FATHER JOHN’S 2013

FATHER JOHN’S 2013

The annual Christmas recollection. And it was, by any measure, quite a year.

JANUARY – The year starts with a collation at the NY Athletic Club, an annual tradition that is a good way to meet friends and celebrate day One. A friend gave me a tv for a present and on the 2^nd day we picked it up and brought it home. Had a meeting of the ND NYC Board. We were in negotiation to sell the Xavier Society for the Blind building, and were going back and forth with the lead bidder on contract provisions, and suddenly there was another bidder. I treated myself to a router for my room, so I can work at my chair as well as my desk. I was supposed to go on retreat but because of the  building sale I decided to try to make my retreat at home so I would be available if decisions needed to be made. Nice try but not the best retreat I’ve ever had. Got a new cell phone – fun, and lot more interesting than my Blackberry. Ended up signing a contract with the second bidder for the sale of the building. (Of course for more money! Yay me!)

FEBRUARY – More negotiations with the film company about shooting at our building.Madison Square Garden came to town and we visited and went to a Broadway show.  Regular events each month include monthly meetings of the American Legion, the Notre Dame Club of NY, singing with Jazz at Noon and the Lambs Club, Catholic War Veterans meetings and saying Mass at St. Malachy’s – the Actors’ Chapel. There are also an increasing number of wakes and funerals, not nearly enough baptisms and weddings. And of course this was the month when Pope Benedict resigned.

I was a judge at an Oratorical film contest for the American Legion, and still doing physical therapy three times a week. And started looking for a new place to which the XSB can move. Some friends who had a dog in the National Dog Show at

At his first meeting with journalists, Pope Francis
blesses the guide dog of a blind newspaper man. 

MARCH – One of the interesting new things was understudying the guy who takes care of the boiler and heating systems in the community so that when he goes away I can supervise the system. Celebrated St. Patrick’s with a parade out in Southhampton the week before St. Patrick’s Day – great parade, and great parties. Lots of singing. Conclave in Rome to elect a new Pope and now we can watch the smokestack on the computer as we work.  A Jesuit Pope – will wonders never cease. (And we were especially pleased that he started making a point of talking about and being seen with blind people almost immediately.)  Went to the big St. Patrick’s Dinner of the Friendly Sons and marched in the parade with the Catholic War Veterans. Last year I had marched twice but was not able to get back to the Notre Dame group in time to do it again – heavy snow for the parade. I was invited to become the chaplain for Division 7 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and I said yes. Went to the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral – in all the years since I’ve been ordained, it was the first time I had ever been to that ceremony. Took a train on Good Friday to go to South Bend for a funeral the day after Easter. 18 hours on Amtrak. Talk about penance!

APRIL – The funeral was of a professor I had had in school, and I got to see the family and some old friends and it was a lovely time. Home (18 more hours) and the next day I went into New Jersey for the funeral of one of my favorite high school teachers who was a Sister of Mercy. Saw old friends and teachers from high school I had not seen since I left. Very nostalgic and slightly sad and very rich. Still looking for a new site, and that takes up a significant amount of time each week. Did a wedding ceremony – they were already married but they wanted to announce their vows in front of family and friends. Later in the month another wedding that I didn’t perform, so I could enjoy. The couple likes Star Trek (these are NOT teen-agers) so we had a theme reception with servers in uniforms and pointed ears, and StarTrek stuff on the walls and a theme cake (the cupccakes all had insignia and the top of the cake was a bride chasing the groom – great fun. Boston bombing – turns out I knew several people who were there, including one who was on tv helping others. Sang at a 25^th wedding anniversary party, and did the invocation for the Kelly Cares Foundation for Coach Brian Kelly of ND.

I did sing at the wedding anniversary party,
but here I was resting in between songs.

This was the cake at the wedding. 

I was invited to join the Senior Alumni Board at the University of Notre Dame, and I went out for my first Board meeting, and stayed for the Leadership Conference. I do love ND, and this was an interesting and stimulating week. This is a Board that works, and I left with a portfolio of things to do (although technically I do not start my term until July 1).

MAY – The film people took over one floor – Liam Neeson was a delight – but the crew invaded areas they weren’t supposed to, and stole a whole bunch of stuff, some of which we didn’t discover until after they left. Still looking at sites for the move, one of our staff left for a better job, and I broke my foot going down the stairs at a subway station. Surgery – back to Hospital for Special Surgery – three times in three years, the nurses are starting to learn my name – they put in a screw – and two weeks of not putting any weight on it. But although I was trapped for three days when the house elevator went out, I still went to a wake, a veterans breakfast in the Bronx, a concert at the Metropolitan Museum, an ND meeting in Fairfield, and to a conference in Cleveland. Makes going through TSA a whole new experience – and learning about how airlines do and don’t treat passengers in wheel chairs was also an experience. When I was able to walk a little (with the walker and a walking boot) I did the invocation at the Intrepid, and then out to Notre Dame for my 45 ^th reunion. Said the class Mass in the afternoon and had a great deal of fun including a long chat with Ara Parseghian who is an honorary member of our class.

