35 Years — Part 7

May 16, 2010 | Latest

   Well, the original plan was for 7 quizzes of 5 questions each so that we would have a question for each of Seton’s 35 years.  However, that’s not how it is going to be.  Our final quiz is much different.  Instead of multiple choice it’s matching.  We’re going to match what some area of the school is currently (though my “current” is three years old, so some things may be different, but I am sure someone will inform us of any change) with what it once was.  I don’t know how to set this up, so what I am going to do is just list the current, and then list the used-to-be’s after them for you to match up.

   1.  Sacristy/Confessional;    2.  Bethlehem;   3.  boys lockers hallway between St. Joseph’s Wing and Old Building;    4.  Boiler Room;    5.  Cedar Cross;   6.  John Paul II Center;    7.  Weight Room;     8.  Mrs. O’Herron’s office;   9.  Teachers’ Room;   10.  Somewhere above the parking lot/driveway in front of the Old Building

A.  Volleyball Standard;   B.  Stage;   C.  Ditto Machine’s home;    D.  gravel parking lot, chinning bars and dumpster;   E.  home school office;    F.  biology lab;   G.  2 junior high classrooms;    H.  disciplinarian’s office;    I.  Typing room/ Advanced Math and Science Room;    J.  never anything else

1.      E.  What is now the sacristy/confessional was the humble beginnings of Seton Home School.  Mrs. Seelbach was the secretary and worked many hours there.  The original director was Mrs. Smyth, followed by Mr. Vander Woude until Mary Kay Clark took it over and eventually made it independent from Seton and moved it to Front Royal.  That same office was used by the Tae Kwan Do man who was most famous for his sign that read “Slef Defense”.  The office was transformed into a very nice little sacristy and confessional.  Above the penitent side of the  confessional is an attic space for storage.  Since no priest ever gave “Clean the attic space above this confessional” as a penance, the COOL Club took on the job once. 

2.      B.   Bethlehem, which is a copier room, book storage area and Mrs. Parriott’s work area, once was a stage where the 1^st two musicals were performed along with many other plays and events in the history of Seton.  When the stage area was being fixed up by Mr. Buser and his sons, they discovered the pool size baptismal area of the Assembly of God Church which originally owned the building and still has its corner stone there.  The area was named Bethlehem by Mrs. Warrick. 

3.      H.  It might be hard to imagine a hallway once being an office, but that is what the current boys locker area was.  Mr. Scheetz, Mr. Donahue and Mr. Sullivan all used that office.  As a hallway it was a huge bottleneck before the Corpus Christi building was built.  I was always amazed by the patience of the students in that area during rush hour traffic between classes.  Almost every space has a name at Seton – maybe that one should be called Discipline Way. 

4.      J.   The boiler room has never been anything other than what it is, though it has changed its look a little.  There used to be a door in the back of it that led to the back parking lot.  There was a crummy, little metal shed on the left as one exited.  I think the wind eventually blew it over.  When the new wing was built on, the door was sealed and that “breathing” vent, which scared me many a dark night, installed.  Since the old disciplinarian office became a hallway, Mr. Pennefather sometimes used the boiler room as his office.  I think it was for Y2K prep that trail mix snacks and bottled water were stored in there.  As that fear went away, various people (including me) would help themselves to the snacks until they were all consumed.  A new, more efficient boiler was installed a couple years ago. 

5.      A.  The cedar cross, hewn by Mr. McCullough, used to be a cedar tree, and one end of the volleyball net was tied to it.  VB practice was held on the rocky parking lot.  I best remember those practices for Deirdre Brien saying everyone was out for VB just for the social aspect.  The practices did promote socializing and they were fun, but it was a little better for the knees when we moved inside to the carpeted gym despite the low ceiling – lower than the sky, but also low in general. 

6.      D.   Where the JPII Center (new gym) now stands was once the gravel parking lot.  There wasn’t much to the parking lot except for the dumpster and the chinning bars.  Students would park their cars right by the fence next to Ames Funeral Home, leaving lots of space for football and other recreation.  What is now the senior parking lot used to be the faculty parking lot.  The scariest time for me in that parking lot was the night I got into my car after leaving the windows down and a cat jumped up from the floor making whatever noise a cat makes in such circumstance.  I screamed.

7.      F.  The weight room used to be the biology lab.  I have no stories about either, though the original weight room was the house across the street (now lawn in front of the Corpus Christi building).  Mr. Heisler led the weightlifters then and still does as far as I know.  That same house was once the Foeckler’s home.  I do not know if they ever lifted weights while living there.

8.      I.   Mrs. O’Herron, who works as a counselor and in guidance, uses the little room known as the Cenacle (the Upper Room).  This room used to look out over the old carpeted gym with the permanent backboard partially blocking the view.  It was 1^st used as a typing and newspaper room.  Then Mrs.Von Reyn took it over and got heat and air conditioning to it and made it the AMS Room.  She also taught girls’ life skills there. In the far end of the room was a crawl-in closet, and within this was an attic door that opened into the vast space that ran the length of the gym.  The only thing I remember storing up there were old trophies.  In the lobby all those trophies are 1^st place ones, so non-first place ones got stuffed up in an attic.  The Dutch doors through which one entered the Cenacle are a quaint aspect of this room. 

9.      C.  The teachers’ room has never been anything other than that, but it’s historical significance is tied to its housing the ditto machine – the producer of purple printed tests for many years.  For a time it was the only way to copy tests.  Eventually, technology took over and Rizzoing and Xeroxing left the ditto machine exclusively to my use.  We had two different ditto machines over the years.  The first one was replaced by one we got at the Prince William County School auction.  It was a superior model, but something happened to it when it got moved about four years ago and it never worked quite right after that.  Maybe at Seton’s 50^th anniversary we will bring it out for all to see and even touch.  Mr. P. remodeled the teachers’ room putting in new cabinets, stove and sink.  Previously, Mr. Scheetz added doors to the shelving along the windows.  The little crawl space was ordered sealed up by the fire marshal.  The round table in the teachers’ room came from a garage sale for $5.  No matter what improvements have been made over the years, the room always seemed to be a mess. 

10.  G.  The old cafeteria building had an upstairs of two classrooms which were used for the junior high.  They were great little classrooms and added more character to that building.  The only class I ever taught up there was junior high grammar.  Janet Purdy was in that class and as a 6^th or 7^th grader and she knew more grammar than I did.  

Lots of changes over the years, but Seton remains Seton at its heart.  I have really enjoyed thinking back over the past 35 years with these little quizzes.  One thing I did as I was reminiscing was to write down all the marriages I could think of in which both husband and wife are graduates of Seton.  I was hoping I could come up with 35, but I only got to 25, though I am sure I am missing some, maybe even 10.  

