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September 2003 Print edition of The Grapevine Online Class notes Michael "Blackmaster of Disaster" Blackmer '91 will once again grace the streets of Village Royale when he drives down from Ohio and attends the upcoming Homecoming on October 11th. He is so excited about seeing all of his old friends over that weekend. Yippie, says he. Greg Settducati (phonetically: such-a-hottie) '03 is working at Smith Barney in Bethesda, MD in the same office as Josh Petersen '01 and Paul Keats (brother of beloved Christendom English professor Patrick Keats). It is a rather difficult job because he encounters moral and ethical dilemmas every day. Apparantly, there are some very unscrupulous people who place him in situations where he must really make tough choices (editor's note: That's life, kid). Ben, Alicia (Podlinsek) '97, and Olivia Laxton were blessed to welcome Elizabeth Abigail into the world on Monday, September 1st. She weighed 7lb 1oz, and was 20 inches long. She is a sweet baby and has been a delight to family. She is pictured to the left. This
Fall, seminarian Bjorn Lundberg '97 started Second Theology at
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in PA, which is year 4 of 6 towards ordination.
The Apostolate this year is working at Cardinal O'Hara High School, with
approximately 2100 students. Yikes! They will also be busy with the Installation
of Archbishop Justin Rigali when he takes over on October 7th in Philly. After
graduating magna cum laude from Ave Maria School of Law, Mark Rohlena
along with his lovely bride Danielle ('00 & '01 respectively)
moved to Denver, Colorado. Danielle is working for the Kaiser Hospital
systems in the credentialing department. Mark took the bar exam and is
working for Holland & Hart, Denver's largest lawfirm, as an associate
in the Litigation Department. Feel free to look him up at www.hollandhart.com
under the "people" link for contact information if you are in
the neighborhood and feel like saying hello. Some CC alumni joined friends and family and ran with 1850 people in the 26th Annual New Haven Savings Bank Labor Day Race in New Haven, Connecticut. Running in the 5K were Dan Vander Woude (came in 446), Nancy (Lee) Bauer (812th), Mary Walsh (1238th), Susan Lee (1350th), Marcia Lee (1410th) and Liz (Higby) Kelly (1725th). Pat Haggerty (1381st out of 2083) ran in the 20K. Theresa (Higby) Squire '89 and family are currently living in Naples, Italy. They are learning Italian. Their two older boys attend a Catholic, Italian school. They live very close to Pompeii (the kids love going there!). During the upcoming Christendom pilgrimage to take place in October, they would love to host something at their home if possible. Or perhaps they could meet you up in Rome. If anyone should like to contact them, email: thesquires@freeuso.it. They would love to hear from any of the old crowd whether or not they're going to Rome. Other Higby news: Lizzy (99) got married, Mary Patryn (92) had twins! Brendan McGuire '03 is still working for the Legionaries of Christ's construction department . . he is currently looking for an affordable apartment in the Westchester/Putnam/Lower Connecticut region (everything is so darn expensive). He bitterly misses the Christendom friends with whom he's lost contact. See everyone at homecoming. Dr.
Matt Walz '95 and wife Teresa (Heim) '95 have been living in California
for about three years. They now have two sons: Damien, a rambunctious
three-year-old who resembles his father (editor's note: probably pretty
short for his age too), and Nicholas, a sweet ten-month-old who resembles
his mother. Terrie has done a wonderful job keeping these boys on the
up-and-up, and hopefully with her guidance they won't turn into surfer
bums, despite the proximity of the Pacific. Matt just began his fourth
year of teaching at Thomas Aquinas College, and he defended his dissertation
last semester and received his doctorate in Philosophy from The Catholic
University of America in D.C. Their families and most of their old friends
are back East, but they are adjusting well to the Left Coast, making a
lot of friends and even making their way in the impossible housing market.