Presenting the Xavier Award to Paul Winters

JUNE – The AOH (Ancient Order of Hibernians) does a boat ride every year to raise money for a charity, and it was a terrific trip. Flag retirement ceremony for the American Legion, and a trip to Rhode Island to visit an old friend from college. Went to the formal dinner celebrating Actors Equity’s 100^th anniversary. Renovations going on at Xavier High School so several from that community are coming to stay in our community for six or eight months. Did another flag retirement ceremony for Fox TV. Had the Xavier Award Dinner at the NY Athletic Club which went very well. Still wearing the walking boot, down to Orlando for the National Federation of the Blind convention, and then to the American Council of the Blind Convention in Columbus, where I got to celebrate Mass for the whole convention. Well, the Catholics.

JULY – Had breakfast with Carl Augusto, head of the American Foundation for the Blind, which led to further meetings and ultimately the location where we moved and are now located (spoiler alert). Did one tour, and when I got back to NY had dinner with an old friend from college. Great cocktail party out in the Hamptons, and tried out the driving range for the first time. Not terrible. Lots of visits planning the move and making other arrangements

AUGUST – Lots of trips last month and this for ND club events around the region. There are ten clubs and I am supposed to get to know each of them and help them with projects and plans. I’ve driven to south Jersey for dinners and lunches, gone up to Connecticut for meetings and Masses, several minor league baseball games to pass out fliers about prostate cancer and out to Staten Island for a club meeting and a golf outing. Went to Houston for the national convention for the Catholic War Veterans, where I was named National Chaplain. Back to NY to work on the details for a sublease with the American Foundation for the Blind, and then off to South Bend for my first Notre Dame Senior Alumni Board meeting as a full member. One of the perks is that our meeting is scheduled around a home game, so I saw the first game of the season.

With Bishop Higgins,
Bishop Protector of the CWV.

SEPTEMBER – Had a brief appearance at Regis Philbin’s new sports show, and went down to concelebrate the Fr. Capodanno Mass at the National Shrine in Washington with Archbishop Broglio. 9/11 remembrance at the Intrepid, bout of malaria and a Mass for an ND group in Connecticut. Sent a letter to every bishop in the US about our work and our need for support from each diocese. Celebrated a Field Mass at a cemetery for the Catholic War Veterans, working on the lease for the new place,

With the National  Commander
of the CWV at the Field Mass

several funerals.

OCTOBER – The month started out with a double funeral for two vets - the Catholic War Veterans have a program to bury and provide a resting place for indigent veterans. Signed the lease – moving day set for November 16. Father General visiting the States and so I went to a talk and a reception at Fordham. Conventions this month in Albany for both the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind. I was active at both, and the ACB group gave an award to the XSB.  Drove down to Virginia for the national board meeting of the Catholic War Veterans. Drove up to Connecticut for lunch with a couple of friends and said a special Mass at Mary Manning Walsh home. Interviewing lawyers for the next step in the process of re-creating the Xavier Society. I was invited to do the invocation for the Heisman Foundation Dinner, so I sat next to Johnny Lattner and Mike Rozier, and had the chance to chat with Pete Dawkins, Don Criqui and Joe Bellino. If you don’t know who they are, trust me, this is a big deal. The next day I celebrated a special Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedra in the Lady Chapel (where my parents were married) for the Marines on the anniversary of Tarawa and the bombing at Lebanon.

A plaque given to me by the Marines. 

Concelebrated the first Mass with the new organ at Our Lady of Refuge in Brooklyn. Working on the 2014 calendar.

NOVEMBER – Started the month by heading out to Notre Dame again, this time with the Ancient Order of Hibernians for the Navy game. Great lunch with both Cardinals at Cipriana’s for the Inner City Scholarship Fund, and the next day down to Washington for a reception hosted by Archbishop Broglio, Military Vicar. And two days later back to DC for the Veterans Day celebrations – breakfast at the White House, front row at the presidential wreath laying, box seat for the ceremonies, and I got to present the wreath for the Catholic War Veterans at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

We had a volunteer day at the office to help with packing – 14 Jesuits, 40 Junior ROTC cadets and 2 other high school students, all working on the same day. Among other things, they packed over 1,000 boxes of braille books and other stuff. Preparing for the move, and then moving day, which went very smoothly. Moving in and settling and working on next year’s budget and calendar proofs and the first Board meeting in the new location. AFB had a welcome breakfast for us, which was a nice way to start off. Memorial service at the NYAC – I walked in and was asked to do the invocation. Spent Thanksgiving at home – there were 4 of us for dinner, nice and quiet.

DECEMBER – Still working on settling in, invocation for the Naval War College Foundation Dinner, a day-long Notre Dame regional meeting, another dinner at NYAC where I was asked to say the invocation (again with no prior warning), and the usual Christmas parties and dinners and occasional Masses.

This picture was taken with all the lighting and design
done by a crew of blind people. The picture is taken in darkness,
and flashlights and pieces of cloth provide the light. 