35 Year Journey — Part 6

May 7, 2010 | Latest

1.  Who finished 3^rd three years in a row in a history test administered internationally:   A.  Dan Dancause;    B.  Chris Mirus;   C .  Justin Torres

2.  What establishment gave free pizza and drinks to the girls basketball team and their supporters after a game:   A.  Mama Mia’s ;   B.  Pizza Hut;   C. 2-4-1

3.  What movie was first shown on the giant screen Mr. Buser built on the stage in the Carpeted Gym:    A.  Hoosiers;    B.  The Rookie  C.   Oliver

4.   What was  part of  the Western Dances that the Stines put on for a number of years:   A. an  Old-Time photo booth;    B.  a visit by the police;    C.  a cowboy/cowgirl costume contest

5.  What has traditionally been considered the most unusual demerit ever given:  A.  climbing out of a window into a tree in pursuit of a squirrel;     B.  listening to headphones under a hooded sweatshirt while typing in the freezing cold;   C.  jumping up and down screaming while working math problems on a chalkboard

Part VI the end of The Last Journey

   Then the bell rang three times.  It was a quarter of two.  He walked slowly out of the woodshed, then up the steep road, and into the side entrance tht led to the hallway by the infirmary stairs.  Soon the community would be rising for matins, and Father Mark would stop at my room in the infirmary to have a look at me.

   Back in the room, I noticed this typewriter on the table.  He told me to set it on the floor so that Father Mark wouldn’t notice it, and then I got back into bed.  Father Walter rang the rising bell for the space of a Miserere, and in a moment the door opened slowly, and Father Mark cautiously stuck his head in.  I patted my chest several times, that being the sign for “Good”.  Yes, I was feeling fine, very fine.

   He didn’t seem to notice that Someone was sitting on the rickety old chair by the window.  He closed the door softly and went down to the cold choir.

   After that, Jesus told me to get up again and to write down all that had happened on our journey through the Monastery.  I put my cowl on, opened the typewriter and slipped in the paper that I found inside the case.  I’ve been writing ever since.  Now it’s about three thirty, and soon the Office will be over and the Masses will begin.

   It’s getting late now.  It’s been snowing heavily for the past hour, and since He told me that tonight was the last time I would see my home here, it looks as though I will make my journey heavenward through the thick clouds of snow.  You may think that this has all been the result of my feverish imagination, but this new typewriter could hardly be that, and Father Mark will find it here on the table when he stops in to see me before saying Mass.  And now I must get back into bed…for the last time.

   He has risen from His chair by the window and is coming over here to the typewriter.  He evidently wants to add something to what I have written and I’m wondering what it will be.

                “Come, thou good and faithful servant!”

1. All of the above.   In 1990 Mrs. Carroll learned of a history test for high school students.  She gave a practice test to the juniors and seniors to pick a three-person team for Seton to enter.  Dan, Chris and Justin were freshmen then, but she decided to give the test to them as well to see how they would do.  They outscored all the juniors and seniors and became Seton’s team for their four years of high school.   As freshmen the trio finished 8^th.   In their sophomore, junior and senior years they finished 3^rd each time.  Dan is now a Client Service Manager in Providence, RI, advising 45 companies and their employers on their 401K’s, Chris teaches philosophy at the University of Dallas and Justin is a lawyer and writer in New Orleans.  I had an historic e-mail from Dan a while back.  Here’s what he said, “I was listening to some music in the car the other day that we (Chris Mirus, Joe Ghering and I) listened to often at Seton and realized to my dismay that the album in question was 20 years old.  I looked in the mirror expecting to see Dorian Grey’s reflection. I’m now 34, or as I often joke, mid-life crisis T-minus 6 and counting.  I will greatly enjoy that convertible when I finally purchase it (assuming at that point they are making convertible minivans)”        I also recently read a review written by Justin of some biographies for First Things. 
2. B.  The first year Seton was in a league – the Northern Virginia Christian Conference – the girls notched their first-ever win against Trinity Temple in Woodbridge.  Helen Waggoner was on the team and her sister Kathy worked at the Pizza Hut.  When the manager found out that it was the girls’ first win, everything was on the house.  We wished we could have a few more first-ever victories.   Mama Mia’s was the place everyone went after home basketball games at All Saints the first year of league play.  Those were great times because there were very few games – I remember Seton had 16 boys games that first season, so only about 8 home games – and it seemed that the whole school showed up for the games and then had pizza afterwards.   2-4-1 became the pizza destination later.  The time I remember best there was after a girls home game when the boys were playing at Paul VI the same night.  The boys arrived at 2-4-1 later and we found out that they had beaten Paul VI 42-40.  Dan Vander Woude was telling us the story of the game.  Seton fell behind, but Mr. VW called for them to slow the game way down.  Seton hung around, caught Paul VI and then Dan scored the winning basket with almost no time left.  Paul VI refused to play us after that for a number of years. 
3. C.   There was a plan to have regular movie nights (I think once a month) at Seton to enhance the student body’s social life.  Oliver was the first movie chosen and there was a good turnout for the show.  However, as time went on, the coldness of the gym and the hardness of the folding chairs caused attendance to dwindle and only a few movies were shown.  Actually, the only other one I remember was Red Shoes.  The screen was used for other things, most often for backdrops in plays.   I think the other two movies mentioned were ones that the SSC showed under Katie Pretz’s direction.  I think Hoosiers was shown in the three classrooms with the sliding curtains and The Rookie was shown in the John Paul II Center on a sheet.  I think Lord of the Rings was also shown in the 3 class rooms and there was a spaghetti dinner that preceded it.
4. A.  The Western Dances that the Stines ran were always great.  We did square dancing and the Virginia Reel.  The Stines would teach and call the dances.   The stage was made into a photo set complete with hay bales, whiskey bottles, guns and Western wear.  Mr. Scheetz would take the photos and develop them with that old-time brown look.  The yearbooks have some of these pictures in them.   The police did come to one dance, but not one led by the Stines.  It was either a  Western dance or a swing dance on a warm evening and the windows of the Carpeted Gym were open.  Someone on Maple Street called the police complaining about the noise.  The police arrived, saw a pretty tame crowd and suggested that we close the windows.  Costume contests are a Halloween Dance tradition.  One time in the old building cafeteria where dances were originally held, Ed Hunt’s costume was a paper bag with holes for the eyes cut out.  He did not win the contest.
5. A.   This squirrel seeking demerit was given by Mr. Flagg who was a parent volunteer at the time with the enviable job of monitoring a study hall. Mr. Flagg was an airline pilot, but it sounds as if he could have been a comedy writer.  The great hunter demerit recipient was Frankie Furr.   It seems Frankie did not get his prey but not for lack of effort.  There  was a very cold  music listener in typing class.    The other demerit was an embarrassing moment for me.  I was teaching downstairs in a classroom when from the adjoining room I heard loud yelling.  I left my classroom and saw Debbie Jerge at the board cheering  I just assumed the teacher was out of the room and students were taking advantage of the situation.  As I was issuing the demerit, Mrs. Baker, who was teaching math in the room and was sitting among the students in a desk, came running up to me to explain.  The class was having math problem solving races at the board, and Debbie had just won.  She was very elated and I was chagrined.   I did not issue the demerit.

