October 2004 edition of The Grapevine Online

Class notes

James Berry (’03) has now joined the Christendom crew in Rome, studying Social Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Classes haven’t started yet so he’s focusing on learning his Italian and hanging out with the wonderful women of Rome (and Niall & Alphonse). Last weekend Niall and James chilled with friends on the Tiber Island.

Mary Wake '95 recently successfully defended her thesis for an MA in philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville. The title was "Natural Law and 'The Law of Peoples': Defending Human Rights and Cultural Diversity in a Global Era."

This special message comes from Kathy Moriarty Williams '91: :Greetings to all our beloved Christendom Alumni! We apologize for not staying in closer contact over the years and pray that you will forgive us. To catch you up briefly… On October 7th, the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Shawn and Kathy (Moriarty) Williams, will be celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary! Time has come and gone so quickly. After living in Virginia for over 11 years, Kathy moved home to Ohio in 1998 and met Shawn at Mass only a few days after her return! A true love story it is from beginning to end and an explicit example of God’s most loving providence! Now, 4 years later, Shawn and Kathy are the proud and loving parents of two beautiful and quite charming sons, Peter Augustine who is 3 and Stephen Ignatius who just turned 1 on September 17th. After not keeping in contact for so long, we could go on and on about what we are up to these days, but we do not want to dominate all the space in this issue of the Grapevine. Soooooo, stay tuned for other news to follow in upcoming months! However, if you would like to write and say hello, please contact us at irishhearts2000@yahoo.com. We’d love to hear from you! Until then, may God continue to bless each one of you in the forthcoming days!"

Julie (Asam '00) and Stephen Monette celebrated Christopher Stephen's First Birthday on September 10. Christopher is growing up by leaps and bounds and is always a joy (see pic on right). If anybody is moving or visiting the Hampton Roads area, email Julie at juliecm@frontiernet.net. They'd love to see you.

Chris Mirus (’97) is a visiting assistant professor this semester at Hunter College of the City University of New York, teaching classes on the history of philosophy and on science and culture. He will remain at Hunter part time in the spring.

Eric Kingsepp '98 is no longer at Catholic Distance University. He is now the Youth Coordinator for St. Veronica's parish in Herndon, Virginia.

Lorena Echeverría (class of '90) has gone from education to agriculture. She is now the proud owner of Monteazul -Bluemountain, for those who did not have Mrs. Barone's Spanish class-, a coffeplantation located in the high mountains of Costa Rica. The place is awesome, and it's great to take care of the coffeplants as well as deal with the country folk. Great for hiking. She invites all Christendomites to come visit and bring their hiking boots. Her email: marialoren32@hotmail.com

Mike Miller married Kaylie Minick '04 on August 21 in Pennsylvania.

Annemarie Malo Ciskanik '89 checks in with the Grapevine Online: Our son, Thomas, just started 7th grade at Seton in Manassas. He has alumna, Miss Julie Abernethy '04, as his Grammar teacher, Mrs. Carroll for World Culture, Mr. Peter Scheetz '81 as his Math teacher, and has several children of alumni in his class as well: Michael Arnold (Meg Judge and Dan Arnold), Maggie Horiuchi (Anne Hambleton Horiuchi), Dominique Peters (Scott and Michelle Oubre), Colin Gossin (Dan and Laura Smith), Joseph Rohan (Mike and Claire Gazzollo). Thomas is also in Latin I with his cousin, Catherine Ciskanik (John and Maggie O'Reilly), 11th grade, who just started at Seton this fall. We live in Manassas (for 4 years now) in the Signal Hill Subdivision with many other Catholic families including the Rohans, The Coys(currently have 2 girls at Christendom), Wittman's, Meyer's and Hadro's (all have at least 1 alumnus). Fr. Jerome Fasano says we should rename our subdivision Vatican Hill! A few years ago, we had 5 kids from our subdivision enrolled at Christendom. That ought to be a record!"

From Moira Stanton '04: "Ive been in Ecuador (surprise) since August 26th, working at El Centro del Muchacho Trabajador, Una Familia de Familias... translation for those who did not have Madame Barone: The Working Boys Center, A Family of Families. I'm teaching 9 art classes a week, to boys and girls in grades 1-6, and I'm teaching in the girls program. 3 times a week the girls have one hour of English and then two hours of learning practical things like baking, cooking, reading, computers, sales techniques, sewing, crocheting, etc., and crafts. My English students are super cute, but pretty slow for the most part... after two weeks with them, I still cant get them to remember things like Good Morning, afternoon, evening, and basic words like hello and goodbye. God Bless, and please remember me in your prayers. Congratulations to all the newlyweds, and to Marc Perrington for getting a job. If anyone would like to e-mail, its Moiraecuadora@hotmail.com. Adios"

Evelyn Mary Grace was born on Tuesday, September 7 at 6:08pm to Greg and Anna Wright Polley. She weighed in at 7lb 6oz and 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well!