Drove up to the Catskills for the wedding of a god daughter, where we had 10 inches of snow. I was supposed to drive down early and concelebrate a Mass with Cardinal Dolan, but I lost so much time shoveling out the car I missed the Mass.

Some friends took me out to dinner.

AOH had a party where part of the take went to the XSB. Another very good Board meeting, helping to set the direction of the future of the XSB. Christmas concert at St. Malachy’s, meetings with bankers and lawyers, publishers and news networks. Community decorating and staff lunch and before you know it, Christmas and New Years and time for new calendars. (If you didn’t get yours and you would like one, drop me a note and we’ll send it out. No charge.)

I suppose my wish for 2014 would be for less excitement and less travel, but it already looks as though there will certainly be more of the latter, and I seem to attract the former. If you’re reading this you probably know me, and so I am praying for you. I didn’t do much singing last year, turned down several roles in operas, but I am doing a small role in a production of La Boheme in March, and I’d like to clear my schedule at least a little so music could be more a part of what I do.

Hugs all around,

Fr. John 

FUNERAL FOR SISTER MARY DANIEL, RSM

Pat Colavita, Gaetana Borgia Iseicz, Fr. John

In the first three days of this Easter season, I have been at two funerals: one in Indiana on Easter Monday for a teacher at Notre Dame University and one on Wednesday for a teacher I had in high school – Notre Dame High School, in Trenton NJ. That funeral was in Watchung, New Jersey and it was a real homecoming.

Sr. Daniel was a member of the Sisters of Mercy, and a musician. She ran the choirs, directed music for the school plays (and our school plays were full-fledged extravaganzas, with costumes from Brooke & Van Horne in New York, professional choreographers and pit musicians, and a cast of thousands. Well, hundred. In my three years (I entered as a sophomore) we did Merry Widow, Student Prince and The King and I (I was the king – get your mind around THAT!)

She was an extraordinary teacher, because she always supported, always encouraged, always challenged you to do more, and do it better. She had had Alzheimers the last several years, so the sorrow was tempered with celebration that she was now in a place with full possession of her faculties again. And it was a reunion.

I apologize for those not associated with Notre Dame High School – you might want to check and see if there is anything gripping on television. But memory lane, here we come.

I was at Port Authority bus terminal a little before 7, to catch the 7:15 AM bus to the mother house. These morning commuter buses are family affairs, with the driver knowing many of the passengers, and them knowing one another. I haven’t been on one of these buses in a long time, and the electronic sign at the front of the bus rolls off streets on the route before the bus gets there – very handy if – like me – you don’t know where you’re going. At one point there was a fire on the road ahead of us, complete with police road block, and the driver wasn’t sure how to go, so one of the passengers directed him – turn here, now go right, straight down this road – and back on the other side of the fire. Great fun.

I got off and walked a long block and then uphill to the infirmary. The nursing director directed me to the chapel (I was way early) and got me a cup of coffee. Bless her. I helped set up for Mass, and as people started coming in I met folks, some I knew, some I didn’t. Sr. Daniel’s long time friend, Sr. Judy Ward was there, as was her cousin, Sr. Lucille, a Carmelite nun from Wisconsin. (Everyone knows at least one Jesuit, and everyone asks if I know them. In this case, Fr. George Drance who is now helping out at St. Malachy’s – he was a novice in Wisconsin and she remembers him chopping wood.)

The nuns have a ritual for welcoming the body, which was very nice. Sr. Daniel had been in the Mercy’s for 70 years, and everyone knew her at one point or another in her life.

The principal celebrant (I was liturgical decoration) was Mnsgr Capik, who had been the bright young priest of our time, the dashing and exciting faculty member with whom a number of young ladies were chastely in love. He’s in his early 80’s now, but you’d never know it – strong voice, great personality and delivered a wonderful homily. I ran into several teachers from those days – Sr. Raymond, Sr. Sean, Sr. Jacinta, Sr. Victor, Sr Paschal – I’m not sure what was the more startling moment, that I was there as a priest or that I kissed Sr. Paschal. Gaetana Borgia and Pat Colavita from the class of ’63 sang a song that Sr. Daniel had written, and Ed Hofmann who had been in the King and I production was there – he is a Christian Brother and director of undergraduate admission at LaSalle University. (He3 didn't come back for lunch after the cemetery so there is no picture of him - but he's tall with a handsome short white beard.) The woman who was supposed to do a reflection couldn’t make it – she broke her foot – and so I was pressed into service. I talked about Sr. Daniel, and sang a song from our class (Almost Like Being in Love) – and at the cemetery, never being one to resist temptation, sang the first verse of Danny Boy – although, of course, as Danny Girl. There was a lovely lunch afterwards at the center and it was a lovely day, reminding me of all the good times at high school. OK, we all tend to gloss over and make more golden the days of our youth – especially when they are as far away as they are. But it was a good send off to a lovely lady and another important teacher, at least in my life. And there are even a couple of pictures.

