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6 Regis Alumni News By Father Jim Carney, S.J. ‘43 Through The Hallways Therese Klay P ‘99, ‘01 Annual Fund Director As we approach the end of the 2004 Annual Fund year, I would like to update you on our progress. This year we have received a number of new grants for Regis and the REACH program from the following foundations: The Charles Hayden Foundation, the Altman Foundation, the Starr Foundation, the Herman Goldman Foundation and the Michael Gordon Foundation. With respect to the latter, there is an interesting parallel to Regis in the life of Michael Gordon. He came to the US as a poor immigrant from Hungary and at his death established a foundation to give something back to America in recognition of the opportunities afforded and successes he achieved in this country, which he loved. The attributes of generosity and giving back are ones that so well describe Regians. In order to meet our budget the Annual Fund must raise $3.8 million. We are presently at $2.8 million with 44% of alumni participating. For A Sighting of Father Stephen V. Duffy, S.J. When the warm weather rolls around, about once a month I visit “Father Regis” (he has clearly merited that title). I’m definitely not a cold weather traveler except to destinations south of Georgia and Alabama. Other visitors include his very faithful sister, Connie and her husband Larry who come every week. Pat and Jim O’Rourke ’51 are occasional visitors and usually take me with them when they go to visit. As you may or may not know, Father Duffy is living in the NY Province Infirmary, Murray-Weigel Hall, which is named in honor of two renowned Vatican II theologians, John Courtney Murray, S.J. and Gustave Weigel, S.J. The infirmary is located on the southern boundary of Fordham University’s Bronx campus and fronts on Fordham Road. A few stories about Fr. Duffy before I get into my recent visit. Early last Fall, Fr. Duffy called himself the “Pusher.” I know that he is not into drugs. He told me that I’d learn what his new name meant after lunch. I usually sit with Steve at a table for four. The late Bishop Neylon, S.J. (R.I.P. April 13, 2004) was to his right and John Boyd, S.J. ’34, almost completely blind, was to his left. I had the seat directly in front of Steve. After the meal, Steve moved Bishop Neylon’s wheelchair towards the exit, directed Fr. Boyd to stand in front of the wheelchair and then guided both out the door of the dining room all the while giving directions to John Boyd as he pushed (hence Pusher) the Bishop along. It was a very moving sight to behold. For a change, I was speechless. During the winter months I phoned Steve periodically. One evening when I called he answered by saying “This is two ring Duffy.” I quickly those of you who have not made a gift yet, please keep in mind that the Fund closes on June 30, 2004. There are several ways that you can make your gift: • Check or Cash • Online through the Regis website at www.regis-nyc.org and follow the links to Alumni Online Giving • Credit Card: Mastercard, Visa, Discover or American Express I would like to extend a special thanks to all the Class Fund Chairmen. It is through their efforts that Regis has one of the highest alumni donation participation rates in the country for a high school. Indeed, few colleges can claim to reach Regis’ s participation rate of 60% last year. I am very grateful for their dedication to Regis. After a nine year association with Regis I will finally be leaving at the end of May. I have accepted a position as Development Manager at the United Nations Association of the United States of America. It has been an honor to work here at Regis for the last four years and a true blessing to have had two sons attend the school. I am grateful to so many of you for your support and friendship. I also thank all of you who have so generously contributed to the Annual Fund ensuring that Regis is there for the next generation of gifted young Catholic men. learned that this nickname meant he let the phone ring twice before answering. Father Duffy’s spacious room is on the first floor of the infirmary. During my visit on April 29th, he noted “My memory is shot.” “Do you remember who I am?” I quickly asked. “How could I ever forget you?” he asked. The perfect answer (or question) when struggling for a name. Incidentally, if you ever have a chance to visit him, introduce yourself by name. It is a help to him. Photo by Mrs. Connie Corroon, Father Duffy’s sister. Due to the kindness of his devoted sister, Connie, Steve’s room has a couple of items he proudly shows to his visitors. A three-foot plastic golf bag with a plastic putter and a five “iron” sits on his window sill. There is also a framed picture (1 ½ feet by 2 ½ feet) of a golf ball on a tee. Honest! I finally spotted a porcelain horse sitting on a shelf of his bookcase. Steve informed me that this was a reminder of the days of his youth when he rode a horse in Camp de Smet in Missouri. From all of the above you can rightly conclude that Father Stephen V. Duffy, S.J. is alive and well. He has slowed down a bit and uses a cane or a walker as the situation dictates. As far as I can judge his health is fine for a ninety year old (he’ll be 91 on August 31st). After a very pleasant visit, I caught a cross-town bus to the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road, then another bus which would eventually deposit me on Fifth Avenue and 85th Street. As luck would have it at the time, Pat and Bob Weimann (Bob is retired after many years as a revered science teacher at Regis) were going to downtown Manhattan on the same bus. They, too, are old friends of Father Duffy. Meeting them was the icing on the day’s cake. I am already looking forward to my next visit with “Father Regis”.