This ends the short story, but we will have one more quiz leading up to Vintage 35.  The gathering sounds as if it is going to be another great event.  I will be eager to hear all about it. 

Jezu, ufam Tobie

35 Year Journey Part 5

May 2, 2010 | Latest

1.  What Seton tradition was eventually replaced by the Spring Musical?  A. 50’s Night;  B. The Spring Hullabaloo;   C.  the Fish Fry

2.  Where were the Mr. Violett led camping trips held?    A.  Hawk, WVA;   B.  St. Johnsbury, VT;   C.  Nokesville, VA

3.  What was unusual about a boys basketball game played against Emmanuel Christian?     A.  played outdoors at the Nissan Pavilion;   B.  Played at 7 a.m. because of scheduling problems;   C.  played without referees

4.  What was kept in a cage in the carpeted gym?  A.   A captured squirrel;   B.  An old organ;    C.  A giant sword

5.  What led to Seton seniors Billy Powell and Jason Torres and four other seniors being given a free trip to Rome?  A.  Started a counter petition in support of Church doctrine;   B. Wrote the winning song in a contest to welcome the Pope;   C.  won an Italian cooking contest

Extra Credit:      ABC     *00

                             ABB      00             A. CAB;       B. BAC;      C. BCA

Part V of The Last Journey

   After a moment I noticed that He had turned, and then He began walking down the gravel path that led out of the garden and around the novitiate buildings.  I followed, and in a few minutes we were walking down the steep road that led to the long narrow woodshed now in a somewhat tottering condition.  There in the moonlight I could see the logs, stacked one on top of the other and further on the smaller piles of wood that had already been chopped and were ready to be taken up in the laundry and secular kitchens.  He stood by the large wooden box that contained the axes, wedges, and heavy mallets used for splitting bigger logs.

   “This is another place where you did much to help all the men of the world.  I want yu to see where you worked.”

   I guess another miracle happened then, for suddenly I could see not only this dreary woodshed, but also the other places on the farm where I had done manual labor.

   I saw a small carrot patch where I knelt on sultry, damp days, wearing the heavy blue work habit, and had slowly weeded in between the small plants, thinning how endless these tiny rows of carrots seemed.

   I saw the splendid flowing fields of corn, and down each row my brothers were wielding the long, slender corn knife that made the tall stocks ready for stacking.  Father Thomas and Father Gregory were following u with a rope to tie the stalks together.  How many times I had dreaded the long afternoons of swinging that corn knife and how many times I had offered it up for the workers of the world.

   “These are some of the places where you labored for so many hours.  In heaven—and on earth now—there is a whole legion of souls waiting to thank you for the graces you earned for them by your patient perseverance as a Trappist.  In Pittsburg there are three workers in the steel mills who have often come home at night feeling crushed by the humiliation of the hard, fruitless work which earns them a very poor living.  They would long ago have left the Church and joined the Communist Party…had it not been for you.

   “In Idaho there is a young man who owns a farm.  He wanted to leave the drudgery of farming to go to the swift, racy life of the city.  There he would have eventually lost his soul.  Because of you I gave him the grace to see the fruitfulness of hard, honest work.  He will eventually bring many souls to heaven with him.  There are many, many others who have been able to see the errors of these times, and though they have never heard of my Mother’s words at Fatima, they have deliberately avoided luxurious living as she warned they must do.  You are responsible for these men and the heaven they have earned.

   Oh, how all the years of toil came rushing back into my mind then, and how little the effort seemed to be!  I wished that I might stay here at this monastery for a century of   lifetimes and work as I’d never worked before!  I could gain Him a million souls.

1.  C.  The Fish Fry was begun by the Burkes and ran for a number of years.  It was eventually decided that two major spring events that involved so many and so much time was too much, so the Fish Fry was dropped and the Musical survived.  The Fish Fries were a lot of fun, but they were much work for many – especially the fish fryers.    The 50’s Night was a Torres led production  Each year Mr. P was Elvis and did a good imitation.  I am not sure why it ended, but it too was a lot of fun.  The Spring Hullabaloo was a one time event.  It was an invention of some of us sitting around thinking we needed something to do, so we organized it.  Jake Cooley suggested that it be held in a park near where the Cooleys live.  Is that Burke? – I think near St. Andrews.   I would say it was not a lot of fun, but some fun.

2.  A.  Mr. Violett led a group for a number of years to the campground known as Hawk in WVA.  I am not sure what town it is near.  We did such things as play Frisbee golf with trees as targets; tipped trees and raced sticks in a stream in addition to the regular camping things like making smores and singing around the campfire.  The year I remember best was the one when Dan Bliss and Nick Talbot, both Boy Scouts, were on the trip and did most of the camping work.  St. Johnsbury was the destination of a trip Mr. Scheetz and I took with Mark Brock and Guy Smith – it must have been during Easter vacation.  Mark and Guy were boarding then.    Nokesville at the VW’s had a camping atmosphere for a # of years after we Christmas caroled around Manassas.  We had a bonfire, sat on hay bales, and drank hot chocolate.

3.  None of the above.  The game was played before a Washington Bullet’s game in Landover, MD.  Emmanuel invited us to do this.    The only thing I ever attended at the Nissan Pavilion was Easter Sunday Mass when All Saints had it there.  I mostly remember being cold.  I think swimmers are the only ones who do things like practice in early morning hours.  Some games might be better without referees.  One game at Emmanuel the referee called a three-second violation on the defense.

4.  B.  An organ was used to weigh down Masada – the portable basketball goal that Mr. Vander Woude Sr. built.  The organ was not used often, but it was safely protected from basketballs in its cage.   The new gym had the squirrel, but at first it was not in a cage.  It was eating the insulation from the ceiling.  Mr. Scheetz got a trap from Animal Control, but before I knew that, I bought a cage from J.E. Rice.  We had a contest to see who would catch the squirrel.  Mr. Scheetz won.  He drove the squirrel off somewhere and dumped it.    The only giant sword story I know did take place in the Carpeted Gym.  We had one for the Spanish foreign language play because we were doing the Sword in the Stone.  This was during the time that the plays were performed at night.  Ours was a real show.  We had dramatic music and the sword was to lower slowly from above onto the stage behind a big rock.  It got snagged and the backstage people in trying to release it nearly impaled Martin Pearson.  It fell quickly and stuck into the floor.  Martin couldn’t get it out of the floor, but Wart, played by Dawn Zacheral, was able to pull it out – just like the legend.  Meg Solley said that it was that play that convinced her Mom to send her to Seton.  Which reminds me, she was another border from Maryland.  So that makes 7 Maryland borders. 

