=========TALENTED @ GIFTING

Jul 5, 2009 | Latest

                                                       TALENTED @ GIFTING

  One Christmas when my nephew Brent was a little boy, he took off the gift wrap of a present.  The gift was inside a box, but he didn’t get as far as opening the box.  He laid the wrapping aside and began proclaiming with total delight, “I got a box!  Look, I got a box!”  Brent didn’t need a talented gift giver to make him happy.  The pure joy of Christmas, the simple pleasure of opening a present, that was enough for him.

   Brent’s happiness at receiving a box was real.  We, however, often times have to pretend that a present is just what we wanted.  We are appreciative of being thought of, but our first thought sometimes is, “Whom can I give this to that might really want it.”  There is an art to gift giving. 

   Over the years at Seton, I was the beneficiary of a wide-variety of gifts from students  There are many that come immediately to mind, but at the risk of offending some very good gift-givers, I am going to mention just a few.

   There were homemade presents:  the giant pencil from Tim Shaughnessy; the doll (or as Mr. Smith calls it, the puppet) that Stacey Jackson created in my likeness; the drawing of Blessed Mother from Rebecca Elam.  There were presents that came from something we had covered in class:  the jipijapa (Panama hats which are actually a product of Ecuador) from the Mary Spicer led Spanish class; the Wyo-Tech sweatshirt from Kathryn McKelvey of newspaper days; the Ain Karim wall hanging of the Visitation that Nicole Smith and Meghan Bartnick brought back from their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. And I have to mention here one parent present:  the hard-bound Father Ciszek autographed copy of With God in Russia.

   Then there was the gift of honesty.  One Christmas I got a gift with “Chris Marshall” on the tag.  After we returned from Christmas vacation, I said to Chris, “I really like that CD of “A Classical Christmas”.  Chris nonchalantly said, “I had a lot to do with that.”  The laugh I got was as good as the gift.

    I was thinking of going through some food items, but once I start talking about food all I want to do is eat.  Suffice it to say that my palate fondly remembers many.  And we cannot forget the Christmas baskets that became a Yuletide tradition.

    Now, perhaps a notch below the above, is the gift that I was given after I was voted out of office of the Delaney Athletic Conference which I had started and been the president of for a number of years.  To show gratitude for all the heartburn I had suffered, I was given a wooden stand that held two long, pointed pens, one at either end, and my name was engraved on a metal placard that was on the front of the stand.  I think I was supposed to place this proudly on my desk at school or something.  It was a kind idea, but the gift could have been improved by spelling my name correctly and having at least one pen that actually worked.  As the old adage goes, “It’s the thought, not the spelling or the functioning of the gift, that counts.”  Thank you DAC.

    At the Gala there was a table that included four students from the first two years of Seton when the school was in the rented classrooms of the Trinity Episcopal Church complex.  Laura Hibl Clark and Holly Flagg McShurley came to Seton in its second year, while Tim Flagg and Mary Van Scott were pioneers of the first year — two of the sixteen.  Tim should be better known by all of Seton than he is because he has affected every student that has come through Seton.  We’ll tell his story on the 15th.  Don’t miss it!  Today, we will talk about Mary Van Scott.

   Mary is with Miles Jesu — see their website at milesjesu.com.  I don’t know much of what she has done, but she was once editing a youth magazine in Poland.  Two semesters ago she was studying Canon Law at the Lateran  in Rome where she took classes in Ancient Roman Law; Philosophy of Law; Theology of Canon Law; Latin; The Hierarchical Structure of the Church in Canon Law; The Teaching Office of the Church in Canon Law; Comparative Law; and The Origins of Canon Law.  I guess one has to study law to be a lawyer.  The classes were all in Italian.  Mary did ok on her exams:  six perfect scores out of the eight, and she was pretty close to perfect on the other two.  The strange, early days of Seton obviously didn’t stultify her mind. 

    [Just for Mary’s humility, I want to add on a couple things.  As a member of Seton’s first girls basketball team, she did shoot at the wrong basket in a game.  I can’t remember if she made the shot.  Topping this, at the first practice ever, I told her to take the ball out-of-bounds.  She asked, “What is out-of-bounds?”  I should have foreseen that she’d be a Canon Lawyer with this great interest in the complicated laws that govern basketball.]