Sr. Judy Ward. She recently broke her hip and is temporarily using a chair. She has a very artistic photo on her phone of the x-ray clearly showing the screw in place. 

For those of my era at Notre Dame High School, how many of these can you identify? 

The cover from the Order of Worship for the funeral Mass.

And I got a copy of the published obituary as well:

Sister Mary Daniel Schroeder, RSM

Sister Daniel, 86, died peacefully on March 29, 2013 at McAuley Hall Health Care Center, Watchung, NJ.

Sister was born in Easton PA and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1943. She received a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgian Court College, Lakewood and a Master’s Degree in music education from Boston University. She continued her studies at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart; Pius X School of Liturgical Music, Purchase NY; and in Westminster Choir College, Princeton.

For many years, Sister Daniel shared the joy of music through the classes she taught at St James School, Woodbridge; Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung; and Phillipsburg Catholic High School, Phillipsburg.

She also served as pastoral music director in St Joan of Arc Parish in Marlton, St John Parish in Bushkill, PA and pastoral musician in the parishes of St Theresa in Succasunna; St Joseph in Lake Orion, MI and St Luke in Detroit.

Sister Daniel served the Lord through her ministry of music and in doing so; she made a lasting impression on many lives. She made a positive difference not only in the lives of her students, but on all who knew her.

After retiring, Sister Daniel volunteered in the music ministry at Mount Saint Mary and  helped initiate and worked untiringly with Sister Judy Ward for “Catherine’s Legacy” until she moved to McAuley Hall where she could still be heard playing the piano, something she never forgot.

She is survived by a loving cousin Sister Lucille LaMontagne, O.Carm. from Hudson, Wisconsin and many devoted Sisters of Mercy and dear friends.

Visitation will take place at McAuley Hall Health Care Center on

Wednesday, April 3, 2013 from 9:00 – 11:00 am followed by a Mass of   Christian Burial.

Burial in Holy Redeemer Cemetery, South Plainfield, NJ.

Memorial Contributions may be made to Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community,  1645 Highway 22, Watchung, NJ 07069.

Arrangements by: Higgins Home for Funerals, Watchung, NJ 

A FUNERAL FOR FRED SYBURG

Fred Syburg was a professor at the University of Notre Dame from the early 1950’s until his retirement some five decades later. He directed the first university play I was in at Notre Dame (I had done two plays for the “underground” theatre, Impersonal Productions earlier), Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera. At one rehearsal, he had the whole cast and tech crew sit out in the audience, and from the stage he read us the entire play, song lyrics, stage directions and all. He felt we weren’t capturing the tone of the piece, and so he wanted to share with us what he thought it might sound like.

Fred taught oral interpretation and the literature of theatre, which is plays and history, and he was a great lover of poetry. (And music. And baseball. And a list of other things piqued his curiosity. He was a reader, an actor, a director, a teacher – an inspirer. He was a quiet man with a great heart, and in his last years he enjoyed following friends and grandchildren on Facebook, and his observations were always something we looked forward to. He won the Arthur Harvey Award from the University of Notre Dame is recognition of his dedication to “young thespians and the University theatre.”

Fr. Don Dilg, CSC is an old friend and classmate from those days and he sent me an email suggesting I might come out for the funeral and concelebrate with him. He had been a good friend of Fred and Jane’s (Jane was his wife, who died in 2006) and was Pastor for several years at Little Flower Church where they were parishioners, and where the funeral Mass was going to be celebrated. (Fred’s remains had been cremated, and the funeral was scheduled for Easter Monday to allow more people to be present.) Funerals are always important, and when it involves people who were important in your own life, you make the extra effort to attend.

So on Good Friday I found myself on the 3:45 pm Lake Shore Limited, pulling out of Penn Station, heading for South Bend Indiana. Cheaper than a plane. (Someone years ago said to me that time is the currency of the poor. If you have money you can afford the fastest and most convenient transport, for instance. If you don’t have money, you wait for the bus. Or in this case, you take the train. 17 hours out, 19 hours back. It’s the same distance, and Indiana doesn’t do daylight savings so at this point it’s on the same time as New York.)

I was in a reserved coach section – doesn’t mean I have a reserved seat, like on a plane, but it guarantees that I have a seat. The seats are wide, they recline significantly (unlike the airline 3 inch recline), there is a foot rest and a leg rest and curtains for the windows. The sleeper cars have individual rooms that look lovely – ah to be rich – but there was a dining car (linen table cloths) and a café car. And they pass out small pillows when they turn the car lights down. There are plugs at every seat – and given the number of laptops, notebooks and other electronic devices, that is a strong selling point. I was struck by how many people have laptops with sizable screens and how many are being used to play videos. I hadn’t thought of that for this trip but it is like having the entertainment center on a plane, except that you control it.

I managed some sleep – got into South Bend with an announcement that there had been a derailment between South Bend and Chicago, and they did not know how long the train would be held up. The cab driver was friendly, and since my destination was in a single zone, the meter didn’t apply so he drove me around on the way to show me a LOT of the new construction that had been going on. Several times, in a town where I had spent almost 8 years, I knew intellectually where I was but my eyes found no recognizable landmarks. It was a little disorienting – things like that make me feel old much more than the odd pain in my back or my shoulder.