5.  A.   I asked Mrs. Carroll to write up an account of their winning the trip.  Here is the very interesting story: In the fall of 1996 the dissident organization “We Are Church” sent out a mailing to (apparently) every Catholic school in the country asking the religion teachers to involve their classes in WAC’s petition campaign.  They hoped to gain millions of signatures and take the petitions to Rome to demand changes in the Church.  The petition involved all the usual demands–women priests, married priests, contraception and abortion and divorce OK, the Church to become a democracy….
   I showed the petition to the seniors Class of ’97.  The chairperson or whatever title she used of the petition drive was Sister Maureen  Fiedler, a Sister of Loretto.  The class took this petition drive as a challenge and wanted to prove to Sister Fiedler that she had sent the petition to one too many schools. Billy Powell and Jason Torres wrote a counter petition proclaiming their loyalty to the Church and all its teachings, entitled “We Are Catholics.”  Joe Benin president of the SSC called Sr. F to invite her to speak to our class about the petition, without telling her anything about where Seton really stood. She agreed to come but must have gotten an inkling of us because she later called the office and started asking probing questions.  I can’t remember whether she asked to speak to me or I called her but I decided it was time to tell what Seton stands for.  The upshot was she decided not to come.  I told her the students wanted to dialogue.  She said that she thought dialogue was a good idea but that she didn’t have time to dialogue with people who disagreed with her.
   The seniors started thinking of ways to spread our petition.  Some of them spoke at meetings in their parishes.  We also sent copies to the other Catholic high schools.  most didn’t respond, but one said something about our needing to be open to all points of view.  Billy wrote back saying that being Catholic involved one point of view and writing a little satire about an organization of Muslims called We Are Mosque which decided to believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ while still claiming to be faithful Muslims. 
   Then Father Marx at Human Life International found out about our petition through Bobby DeLong’s step mother and Teresa Garrity’s mother who worked there.  (Teresa wasn’t in the class; she was class of 2000.)  Father Marx began publicizing our petition through his network and also sent it out through HLI Canada.  This brought us even more publicity and the signatures started to pour in.  We ended up with 10’s of thousands of signatures, but I don’t know the final total. 
   Then at commencement, Fr. Marx was our speaker and announced the surprise:  6 students from the class would go on a pilgrimage to Rome to present the petitions. 3 boys and 3 girls.  Billy and Jason and Paul Haggerty (salutatorian) were the boys.  For girls we selected Leah Acosta (valedictorian), Brenda Gabriel (top religion 12 student not already chosen), and Anna Kim (pro life speech contest winner), but she was going into the Carmelites that summer and declined.  So then Chrissy Quinn who was the next highest religion student available was chosen.  Two faculty members also got free trips as chaperones, Pete Scheetz and Maryan Lee. I also got to go.  Other people could buy seats on the pilgrimage, so Bobby DeLong went, and Mrs. Supples, Mrs. Schiavone, Anna and Jenn, Charles Smith, 7 Canadians, 2 HLI employees.  We left Monday Nov. 17 and returned Monday Nov. 24.  We attended the weekly papal audience on the 26th and were hoping that Billy and Jason at least could meet the Pope, but that proved impossible.  However, our petitions were given to somebody and they ended up on a table on the stage during the papal audience
   Sr. Fiedler’s petition was a big flop.  She may have gotten a few thousand signatures at best.

There were 5 Seton students who won a video contest to welcome Pope Benedict XVI, and the video included an original song, but they only got to go as far as Washington to the then brand new National’s baseball stadium.  But they also got to appear on National television.  The 5 were Olivia Aveni, Mimi Myers, Brian Nagurny and Libby Wittman from the Class of ’09 and Kristie Ostrich from the Class of ’11.  Their video and television interview can be viewed on this site – it is the first thing (or last thing, depending on how you figure things) on the News and Events domain.   We had an Italian dinner at Seton once, but it was Dr. Divietri who organized that, and I don’t think he got to go anywhere except to the Knights of Columbus Hall to prepare the meal. 

Extra Credit:   B.  This is an example a logic game we played a number of years.  It is like Mastermind.  An * represents a letter from the solution and indicates that it is in the right place.  A 0 represents a letter from the solution that is in the wrong place.  Never mind.  Trust me, the answer is B.

Jezu, ufam Tobie.

35 Year Journey Part IV

Apr 25, 2010 | Latest

    1.  What future priest directed a Seton musical:   A.  Fran Peffley;    B. James Hudgins;    C.  Keith O’Hare

   2.  What was sometimes used to signal the end of classes:   A.  a cow bell;    B.  an air horn;    C.  a tambourine

   3.   Where did the Seton pilgrims going to World Youth Day in Denver stop for the night on the way out?   A.  Salina, Kansas,    B.  West Bend, Iowa;   C. Indianapolis, Indiana

    4.  What Seton team played a nationally ranked team?   A. Baseball;    B. Girls soccer;      C.  Girls basketball

   5.  Where were the Lenten Retreats once held?    A.  Washington, DC;   B.  Maryland;    C.  West Virginia

Part IV of The Last Journey

   Then on just an ordinary ferial day when it was raining, and we were getting ready to go down to the woodshed, it all ended, just like that.  The spotless victim was waiting over in the church for me, and I knew with great relief that those years had meant to strengthen my faith to make it pure and invincible. 

   Yes, I remembered it all.  And now I was face to face with the Bread of Heaven!  He turned to me, and there was the gratitude of God in His eyes as He spoke.

   “In France on April the 23^rd in the year 1930 at a meeting of 43 Masons, Father Louis Merreau consecrated 44 Hosts.  Each of those men took a long slender knife and stuck those Hosts on the wall around the room.  After that, my priest took the last Host, placed it on the floor, and put a long slender knife through it.  He became a prominent Mason and was known all over Europe.  He committed suicide last year….”

   “And now….he is….?”

   “In purgatory….thinking of you and how you saved his soul from hell.  That was part of the meaning of those seven long years.”

   He turned then, walked down the steps across the presbytery and out into the colder air of the cloister.  I followed and bumped into the heavy wooden door.  It’s hard to see through tears….

   I shivered as the cold air wrapped itself around me and seeped through the woolen cowl.  Down the dim cloister moonlight we walked, turned off into the passage leading past the stairway to the infirmary.  Further on He opened the side door that led to the garden for the professed choir religious.  He led me over to the spot where I stood so many times in the years gone by.

   “Do you see these mountains?  You have loved them for so many years.”

   And it was true.  I had loved them.  Up from the earth they rose and pierced the very heavens, and with them your heart cold rise and beat side by side with the heart of God.  They had become part of me, and when my feet were stuck in the mud and mire of temptation, I would come out here and gaze t the rolling splendour of these mountains.  I would rush to the peak of the highest one, and there I would look at the towering strength of God.  “I have lifted my eyes to the mountains whence help shall come to me.”  Through all the years they had been a joy and a strength to me.

   “This will be the last time you will see the mountains, and I must tell you about them.  Through all the centuries I knew that you were coming here.  I knew how desperately weak you would feel, and how puny and small you were.  I placed these hills here for you.  When I created the world, I was thinking of Marty Holloway, and I knew all that he would need to come back to Me.  Many people have found the same comfort and consolation in them as you, but none has needed them as much as you.  It was you I was thinking of most of all when I made them.”

   There in the snow and moonlight Jesus smiled at me.  I could only say, “My beloved to me, and I to Him.”

