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St. Gerard's
youth remember Father Mac
Compiled by Nancy
Pando
Young
adults have an innate sense of discerning a person’s character.
They can immediately tell you the people who are sincere and
those who are not. This ability to read people is why the young
adults at St. Gerard’s took “Father Mac” into their hearts right
away. They simply knew that he loved them.
It was
downright painful to feel their sorrow over Father Mac’s death.
At the same time, it was inspiring to see the indelible mark
that his love has left in them. The following accounts echo the
sentiments of the young adults of St. Gerard’s parish.
Kristen
DeSisto
An employee
at St. Gerard’s rectory since the seventh grade, Kristen
remembers how Father Mac always made sure there were cookies and
soda at the rectory for the kids who worked there. “Sometimes he
would sit down and just talk. The biggest thing was that he
always knew who we were and he really cared about us.
He loved my brother, Pete, and always asked about him.”
When Father
Mac came through the door of the rectory, Kristen would watch as
his dog, Barney, ran to him while Fr. Mac proceeded to talk to
Barney for about five minutes. She credits the growth of the CYO
program to Father Mac and Mike Mahan’s shared vision. The trip
she took with the CYO to a soup kitchen in Philadelphia still
resonates in the gratitude Kristen still feels today. “Every
day, I think about that trip and the little girl named Stephanie
with her dark, wavy pony tail and a bright smile.”
Ryan
Gormley
Ryan recalls
being 10 years old and watching Father Mac walk across the field
at Kid’s Camp. “He was a man that loved children and teenagers
and they knew it.”
What
impressed Ryan was not only that Father Mac knew his name, but
that “he made it a point to know more.”
Reflecting
upon Father Mac’s impact on the youth of the parish, Ryan cited
a time when he led a CYO group with Mike Mahan to Olive Hill,
Kentucky. There, they planned to build an addition to a
one-bedroom trailer that housed a family of seven. When it was
apparent that one room was not enough, they put in a call to
Father Mac, whose instructions were to do what needed to be done
for the family. Ryan recalls his feeling of elation and
gratitude over Father Mac’s generosity in helping the group
provide to the family the added room that was so desperately
needed.
Hannah
Sussek
Hannah
recalls the skepticism she felt at the age of 8 when Father Mac
came to St. Gerard’s. Like most children, she was not the
“biggest supporter of church every Sunday, let alone for an
hour.” However, Father Mac’s first mass lasted 27 minutes. From
that moment on she said, “I became Father Mac’s biggest fan.”
Actively
involved in Kid’s Camp and St. Gerard’s outreach program, Hannah
fondly remembers how much Fr. Mac’s support meant: “He always
made it a point to mention the significance of what we were
doing and that he was proud of us.”
As head of
the CYO program in her junior and senior years of high school,
she recalls with fondness Fr. Mac’s “speeding sermons,
boisterous laugh and immense love for people of all ages at St.
Gerard’s.”
Nick
Kotsiopoulos
It is with
warmth and gratitude that Nick Kotsiopoulos thinks back to a
ritual of Father Mac’s. “I loved how when we left for Kentucky,
he’d always be there in the morning and do a prayer for our safe
return before we left. It showed what he stood for.”
Nick recalls
how frustrated it felt one time to be standing at a lumber yard
in Kentucky trying to figure out how they could afford the
extra materials to build more rooms for families than initially
planned.
Per usual,
relief came as Father Mac helped them to overcome the obstacles.
Nick thinks
back to a particularly touching moment for everyone the day the
group finished the construction. “We were so happy with the work
we had done, but we were even more touched to see that when we
finished the job, the parents of the family were crying. To
think that we had left such an impact on someone’s life — it
puts things in perspective.”
With
gratitude
“Father Mac
displayed a unique investment in the spiritual health of his
parishioners,” one young man reflected, as he recalled the
details of a night when he needed Fr. Mac’s guidance.
“I was
struggling with recently discovering my father was ill with
cancer. This fact had strained my faith in God and I was
desperately seeking solace in something that seemed real. I
could not sleep and was desperate for somewhere to turn as the
sun was coming up on that morning. Without thinking, I found
myself driving to the rectory and ringing the bell hoping with
all my will that Father Mac would be there to answer the door
and help me. He answered the door minutes later, very confused,
but obligingly showed me in.
Once I
told him what was the matter, he simply smiled and responded
that my problem was not uncommon. He knew it was only natural to
have our faith shaken but such experiences also allow us to have
our faith strengthened. He told me that this gave me an
opportunity to better understand how I define God and that we
should attempt to embrace all experience in life as meaningful.”
With sorrow
and admiration for the man affectionately known as Fr. Mac, the
young man expressed the sentiments of all who loved him: “I
believe we will all miss him very much.”
August 7, 2008
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