Got into Corby Hall, the priests’ residence, found my room and unpacked. I had a living room with a tv and a desk and a couple of armchairs, and a separate bedroom with a spacious closet, a chest of drawers, built in bookcase and a bathroom. Different style than the Jesuit community. Went down to get a snack and met some of the community. Don Dilg came by and we chatted and started to coordinate schedules. I took a nap – skipped dinner – and concelebrated the Easter Vigil at the Basilica. One of the newly baptized took the name Ignatius of Loyola for his confirmation name, so I went up and introduced myself afterwards and told him that the Jesuits were watching him. A very nice party afterwards and a late bed.

Easter Sunday was a quiet day, featuring a good cigar on the front porch, enjoying the weather and the rocking chair and families walking by. And Monday was the funeral.

Since Don had been Pastor at the church, it was old home week, and reunion all wrapped up. Reg Bain was a colleague of Fred’s, and a teacher of mine and Don’s and his daughter was in charge of the music and led the singing. Gorgeous voice – she has three sons – and Don and I remember the night she was born. We were in rehearsal for a summer production of Rhinoceros when the word came.

The Syburg family was present, and the service was lovely. Don’s homily was spot on (and is reprinted at the end of this rambling. It will give you the words, but you miss the delivery. I once again find myself wondering why people don’t video funerals. Often there are people who can’t come – and often there are wonderful moments when people share stories or feelings or observations and I cannot but think it would be a comfort to be able to re-play those in later days and share them with those not able to come. I would love to know what I said at my father’s funeral, or to have some of the comments people made at my mother’s. Fred’s funeral had moment like that too.). The music was lovely throughout – and after Communion, Reg Bain shared some of his thoughts about his friendship with Fred and how Fred and Jane (and he was right when he said you really couldn’t take about Fred without also talking about Jane) had been so important when Reg and his wife Georgia had first come to South Bend, and when Georgia was in the final stages of battling her cancer. Ellen, one of Fred’s daughters, spoke about what it was like growing up with Fred and the things she had learned – including that one did not go to an artistic event to eat. True also in Fred’s mind for ball games.

There was a short service at the cemetery, where I led everyone in singing the Alma Mater, and then we adjourned to O’Rourkes, a pub in the new Eddy Street complex, called the Village I believe – an assortment of stores and shops handily adjacent to campus. Not good news for downtown South Bend, but good news for Notre Dame students and faculty and staff. More stories were told, toasts raised, I even sang the Parting Glass. (Well, it IS a pub song.)

It was a grand sendoff and Fred would have enjoyed it. On the back of the order of worship (and Fred had had an active hand in deciding what music and readings and poetry would be part of his funeral) was a quote from Ulysses, by Alfred Lord Tennyson:

Though much is taken, much abides; though

We are not now the strength which in the old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,

One equal-temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

And I’m sure Fr. Dilg will forgive me putting his homily in immediate juxtaposition to Tennyson.

Homily for the funeral Mass for Fred Syburg --   April 1, 2013

So many images converge on us in this celebration today – images personal, cultural, liturgical.  Such is true in every liturgy, of course, but is perhaps especially obvious in celebrating the funeral of a man who was both a master and a servant of images.  The over-arching image, the controlling image, the one which encompasses all the rest on this Easter Monday, of course, is Resurrection. 

Resurrection is an image that explodes possibilities.  It is an image which proclaims that human life is a bigger, a far bigger reality than anything we can possibly imagine.  Such is the Word that comes to us in the second reading the family has chosen for this Mass.  Some of you may recognize that this is the Epistle reading that is read at the Eater Vigil.  Although somewhat out of place in the current structure of the Vigil Mass, this reading was meant to be addressed directly to the newly baptized, immediately after they emerged from the waters and had taken their seat in the assembly.  “Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death; so that, just as Christ has been raised from the dead, we too might be raised to new life in Him.”

In other words, the reading says, “You’ve already died.  You are now living, right here, in the resurrection. That is something you can’t even begin to wrap your minds around. Just let it lead you into fuller life – for there will always be more.” 

Easter calls us to feast on resurrection. “Feast” is another image this day.  In the first reading the family chose for a memorial Mass back in Wisconsin, the prophet Isaiah speaks of God preparing a feast on this mountain, a feast of juicy rich foods and pure choice wines.  It will be feast for all peoples of the earth, a feast in which God will remove the veil, so that all may recognize each other as sisters and brothers.  It is truly to be a Feast of Fools. 

