Alumni Notes Volume 2, Fall/Winter 2013 St. Mary’s, North East & St. Alphonsus College, Suffield Beatification of the Spanish Redemptorist martyrs n 1999 Pope John Paul II created a General Franco. Commission on New Martyrs. He The Church was caught in the mid- Ishrewdly appointed Bishop Michael dle. The Communists could not si- Hrynchyshyn, a Ukrainian Rite Re- lence the bishops nor control the demptorist, as the chair. The Redemp- Church, so they persecuted the torists lost many confreres to martyr- Church and executed between 5,000 dom in the 20th century. and 6,000 ordinary Catholics, espe- In 2001 the Holy Father beatified as cially priests and nuns. martyrs four Ukrainian and one Slo- For the beatification ceremony Octo- vak Redemptorist. ber 13, Pope Francis sent a video mes- Although they are not beatified, on sage: “Let us implore the intercession August 6, 1944, thirty Redemptorists of these martyrs to be concrete Chris- from our community in Warsaw were tians, Christians with works and not executed by German forces: 15 priests, just words, so as not to be mediocre nine brothers, and six students. They Christians, Christians varnished with marched our confreres down the Christianity but without substance. street, shot them in an open square, These martyrs were not varnished; and burned their bodies. they were Christians to the end.” Two other Redemptorists were ar- On October 12 and 13, 2013, in Tar- Most of the Redemptorists mar- rested and dragged through the city as ragona, Spain, 25,000 people attended tyrs were missionaries from the same the people shouted, “Long Live Rus- the beatification of 522 Spanish mar- community, St. Philip Neri Church sia,” and sang Marxist songs. These tyrs of the Spanish Civil War. Six of in Cuenca, in northern Spain. They two were shot and left to die. As they these modern martyrs were Redemp- were martyred in July and August of lay bleeding on the side of the road, torists. These six Spanish martyrs died 1936, the first martyrs in the Congre- they encouraged each other and made during the Spanish Civil War. gation of the Most Holy Redeemer. their confessions to each other. Some background: the Spanish When the Communists threatened Blessed Julián Pozo was the youngest Communists had won the nation- our community in Cuenca, the Re- to die, at the age of 33. Blessed Vic- al elections in 1931 and deposed the demptorists decided to disperse and toriano Calvo became the second Re- King of Spain. Francisco Franco, a take refuge with families in the parish. demptorist brother to be raised to the general in the Spanish Army, led a re- When they realized that this put the altar, after St. Gerard. volt against the Communists that de- families in danger, they took asylum The bodies of our six martyr con- veloped into the Spanish Civil War, in the diocesan seminary. Two of the freres were later recovered, and their 1936–39, a war of fascism versus com- Redemptorists were dragged out of remains are in Our Lady of Perpetual munism, the republicans, or Commu- the seminary and shot in the head at Help Church, the Redemptorist par- nists, versus the Nationalists, led by close range. ish in Madrid. n North East graduating class of 1963 Top row: Ned Ken­ ny is a married teach­ er whose daughter just gave birth to a son, named Pierce, in memory of Father Pierce Kenny, ’62, who died last year. Ned and wife Janet have two adult chil­ dren and now live in Wall, N.J. Father Tom O’Connor battled cancer for 25 years and died in 1997. He was the rector in the Virgin Islands, Phil­ adelphia, and Low­ er Manhattan. Tom Dengel of New Jer­ sey. His uncle was a Redemptorist Third row: Dan Dwy­ er of Bayside Queens is a retired financial adviser. He’s married to Eileen and has two daughters, Me­ gan and Erin, who is recently engaged. Lou Garden. Father Ed Heilmann was a diocesan priest in Baltimore and died almost 30 years ago. Frank Bergman is retired from IBM. Father Tom Siconolfi had been rector in Baltimore; Annapolis; Bethpage, N.Y.; Canandaigua; and the San Alfonso Retreat House in Long Branch, N.J. He now lives in Ephrata. Second row: Jim Caskey has two daughters and lives in Cincinnati. John Nolan worked for the Fed­ eral Government’s Drug Enforcement Agency. He and his wife have four daughters and live in Clif­ ton, Va. Father José Rached spent his priesthood in Puerto Rico, where he has been Provincial, and is now stationed in Guayama. John Scanlon died in 1977. Father Jim Wallace was professor of hom­ iletics at Esopus and Washington Theological Union for 39 years. He has written books, articles, and several collections of homilies and is presently rector of San Alfonso Retreat House in Long Branch. Ken