Summer 2004 7 Ignatian Understanding Rev. Kenneth Caufield, S.J. Since we are in the Easter season, I would like to share with you some thoughts by an English author, Margaret Silf as she reflects on the Resurrection in her book, Wayfaring. She has written several books on Ignatian Spirituality and was trained by the English Jesuits to give The Spiritual Exercises. Resurrection is not something most of us find easy either to discover or really to believe in. If asked to meditate on the resurrection events described in the Gospels our reactions may range from an artificially induced mood of exhilaration that we feel we ought to be feeling, through to the painful awareness of a drab routine, apparently unchanged by the Good News, that so often we are feeling. Does “resurrection” mean anything at all to us in our everyday living? Does its promise make any difference? (p. 195) When I reflect on the events that followed Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, I notice certain patterns that give me real hope that resurrection is a here-and-now reality and not just a remote, supernatural event, or a sequence of sentences in a creed. I see, for example: -that the resurrected Lord isn’t easily recognized and often comes in the guise of a stranger -that he retains the signs of his wounding and suffering and continues to be marked by his experience -that he comes into situations of despair, disappointment and doubt -that he comes unobtrusively, never forcing himself upon us, but letting us discover him for ourselves -that in his presence just a small shift of perspective can make a huge difference to our vision -that he brings empowerment and commissions us to move on -that he can’t be clung to -and that, above all, wherever he appears, he makes a difference. -It is in letting go of my limited notions of him that I will be freed to move on to the larger vision. -And whatever this is about, it is going to make a difference. It is going to weigh me in on the side of Life. Well, I am rather good at these things—at blindness and brokenness. At being at the end of my rope and bogged down in doubt and disappointment. At limitation and fear and trying to hold on to what I feel safe with. So if these were the very places where the resurrected Lord revealed himself, there is hope for me yet! (pp. 198 –200) I am reminded of an occasion when I was taking communion regularly to a dying friend and his wife. One afternoon we were sitting together round their table. His wife had lit a candle, as she customarily did. As the Eucharistic service proceeded, the candle flame flickered and failed, and eventually went out altogether. We were all aware of the incident, and it seemed to be a tiny dramatisation of the struggle that was going on in that house between life and death….Then the patient stretched out his hand, calmly and slowly, and picked up the spent candle. He turned it upside down and poured out all the molten wax that was choking it. Then he set it upright again, and we watched in amazement as the flame leapt up with new life. No one spoke, but all of us knew what the candle was telling us. In ways we could not understand, life, not death, would have the final word, but only when all that we were clinging to was surrendered and poured away. (p. 211) What I love about Margaret Silf is that she does see the Spirit speaking to her in the very ordinary experiences of her own life and so I am encouraged to look at my own experience and look and listen for the Spirit. I hope all of you are also encouraged to look and listen for the Spirit and know that God is in your life waiting, loving, and calling you to minister to your world and His world. Reflecting on these facts gives me enormous hope. -In spite of my failures to recognize him, he will still break through my blindness. -The brokenness in me, that I felt to be such a barrier between us, might be the very place where I find him most readily. -When I am “down and out and running on empty” he is perhaps especially likely to be there with resurrection power. -I have no need to fear his “ coming in glory” because he will come as gently as a night breeze. -I don’t need to go to the ends of the earth to discover some kind of mystical presence, but instead he is waiting to greet me on my own doorstep, when I am ready to receive him. -Whatever resurrection asks of me, he himself will empower me.
Page 1 and 2: REGIS ALUMNI NEWS THE TRADITION CON
Page 3 and 4: President’s Report Dear Regis Alu
Page 5: Summer 2004 5 Planned Giving at Reg
Page 9 and 10: Summer 2004 9 Screenshot of the Reg
Page 11 and 12: Fr. McClain Regis and Regis High Sc
Page 13 and 14: Summer Spring 2004 13 Regis: the No
Page 15 and 16: Summer 2004 15 ear In Review Senior
Page 17 and 18: Summer 2004 17 Each of us came to R
Page 19 and 20: Summer 2004 19 Regis in the 21st Ce
Page 21 and 22: Summer 2004 21 Regis News and Notes
Page 23 and 24: Summer 2004 23 St. Margaret in Rive
Page 25 and 26: Summer 2004 25 videos. Joe Dennin
Page 27 and 28: Summer 2004 27 was wonderful and we
Page 29 and 30: Summer 2004 29 pleased to learn rec
Page 31 and 32: Summer 2004 31 and has started a mu

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