Welcome
to Christendom's Alumni E-Zine. If you have information that
you would like to share with your fellow alumni, send it to
the Grapevine Editor, Tom McGraw, at tvmcgraw@yahoo.com.
The editor reserves the right to include or exclude any information
submitted for publication in The Grapevine.
The
Grapevine Online is uploaded on the First Friday of every
month. It will have a couple of sections (when information
is available), namely, Class Notes (your basic information
on alumni babies, weddings, jobs, etc.), Calendar of Events,
and Links to various recent stories about Christendom
College and/or the Alumni of Christendom.
February
2006 edition of The
Grapevine Online
Class
Notes / Calendar of Events / Links
to Stories / Prior
issues
Class
notes
In
recognition of his exceptional work as Editor of the Grapevine
Online for the past four years, Matt Akers '03,
sometime President of the Christendom Alumni Association,
surprised Tom McFadden '90 with a special gift: an
all-expenses paid weekend at the Viceroy
hotel and spa in Palm Springs, CA. While there last weekend,
McFadden had the pleasure of running into NFL great
Steve Young of the 49ers who was taking a much needed break
after working on covering the playoffs for ESPN.
Trish
Metzger '05, currently a FOCUS missionary at George Mason
University has checked in with the Grapevine and is reporting
that Team George Mason is the featured picture on the FOCUS
website this week. "We’re famous!" says Trish.
You can check it out at www.focusonline.org
Also, you can click on the “Conferences in Review”
link to read about FOCUS Regional Conferences. She says she
is praying for the Christendom alumni. Thanks Trish!
According
to Freddie Fraser's sister, Elizabeth,
Freddie got married last summer to a very nice girl
and they are now expecting a baby in the near future. They
are both very happy. Prior to these two wonderful events Freddie
was perhaps best known for his Christendom record of appearing
in Instaurare the most number of times in the same
issue while enrolled as a student at Christendom College (4x).
It is doubtful this feat will ever be duplicated.
Alumnus
Mike Meredith, who has been known to travel the country
as a wandering pilgrim, headed out to West Virginia last fall
to do work for the Legion of Mary at one of their Peregrinatio
Pro Christo (PPC) events. It was the second annual PPC held
in West Virginia at which Meredith and one of his old friends,
alumnus Fr. Steve McGraw '88 (one of the original
Christendom Legion of Mary members) attended. "Participation
was steady this year with about 22 Legionaries each day including
a group from th
e
Hispanic Curia of Arlington, VA, led by Fr. Stephen McGraw
from St. Leo's parish in Fairfax, Virginia," said Mike.
A couple of the Legionaries traveled from New York and one
each from Florida and S. Carolina. The Hispanic Legionaries
made home visits to local Latino homes, shops, and persons
living around the local race track, and in the camps of the
poor Latino migrant farm workers in the area. The Hispanics
and others visited, were generally very friendly and grateful
for the visits. Fr. McGraw said Mass each day at the
Parish and a couple times at the camps of the migrant farm
workers, assisted by the Hispanic Legionaries. After the PPC,
a Legion of Mary praesidium was established at St. Leo's in
Inwood, with the support of the Pastor, Fr. Brian Shoda. Fr.
McGraw also returned after a couple weeks from Virginia
to lend support to the extension of a new Spanish-speaking
Praesidium at the nearby St. James Parish in Charles Town,
WV. Next year, the Regia hopes to follow-up with another PPC
in West Virginia, at St. James Parish.
Mary
(Pennefather) Waldron '91 gave birth to Catherine
Mary on Jan. 25th! Catherine Mary weighed in at 9lbs. 2 oz.
and 22 inches in length. Catherine Mary joins Colette (5)
Liam (3) and Mary Clare (2). Mother and baby are well. They
promise to send a photo of the new little one soon!
Following
last month's chronicle of the mishaps of one ZAkers '05
and his compadre PAlmeter '05, the two traveled back
to Scranton, PA, where ZAkers continues to act as a
role model and father-figure to the boyz of St. Gregz. PAlmeter,
being in a stage in his life where he is not
sure what to do, decided to stick around BoyzTown and see
if training young lads to be men was for him. Who knows what
will happen next time. Tune in. They are seen here taking
a trip into the Poconos, although it was not reported as to
whether any world record attempts were made.
The
Hatke Family will be leaving the familiar ground of
Front Royal at the end of March and embarking on a nine-month
stay in the tiny village of Gravagna, Italy, where Anna's
father was born. Ben will be setting up a studio and
studying painting and art, both in Gravagna and through programs
in Rome and Florence. You can follow his progress at www.househatke.com
Or you could follow the Hatkes all the way to Italy
and see for yourself . . . checking the website will be quicker
and less expensive, but not nearly as fun.