   Besides being brilliant — she’s one of those geniuses with a high IQ — Mary is also a talented gift-giver.  She brought to the Gala and presented to Mrs. Carroll a beautiful woodcarving of the Divine Mercy with the words “Jesus, I trust in You” engraved in Polish on the bottom.  Mrs. Carroll did not have to pretend appreciation.  What a great gift to give for the Seton Chapel that the SSSO is out to build.  In the spirit of this new gift for the chapel, perhaps we could each offer some part — a bead or a decade, perhaps — of our Divine Mercy Chaplet each day for the SSSO and the new chapel.  Maybe we could learn to say, “Jesus, I trust in You” in Polish and conclude the Chaplet with that for the SSSO.  At the very least, let us never lose sight of our goal:  The House of God and Gate of Heaven.

   Thank you Mary.  You have the art of gifting and the new Seton Chapel will have your gift of art.

   And please say hello for all of us to Mr. and Mrs. Schuller (the former Mrs. Haggerty) when you see them on their honeymoon in Czestochowa!

——————–Gala Review—–

Jun 25, 2009 | Latest

Here’s what I know and am making up about the Gala.

The doors opened at 5:30 to a surge of early arrivers who were cordially greeted by the welcoming committee who distributed name tags and assisted or coerced the uninitiated in filling out a form to get registered on ourseton.  There continued to be a steady flow of arrivals over the next 90 minutes.  At first ladies were noticing what dresses and shoes the other ladies were wearing while men were wondering what hors d’oeuvres there were and when the main meal would  be served.  Soon these superficial considerations were replaced by happy conversations, joyous laughter and discreet readings of name tags.  During this registration/mingling time in the cocktail room, Chuckie entertained the growing crowd on the Baby Grand.

Then the mass of Seton humanity began to file into the banquet room.  Sean O’Hare, MC, welcomed everyone, then introduced Father VW for the invocation.  He did so by mentioning that Father had been voted Mr. Seton, Friendliest and Most Popular his senior year which was impressive given the six or seven boys at Seton at that time.

Prizes were waiting to be given out.  At each table of 10 there was one chair that had a holy card of Mother Seton taped under the seat.  The person who was at that chair was a lucky winner of some prize.  This meant that 90% of the attendees became despondent, feeling like losers.  Sean quickly pointed out that each of them had a chair and so each was really a winner.  The crowd visibly perked up.  [Suggestion:  Put holy cards under nine chairs and the one without a holy card gets the consolation prize.  Everyone is then a winner.]  There were other prizes to be given away, and for these Father Fasano was called forward to draw names.  A good rule of thumb is never draw your own name when given this honor.  Father Fasano, for the first time, did the unorthodox thing by drawing his own name.  He also drew the names of Mr. Larsen, Mrs. McDonald and Mrs. O’Reilly and maybe Mrs. Ferri.  (Is this how she won bagels?)  I never heard that he drew an alumnus’ name.   If this is so, this breaks the thumb of some other rule.  [Suggestion:  Find some reputable layman to do the drawing and have Father read the names of the winners.]

Dinner was then served and devoured very properly.

Following dinner, Sean demonstrated on the big 10 foot screen how to navigate around the ourseton website.  Attendees were urged to “try this at home”.

Next was the awarding of diplomas to the seven long-time serving teachers/coaches. The less than a minute introductions of each of these seven recounted how they came to be a part of Seton.  Mr. Violett’s time began with a jog in a park; Mrs. Haggerty with a pro-life slide show; Mrs. Mirus with a move from NC to VA; I began right after graduating from high school; Mr. Scheetz after a short teaching career in Detroit; Mrs. Larsen through the suggestion of a friend and Mrs. Carroll began by beginning.  Of interest, at least to me, is that I was asked to write my own introduction.  I think this also violates some rule of thumb.