And, by the by, their oldest son Damien will be listed as the 136th candidate
for governor in the upcoming recall. You may catch a glimpse of him on
the nationally-televised debates, as he is now pulling 11% in the polls. Ryan
Jones ('00) and Angela Formolo ('01) were married back in July of
2001. The following summer they bought a house outside Milwaukee, WI and
spent the last half of that year fixing it up in preparation for the birth
of their daughter. Lily Therese was born on April 11, 2003 and weighed
7 lbs., 4 ozs. Ryan currently works as a field underwriter for an insurance
company, while Angela left her job in the HR department of a regional
bank to be a stay-at-home mom. Chris Lane ('03) has had an adventurous summer, with business and pleasure travels to many U.S. states, but no foreign countries. The adventures came to a climax on the Feast of the Transfiguration, while he was in Arizona for a job interview and found out that his house had burned down the night before. The pets (a dog, a cat, and a fish) perished, and one or two firefighters are said to have sustained minor injuries, but--Deo gratias--none of the family was home at the time. Salvage and insurance issues have gone relatively smoothly (if not quickly) so far. Chris, having discovered that it is not absolutely necessary to own more than three sets of clothing and that one does not cease to exist when one's birth certificate is destroyed, maintains his sense of humor. Please pray for his family, particularly for his parents, since there is more work to do and there are more decisions to make. Meanwhile, Chris plans to relocate soon to Northern VA, despite some teaching jobs which had been offered to him in far away and exciting places like Arizona and Massachusetts. Tom McFadden '90 was recently called up on Federal jury duty and was selected as foreman of the 12 person jury. The case involved a conspiracy to possess and sell crack cocaine. The interesting thing about this case was that the events all took place right smack dab in the middle of Front Roll. Apparently, over the course of about 5 years (1997-2002) a group of 4-6 individuals would shoot out from DC and spend the weekend selling drugs to the deviants of Front Royal. So, to make a long story short, the defendant was found guilty of being involved in the conspiracy and was sentenced to somewheres between 30 years and life. After serving on that jury, and dealing with the testimonies of ATF agents, police officers, many many crack heads who rolled over on their pushers, and a couple of real "geniuses" on the jury, he hopes to never serve on a jury again, so help him God. And
the latest on Caroline Pollock '03 does not come as any surprise
to those who know her. Since graduation she has been surrounded by degenerate
moderns at work who call her "Weirdo" for being an actual practicing
Catholic, she teaches sixth grade CCD for St. James in Falls Church, she
skulks around the Planned Parenthood Mill in DC Saturday mornings, and
she is in desperate need of any spare bedroom/living room furniture. There
it is then. Steve and Paula (Quest) O'Keefe now have four children, with the latest edition being a girl. On April 22, Lydia Pauline joined her three older brothers in the exciting game of life. Marc-Pierre Jansen '02, previously known as the International Man of Leisure, now has a little friend whom he met in Europe over the summer. Her name is Mandy, or something like that (so our sources tell us). And in the very near future, our man Riley will be heading to the Big Apple to discover himself while trying to earn a couple of bob working on Wall Street. Stay tuned. And
as is the custom of the Grapevine Online, we end with the fascinating
tale of Pearse Marschner ('02) who is learning how to type in Arabic.
He's only up to about 3 words a minute but he's gaining fast. He runs
the CPA website and works with Arabic media (aka terrorist accomplices)
on a regular basis. He has succeeded at wooing but failed at converting
(even at the point of his sword) several doe-eyed maidens and he's getting
sick of the effort. So rather than reclining on his wicker couch and serving
himself fruit, he has decided to let the spirit (of music) work through
him. Accordingly, he is playing his Emmylou Harris signature Gibson EL-200
guitar and has gotten several key members of the interim government of
Iraq to lend their voices to "You never even call me by my name"
and "The Wild Rover." That's success in Iraq by anyone's standard. And here are September's Alumni Happy Birthdays........
October 11, 2003: Homecoming October 14-21, 2003: Alumni Pilgrimage to Rome February
21, 2004: Alumni Network Career Mentoring Reception Class of 1993 Challenged to Give 10-Year Anniversary Gift to College Christendom’s Class of 1993 was a particularly interesting and unique class in its day. When they entered as freshman, they were the smartest class the college had seen up to that point. When they graduated, they had raised the largest class gift until then — $9,055 — which they used to pave the road from Christendom’s south entrance to the front of the girls’ dorms. Now,
ten years later, the members of the Class of ‘93 are striving to
repeat that youthful industry and the success that crowned it. They hope
to raise $35,000 as their Ten-Year Anniversary Gift to the College. If
they do, they will once again have the coveted distinction of making the
largest class gift donation to the College. Currently, the Class of 2003
holds that record with $30,000 in cash and pledges restricted to the new