Although it sounds hokey, I can’t help thinking that Fred had something to do with arranging that the day of his funeral would fall on April 1, April Fool’s Day!  For Fred was one who helped me appreciate the true meaning of the Fool.  The Fool was an official appointment in the court of a king. The Fool was not someone the king kept around for laughs, the Fool was actually a trusted advisor.  The task of the Fool was to see with an outsider’s eyes, to turn prevailing wisdom on its head.  Whenever a strategy, or policy, or proposal to wage war was put forward, it was the business of the Fool to use parody and rhyme and riddle present an alternative view, to suggest, sometimes mockingly, that there was a whole other way to perceive the situation.  Some Fools were so good at their profession that they eventually were beheaded for treason!  But it takes a Fool to see the truth of Resurrection – and invite others to come to the Feast of Fools!

This image of the Fool hints at what I believe is, in broadest terms, the purpose of all art.  That purpose, I would propose, is to illuminate the possibilities of human existence.  I remember quite well Fred hammering home the definition of the art of the Drama:  “Drama is an image of human action in the form of human action.”  Thus, drama plays a particular role in helping us to see, to face, or to confront the conscious and unconscious assumptions which lie behind our ways of doing things.  This is not always a pleasant or welcome task.  And to present this art form with integrity demands at least three qualities, which I believe Fred exhibited abundantly. 

The first is courage.   Once, after the closing of a good but tepidly received production, I remember him quoting with conviction the saying, “if you’ve pleased everyone, you know you’ve done nothing.”  A second necessary quality for a great dramatic artist, I believe, is a playful imagination.  All of us, I’m sure, could put forward hundreds of examples of this in regard to Fred; but one of the best was given me just last Saturday by Michael.  Two days before he died, Fred said to Michael, “This is going to be a great day.  It is Ash Wednesday.  It’s also the day pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training!” 

                                                                                                             

Finally,  and perhaps controversially, it seems to me that a great dramatic artist needs to be a person of faith, that is, a person who is convinced, at some deep level of his or her being (maybe not even a conscious level), that there is meaning in life, and that it is good, and that illuminating the possibilities of human existence, even when they are very dark, or painful, or ugly, is a humanizing process that can, in some ultimate sense point others to the source of life. 

For Fred this meant to point to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the One whose work of art we all are; that is, One who calls us to be metaphor, to let everything in our lives point to a bigger reality.  Another quote of Fred, before going on the vent a second time, related by Michael: “I know I love Jesus, and I know Jesus loves me.  I love my family, and I know my family loves me.  And that’s about all there is.”

So, as we gather on this Easter Monday, on this mountain of the Feast of Fools, we pray for Fred, who we trust is preparing a place at the feast for us.  And we give thanks to God for calling us to the vocation of the Fool; and for one who invited us, and helped train us, to be the best fools we can be.

If Reg’s or Ellen’s remarks are ever shared, I will – with their permission of course – share them. They were very personal but very wonderful, each unique and each sharing another dimension of Professor Fred Syburg.

It was a great gathering of friends and fans, of family and colleagues and students, and we discovered again how much we each owed this man for his influence in our lives, and, not coincidentally I suspect, how much we really like each other. For me, it was more than worth every minute of the 18 hour train trip out and the 19 hours back.

Yet once again, I find myself saying “Thank you” to Fred Syburg. 

Three Irish Songs

Fr. John Sings Cruiskeen Lawn


Fr. John Sings the Rose of Tralee


Fr. John Sings the Parting Glass



I've been experimenting with a new online recording system, and here are three samples. If you click on the line you can see, a line will appear below it which, when clicked will take you to the song line. 

2012 Christmas Letter

One of the basic rules of theatre is to keep the audience slightly off balance – vary the presentation. Shakespeare alternates comic and tragic scenes and some even argue that commercials on television can play the same role. Not so sure about that – but certainly when I was teaching one of my basic approaches was to keep switching topics and approaches so the young men would never get complacent. So in approaching this end of the year Christmas “What HAS Sheehan been doing?” letter, I thought a varied approach might be interesting.

So while generally chronological, there are some times when I will focus on one activity, one event, one project, which may encompass a longer chronological period. Like the motorcycle accident and the subsequent results (“Motorcycle accident? WHAT Motorcycle accident?!?!?”) See? There might even be some surprises. (Of course, the careful reader might also notice that perhaps God is following the same philosophy with respect to MY life – the Three Person of the Trinity saying to one another, “Let’s keep Sheehan off balance.”) And some of the major moments have longer and more detailed stories earlier in the blog.

Starting in January but continuing through May, I did a lot of talks on behalf of the Xavier Society for the Blind at Rotary Clubs, the Optimist Club, Kiwanis Clubs, Knights of Columbus meetings, high schools – anywhere there was a group who wanted a speaker. I talk about being blind, the basic of some of the training that is available, what the Xavier Society does and anything else that was relevant. It was always fun when I would pull up in a car, get out, take my long white cane out of the back seat and head off down the block. Or walking up to a car with my cane, put the cane in the back seat and driving off. More than once I saw people with very puzzled looks.

But also more than once I had someone come up to me to tell me that they had a cousin, a sister, a friend, someone they knew who was blind or going blind or with limited vision and didn’t know where to turn. We’ve only been around since 1900, and we’ve done a mailing to every single parish in the United States and I regularly hear “Gee, I never knew you existed!” (My comment to myself at those moments is not recorded.) 

