On Monday, October 12, the Executive Board of the Bishop's Latin School Alumni Association met at the rectory of Fr. Dave Schorr at 6:15. The meeting got started late because yours truly was late, despite having a new GPS purchased just for the occasion. I recently used this very same device in the third largest city in the U.S., Houston, Texas, and it failed me not once. However, West Mifflin? Ah, that's another story!
Anyway, getting back to business, in attendance were: Tony Fisher, Gary Gayda, Ria Whitehill, Fr. Dave Schorr, Mike Wallisch, and Angelo Spagnolo.
We were graciously hosted, as usual, by Father Dave Schorr who dazzled us with a menu of something that resembled spaghetti in meat sauce, but later we learned that it was actually made with Yak meat. It was tres gourmet. I'd never had Yak meat before, but now I know why father Dave's rectory has been dubbed "The Himalayan Hideaway". The Yak wasn't bad, I'd have it again.
After opening the meeting, President Fisher announced that he received two copies of "The Miter" from Bob Lizik. After everyone looked at them, we decided that we are going to scan and make these available on our website, BLSalum. We thought some of you might get a kick out of reading your early prose. Then again...
Tony also received a very nice thank you letter from Bishop Zubik, our newest alumni member (by universal acclaim at the last awards dinner). The Bishop said that he, "Thanks the Bishop's Latin School Alumni Association for bringing awareness of the need for priestly vocations to our local Church, especially during the Year of the Priest. It was also great to see Cardinal DiNardo as well."
He also asked that we,... "Continue to pray for and encourage vocations to the priesthood so that more men will hear and answer God's call".
We also received a nice note from Ed Somers who was grateful for his mother's remembrance that he received after the last Cardinal Wright Awards. Tony also acknowledged receiving a check for $100 from my mother, Grace Spagnolo, in memory of Monsignor Lino Ramellini who passed away recently. Some of you may recall seeing the monsignor at past vocations masses. The gift was to be used for helping send a seminarian to Rome this summer. Please remember our scholarship program.
Gary Gayda did his usual fine job with our treasurers report and he announced that our balance as of this writing is $20,911.07 We just had a CD mature at over 4%, however the bad news is that our new CD rate is just 1.60%
Our discussion then turned to our most recent Cardinal Wright Awards and Vocations Mass this past August 23rd. Everyone felt that this was in many respects our best event yet. There were the usual glitches with the meal that seem to accompany these types of events, but overall, everyone enjoyed it immensely.
We hosted the largest number of guests ever this year with not only the Cardinal, Bishop and Mike Clark, but also for the first time, almost all of the seminarians from St. Paul's Seminary. In spite of covering all of these guests and the costs of the awards, mailings, etc., we managed to make $600 profit from the dinner along with another $600 on the auction items bringing our total net up to $1,200. To have had an event that was as nice as this one with so many guests and still make $1,200 profit was truly a blessing.
We actually began discussions for our Ninth Annual event that is now tentatively scheduled for August 22, 2010. We also began discussing possible future locations as well as formulating an early list of potential candidates for an award next year. All in attendance were in agreement that our organization seems to be hitting its' stride as to fulfilling its' mission of furthering vocations to the priesthood. In fact, we had several discussions on ways that we can include seminarians in future events.
The Alumni Association is very proud to have yet another BLS alum who has accepted another key position with the Diocese.
Deacon Stephen J. Byers '71 recently accepted a position where he will serve as head of the Diocese of Pittsburgh Diaconate Program. Steve joins Pat Joyce (Director of Stewardship) and John Flaherty (Secretary of Property and Planning) as alums holding key positions in the local Church. The Alumni Association is very proud of all three of these BLS grads.
The final items to be talked about involved possible new alumni events to be held at the mid point between Awards Dinners. Some of the ideas under consideration included a "Poker and Cigar night", a possible "Monte Carlo or Night at the Races" event or even a football night watching yer Pittsburgh Steelers. Gary Gayda is researching the poker night idea, While I am going to make some inquiries regarding a night at "Dave and Busters" to have dinner and watch a game.
Our final business was to set our next meeting date for Monday, November 16th at 6:00. We adjourned, exhausted but well-nourished at 8:10
Angelo Spagnolo'72 Alumni Secretary