1. 1. C.  Father O’Hare before he was ordained but in the seminary did direct the orchestra for Music Man.  The group played under a tent like construction by the bleachers.  The last assignment I know that Father O’Hare had was in Banica.  Another future priest also directed a musical: Mark Pavlik directed Wizard of Oz and also made Fuzzy Gregory’s Good Witch of some direction – West’s? amazing costume.  Father Pavlik is a priest in Minnesota. These two musicals directed by future priests are among my all-time favorites.  Father Peffley has the well-known talent of juggling, but I don’t know how he is musically.  Father Hudgins is very musically talented, but he didn’t become associated with Seton until after he became a priest.  He was able to teach the 12^th grade religion class regularly when he was an associate pastor at All Saints.   Other music/orchestra directors for musicals have been Jenn Gregory, Jeanette Fisher, Dr. Divietri, Mr. Montelione and Dr. Morch. 
2. 2. A.  The cowbell was the instrument rung to signal the end of classes once Seton moved to its current location in the Old Building but before Mr. Whittum installed the computer bell system.  I know I sometimes felt as if I were part of a slow moving herd going from one classroom to another before the Corpus Christi building was built.  The Fire Marshall once wanted a fire drill, so Mrs. Severe, the school secretary (among many other duties) ran around ringing the cowbell and yelling “Fire Drill”.  The school evacuated fairly quickly.  Fire drills were one of my favorite things – especially once we started lining up across the street and taking attendance.  This meant much less time to teach.  Once the cowbell couldn’t be found so my sister Wendy ran around banging a pie plate with a spoon.  I think Mr. Heisler did something similar to announce that we had a new Pope.    An air horn was not used to signal the end of classes, but one was used to signal the end of quarters of basketball games when Seton used All Saints Gym for its home games.  It was a very annoying.  Part of preparation for home games was to go to J.E. Rice to pick up a new air horn.  I think the best feature at the scorer’s table in those days was the wooden change of possession arrow that Mr. Scheetz made.  He also measured and put in the three point line there that everyone thought was wrong because it didn’t match the top of the circle arch, but Mr. Scheetz patiently explained many times that the free throw lanes at All Saints were narrow and therefore the top of the circle was closer to the basket than it should have been.  The only use of a tambourine that I know of at Seton was for the Arbor Day Celebration that was sponsored by the COOL Club for a couple years.  We had a little parade down Maple Street and used the tambourine and maracas for the celebration that culminated with the planting of a tree.  We even had an Arbor Day King and Queen. 
3. 3. A & C There were two stops on the way out to World Youth Day.    The first was Indianapolis.  What I remember most from that stop was the spontaneous gathering on the football field of the young people to sing “We Are One Body”.   We slept in a Catholic high school gymnasium that first night with pilgrims from three other states.  The second night we slept in a National Guard Armory in Salina.  I don’t know if a cement floor is really harder than a wooden gym floor, but it sure seemed to be.  Mrs. Ferri remembers that it was 104 degrees that day and seemed to stay about that hot during the night.  She also said that a group went to a swimming pool that was about to close, but they kept it open longer so the travelers could enjoy a swim.  In Denver, the pilgrims stayed at a inner city Catholic school with carpeted sleeping quarters and no gang colors were allowed to be worn.  Jennifer Gregory ‘86 did a great job organizing the pilgrimage.  There was no stop in West Bend, Iowa, but there is an amazing place there called The Grotto of the Redemption that you should visit if you are ever in West Bend.
4. 4.  All of the above.  Seton has a career record of 0-3 against nationally ranked teams.  The baseball team played Greenbrier from Southern Virginia in the state tournament.    Girls soccer played a nationally ranked team in the state soccer tournament.  I do not remember the team.   And the girls basketball team played a nationally ranked team in a National Christian Tournament in Tennessee.  We scored first, but the other team scored often. There may be other times teams have played a nationally ranked team, but these are the ones I am aware of.
5. 5.   C.  One year it was suggested that there might be more of a retreat atmosphere away from Seton, so the retreats were held in West Virginia.   That was the only year the retreats were far away.  Several years the seniors and juniors had their retreat at All Saints, while the underclassmen were at Seton.   Washington, DC, was the sight of a school pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in celebration of the 150^th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma in 2004.  Seton assisted at a Mass in the Shrine Crypt that was televised by EWTN.   The whole student body went to the Shrine on chartered busses.  It was a beautiful day.  A little aside:  I remember a woman told Mr. P. to congratulate the director of the school because she was so impressed that the girls’ skirts covered their knees.   Emmitsburg, Maryland is, of course, home to the Shrine of Mother Seton and where Seton goes for the yearly pilgrimage the first Sunday of May.  This coming Sunday is the Pilgrimage.  It is one of the things I miss most since I’ve been away from Seton.  The pilgrimage is basically the same every year, but every year it was so enjoyable.  The beautiful drive; singing in the Basilica with the tremendous acoustics;  the whole  Mass;  the ringing of those great bells; the little tours through the houses that acted as convent and school; the slide show; the picnic and games and then going up to the Grotto of Lourdes for the walking rosary among all the beautiful spring blossoms.  I was so glad my mom was able to go on the Pilgrimage the first year she lived back in Virginia.  I am also glad to know that the last few years have seen the best attendance ever, despite the weather not always being the best. 

Jezu, ufam Tobie.

I am posting this on Sunday, April 25^th.  This is the one year anniversary of Blogic. 

35 Year Journey Part 3

Apr 18, 2010 | Latest

1.  Which of these Seton teachers became college professors:   A.  Mr. Brown;     B.  Miss Summers;     C.  Miss. Sullivan

2.  Who guarded a future WNBA star in a tournament semifinal:  A.  Mary McFadden;   B.  Kathryn Jeans;     C.  Michelle Hadro

3.  What after school activity was held in Mr. Scheetz’s room in the Old Building:   A.  Clogging;    B.  Drivers Ed;     C.  Jazz Band recording led by Mr. Montelioni

4.  What play was performed in the Old Cafeteria:   A.  Harvey starring Mark Seelbach;     B.  Pride and Prejudice starring Miriam Van Scott;    C. You Can’t Take it With You  starring Laura Angsten

5.  Who was the winner of the 1^st ever Seton Chicken Raffle:   A.  Mary Fegan;   B.  Brendan Hilleary;    C.  David Wheeler

Part III of THE LAST JOURNEY

   For 17 years I had been a priest and had never before known any great temptation against faith.  The veil had never seemed too thick, and then suddenly for no apparent reason, it became obscure, impenetrable, black.  I choked as I said the “Hoc est enim Corpus Meum,” and my hands were trembling visibly as Father Aloysius pulled the bell signaling the in of the Elevation.

   After the words of the Consecration,  the choir, kneeling, turned toward the altar, took up the “O Salutaris Hostia,” O Saving Victim!   And the words roared in my mind; Had anyone been saved?  Was there anything there that was able to save men?  Twenty-five years as a monk and had this bread done anything for me?  I was still the same Marty Holloway who had grown up in Brooklyn.  There were still the moments of anger and impatience, and the same vile images rushing through my mind.  There were the grumblings and murmurings at the disagreeable things I had to do.  And pray?  My mind still wandered all over he United States, and I could stay in Brooklyn for hours.  A contemplative?  Far from it.