Knapp, now retired, had worked for the Treasury Department. Bottom row: Miguel Mahfoud of Las Matas de Farfan in the Dominican Republic worked for years for Catholic Relief Services in the Dominican Republic. Peter Jurgens lives in Bethlehem, Pa., and is married, with three daughters. Father Ray Collins, now rector at Mission Church in Boston, was also rector in the Virgin Islands, Bethpage, and Ephrata. Gerry Dwyer. John O’Shaughnessy owns a med­ ical software company and lives with wife Pamela in Alexandria, Va., and Florida. Father Tom Curley, 1977, did doctoral studies in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania and taught sacred Scripture at Esopus. He was tragically hit by a truck while riding his bike and died instantly. Jim Conlan. 2 | Alumni Notes, Fall/Winter 2013 Remember our deceased alumni ather Dan Carboy, ’60, the parish. Lieutenant Colonel in the Father Willie Straub, ’52, FU.S. Air Force, died on Au- died on October 21. From gust 22, 2013, in hospice care his days in North East he was at the St. John Neumann wing known as “Willie,” and from of Stella Maris in Timonium, his days in Puerto Rico he was Md. The cause of death was known was Father Pablo, but cancer. Dan had been in declin- his real name was Robert. ing health for the past few years Willie was ordained in 1958 after suffering a stroke. Father Dan Carboy and spent the next 20 years Father Robert Straub Born on November 6, 1939, doing priestly work in Puerto Dan was raised on the 400 block of 63 Street in Our Rico. Willie was a dynamic and charismatic priest, and Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Brooklyn, N.Y. Af- he was soon ministering all over the world: through- ter graduating from North East in 1960, he professed out the United States, Canada, Peru, and the Philip- his vows as a Redemptorist in 1961 and was ordained pines—and in Mexico for his final 20 years. in 1966. Willie was a regular preacher on EWTN television He spent two years as a parish priest at Our Lady of and radio in both English and Spanish. Father Straub Fatima Parish in Baltimore. After a short time at our founded two religious communities: Los Consagra- retreat house in Canandaigua, N.Y., and time as as- dos y Consagradas del Santisimo Salvador—the Con- sistant Novice Master in Ilchester, Md., Dan served secrated of the Most Holy Savior. Their convent and 20 years as an Air Force chaplain in the Archdiocese seminary is located on the Pacific Coast, just north of for the Military. Acapulco. In 1992 Father Carboy retired from the Air Force Father Alec with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He returned to Reid died on No- the Vice-province of Richmond as rector in Concord, vember 22. He N.C. (1993–99), and in Sumter, S.C. (1999–2005). was an Irish Re- He then became rector at our St. Alphonsus Villa demptorist priest in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. After a year in Hampton, who was central Va., ill health forced his return to the Villa from 2009 to the peace pro- until just a few months before his death. cess in Northern Father Clem Cahill died on Father Alec Reid Ireland. He was August 3. He was from our Re- stationed at our demptorist parish of Our Lady Redemptorist Monastery in Belfast, right on the di- of Perpetual Help on 61st Street viding line between the Catholic Community on Falls on the East Side of Manhattan. Road and the Protestant Shankill Road. He was also For most of his 62 years as involved in the peace process between the Basques a priest, Father Clem was in and the Spanish government. He was frequently nom- Puerto Rico, with short stays in inated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In the photo Fa- the Virgin Islands. He was sta- ther Reid is giving the last rites to two British soldiers tioned in Fajardo, Christian- killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Father Clem Cahill sted, and Aguadilla before he John Slymon, ’65, and Celso de los Santos,’71, also became rector in Ponce. died recently. He was also chaplain to the military personnel in Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may the Puerto Rico. Father Clem was especially devoted to light of Our Mother of Perpetual Help shine upon the sick and was faithful to visiting the hospitals in them forever. Amen. n Alumni Notes, Fall/Winter 2013 | 3 Above, Redemptorist seminarians in the Bronx pose with a banner depicting the recently beatified Spanish martyrs (see the story on page 1). They are (from left) Richie Hennessy, Kevin McGraw, Peter Le, Guy Mier, Royce Thomas, Phuong To, Vincent Nguyen, Father Francis Mulvaney, C.Ss.R., Ken Stigner, Augustus Rivière, Eumir Bautista, and Ivan Dzhur.