January was the month when Tony Amato died, founded and director of the Amato Opera. I went out to his funeral, and ended up delivering the homily. I had the pleasure of attending a concert at Carnegie Hall at which Jessica Bachicha0 sang, a gorgeous singer (and a gorgeous young woman) I had met through the NFB. Oh yes, she’s blind – but doesn’t really have anything to do with her gorgeous singing. And as I was looking through the calendar for last year, I realized – starting in January – that I had a LOT of friends singing and acting and appearing in stuff.

 

February I kept on doing talks to groups, the Notre Dame of NY held our annual Universal Notre Dame Night at the Union Leaguer Club, Catholic War Veterans had their chapter convention and a dinner (my memory is that I have sung a song or two), and the President’s Dinner at the New York Athletic Club which is always a major event. But without contest, the highlight of the month was going to Rome for the installation of new Cardinals, and I knew two of them – Tim Dolan of New York, and Ed O’Brien of Baltimore and then Rome, who was head of the Military Archdiocese when I was a chaplain at Kwajalein, so technically he was my boss. Earlier in this blog there is a longer telling of that trip, which was very moving.

 

Jean French and May Moss
at a Thanksgiving celebration

March  – Usually March has St. Patrick’s Day as the major focus, and since I’ve been back, that includes marching in the parade. This year I did it twice. I marched with the Catholic War Veterans, and since the parade focused on honoring vets, we were near the front. As we neared the end of the march, I peeled off, went back down to 44^th Street, changed my jacket and hat, and march the route again with the Notre Dame Club of NY. Rob French was perhaps my best friend in my life, and he died when I was in Nigeria. His mother was a great friend, and spent the last several years living with her other son in California. She died, and there was a memorial service for her down in Princeton. The Board of the Xavier Society for the Blind had been talking about making some major changes, and in March we had several meetings with some people at  Fordham who helped guide us with personnel details. 

Les Lieber celebrates 100 years

I also sometimes have been singing with the Jazz at Noon group, and the leader and founder of that group, Les Lieber, celebrated his  birthday party in March. His 100^th birthday and at the 3-hour party, Les played for most of the afternoon. And the adjutant  of our American Legion post and a good friend, Joel Viders, died and I was asked to do the funeral. Joel was Jewish, his wife is Catholic, so at the funeral parlor I did a service that was mostly Jewish, in Hebrew and English, and at the cemetery I did a more Catholic service. And finally, I spent several days in Atlanta,  visiting another old friend. I hadn’t been back to Atlanta since I worked there doing dinner theatre, and it was a great trip. I even got to sing with a church choir in rehearsal.

April of 2012 included Easter celebrations at St. Malachy’s, the Actors Chapel, and a meeting in Baltimore at the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore. I also got to go to a ball game when I was in Baltimore. The Orioles lost but it was a good game. I got to see Death of A Salesman with a godson who is building a life in theatre as a dramaturg (He’s currently studying in Ireland). The national commander of the American Legion was at a special dinner at the NY Athletic Club – he had spent half a day at the XSB before he took the office so he knows me. Blue Hill Troupe did a production of Utopia Limited, a production that many G&S fans have never seen. I was asked to step in at the last minute and organize the ushers and run the house, which I did, I sang and invoked at the anniversary dinner for the Women’s National Republic Club and got to see a dress rehearsal of an opera at the Met. Last year I gave the invocation at the Kelly Cares Foundation dinner at the Waldorf, with Lou Holtz, Ara Parseghian, Regis Philbin and of course, Coach Kelly. They asked me again this year but I had already accepted an invitation from the Navy League for the same evening. Fortunately the two events were both at the Waldorf, so I checked the schedule, prayed for Kelly Cares and then headed up to the Starlight Room for event #2. At the NY Athletic we had an event hosting both of the new cardinals, which I had a small hand in helping put together, and I spent some time during the month alerting some people of what we were planning at the XSB.

May – May was truly a month of lights and shadows. The great shadow was telling people their jobs were going to cease to exist. Six of them had 134 years of service together. We also made public the decision to sell the building and decided on a real estate agent. A friend took me to see ONCE as a birthday gift, and there were celebrations at Princeton Day School, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and the Christopher Awards ceremony, where I sang for a bit and got to kiss the woman who gave Elvis his first on screen kiss. (She is now a nun!)

Yes,  this is the woman who gave Elvis
his first on-screen kiss

 I went back to Rome,  to give a paper at a Vatican Conference in Rome about the blind. I also had the opportunity to present a two-volume leather-covered braille edition of the Gospels to the Holy Father.  

I was invited to preside at a wedding in Newport Rhode Island over Memorial Day weekend, and it was a truly wonderful event, with delightful people, a gorgeous hotel (complete with a porch where one could smoke a cigar and a rehearsal dinner cruise and a small chapel for the wedding itself.)

June – Several friends died in June, and I got to take a tour of a cruise ship with a group of blind people, looking at the ship and how a blind person gets about. I continued to help out at St. Malachy’s, the Actors’ Chapel, and I went down to Baltimore for a meeting at the National Federation of the Blind (and got to sneak in a game at the ball park). 

