Final Report

Let's start off with the very sad. As famous Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, Chuck Noll, used to often say, "The only thing constant in life...is change." No doubt, as the years have crawled by, you've seen the many names of those men who've made up our board and who are no longer with us. Names like our longtime President, Tony Fisher, Alumni Founder, the Rev. Joseph E. Henry, S.J., his successor as Alumni Moderator, the Rev. David Schorr, our Irish musician, Mike Gallagher '73 and our recently-passed Executive Board member, Lawrence Kustra 67.

ABOVE: Longtime President, Tony Fisher (far left) negotiates with a group of priests at St. Anthony's rectory. Fr. Joe Henry S.J. Has his back to the camera. Fr. Dave Schorr'65 is seated next to Tony. Seated next to Fr. Henry are two priests whom, I believe, were representing the Vocations Office that evening.

But, in addition to losing these Board Members, there was another alarming trend among us: serious illnesses. Right at this moment there are at least five board members who are battling very serious health problems, including yours truly, who has been unable to even get a diagnosis for two months now including a two week stay in a local hospital. So, we decided we simply had to do something. Think about it: our school hasn't cranked-out a graduate in 52 years and when we did, during the 11 years that BLS did operate, only 376 students in total attended! It became painfully obvious to us that collectively, we were rapidly becoming, 'long in the tooth'. Now, let's move onto the really proud part.

ABOVE: The second home of the Latin School in East Liberty, circa 1969. Of our three total campuses in 14 years, this one was, in my humble opinion, the best one. It may have been old and a little rickety, but this building had spirit and a BLS feel to it.

Since the school's closing in 1973, our alumni association has donated nearly $200,000 to foster vocations! In addition, we established the Rev. Joseph E. Henry Endowment Fund along with the Rev. David Schorr Memorial Endowment. These two funds together now total over $67,000 and most importantly, generate over $3,000 annually to support the Vocations Department of the Diocese of Pittsburgh into perpetuity! They will be combined into one account and renamed, 'The Fathers Henry & Schorr Vocations Fund'. What a wonderful, ongoing tribute to these two fine priests and leaders of our alumni association!

Through our consistent, annual fund-raiser, titled our: 'Annual Vocations Mass & Alumni Spirit Awards', plus, with the sound financial management provided by our Treasurer, Gary Gayda'71 (another man who has been dealt with a myriad of health problems and yet still manages to forge ahead) we managed to accumulate another $40,811 in our investment accounts.

LEFT: Treasurer, Gary Gayda, '71, has been a mainstay of BLSAA for decades. Another example of why this organization has been so successful, regardless of its' size. When you have a group of dedicated people, all kinds of things are possible!

At a meeting in late September, it was announced that our net proceeds for our most-recent event were $13,566. The reason why this particular event had such a large net profit is because one of our alumni made an anonymous contribution of $5,470 to cover the total cost of the Alumni Spirit Awards! Now there's a man we can all be very proud of!

1) We held a luncheon Meeting at the home of Pat & Rita Joyce. Participating (8): In person were: Pat Joyce, Fr Lou Vallone, Jim Herrle, Skip Hary, Jack Legler, Angelo Spagnolo; and Virtually (via Zoom/Phone): Gary Gayda, Fr Joe Scheib. UNABLE to Participate (2): Deacon Len Thomas and Deacon Steve Byers.

2. Opening Prayer at 12:20 pm: we prayed for the repose of the souls of Larry Kustra, Tony Fisher and Mike Gallagher; and the complete recovery to good health of Deacon Steve Byers'71, Deacon Len Thomas'69, Jack Legler'70 Angelo Spagnolo'72, Fr Jim Gretz, and all our Brothers and their loved ones who are currently struggling with health issues. To Our Lady of Good Health: Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

3. Treasurer’s Report from Gary Gayda: (a) 2025 Brunch Proceeds, 8/24/25 Vocations event, Longue Vue Club: Total Revenues net of expenses: $13,556. 2 (b) Charitable Commitments outstanding: The BLS AA made a total of $15,000 in charitable commitments in support of Vocations in 2025. Of those, one gift in the amount of $5,000 has already been paid to the Maronite Catholic Seminary in Washington DC, for the Order of Saint Sharbel in honor of our Alumni Moderator, Father Lou Vallone'65. The balance of $10,000 will be mailed by Pat Joyce with a cover letter on behalf of the BLS AA as soon as checks are provided by the Treasurer.

Those amounts and recipients are as follows: 1) $5,000. to the Laboure Society of Eagan, Minnesota; 2) $3,000 to the Diocese of Pittsburgh to supplement the operating budget of the Office for Diaconate Formation in honor of that office’s founding director, Deacon Steve Byers'71) 3) $1,000. to the Diocese of Pittsburgh to supplement the operating budget of the Vocations Office; and 4) $1,000 to the Pittsburgh Religious Vocations Council to supplement its ordinary operating budget.

