and Sean Kelly ’10, and a generation of players and fellow coaches he influenced for the better.

The day after his passing, Kelly’s friends and colleagues at Xavier High School gathered to remember him at a memorial Mass in the Student Chapel. Those present had the opportunity to share reflections. James Costa ’02, who succeeded Kelly as head coach of the freshman football team, encapsulated the community’s feelings when he uttered the following words.

One of the most recurring memories I have of John is when I saw his name come up on my phone just hours after my father passed in September of 2011. I had been coaching with John since August of that year, and he was one of the first people to contact me to offer me comfort. He simply said to me, “James, I wish I had the magic words to make this all better,” and he let me know that he would be available to help whenever I needed.

Looking back, it now feels odd that John denied having magical powers, because to the people who knew him, he certainly seemed to have some remarkable ability to change lives, maybe not with magic words, but definitely with his actions.

Before I met John, he was already established as a mythical personality in my imagination. When I told Chris Stevens ’83 that I hoped to coach freshman football during my first year teaching at Xavier, he assured me that I would be happy to coach with John 54 XAVIER MAGAZINE

because “he does a great job.” My father, who had coached on the JV level, told me I would learn a lot from John. John’s former assistant coach, Chris Mattura, who worked in the NFL before working with John, told me that John was a tremendous coach and that working with him was one of the best experiences that he has had with football. I remember thinking, “What is John Kelly’s special power? Is he some brilliant football mind? Is he an elite motivational speaker?”

I knew that he raised and coached his two sons, Seamus and Sean, who were elite athletes at Xavier and even better young men, so I had evidence to support what everyone was telling me. The more I worked with John the more I realized that he was, in fact, special.

Yet I found it more and more difficult to pinpoint and describe the exact reason for his greatness. He simply did everything well, but he did it so easily and with such humility that no particular adjective to describe him came to mind. I remember when Bill Maloney ’01 and later Will Carroll ’02 decided to coach with us, and I told them how lucky they would be to work with John but I still couldn’t exactly tell them why. I knew that they would agree with me.

Perhaps I figured out John’s greatness soon after my father died, just one month into our season and my first year teaching at Xavier. I returned to school and practice very soon after his death. At my first practice, John said, “James, gotta be honest, I didn’t expect you to be back so soon.” I said, “John, gotta be honest, I have no idea what I am doing. I just want to be here.” He just looked at me and gave me his classic close-mouthed smile and a nod. I look back on that season and now I know exactly why I returned so quickly; it was to be around John. John always established teams in which players supported and encouraged each other to work hard and had fun while doing it.

Being part of a John Kelly team made everyone involved want to stay

2.

involved. His teams were a reflection of him. He motivated people to be the best version of themselves. He would affirm your positive qualities, and he would inspire you to improve. Again, not with magic words, but with his dedication, integrity, humility, work ethic, optimism, and that nod or close-mouthed smile or thumbs-up sign that made you feel like a champion.

He remained an encouraging force in my life even after he stepped down from coaching to recover from his then undiagnosed leg injury, which turned out to be the first signs of his fatal disease. During my first year as head coach of the freshman football team, he called me constantly to ask for updates and to offer advice. He even came to some practices and almost all of the games in order to support Billy Maloney and me. When Colleen [Rober] and I got engaged, he reached out immediately with a congratulatory call. He told me that the engagement news was “awesome.” In fact, his marriage to Janine was so full of love and excitement that the two served as role models for Colleen and me. Even this past year, he used his new technology to send me emails simply to let me know that he was proud of the job that I was doing with the freshman team.

John’s messages throughout this period were always pretty consistent. He reminded me that the goal of coaching was to give the players a good experience at Xavier, and to remember always that “being a good guy is more important than winning.” This is a philosophy that John lived by and that his other coaches embraced.

Billy and I apply this ideal to our teaching, our coaching, our family relationships.

I’ve spoken a lot here about me and my relationship with John. But that relationship was based on our work with hundreds of students.

So these lessons that John taught me are being shared and the reverberations of his message are heard in many places right now.

John taught us not to count wins and losses, but to acknowledge victories and overcome feelings of defeat. Again, always with a nod and a smile. We lost John yesterday, but having him in our lives, in the life of Xavier, was a great victory for all of us.