Then came the focal point of the evening:  the video/slide show which had the theme of the Three Theological Virtues.  Faith included pictures of religious events of Seton and featured a letter written to Mrs.Carroll by Bryan Muench when he was in the Navy.  Hope had a variety of pictures and featured a letter written to Mrs. Carroll by Cathy Spicer Munsell.  Love showed pictures of some people dear to Seton who have gone before us and featured a letter written to Mrs. Carroll by Col. Jones.  (The latter two of these letters can be read in Ripples.)  This presentation has been hailed by one and all as a tremendously moving creation that truly represents what Seton stands for and promotes.  It may soon be available on DVD — information about this will appear on this website.  Mrs Carroll then spoke in a light-hearted manner about Seton’s beginnings followed by a serious reflection on Pope John Paul II’s Gift of Self.  These remaks meshed perfectly with the theme of Faith, Hope and Love.  Chuckie then played and sang the Ave Maria which was a stirring conclusion to the tremendous program.

Joker’s Wild began and so did the swing dancing.  Alumni and current students of Seton put on an Irish Dance exhibition during one of the band’s breaks.  At another, Mr. Koehr was honored for his tireless efforts to make the Gala a reality.  (I have shortened his title from “Galactic Emperor” to “Gala Emperor”.)  One should read Mrs. Ferri’s Ripple to get more of a flavor of this part of the night.

That’s what I know or have made up about the Gala.  Please feel free to amend or correct any part of this.

The following morning was Mass on the feast of St. Anthony of Padua said by Father VW at Burke Lake Park.  After Mass was the Choose Santa.  I mean, the Pick Nick.  That is, the Picnic.  And now you know the reason for that title.  To get more of a flavor of the Picnic read Joanne’s and Mrs. VW’s comments.

A True Father

Jun 15, 2009 | Latest

Anyone who was at the Gala or Picnic, please tell those of us who were not able to be there about the events.  Thank you.

                                                                              A TRUE FATHER

On Trinity Sunday our parish was visted by a priest from Poland.   A story from his homily is retold here as we approach the day when we honor our fathers.

The priest in a small town in Poland was informed that the Nazis had come to the municipality and taken his personal file.  He was urged to flee, since this action by the Nazis signaled that he would soon be taken away and killed.  The priest responded to the idea of fleeing by saying that he was the father of the parish; his parishoners were his family.  Then he asked, “What kind of a father would flee from his family when danger was near?”  He pointed out that if he left someone else would be taken in his place.  His place was with his family.  “How can I leave my people without the sacraments, without the Eucharist, without Confession, without Baptism and Marriage celebrations?  If I ran away from my parish I would betray God’s will.”

A few days later, the Nazis did come for the priest.  He was put in a car and as he drove away he passed by the members of his newphew’s family who were standing outside their home.  The last act of the priest before the car drove into the forest was a blessing for the family.  Once in the forest, the priest was handed a shovel with which he began to dig his grave.  Two other priests had also been brought to the forest along with several laymen.  The priests heard the laymen’s confessions and then each other’s confession.   When the mass grave was sufficiently dug, they were  shot and buried. 

Back in the town, a young grandnephew of the blessed family saw that the Nazis were going into the rectory.  Curious, he went to the fence that surrounded the rectory and looked through a hole to watch.  A Nazi officer noticed him, came over to the fence and said, “I am going to teach you a lesson.”  He went into the rectory and came out with the stole of the priest.  He cut the stole into pieces, threw them on the ground and began to stomp on them.  Then he screamed, “There will never be another priest in this town.”

Twenty years later, the first Mass of a young priest was celebrated in that town.  The priest was the same little boy who had looked through the hole in the rectory fence.  At the end of the Mass, a woman from the back of the church began walking toward the altar.  She was carrying a package.  She walked up to the priest and handed it to him.  He opened it up and took out a long piece of cloth.  The woman gift-giver had also seen what the Nazi officer had done the day of the priest’s martyrdom.   Bravely, she later retrieved the pieces of the stole.  The pieces were carefully washed and given to the nuns of a monastery who stitched  the pieces back together.  She  had just presented the stole, the symbol of a priest’s sacramental power, to the newly ordained who would proudly wear the relic of the town’s martyred priest.

These events took place in the 1943.  Less than 70 years later, there have been 50 young men  and women from that little Polish village who have become priests or nuns.  The priest who told this story, Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, is a priest from the same diocese as this little town. 

[The town is Bielsk Podlaski.  The martyred priest is Father  Antoni Beszta-Borowski.  He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1999.