Beth Fittin Wiener '90 reports that she and her family recently moved to New York, so they have left the Midwest to return to the East Coast. Her husband Chris has a new Job as Director of Manufacturing at Baltic Lumber and Molding in Danbury Connecticut. They have three children Rachel (10), Andrew (9) and Kateri ( 6). They also continue to own and operate Vienna Woodworks, a furniture manufacturing company.

Above is a picture of a number of Christendom alumni who are now Nashville Dominicans.

Tom Cole '04 and Patrick Storey '02 brought a group of students from Holy Family Academy in Manassas, VA, to Vocations Day at Christendom on September 27.

John Issigonis (97/98) has once again rejoined the ranks of the poor scholar, now studying Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, England. He'll be busy for at least a year pursuing his Masters, so anyone with any inklings of popping in for tea and crumpets can make reservations via jissigonis@hotmail.com . As a side note, his already great summer was topped off with a two week Olympic venture, including international coverage for his starring role as
Apollo.

Fred Fraser '03 has decided to settle down. Based on the fact that his good friend Mark Schwedt '02 actually asked his girlfriend Emily Syski '03 to marry him, he himself went over to the dark side and asked a young woman for her hand in marriage. Not fully knowing all that we know about Freddie the man-child, she agreed to his proposal. Nicole Paparella, is her name and of course, she is Italian, as is the Fraser custom.

Dympna issigonis (97-98) is finishing up the interior design program in November dans l'ile du montreal and is planning to be very successful and busy fairly quick so if you have any job offers you should get the propositions in soon! you can reach her at daliontamer@hotmail.com

And rounding out the Issigonis family news tree, Kimon Issigonis (03-04), that Greek-Irish God of Love, spent the summer in the Alps with such notorious alumni as Julie Abernethy and IML at the American School in Switzerland.

The International Man of Leisure sent in the picture on the above left. What it is, nobody knows. But he did stop by on his travels to say hello so he reeived a number of Christendom related items.

Michael and Mary (Boever) Blum (both '03) were married this summer on June 19th, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in Lincoln, Nebraska. They are living in Lincoln right now and enjoying the good life of the Midwest and Bishop Bruskwwitz. They are also very excited and blessed to be expecting their first child in early April.

Pearse Marschner ('01) is still in Iraq. He humbly asks you to pray for his brother, alumnus Mike Marschner, and sister-in-law, Maggie (Kocienski), who are faced with a fallopian first pregnancy which, if it doesn't reverse itself, will be their first and last baby.

From Diane Bodner Duhig (81-82): After a year of doing foster care, my husband and I realized that adoption through our county Family Services agency was not going to happen, so we contacted Associated Catholic Charities in Baltimore. ACC arranges domestic adoptions as well as international adoptions from several countries. After our mandatory orientation session, we realized that we were interested in adopting a sibling group from the Philippines. The major factors (apart from our age and our strong belief, as expressed by the Holy Father, that the best thing a family can give to their children is another sibling) were: that because of a very high poverty rate in the Philippines, and a culture which does not promote contraception, there are many orphaned sibling groups; the Catholic culture of the country; and our being told that this was one country where we would make a difference: if we decided not to adopt a child(ren) from the Philippines, that child might very well never be adopted (as compared with say, Korea, where there are many couples vying to adopt the infants available). Last November, we were asked if we would consider a sibling group of 5 children. We gulped, looked at each other, and agreed to do so. Sadly, those children to date have not been processed for international adoption. In March, an ACC social worker visited a new (Protestant) orphanage in Metro Manila and found a sibling group of seven children: would we consider these bright, artistic and well-behaved children? For six months, we told everyone about our plans, as we considered the material changes we would have to make to accomodate a quadrupling of our family size, as well as the educational, spiritual and emotional approaches we would plan. Then, about three weeks ago, just as the children’s and our files were about to meet at the Philippine national government’s offices for an official match, we were told that inconsistencies in the children’s birth certificates would delay the possibility of their international adoption for one to two years. Last Saturday, Steven and I returned to ACC’s office to review the notebooks of waiting children, to see if God wanted us to adopt other children. We were taken with one sibling group of three from Luzon province (two girls and a boy who are all cheerful, loving and studious), but also with a 14-year-old boy who was previously featured in an ACC newsletter and who has spent his entire life in St. Rita’s orphanage. When we asked the social worker about him, she acknowledged having met him several times over the years, and observing him gradually losing hope, as he sees younger boys being adopted, but never him. What impressed us about Nover was that he is described as very devout, often leading the recitation of the Rosary, as well as serving as an altar boy, and his strong interest in computer engineering. Sadly, both the dictates of prudence (it would not be wise to adopt unrelated teenaged boys and girls who have not grown up together) and the rules of the Philippines’ Intercountry Adoption Board prohibit the simultaneous adoption of the sibling group and of Nover: so I wonder if there is a second alumni family who might take either Nover or the sibling group? If there is more than one generous family, there is an abundance of waiting orphans in the Philippines, so there will be no need to fight over the children! Also, of course, there is that family of seven children who may be available in a year or two (unless the Blessed Mother manages to fix those typos!), and at that time, we will not be able to adopt them. Again, given that there are few people crazy enough to consider adopting larger sibling groups, I thought of the Christendom alumni. Not because I think that the Christendom universe features an abnormally high concentration of crazies (well, ok, maybe I do, but only in a good way!), but because virtually all of the alumni have shown that they have the moral courage to undertake what our Faith encourages, even when the world says that such an undertaking would be “crazy.” I would be happy to talk to anyone who might be interested in any of the children I have mentioned, or about what little I know of the vagaries of adoption from the Philippines, if he e-mails me at diane_bodner@juno.com.

