Celebrating Our Jubilarians

Fr. Arnold Perham, CSV 75 Years of Religious Life

He is the senior member of the Viatorian Community in this Province, and a career mathematician who has inspired countless students. But it’s not vectors and equations that Fr. Arnold Perham, CSV, reflected on in a recent podcast episode for the Viatorians. It was his story of how he came to join the Viatorian Community, 75 years ago.

And it’s a veritable history tour, from his birth two weeks after the stock market crash in 1929 — the same year St. Viator Parish in Chicago was dedicated — to his years at St. Viator School during World War II, to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in his sophomore year.

“The priests and nuns (at St. Viator School) took it upon themselves to be beacons of hope,” Fr. Perham says. “They developed an environment where the kids felt at ease, welcomed and safe.”

In his own long teaching career, including 50 years at Saint Viator High School, Fr. Perham has paid that welcoming spirit forward. While he formally retired in 2002, he still helps prepare math team students for the difficult oral competition as part of the state championship series.

When he’s not working with mathletes, Fr. Perham designs problems of his own for members of Saint Viator’s Querbes Scholars program. He corresponds with students through Google Classroom on these problems which are designed to weave in technology with the students’ understanding of mathematical concepts.

“I love it,” Fr. Perham says. “It gives me a reason to get up in the morning. Any time you can work with young people, it’s a good thing.”

This year’s project is especially challenging, since it will be introducing students to ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, or software that simulates human conversation. It was developed by Microsoft and Open AI and just launched in November. Students will be asked to answer some quantitative questions about the characters in Pride & Prejudice, using the ChatGPT tool.

Understanding artificial intelligence and the latest Microsoft programs do not intimidate Fr. Perham. At 93 years young, he is the epitome of a lifelong learner.

Last year, Fr. Perham developed a project using Palladio, a software visualization tool developed by Stanford’s Humanities + Design Lab. This unique tool helps illustrate maps, network graphs, and data tables. It’s all in a day’s work for this Viatorian, who celebrates 75 years of religious life and 67 years of priesthood this year. He has devoted his life to advancing the Viatorian mission of accompanying young people in the church, and remaining committed to their faith development and active membership in their respective faith communities.

Fr. Daniel Nolan, CSV 50 Years of Religious Life

Fr. Daniel Nolan, CSV, celebrates 50 years of religious life this year. A native of Las Vegas, he first met the Viatorians as a student at Bishop Gorman High School. He made his first profession of vows in 1973, after graduating with a degree in secondary education from University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He would go on to study at Loyola University in Chicago for one year before earning his Master’s in Divinity at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Fr. Nolan began his ministry as a teacher, at Alleman High School, from 1974-1979 before heading into parish ministry, serving as Parochial Vicar of St. Viator Catholic Community in Las Vegas from 1982-1988. His next assignment would take him back to his alma mater, Bishop Gorman, where he served as a teacher, counselor and Campus Minister from 1998-1993.

From there, he would succeed Fr. Thomas Long, CSV, as the second pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Community in Henderson, NV, both from 1993-2001, and again from 2017 to 2019, when he retired.

During the ensuing 16 years, Fr. Nolan served in vocations and as Director of Formation for the Viatorians, before serving as a dormitory rector at the University of Notre Dame for three years. He also served as a chaplain at hospitals in California and Chicago, and in Campus Ministry at Mercy College of Health Ministry in Des Moines.

In retirement, Fr. Nolan moved last year into the residence wing of the Viatorian Province Center in Arlington Heights.

Fr. Charles Bolser, CSV 50 Years of Priesthood

Fr. Charles Bolser, CSV, celebrates his 50th jubilee as a priest this year – and 60 years of religious life -- and his devotion to proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ seems as strong as ever. In reflecting back on the year 1963, when he professed his first vows and left his fulltime job at the U.S. Post Office, he describes it as a “very interesting year.”

“This journey has been an education about life; the struggle for growth and possibility,” Fr. Bolser says. “I have learned that everyone is different; the diversity of creation, always moving ahead; evolving. Each of brings our own strengths and weaknesses to the whole as we struggle to become who we are meant to be, and to assist others along the way as others assist us.”

Officially retired, he regularly celebrates Mass at Holy Family Catholic Community in suburban Inverness, with the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago and for the developmentally disabled adults of St. Coletta’s Foundation of Illinois. He also celebrates Mass at two area senior living communities in Arlington Heights, the Lutheran Home and the Moorings.

Yet, even in retirement, he continues to stay busy. He leads two Bible study groups, one for men and another for women, but he also shares his insights into the gospels during regular liturgies.

He also serves as chaplain of Saint Viator High School, regularly offering Mass for students and faculty, and attending athletic, fine arts and other extracurricular activities where he delights in catching up with alumni and their families.

“Lives are filled with joy and love, anxiety and pain, but most of all – wonder,” Fr. Bolser says. “To be able to stand on our little earth, on the edge of a massive universe that is constantly changing and growing is to stand in wonder at the beauty and miracle of life itself and to realize that we are all part of that journey.”

Fr. Pedro Herrera, CSV 50 Years of Religious Life

Fr. Pedro Herrera, CSV, holds a special place in the Viatorian Community. He was among the first group of students to attend a private school started in 1963 by Viatorian missionaries in Bogotá, Colombia, Colegio San Viator. He would go on to be the first vocation to come from the school.

Fr. Herrera entered the Viatorian Community in 1973, after completing his degree in modern languages at Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, and just five years after graduating from the colegio. He ultimately earned degrees in philosophy and theology and a master’s degree in counseling before being ordained in 1980 into the priesthood.

While pursuing advanced degrees, Fr. Herrera returned to his beloved colegio to teach. He taught religion and served as the director of the elementary school before serving as its president. Fr. Pedro also grew in leadership within the foundation of Colombia, serving as treasurer, director of novices and as superior.

Over his many decades in religious life, Fr. Bolser has spent most of his career in high schools, first as a teacher at Griffin High School in Springfield before joining the administration at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, at Saint Viator High School in Arlington Heights and at Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep in Waukegan. He also has spent years in pastoral work, serving as pastor of Maternity BVM Parish in Bourbonnais and St. Viator Parish in Chicago, his last parish assignment.

Last fall, Fr. Pedro accepted a new assignment, to serve as president of the Viatorians’ second school in Colombia, Colegio San Viator Tunja.

“I think the Viatorians have demonstrated a high standard of quality education,” Fr. Pedro says, “and an immense concern for Christian formation during their 60 years of presence in Colombia.”