Post Commander Sean Powers
at the flag retirement 

The Biker Priest

I took part in the annual flag retirement ceremony with the American Legion, and since I was hoping to ride with the Legion Riders to the national convention, I thought I would be wise and prudent and smart and take a couple of lessons to sharpen up old motorcycle skills. So I signed up for a series of lessons, and on the first day, while practicing U-turns, I got going a little fast which means I was a little wide and I hit the curb. Off the bike and onto my shoulder, where, as a later MRI pointed out, I tore ligaments and tendons. I spent the rest of the day at the emergency room, discovering whole new dimensions of pain and the wonders of morphine. Surgery was scheduled for later in July, and on June 28 I was off to Dallas for the national convention of the National Federation of the Blind. I was wearing a sling, which meant I got preferential treatment in seating but special attention at airport security.

The convention is one of the highlights of each year, three thousand blind people of all ages coming together to share their experiences and their wisdom and have great fun. It’s a marvelous experience and I look forward to it every year. There was a wonderful opening ceremony put together by the National Association of Blind Veterans,  and I was invited to address the whole convention.

July – I left Dallas and headed up to Louisville for the national convention of the American Council of the Blind. It too is a national organization, but has a different character, a different personality. I celebrated Mass for the Catholics, sang in the Talent Show and was the head spotter for the auction. I got to tour the American Printing House for the Blind, and met a whole bunch of fascinating people. When I returned I had my surgery, and spent the next six weeks sleeping in a chair, wearing a sling and learning how much I use my right hand. One of our great Jesuits and a good friend died, and I had an interview on WOR radio.

August – Because of the surgery I had to miss the national convention for the Catholic War Veterans, but I was able to go to Cape Cod for the memorial service for the daughter of one of my oldest and dearest friends. I was invited to sing in the American premiere of a Donizetti opera (an opportunity I would have had to decline if I had not had the accident) and rehearsals started. A few more friends died and I started physical therapy, three times a week most weeks, 90 minutes a shot.

 

September – I seem to be talking about death more than usual, and a friend who was a poet and who ran poetry workshops made it to 96 and her memorial service was a gathering of friends and poets. I held a Blue Sky Day with the Xavier Society staff,  where we got to explore possibilities and ways to proceed into the future.

October – October was filled with rehearsals for the opera, Olivo, and then there was this storm. We had the first weekend of performances, and just got the last matinee in before the transport systems closed. We were closed for a week, weathering the storm, and trying to figure out what comes next. We lost our phone and internet connections, and as of this writing in January we still don’t have them back. At the residence, on 83^rd Street,  there were no signs of the size of the storms – if it weren’t for the television and Facebook we probably wouldn’t have known anything was going on.

November – Recovering from Sandy, the Veterans Day parade, (no motorcycle this year) and I got to concelebrate a funeral on Staten Island for a vet who died during the storm. The Catholic War Veterans have a promise that no vet will lack for a proper burial and we have arrangements with funeral parlors and cemeteries who have promised to donate their services and this was another in that series. I was invited to the Inner City Scholarship Lunch, celebrating a wonderful program that helps inner city students. The ACB State convention was cancelled because of the storm but the NFB state convention went off and I attended that. Two friends from England came over for a football game – yup, flew over, went to the stadium, we met for a lovely dinner and they flew back the next day. A friend who is a producer got me a ticket for Dead Accounts, and since things were getting dull, I had a tooth pulled. We had a very good meeting with Princeton Theological Seminary that may chart a whole new direction for the Xavier Society for the Blind, I gave the invocation for the Naval War College Foundation, one of the former crew from the Enterprise died, and the Notre Dame Club sponsored the Hesburgh lecture.

December – We started December with a party at the Xavier Society to celebrate our volunteers. We had Mass on the second floor and a buffet lunch and open house for four hours. 

 

  

I celebrated Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the feast of St. Lucy, patron of the blind, complete with a young lady with a headdress of candles, as is the tradition in many Scandinavian countries. 

I sang at a post Baptism party and managed to survive the Christmas season. Although I haven’t said Mass at St. Malachy’s since the accident, I did get to celebrate at the Actor’s Home in Englewood the last Sunday before Christmas. Some friends from California were in town and we had a traditional lunch at a Cajun restaurant, and I saw out the New Year at the New York Athletic Club, watching from a balcony on the 17^th floor the crowds down 7^th Avenue and the fireworks in Central Park. A friend gave me a television set as a Christmas present, and so I suddenly have a working tv in my room – which is kind of neat on the one hand, and really depressing, as I am reminded how few shows there are worth watching.

As the year ends I am still going to physical therapy three times a week, working out and being stretched and doing lots of exercises in between and while “better” is not always “good,” I am definitely getting better. The building sale is moving forward and we hope to have a closing on or before March 5^th. We have exciting plans for the Xavier Society for the Blind in the next several years, and if I could only win the Lottery….

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!