Megan Rose O'Brien was born at 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2004, after a quick labor two weeks ahead of expectations. She joins her brother Jack and parents John '04 and Maria Gaetano '03 in Front Royal, VA. She weighed in at 5 lbs., 15 oz. and was 17 inches long.

Jacinta Scheetz '04 and Jamie Dresch '04 bought a house in Front Royal. Stop by when you are in town. It might be a little messy due to the recent move, though.

Sharon Higby '90 bought a house in Front Royal, too, although it was a couple of months ago so it should be all nice and clean by now.

Joe McFadden married Sara Runge on Friday, September 10 in Upstate New York. Alumni Chris, Tom, George, and Mike McFadden were in the wedding as were Mary McFadden Brand, John Sleeves Williams, Gwen Adams, Katie Runge Schmiedicke, Lucia Leggio, and Jessica Runge Hickey. They are now living happily ever after in Falls Church, VA.

Matt and Terrie (Heim) Walz (both '95) recently welcomed a new daughter into the world, Helena Marie, on September 17, 2004, at 4:15 AM. Labor and delivery went very smoothly. Helena weighed in at 7 lbs., 10 oz., and measured 20 inches. Her two brothers, Damien (4) and Nicholas (almost 2) are very happy about having a girl around the house, even if it means a little less attention is paid to them and more to their beautiful little sister. Terrie and baby are both doing very well.

James Santschi '90 said he was coming to Homecoming and then didn't show up. Bad form James, very bad form.

Calendar of events

October 7-9, 2005: Homecoming Weekend

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Press Releases and Campus News: http://www.christendom.edu/news/releases.shtml

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Stories

Homecoming 2004 Draws Over 250 Alumni from Near and Far

Although it had been changed from the usual Columbus Day Weekend date, Homecoming still brought together over 250 alumni from ear and far. Alumni traveled to campus from as far away as Oregon (Sean Murphy and Rene Oberlin Mason) and Arizona (Cathy Burch), and from as close as across the street (Colleen McMahon).

The Class of 1994 held their own Ten Year Class Reunion at the Rivendell Club down the road from Christendom. They had a luncheon where 10-12 alumni plus their spouses and little ones enjoyed looking back on their time at Christendom so many years ago. They watched old coffee house videos as well.

The Class of 1999 made a little noise by being well represented at the Alumni Reception. Five years out made them a little nostalgic and weepy eyed over the fact that they are no longer spending their days and nights at Camp Christendom.

The Class of 1983 had a 28% representation with Nancy Popik Briggs and Brenda Davis O'Reilly.

Prior to the Alumni Reception, which was catered by Chef Ron Steckman, the Alumni beat the students in the annual (alnmost cancelled) Alumni vs Students Basketball Game. It was a close one, with the alumni winning out by about 8-10 points.

On Sunday, following a late evening of fine food, drink, and comaraderie, the West beat the East for the first time in 8 years. It went to triple overtime. West quarterback, Patrick Quest, did an outstanding job of leading his team to victory.

Only one injury: John O'Herron messed up his knee. Looked painful but he is all cured now.

Here's a list of who came to Homecoming. Next year's Homecoming is back on Columbus Day Weekend so make plans now: October 7-9, 2005.

Hold your mouse over each picture for identification or commentary.