Senior Class Endowment fund. As of the beginning of September, the College has received $28,500 in cash or pledges from 75% of the Class of ‘93: Sean Garvey, Matt O'Herron, Steve O'Keefe, Joe Reninger, Tom McGraw, Jonathan Carlson, Elizabeth (Dateno) Pilon, Sam Aronhime, Ken Baltrinic, Michelle (Miller) Bodoh, Dori (Greco) Rutherford, Matt Cameron, Andrew Youngblood, Clare (Curley) Cole, Monica (Murphy) Curran, Jean Pennefather, John Echaniz, Sue (Peters) Francis, Mary Ann (Hester) Gaffney, Lisa (Curran) Heisler, Lisa (Heuser) Koch, Christy (Weinert) Mott, Scott Weinberg, Patrick Zuberbueler, Deirdre (Brien) Pennefather. Due to the generosity of these alumni donors, Dr. and Mrs. O'Donnell have invited all those who participated in this Ten-Year Challenge (by donating $1000 or more over a 5 year period) to a Dinner of Appreciation on September 20th at their house in Stephens City. Participants interested in attending that dinner should call Tom McGraw (800-877-5456 ext. 253) or email him at tmcgraw@christendom.edu by September 12th. Members
of that class have gone on to be mothers (13 of them with lots of children!),
a dentist in the Navy, an attorney for Virginia law firm, two media/film
producers, a Poor Clare cloistered nun, the Development Officer at Christendom,
the Assistant Director of Operations at Christendom, an insurance professional
with Erie insurance, a trainer for the American Red Cross, a speech writer
for the White House Writers Group, a Human Resources director for Lord
and Taylor, two founders of a computer consulting firm, three information
technology operators, and a potential political candidate for local government
in Front Royal. Alumnus John Cuddeback Brings Friendship to Life in New Book Christendom alumnus and Philosophy professor John Cuddeback '89 always looks forward to the last few weeks of his Introduction to Philosophy course. It is then he has the joy of teaching Aristotle’s treatment of the nature of friendship, as laid out in the Nicomachean Ethics. Recently Cuddeback has taken the insights of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas on friendship to a broader audience. This month his first book, Friendship: The Art of Happiness, is being released. Cuddeback had been considering writing a book on friendship when he received a phone call from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). FOCUS wanted a book on friendship that would be accessible to the undergraduate students involved in its study programs at campuses across the country. Cuddeback’s teaching the Introduction to Philosophy course at Christendom had prepared him to write just such a book. According to Peter Kreeft, philosophy professor at Boston College, “Friendship has not ceased being one of life’s greatest goods – but it has ceased being one of modern philosophers favorite topics. John Cuddeback redresses that injustice with a book that impressively combines ancient wisdom (Socrates, Aristotle, Aquinas) with modern experiences, faith with reason, and principles with practicality. It is wonderfully clear and concise, and ranges from topics as traditional as a map of the different kinds of friendships to topics as modern as advice about dating. This book is very wise, very practical, and very much needed.” And Catholic luminary Alice von Hildebrand highly recommends the book, commenting that “John Cuddeback shows convincingly that in a real friendship, man can have a taste of true happiness. Basing his rich analysis on the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, he demonstrates that true friendship based on virtue benefits the individual, family life, and social life.” “The teaching of Aristotle and St. Thomas on friendship moved me more than anything else I have ever studied,” says Cuddeback. “It is a great joy for me to be able to share this treasure with a broader audience.” But Cuddeback has no intention of being distracted from the main focus of his intellectual work: teaching in the classroom. In his Acknowledgments he thanks his students in philosophy at Christendom College, “[whose] enthusiasm, insight, and questions are always an inspiration to me.” Friendship: The Art of Happiness costs $11.95 and can be obtained (in the very near future) by calling (970) 336-9881 or by visiting www.focusonline.org. Grapevine Online Gives Award Winning Performance Christendom College won an achievement award for its monthly alumni e-newsletter, The Grapevine Online, from the Association of Graphic Communications of Metro New York and New Jersey. Christendom's excellence in production and design were cited by the judges, particulary by the president of AGC, Chris Carney, A.C.E., and acting vice-president, John Boyden. “Our goal is to provide our alumni with the news and information they need to exist happily as alumni of Christendom,” said Tom McFadden, Director of College Relations, Christendom College. “We also want to help our alumni understand others in their situation. Clear, meaningful, insightful, amusing communications such as the monthly Grapevine help us do that.” The website is designed to help alumni stay on top of all of the news and information that affects them most and includes birthday listings, short stories relating to Christendom, and most importantly, little tidbits about all of the other alumni. Christendom's web-design team edits and designs the e-newsletter in Dreamweaver 4 on a monthy basis and publishes it on the first Friday of each month. “We are delighted to see Christendom gain the recognition they deserve,” said Jim Maxwell, general manager, GrapesRus.com, a full service internet grape vending company. “Their progressive approach to serving their clientel with top-tier communications motivates us to keep our eyes on the grape, so to speak. We look forward to competing against them in the future.” Summer of 2003 is the Summer of Love for Christendom Alumni Many alumni were married over the summer months: Matt Akers ‘03 and Jan Kuznia ‘03, Aug. 16.; Ryan Callaghan ‘02 and Katherine Mirus ‘02, June 28; Tim Coffey ‘02 and Leah Stephens ‘03, June 7; Theresa Ford ‘03 and alumnus Ben Fisher, May 31; alumnus Nate Farinholt and Rose Gutierrez, July 26; Nancy Lee ‘96 and Guy Bauer, May 24; Don Goodman ‘03 and Cathy Garrett ‘03, Aug. 2; alumnus Joe O’Herron and Rebecca Price ‘03, May 24. And next summer may end up being the summer of Real Big Love, with already 12 alumni weddings planned!
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