   Mechanically I dragged through that terrible Mass.  “A holy victim…a spotless victim…a piece of bread…in the sight of Thy Divine Majesty…as many as shall receive the most sacred Body and Blood of Thy Son…Through Him and with Him, and in Him…deliver by this Thy most holy Body and Blood…deliver me by this piece of flour and water…I will take the Bread of Heaven.”

   And finally it was over.  It was ended, and I was back in the sacristy staring dully at the bare crucifix.

   The days droned on.  Weeks went by, and summer had come and gone.  There was no relief; no movies or recreation to ease the strain.  I was all alone with God, and God was not there.  That year I was in charge of the library, and there was not even the relief that manual labor could afford.  The huge tomes of theology were my companions, and they had their share of taunting me.

   A year went by.  The most painful year that I had ever known.  Marty Holloway would be Brooklyn’s Martin Luther, only I would go Martin one better and protest against God’s existence.  No one could help me.  Slowly though, I became accustomed to the trial, and each morning at two o’clock I would accept again the numbness of feeling of despair and futility.  As I put on my shoes I would try to form a smile and murmur, “Thanks, Jesus,” but I gagged on the word “Jesus,” for that meant God, and there was no God.

1. A & B.   Mr. Brown went to Christendom to teach philosophy; Miss Summers taught at Montgomery Community College and Marymount University before going into government work full-time.  Miss Sullivan did not go into college teaching after she left Seton.  She became a nurse and then a full-time mom.  She recently had her third child, Declan, who joins Nora and Liam in the Young household.  There are other Seton teachers who have taught college:  Mrs. Hickson, English at Christendom; Mr. Cross, psychology at Steubenville;  Mr. Donahue in the Great Books Program at Magdalene and Mr. O’Herron, philosophy and doctrine at Christendom.  
2. C.  Michelle Hadro drew the honor at a tournament Seton played at in Greenville, South Carolina.  Seton won its first game and in that game Mary McFadden scored Seton’s first 4 points. Kathryn Jeans was also on the team. The Parade All-American and future WNBA star Seton faced in the next round was Alison Feister who went on to Harvard and led the only upset of a #1 seed by a #16 seed in NCAA history when they beat Stanford.  She  then played for several pro teams.  Seton lost badly to her high school team, but Feister was not their leading scorer.
3. B.  Drivers Ed was held for years in Mr. Scheetz’s classroom after school and the driving students got to sit in the Little House on the Prairie desks.  Many Seton students learned the rules of the road there.  Clogging was held in the Old Cafeteria. Sort of amazing that the bouncy floor survived that rough treatment. The Jazz Band did make a recording, but it was produced in Teresa.  Warm ups before the Seton musicals were also held in that classroom because it had a piano. It was one of my favorite things about the musical – hearing all those singers jammed into that classroom singing the songs of the musical. 
4. B.  Pride and Prejudice.  Miriam Van Scott played Elizabeth.  Her leading male counterpart was expelled from Seton shortly before the first performance.  I became a quick understudy for Darcy, learning lines between classes at Christendom.  My favorite line:  “I wish you every happiness.”  I thought the students did a great job with that play.   Mark Seelbach’s memorable performance in Harvey was performed in the Carpeted Gym as was Laura Angsten’s equally impressive characterization of Grandpa in You Can’t Take it With You. 
5. A.  Mary Fegan was the lucky winner after a mysterious contest was held to name the chicken.  The students did not know why they were being asked to name a chicken. I remember Miss Roltgen telling the rest of the teachers how confused the poor junior high students were about the whole thing.  Poultrygeist was the winning name submitted.  The chicken was donated by the Hibls.  The 2^nd Chicken Raffle was held many years later.  There were a number of chickens that time provided by Mrs. Strasser.   Most of the winners didn’t want their chickens, so the Hillearys took them and began a little chicken farm.  I don’t remember the winning names for the chickens the 2^nd time, but the name I thought was best was one thought up by David Wheeler:   Johannes Bach Bach.  Famous during the 2^nd Chicken Raffle was the appearance of many Tom Turkeys around the school thanks to the Delgadio family. 

Jezu, ufam Tobie.

35 Year Journey Part II

Apr 12, 2010 | Latest

QUIZETON/CONQUIZTADOR THE SECOND

1.  What current Seton employee’s spouse taught the 2^nd year of Seton?  A.  Mrs. Mirus;   B.  Mr. Terza;     C.  Mrs. O’Herron

2.   What state did 6 Seton boarding students come from?  A.  Maryland;    B. Pennsylvania     C.  Wisconsin

3.  What job did Seton take on to raise $$ for the first Seton musical?   A.  Emptying storage sheds that renters had abandoned;    B.  Cleaning the Patriot Center after a concert;   C.  sacking mulch at the Prince William landfill.

4.  Why did a Seton student who won the state pro-life speech contest not compete at the nationals?   A.  It was demanded that she change the speech;    B.  It conflicted with her graduation;     C.  She was in jail for blocking an abortion clinic with Operation Rescue.

5.  What unusual place did Seton play a home volleyball game?   A.  St. Timothy’s gym in Chantilly;    B.  The Manassas Armory;   C.  the old carpeted gym

Part II of THE LAST JOURNEY

   In the large main building we turned down the cloister leading past the chapter hall to the abbey church.  It was pitch black, and it was with difficulty that I found my way to the first choir stall to turn on the light.  In its dim glow the church looked strange and unreal and almost lonely.  The moonlight was shining through the stained glass windows as I had often seen it in years past.  He led me down to the end of the choir, and stood in the middle of it between Reverend Father’s and Father Prior’s stall.  He put his hands on my shoulders.

   “This is where you stood for many hours.  This is where you prayed to Me for all the suffering, sinning members.  Do you remember all those years?”

   Did I remember them?  Did I remember all the 43 years since I cam here as a boy of 17?  How long those hours seemed.  The cold air of the 43 Februaries seemed to seep into the very center of my body, and I began to shiver.

   I noticed that He began walking toward the front of the church.  I followed Him up to the presbytery step, over the bare wooden floor, and up the three steps to the high altar. He motioned me to His side.

   “Do you remember many years ago at this altar?  It was April 23^rd in the year 1930, Wednesday of Easter week.”  I had never forgotten that terrifying day.  It seemed a million life times.

  ——————————————————————————————————                                                                                                                                                                   1.  C.  Mrs. O’Herron’s husband taught the second year at Seton before he began teaching at Christendom’s in its first year.   Mrs. Mirus started teaching the 3^rd year of Seton, at the same time that Dr. Mirus started at CC.  Mr. Terza started much later at Seton and his daughter Maureen (Mrs. Campbell) teaches too, but Mrs. Terza has never taught at Seton.  She is a nurse.