3. A MOTION was then made by Pat Joyce'67 to take all necessary steps to Dissolve this Charitable Association - the Bishop’s Latin School Alumni Association - and distribute all net assets according to this Association’s founding purposes and Pennsylvania law: Given the age and inevitable declining health of ourselves and our fellow alumni; further, Given our purposeful dedication to a shared mission to advance vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life; and further, Given our Association’s total net financial assets currently available, the Executive Committee of the Bishop’s Latin School Alumni Association, as good and faithful Stewards of the tax-exempt charitable funds placed in our responsible hands for these specific purposes, hereby RESOLVES to dissolve these accounts, applying all available remaining resources in support of our charitable and ecclesial mission, while drawing up plans for the future fraternal support of the brotherhood of our fellow graduates. Further, we resolve to accomplish these objectives as soon as practically possible, with a target date to do so before the close of the calendar year 2025. Motion Passed unanimously.

(a) The Father Dave Schorr Memorial: Our treasurer reminded the Board that $2,550 remains restricted in our accounts in honor of our first Moderator, Fr. David Schorr'65. The Board therefore resolved to transfer that amount to the Father Joseph Henry Vocations Endowment in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and in so doing, request that the account be renamed the “Father Joseph Henry & Father David Schorr Vocations Endowment Fund” or in short the “Fathers Henry & Schorr Vocations Fund.” Pat will make this request to the Diocesan Stewardship and Finance Offices. Should they agree to this name change, Pat will so inform the Treasurer to make that funds transfer.

(b) Remaining Balance available to distribute before 12/31/25. It is estimated that after the balance of $10,000 in yet-to-be-paid 2025 charitable commitments is disseminated (see: 2b, above). The Board then deliberated, and suggested the following possible recipients for grants:

(c) Recipients of further Charitable Distributions (in addition to 2b, above). Nominations for final grants from the BLS AA treasury: 1. Seminary, Archdiocese of Mwaza, Tanzania (Fr Lou) $10,000 to strengthen linkages with the Diocese of Pittsburgh where possible; 2.Diocese of Greensburg Vocations Office (Angelo Spagnolo) $5,000, 3. St. Vincent Seminary $5,000 4. Laboure Society, Eagan, Minnesota. $25,000 5. Diocese of Pittsburgh, Office of Diaconate Formation (Deacon Steve Byers) $3,000.. Office of Priestly Vocations. $1,000 After the BLSAA disseminates these final grants, any residual funds may either be distributed to the Serra Club of Pittsburgh to use to enhance that organization’s Vocations ministry or even possibly to underwrite a future alumni gathering.

(d) Consult Legal Counsel: Both Fr Lou and Pat reminded the Board that Legal Counsel was consulted at the formation of the BLS Alumni Association, and that it would be advisable to do the same as we approach the process of dissolution. Fr. Lou will reach out to Attorney Chris Cafardi, son of BLS Founding Class of 1965 alum Nick Cafardi. Chris will be asked to advise us in this matter. There may be some “closing costs” we will need to account for.

So there you have it, the final resolution of the Bishop's Latin School Alumni Association, 63 years after its' founding by Bishop John J. Wright. Begun in 1962 with a total of 376 young men who attended over 14 years and founded in a unique partnership between the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). to this day, we estimate that there ae still 325 surviving alumni (86%) with 51 alumni deceased (approximately 14%). 6.6% of all attending actually went on to become priests.

ABOVE, RIGHT: A proud day for the Latin School at the Vatican. Daniel DiNardo'67 was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. He is the first cardinal from a diocese in the Southern United States. On November 12, 2013, Daniel DiNardo was elected vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and on November 15, 2016, went on to be elected its president.

I'd like to close off this final correspondence to you by saying that it has truly been my honor to serve as your alumni secretary for the last 25 years. I've greatly enjoyed hearing from you (especially when I messed something up) and I took an enormous amount of personal satisfaction in doing my part to keep the group alive by communicating with all of you and continuing to help us function as a viable organization that not only supported vocations but also managed to generate nearly $300,000 to be put back into the Church for various vocation initiatives. I'd say that the Bishop's Latin School turned out to be a pretty terrific investment for the Diocese, especially when you consider all of the priests it produced (25) not to mention a record 8 from the Class of ''71! This total also includes one Daniel Cardinal DiNardo '67, our most famous (now-retired) alum.

Now if you want to ever talk about BLS's 'most-infamous alum', all you need to do is... (commercial music starts up in background) check out these two books on Amazon.com, 'Life's an...Unplayable Lie' and 'Confessions From a Charmed Life'. After reading these you'll say, "That's the guy who was our alumni secretary???"