Celebrating Our Jubliarians

Fr. Thomas Long , CSV 60 Years

As Fr. Thomas Long, CSV, celebrates 60 years of religious life, he looks back on all the ways he has been able to live out his commitment to social justice and help make the world a better place.

“I am grateful to belong to a community that prioritizes outreach to those who are accounted of little importance,” Fr. Long says, “as well as one that encourages and supports its members to develop and utilize their God-given gifts and talents.”

He professed his first vows in 1962 and then went on to complete his BA degree in history at Loyola University in Chicago. Fr. Long then headed to Washington DC to study at the Viatorian Seminary and completed a master of arts degree in European history at Catholic University of America.

He was ordained to the priesthood on May 17, 1969, but it was his seminary years that remain a searing memory. Fr. Long and his classmates were studying at the Viatorian seminary in 1968 when they witnessed the fires and riots that broke out after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. “We were firsthand witnesses to the deep divide in our country,” Fr. Long says.

Thus, his lifelong commitment to social justice was born. Fr. Long taught at Bishop McNamara and Alleman high schools, before going into parish work. He was an associate pastor at St. Viator Parish in Chicago and left in 1984 to become the founding pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Community in Henderson, NV.

In 1994, Fr. Long earned his master’s degree in social work and spent the next nine years in California working with members of the HIV/AIDS community, with the homeless and administrating a recovery program.

When he returned to the Viatorian Province Center in 2003, Fr. Long became involved in the Viatorians’ communications efforts. He continues to edit both its external and internal newsletters.

But he also serves in nearly one dozen social justice initiatives, mostly dedicated to accompanying immigrants and working toward immigration reform.

Fr. Daniel Mirabelli, CSV 70 Years

Fr. Daniel Mirabelli, CSV, holds a unique distinction in the Viatorian Community: He was one of the first two novices to profess his vows at the new Viatorian Novitiate when it was being established in Arlington Heights, in 1952. Consequently, this year he celebrates 70 years of religious life.

All but 14 of those years have been spent at one institution: Alleman High School in Rock Island, IL, where he is their beloved “little ol’ priest” and the feeling is mutual.

“I have enjoyed all my years at Alleman,” Fr. Mirabellis says. “It is a great school and I thank the Viatorians who are the key people who have been very good to me and let me stay at Alleman.”

Over the course of his 50 years at the school, Fr. Mirabelli has taught history and social studies, served as business manager, chaplain, bookstore manager and director of development. However, he also has served as spiritual director to thousands of students and their families over his long tenure there.

Fr. Mirabelli grew up in Chicago and attended Quigley Preparatory High School for two years before finishing at Fenwick High School. He earned his undergraduate degree in history at St. Ambrose College in Davenport before entering the Viatorian Seminary in Evanston, IL, in 1956. While there he also earned a master’s degree in American History at Loyola University in Chicago.

His early teaching assignments took him to Spalding Institute in Peoria and St. Benedict’s School in Chicago before he joined the founding faculty of Saint Viator High School in 1961. Fr. Mirabelli remained there for five years before leaving for Alleman High School in 1966, and the rest is history.

Fr. Mirabelli is semi-retired, but he remains on staff at Alleman and continues to be the school’s biggest ambassador. In 2020, the school honored him on his 60th jubilee as a priest. They set up a “kudo board” and within a week more than 200 people posted messages of heartfelt thanks.

The student body joined the Saint Viator High School faculty and staff as they filed outside of the building on a cold, blustery February day. This was no fire drill or emergency evacuation. Participation was optional, but everyone wanted to be there. They stood in the cold, lining up and down in front of the Arlington Heights school. They waited, most wearing sweatshirts that served as overcoats, and finally the moment arrived: A funeral procession slowly drove past them with a hearse leading the way. Students and staff turned out to offer a final farewell to Steve Burks, the former director of buildings and grounds at the school for more than 40 years. He died Jan. 27 after a battle with cancer. He was 65. “The teachers invited them to come down, but it was not required,” said Fr. Daniel Lydon, CSV, president, who rode in the procession. “But when I saw those students lined on both sides of the parking lot, completely silent and many with their hands on their hearts, it was really powerful.” The procession made its way to Memory Gardens Cemetery, located nearby on Euclid Avenue in Arlington Heights, where he was laid to rest, facing the school. “Everything that you see that is beautiful and working in that school is because of that man,” said the Rev. Corey Brost, CSV, a former president of the school, who spoke briefly at the end before offering a prayer. “Thank you for coming out here,” he added, “and honoring this man who never took any credit for his work publicly.” Steve started working at the school in 1981 after serving in the Navy, where he learned his engineering skills. In 1987, when Saint Viator merged with the former Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Rolling Meadows, Fr. Charles Bolser, CSV, promoted Steve to be director.

“He helped us transition to a coed school,” Fr. Bolser said. “He made the key moves on that, building new locker rooms and bathrooms.” Over the next 12 years Fr. Bolser and Steve worked on projects that included renovating the cafeteria, chapel and science labs, converting the typing room into a computer lab, installing a sprinkler system and converting the back property into athletic fields. Steve led construction of the high school’s first addition, which resulted in its iconic Boler Center, in 2005. The major capital campaign included a multipurpose athletic addition, with a new gym, added classrooms, training rooms, and a fitness center and weight room. In 2014, he then served as foreman for the $14 million Shaping the Future with Faith capital campaign. The two-year construction included the remodeling of the Scanlan Center, for students with unique learning needs, and converting the cafeteria into a Steve Burks received the Principal’s Service Award in 2005 at Saint collegiate-style dining facility plus a $2 million renovation of the Viator High School. performing and visual arts facilities. For the last 12 years, Steve also served as building and grounds director at the Province Center, where he maintained the 60-yearold building and lovingly tended its grounds. “He was really more like a partner than an employee,” Fr. Daniel Hall, CSV, said. Most recently, high school administrators credited Steve with helping them safely provide in-person learning during the pandemic. “He was a steadying force,” Fr. Lydon added, “whose tireless work allowed us to keep our faculty, staff and students safely in school throughout this pandemic.”

A hearse carries Stephan Burks past students, faculty and staff at Saint Viator High School.