1. 2.  A & C (I think) Wisconsin supplied six Seton students, four from the Fiala family:  Bonnie, Debbie, Tammy and Barry.  Monica Malavorh came the same year as Bonnie.  (Father) Pat Beno also boarded from Wisconsin and graduated with Bonnie and Monica in 1987  The most out-of-state students have come from Maryland, but they were not all boarders.  Those that did board at least some of their time at Seton were  Todd  and Craig Summers; Joadie Van Norman ; Stefano Flori; and Karen and Ellen Hepner.   There was a time when there were more out-of-state students than students from Manassas attending Seton.  It would be interesting to compile a list of all the boarders:  from Maine to Florida to Arkansas and from Viet Nam to Ireland to Mexico and the states and nations in between.  And to remember all the different residences of the boarders:  from the Boarding House to Mr. P and Mr. Brown’s boarding apartment to Miles Jesu to Mrs. Haggerty’s home and many other places.
2. 3.  B.  Yes, Seton teachers, students, parents all pitched in to clean the George Mason University’s Patriot Center.  I don’t remember what group was playing, but their fans were pretty untidy.  The job was repeated a year later to raise money to help offset medical costs for David McCarron’s broken leg.  Those other two jobs sound pretty bad too,  but we never did those.  The closest we came to emptying storage sheds was the time the fire marshal declared the rooms above the stage unsafe and everything from there, including all of Miss Lee’s (Mrs. VW) things from her office for the SSC, had to be moved to a storage unit and later moved back when the fire marshal changed his mind.  The most unusual item in that move was the giant stuffed bear from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  And even though Seton never sacked mulch at a landfill, there is an amazing Seton landfill story.  When the Carrolls were moving from their townhouse in Irongate to their new home on Maple Street across from Seton, Mrs. Carroll bagged a set of religion tests and her grade bookt in a black plastic bag to take to her new home.  Before she got them there, someone involved in the moving process saw the black bag and, naturally, assumed it was trash and threw it in with the rest of the garbage going to the landfill.  Mrs. Carroll soon discovered what had happened.  Since Mrs. Carroll hardly knows what to do with her time when she doesn’t have tests to grade, she really wanted those tests back.  Mrs. Duda and Mrs. Foeckler began praying and Mr. Rogers and Colonel Duda took off for the landfill with the easy task of looking for the rare commodity of a black plastic trash bag at a dump.  When they told a worker at the landfill what they were looking for, he looked at them as if they were crazy for even trying, but directed them to the area (maybe a giant dumpster?) where the most recent trash was collected.  They began looking, and they did find the bag and tests and grade book and Mrs. Carroll did not have to begin watching soap operas.  I would like to know how long the search took and if they found anything else of use.
3. 4.  A.  Caroline Wheeler won the state contest, but the people in charge of the national contest did not approve of her content, specifically her condemnation of artificial birth control.  Caroline refused to change the speech, and the alternate took her place.  Other state winners who did go on to Nationals are:  ’91 Pat Haggerty; ’92 Nora Quintana; ’93 Justin Torres who finished 2^nd in the National Contest; ’96 Michelle Hadro ’97 Anna Kim; ‘2000 Caroline Wheeler; ’01 Elizabeth Elliott; ’05 Antonia Ciavarella; ’08 Sam Quinan. 
4. 5.  All of the Above.  We played RMA at St. Tim’s; don’t remember whom we played at the Armory and we had two games in the Old Carpeted Gym despite the low ceiling:  Tara Reston and Calvary Temple.  The Tara Reston game was most famous for their coach constantly yelling, “Stop it now!”  (That referred to her team stopping our server.  It didn’t work – we scored 15 straight points one game without a break in the serve.)   Another unusual place Seton played a volleyball game was the sand court at Ben Lomond Park.  We played Tara Reston there – they couldn’t stop serves outdoors either.

JOURNEY OF 35 YEARS

Apr 5, 2010 | Latest

Easter Joy!  As we approach the 2^nd OurSeton gathering on May 22^nd,   this Blogic is going to take on a different look.  A posting will be made each Monday for seven weeks, the seven weeks of Easter, and there will be a little 5 question multiple choice quiz each time covering the 35 years of Seton history, giving us 35 questions.  We will try to touch on many of the years of Seton, so some of it you will know and remember and some of it you will just have to guess at, but everyone will learn something about Seton or remember something long forgotten.  As became a tradition of multiple-choice questions, one, some, all, or none of the choices may be right.   Second, we are going to read a short story over the next few weeks. Answers to the week’s quiz will appear right after the short story excerpt with some information about the topic covered in each question.  OK, here is the quiz – remember one, some, all, or none of the answers may be right.

                                                QUIZETON/CONQUIZTADOR THE FIRST

1.  Who was a full-time teacher the first year of Seton:  A.  Miss Baumberger     B. Miss Berger;    C. Mr. Schaefferberger

2.  Who has spoken at a Seton Sports Banquet:   A.  an Olympic medalist;    B.  a professional basketball player;    C.  a well-known sports broadcaster

3.  What was the grand prize in Father Navarro’s “Grand Raffle” (for this school, this Seton school)   A.  $250    B.  a 10-speed bike    C.  a statue of Blessed Mother

4.  Who gave a joint-graduation speech:  A. Janet Purdy and Chris Mirus     B.  Amanda and Laura Shaw;    C.  Jean Pennefather and Joe Soos

5.  Where has Seton’s graduation never been held:   A.  The Old Cafeteria Building;    B.  The Old Carpeted Gym;    C.  The John Paul II Center (current gym)

THE LAST JOURNEY

by Father Lennon

   I really don’t know where this typewriter came from.  There were only two or three here in the monastery, and the only time Father Mark brings one up from the infirmary is when Doctor Swigart comes to give the injections for colds, then Father Mark has to type out the names of everyone here.  There never has been any in this room, at least not for the last seven months.

   Of course, I know He put it here on this little table.  It was nearly midnight when He came.  You probably think I’m delirious writing about “He” in capital letters, but that’s because you think that miracles and visions and things like that belong back in the Middle Ages when faith was strong.  Well, faith can be strong in a Trappist monastery, and if you had lived here as long as I have you’d know that things like that do happen in the 20^th Century.

   You see, I’m typing this because He told me to.  The typewriter was here on the table when we came back from our journey.  He told me to write down all that had happened to me tonight, and while I’m doing it, He’s sitting over there in the rickety old chair waiting for me to finish.  He is smiling and seems to be listening….perhaps to the soft sound of the office being chanted in the church.

   I was anointed yesterday afternoon.  I’ve had bronchitis all my life, and last Wednesday pneumonia set in.  It took a turn for the worse yesterday morning, and in the afternoon all the priests, brothers and novices – nearly 150 of them – were kneeling outside my door asking the angels and saints to take me on a swift journey to heaven.  Reverend Father came in wearing his miter and carrying his crozier and the holy oil to put on my hands, mouth, nose, ears and feet.  During my 43 years here I’ve often been out there in the narrow hallway praying and watching Reverend Father get one of the monks ready for the trip, but it was only yesterday that I realized how comforting it is to die a Trappist.