3.

4.

1. More than 100 people gathered to celebrate John Kelly in 2016. 2. Will Carroll ’02, James Costa ’02, Billy Maloney ’01, and Andrew Gonzales P’17 with Kelly. 3. Kelly with his sons, Sean and Seamus. 4. Kelly receiving an honorary Xavier degree from Mike LiVigni and Jack Raslowsky.

XAVIER MAGAZINE 55

BACK STORY

The Work Continues

By John Meditz ’66

A

s I approached the end of my term as chair of Xavier’s Board of Trustees this June, I thought back to September 1962—my first days on 16th Street. If someone had told me then that I would later give a quarter century of service

56 XAVIER MAGAZINE

to the Board, culminating in four years as chair, I surely would have laughed. Things were vastly different at Xavier then; it took me some time to get used to the old-school pedagogy, the strict environment, and what was then a mandatory military program.

But by the end of my four years, I graduated with an incredible academic foundation and lifelong friends with whom I remain close today. Expressing my gratitude for those gifts is the major reason I’ve devoted a substantial portion of my life in service to my alma mater.

I did not want to attend Xavier. I wanted to go to St. Peter’s Prep, closer to my home in Weehawken. I suspect my mother was enamored of the uniform.

She must have had a thing for them or at least the discipline they connote, since I was forced to spend seven weeks when I was 8 at Admiral Farragut Naval Academy summer camp where we wore a full sailor’s suit on Sundays. (I distinctly remember the words of my first letter home to my parents: “Dear Mommy and Daddy—If you don’t get me out of here, I’m going to burn this place down.”) I came to appreciate Farragut, though, as I later came to appreciate Xavier.

After four years, like the seven weeks, I was sad to leave and much better for the experience.

Like many of my classmates, I can affirm that the rigor of our Xavier education made freshman year in college a breeze. I can also affirm that, for my classmates and me, our early mornings on the old gym balcony “comparing homework” and our senior prom in the new gym—when Ed Tempesta ’66 was almost immolated after a waiter dropped flaming Cherries Jubilee on his back—are firmly imprinted in our minds!

What we remember most are the examples we had of “men for others,”

although Pedro Arrupe had yet to introduce the phrase. I sit on many Boards and committees today, and I suspect this service orientation is a direct outgrowth of the teachers I encountered at Xavier. There were great, passionate educators among the faculty—James Keenan, S.J., Ed Makuta, S.J., Ed DeSantis, S.J., and Brian Moroney, to name just a few. Ed Makuta moderated a program through which I spent two afternoons per week tutoring sixth and seventh graders during my junior year. I ran the program my senior year, which in some ways pales in comparison to the service programs undertaken by Xavier students today—but for me then, and hopefully for many young men since, the experience was rewarding. It has been the basis for my continuing support of all things educational.

Over the years, I have been able to support many students both at Xavier and Fairfield University, my collegiate alma mater. My belief in the value of education and the importance of access and affordability is always affirmed when I meet student scholarship recipients. There are better ways to spend money than just buying things, and it’s my belief that helping a student obtain an education he couldn’t afford otherwise is the greatest satisfaction money can buy.

Education is a defining aspect of one’s life. That has certainly been the case for me, both at Xavier and Fairfield. It has been my privilege to give other young men the opportunity to define themselves on 16th Street and beyond—a privilege and responsibility that the Board and my successor, Dan Denihan ’65, carry on.

The work continues.

John Meditz is a graduate of Fairfield University and a 2008 inductee into the Xavier Hall of Fame.

1972

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Eight months before giving his landmark “Men for Others” address in Valencia, Spain, Pedro Arrupe, S.J., then the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, arrived on 16th Street to celebrate Xavier’s 125th anniversary.

Before a Thanksgiving Mass celebrated by Terence Cardinal Cooke on November 12, 1972, members of the Regiment formed an honor guard as various dignitaries, including Fr. Arrupe, right, and then-Headmaster Vincent Duminuco, S.J.†, left, processed into the Church of St. Francis Xavier. The Xavier later reported that Fr. Arrupe “grinned and said that when he saw the Regiment he felt for the first time in his life that he was really a general.”

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