Ave’s Priests and Religious Hall of Fame
name and location of service Fr. Francis Adelera – Nigeria Fr. Edmund Ani - Liberty, KY Fr. Hyacinth Jemigbola - Syosset, NY Br. Vincent Ferrer (George Bagan) - New York, NY Fr. Peter Dittus - Rome, Italy Fr. Matt Grady - Sarasota, FL Fr. Richard Pagano - Palm Coast, FL Fr. Sam Spiering - Lewistown, MT Fr. Thomas Kelly - Fort Myers, FL Fr. Chris Ortega - Brunswick, GA Fr. Paul Schreiner - Norwalk, OH Fr. Luke Suarez - Fairfield, CT Fr. Edward Fride - Ann Arbor, MI Fr. Matt Kinney - La Grange, TX
Dave Tomaszycki spends time with a friend at Daya Dan in Calcutta.
Joseph Haas - Queens, NY Kyle Eads - Dunwoodie, NY Isaac Damani - Ghana John Audino - Denton, NE Joseph Lustig - Boise, Idaho
Fr. Pagano speaks at AMU’s 2015 summer youth conference, “Ablaze.”
Jordan Berghouse - Milwaukee, WI Alex Pince - Miami, FL Cameron Popik - Cleveland, OH Thomas Croteau – St. Louis, MO Br. Ignatius Pio (Nick Doherty) - Honduras Nathan Page - Orange County, CA David Tomaszycki - Rome, Italy Br. Luke DeMasi – Rome, Italy Br. Joseph Bloomer - Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain Br. Pier Toussaint (Alain Guiteau) - Yonkers, NY Br. Andrew Krishe - Guayaquil, Ecuador Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski – Ave Maria, FL
Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski instructs a Sacred Scripture class.
Sr. Kathryn Shea - Jacksonville, Florida Sr. Mary Micaela Hoffmann Sr. Megan Conway Jacksonville, Florida Sr. Mary David Klocek – Rome, Italy Sr. Alison Van de Voorde – Valencia, Spain Sr. Paloma (Deirdre Harkins) – Tricio, Spain Sr. Marina Hernandez Jacksonville, Florida Sr. Bailey Sympson - Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain Sr. Cecilia Boccardo – Rome, Italy Sr. Karen Dittus – Santander, Spain Sr. Catherine Thomas Brennan – Peoria, Illinois Sr. Maria Veritas Marks – Austin, TX
ave ma r ia maga z i ne | ave ma r ia.edu
studies in the Archdiocese of Miami after two years as a major gift officer with Ave Maria University’s Department of Institutional Advancement. Yet not everyone remains close to home. Some religious have taken their educations to witness to people as far off as Nigeria, Spain, India, and Italy. Dave Tomaszycki (Class of 2010) is one such witness. As a seminarian with the Archdiocese of Detroit, Dave has been studying at the North American College in Rome for the last few years, and has had the chance to serve vespers with Pope Benedict XVI and mass for Pope Francis. In the summer of 2013—the same year the Mother Teresa Project was founded at AMU—Dave traveled to Calcutta to work with the Missionaries of Charity. He was assigned to Daya Dan, the home of disabled children. “When I tell people that, they typically say ‘Oh, how sad,’” he comments. “It wasn’t sad at it all. Those kids were a ton of fun!” Dave describes the joy the children possessed and how they all knew one simple fact: that they were good children, and that God loved them. “How much happier people would be if they knew that one simple fact,” he remarks. That simple fact was one Dave came to understand during his time at Ave Maria. While at first he pushed away the possibility of a priestly vocation, Dave experienced a moment of complete surrender to God’s will where he truly allowed Christ to control his life. “For me,” he says, “That’s when I started to pray, that’s when I started to discern. That’s when I started to live.” Dave, who will be ordained into the deaconate in September, credits his growth in the spiritual life as the biggest mark that Ave has left on him. He leaves current and prospective Ave students with one thought: “Jesus Christ is everything,” he says. “Give yourself to Christ!” The Ave Maria community is blessed to have men and women who have done just that.
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