   After Extreme Unction had been administered and Father James (he was appointed to stay with me the next few hours) had sat down on the wooden chair near the window, I immediately fell sound asleep.  Maybe it was the soft bed, ‘though in the last seven months here in the infirmary, I’ve almost forgotten what the hard straw mattresses feel like.

   At any rate, I didn’t wake up ‘til a quarter after twelve.  It was dark, and I could hear the wind howling around the infirmary.  Everyone else, even Father James, had been in bed for hours.  The usual light was shining in the hallway, and there was no sound except for the cold wind.

   He didn’t knock on the door before He came in.  He just opened it softly, and I knew it opened because the light fell on the other side of the room.  Very softly He walked down and stood at the foot of the bed.  I knew with great certainty that I wasn’t dreaming, that it was really He.  And I thought of St. Paul’s “Christ being come….”

   The greatest peace and joy that I had ever known filled my soul.  He said very simply, “We’re going for a walk.  I want to show you the monastery for the last time.”  Then He came up to the side of my bed, pulled back the covers, and helped me out of bed.

   “Here is your cowl.”  And He handed me the heavy woolen cowl all ready to slip over my head.  He was smiling and I thought of a little child who was trying with difficulty to keep a very pleasant secret.

   We walked side by side down the narrow corridor of the infirmary, down the wide wooden steps to the cold grey cloister leading to the main building of the monastery.  I wondered what He thought as we passed the huge twelve foot crucifix that hung at the landing of the stairway.

1. 1.  A.  Miss Baumberger and Mrs. Carroll were the only full-time teachers the first year of Seton.  Miss B was from Fort Morgan, CO.  I am not sure how Mrs. Carroll knew her.  Miss Berger taught the  1984-85 school year.  She was from Broomfield, CO, and returned there to teach at the Catholic school she had attended.  Interestingly, Miss Baumberger married Miss Berger’s brother, so she went from Miss Baumberger to Mrs. Berger.  There never was a Mr. Schaefferberger, but there was a Mr. Schaeffer.  He taught full-time the second year of Seton.  He was from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
2. 2.  All of the above.   All these have spoken at a sports banquet.  The Olympic medalist is Mrs. Salomon – the former Janet Lynn – who won a bronze medal in Japan in the 1972 Olympics and was world champion for several years.  She has had a son graduate from Seton (Michael ’09) and one is a sophomore (Peter).   For the professional b-ball player don’t think NBA or WNBA, but rather Japan again.  Shelly Pennefather (now Sister Rose Marie) played professionally in Japan and spoke at a sports banquet the first year Mr. P taught.  She gave her talk in the Old Cafeteria.  The Denver Post recently gave its all-time prep team and chose Shelly as the best girls prep player in Colorado history.  The sports broadcaster was Johnny Holiday, the voice of the Maryland Terrapin basketball team. 
3. 3.   B.  Father Navarro was a priest originally from Spain that Mrs. Baker came to know. Mrs. Baker taught math at Seton and two of her children, Rob and Mary Anne, graduated in ’86.   Father Navarro adopted Seton and regularly said the Friday  school Mass in the carpeted gym.  He organized a raffle and the  grand prize was a 10-speed bike.  Don’t remember who won the bike.
4. 4.  B.  Amanda and Laura, twin sisters, were co-valedictorians of ‘03 and gave their speech together at All Saints Church.  Amanda and Laura were recent visitors here to Mom and me.  They came out with their Mom to visit their grandparents who live in Arvada, CO, on the occasion of their grandfather’s 81^st birthday.  It was great to see them and reminisce about Seton days.  They were part of the English 10 class that began the year with no classroom.  We would begin by wandering around looking for a place.  Finally, we settled into Nazareth (the kitchen in the JPII Center).  We’d usually begin class by cleaning up lunch time debris.   Laura said there was a question on one test in which they were asked to name eight different places we had had class in the 1^st quarter.  We also remembered the Picnic of Death from logic days.  Their grandfather went to med school with the doctor that delivered my little sister Wendy.   Jean and Joe were  co-valedictorians in ‘89, but they gave individual speeches.  Janet and Chris  were co-valedictorians in ’93, but they didn’t collaborate on a speech.  Other co-v’s are Nick Fowler & Shannon Nagurny ’07 and Rachel LaVigne and Danielle Delatour ’09.     
5. 5.  A.  Even though the Old Cafeteria was used for many things, a graduation was not one of them.  Almost wish it had been.  Graduations were held in the carpeted gym from 1981 to 1990 and in the JPII Center in 1995  All other graduations have been at All Saints including the first one in 1977. 

No post

Mar 29, 2010 | Latest

Blessed Triduum.  

Next post will be April 5.

Palm Sunday, 2003

Mar 20, 2010 | Latest

PALM SUNDAY, 2003

This is from a letter home written seven years ago on Good Friday.

   I thought with Easter so late this year that we would have warm weather during the latter part of Lent for sure,  but today it is in the 30’s and misty.  We have had some spring-like days, but mostly it has been chilly during Lent.  The few warm days brought out all the blossoms, so the trees are beautiful and the tulips and daffodils have all bloomed.  Right at the beginning of April we had a few snow flakes, then just a couple days later it was 80 degrees. But there is something much more important than the weather that I want to tell you about on this Good Friday.

   On Palm Sunday, one of our graduates died – David Payne who graduated in 1989.

   He had suffered much during his life.  He had kidney problems from when he was very young, and he had been on dialysis since he was three years old.  He never grew very tall:  he was 4’10”.  In the last year or so he had really aged.  A doctor said he had the body of a very old man even though he was only 32.

   I visited him in the hospital once in this last illness – he was on a respirator and couldn’t talk, and he was heavily sedated, but he knew I was there and knew who I was.  His sister came in at 6:00 to say the Angelus with him.  It looked like great effort for him to fold his hands, but he did, and then she unfolded them for him when we were done.

   Earlier that day the priest from our parish [Father Cilinski] came to see him and brought the Blessed Sacrament.  David couldn’t receive because of the respirator, but Father let him hold the pyx Our Lord was in.  As Father was leaving, David signaled that he wanted to write something.  (I do not see how he was capable of writing anything – all movement seemed very laborious and he looked so weak.)  But he wrote on a pad of paper, “It is a great blessing to be able to hold our Suffering Lord and Servant of us all.”

  While I was in the ICU room with him, I felt completely humbled.  I think David was very holy, and even though he was lying in the hospital bed with monitors everywhere and the respirator hooked up to him, he was so superior through his inner strength.  It was an overpowering experience.

   David went to Mass every morning that he could.  I am sure it was a great suffering for him that we was unable to go to Mass as he became weaker.  And every Saturday for as along as I can remember he would pray in front of the abortion clinic in Manassas for the end to abortion.

  The Seton choir got to sing at his funeral.  I was so glad we were able to do that.  A priest was with David when he died, and his whole family was there also.  His sister told me that they sang Hail Holy Queen as he drew his final breaths.  We sang that at the Mass as well.

Jezum, ufam Tobie