Jaime
E. Berger, has managed to keep the same job for almost
a year, and she has lived in the same house for five months
now, bringing her 2005 address list to a nice round 4 (not
counting three weeks of living in her car). She is currently
awaiting the nuptuals of one of her roommates (an anticipated
alliance between Canada and West Virginia!?). To keep it interesting,
though, she hopes to be elsewhere by May/June, and in Italy
with the Hatkes in July. For the fall, she is waiting to hear
back from Catholic University of America and University of
Dallas, where she applied for the Ph.D. programs (in literature,
of course. What else is there?). If grad school doesn't happen,
she hopes to be doing something somewhere (she doesn't want
to limit her options).
On
January 9th Gio & Brian Hudson welcomed
#s 6 & 7 to their brood, Ava and David! Ava weighed in
at 5lbs 6ozs and David weighed in at 5lbs 13 ozs. Both babies
are very happy and healthy and mom is doing well, back to
business as usual! The entire family is enjoying double trouble!
Some say David is a miniature version of Brian...you decide!
Bernard
and Carmen (McCoy) Hete sent in a photo of their two
girls [right]: Veronica (2 1/2) and Miriam (6mo.) An avid
reader of the Grapevine, Carmen was recently nominated
by the Grapevine award winning team as one of its most
devoted subscribers.
Maria
Brake '02 wants the Grapevine to know that
she and Mike Marstall got engaged on Christmas Eve: "It
was very romantic, he proposed in the adoration chapel in
Delaware
that I have being going to since I was young and has signifigance
to us as a couple. I was quite surprised, so he got his wish!!
He was suppose to come to Delaware on the 26th, but he secretly
arranged to come two days earlier. I went to adoration on
Christmas Eve and there he was praying in front of the Blessed
Sacrament!! He asked me if I would be his wife before Our
Lord. I guess he figured I couldn't say no before such an
audience, as if he'd have to worry! For those of you who don't
know Mike, I met him here in Bloomingon, IL at Cetral Catholic
High school where I have been working as a theology teacher
for the past year and a half. Mike is a theo. teacher as well
and a graduate from Steubenville--truly the marriage of two
great minds! Its quite ecumenical of me, don't you think?
Please keep us in your prayers. God bless."
Jake
and Jessica (Morgan) Meza '05 came from their new home
in Atchison, KS and blessed Elizabeth Rice '05 with
a visit to Saint Paul over the last weekend. They had their
own mini-homecoming and Elizabeth showed them the sights
including the St.Paul winter carnival ruined by the 'global
warming' going on up there. So the Mezas got to see
melting ice and non-existent snow sculptures, the parking
lot of the "Biggest" Mall of America, the Saint
Paul Cathedral and were awe-struck by the beauty of St. Agnes
Catholic Church and it's liturgy. Grapevine readers, feel
free to visit Elizabeth in Saint Paul. Really and truly,
because now it is no longer cold in Minnesota due to a year
of her prayers and it's in the balmy 40s! Elizabeth
continues with her Montessori teacher training and faces two
months of student teaching ahead of her along with oral and
written finals. Any spared prayers would be gratefully appreciated.
Bethany
"Zuni" Zuniga is currently living in Buffalo,
NY where she resides with her Brother-in-law, Sister, and
five nieces and nephews. She works full time in the Rite Aid
pharmacy and plans a June 2006 wedding to Derek Rogers
who finishes his senior year at Fredonia University this May.
Bethany is one of our most recent additions to our
beloved Grapevine and alumni e-group subscription list. The
Grapevine was able catch up with this California native,
former Christendom College Student Bursar and Library Dedication
Attaché in a recent phone interview. Bethany did not
realize that the phone call was being recorded. A portion
of the transcript is below:
Grapevine:
Zuni, do you have any desire to contribute something toward
the alumni Grapevine newsletter?
Bethany:
A desire. Yes. A contribution? Hardly. Will I do it anyway?
Of course. . . . This is something you take with you when
you leave Christendom: a desire to help. You welcome a connection--even
in an unexpected disruption like the Grapevine calling
me at work to see if I have someting meaningful to add to
it. A connection to something with which you have the fondest
memories. The brief phone call today from a close friend came
at a time when I was engulfed in what has become "my
world." The phone call from the Grapevine was
a beautiful reminder that it is not my "only world."
I have seemed to transition without ever fully realizing it.
God has a way of making us think and I am so glad he does.
And finally,
as is the tradition, we end with the tales of our foreign
correspondent Pearse Marschner, '01, who spent some
time at Christmas with his friends, family and lovely fiancee,
Miss Catherine Cauthen of Houston, TX. Now back in Damascus,
he is working on his book, his swing chords on the guitar,
and learning Persian.
Calendar
of events
March
11, 2006: Alumni Mentoring Career Reception
July 29,
2006: Summer Institute
October
6-8, 2006: Homecoming
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Press
Releases and Campus News: http://www.christendom.edu/news/releases.shtml
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