Click here to view the photos from the jubilee Mass.
Four golden and two diamond jubilarians
On Monday, July 9, the U.S. Province celebrates 320 years of religious life during its annual jubilee celebration. Frs. Thomas Cassidy, Mark Fortner, Patrick Lloyd and Steve Pujdak note 50 years of vows with the Priests of the Sacred Heart, and Frs. Don Barnd and Bernie Rosinski celebrate their 60th anniversary as SCJs.
Fr. Tom’s name is a familiar one to many. Since 2007 he has served as provincial superior of the U.S. Province. He completes his second three-year term in 2013.
Prior to his election as provincial, Fr. Tom, 69, was president-rector of Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis.
Before assuming duties at Sacred Heart, Fr. Tom served two terms on the General Council of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Rome. Prior to his first-term election in 1991, he was on the provincial staff for the U.S. Province. He came to the Provincialate after serving as principal and then as superintendent of St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, S.D. Fr. Cassidy was also principal of Divine Heart Seminary in Donaldson, Ind., and spent several years teaching.
Fr. Cassidy is a 1971 graduate of Sacred Heart School of Theology, and also holds a master’s degree in political science from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and a second master’s degree in religious studies from Mundelein College in Chicago. In 1978, he earned an Education Specialist (EdS) degree in School Administration from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
From 2009 – 2011 he was president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) in the United States (as is CMSM practice he was president-elect the year prior).
A Milwaukee native, Fr. Cassidy professed his first vows with the community in 1962 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1971.
Fr. Mark Fortner professed vows as a member of the U.S. Province in 1962 but most of his priesthood, from 1969 – 1999, was spent in Indonesia.
Originally from St. Louis, Fr. Mark, 72, studied at Southeast Missouri State College before entering the SCJs’ Kilroe Seminary in Honesdale, Penn. His M.Div. is from Sacred Heart School of Theology (1968) and in 1993 he earned a Ph.D. in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola in Baltimore, Md. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1968.
After 30 years as a member of the Indonesian Province Fr. Mark returned to the United States permanently in 1999. He was involved in formation from 2000-2002, including a year as novice master.
In 2003 he moved to Door County, Wis., where he put his degree in pastoral counseling to work first as a licensed psychotherapist at the SCJs’ retreat center in Baileys Harbor, and then with Fox Valley Pastoral Counseling.
With many strong ties to Indonesia, Fr. Mark was one of the last members of the U.S. Province to visit with Fr. Tom Fix before his death from cancer earlier this year. Fr. Mark escorted one of Fr. Tom’s brother’s to Jakarta to visit him.
Now retired, Fr. Mark is a member of the Sacred Heart Community in Franklin, Wis.
Originally from the Philadelphia area, Fr. Pat Lloyd, 70, is another Kilroe Seminary and SHST alumnus. He was ordained in 1969 at Sacred Heart Monastery.
As was the case for many newly ordained priests at the time, his first assignment had him back where he started: at the seminary. From 1970-73 he was a teacher and vocation recruiter at Divine Heart in Donaldson, Ind.
From Indiana he moved to South Dakota where he served for four years at St. Joseph’s Indian School and in pastoral ministry at St. Mary parish in Lower Brule.
In 1979 Fr. Pat was named pastor of St. Matthew parish in Houston, and after a year’s sabbatical in 1985 at Boston College, he became pastor of Christ the King parish in Southaven, Miss.
Fr. Pat spent two years giving parish missions around the country and then moved to the Green Bay Diocese where he was pastor of Holy Rosary parish in New Holstein, Wis., from 1993-97. After brief assignments assisting in vocations and in parochial ministry in South Dakota he returned to Christ the King in Southaven to once again serve as its pastor from 1999-2006. There, he saw the rapidly growing parish through the construction of a new church.
After Christ the King Fr. Pat served as chaplain at St. Joseph’s Indian School and assisted with the care of retired priests and brothers of his community.
In 2010 Fr. Pat was named pastor of the four-parish cluster of St. Anthony in Tigerton, St. Mary in Marion, Holy Family – St. William in Wittenberg and St. Mary in Leopolis, where he continues to minister. All are located in the Diocese of Green Bay.
Fr. Steve Pujdak, 68, was born in Brooklyn and like other members of his profession class, he studied at Kilroe and Sacred Heart but later went on to the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, where he earned a Ph.D. and an STD in theology.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1969.
His first full-time assignments were in academics, initially serving as a professor at SHST (1975-77) and at Marquette University in Milwaukee (1977-82). In 1983 he moved into provincial administration as planning director and then provincial secretary.
In 1988 he moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where he ministered at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Raymondville, Texas, from 1988-2004. He joined the Sacred Heart Community soon after, assisting with senior care and local support ministry.
Skilled in sign language, Fr. Steve has also done ministry with hearing impaired Catholics.
Diamond jubilees
Just like Queen Elizabeth, Frs. Don Barnd and Bernie Rosinski are celebrating their diamond jubilees. Both made their first profession in 1952.
Fr. Don, 90, is originally from Morris, Minn., and entered the SCJs after six years in the Navy. Initially, he served the province as a brother. He ministered at St. Joseph’s Indian School in South Dakota, the novitiate at Ste. Marie, Ill., Divine Heart Seminary in Donaldson, Ind., and Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Lenox, Mass., before volunteering for the missions in South Africa in 1968.
As a brother, Fr. Don said that he used the skills that he learned from his father. Mr. Barnd was an engineer and he taught his son at an early age how to use mathematics for a variety of projects. “I remember one time, my father, grandfather and I were going to paint the house,” said Fr. Don. “I knew then how to square numbers so he had me figure out how much paint we needed for the project. I didn’t get it right the first time, but after he showed me my mistake I never forgot how to do it again.”
Fr. Don returned to the United States in 1970, and said that he noticed a change in himself after South Africa. “I wanted to go back to school,” he said. Challenged by other SCJs, he began to think about the priesthood. He entered Sacred Heart School of Theology in 1975, and on his mother’s 81st birthday in 1978, he was ordained to the priesthood. Years later in his retirement, he returned to school again and earned his bachelor’s in religious studies from Cardinal Stritch University in suburban Milwaukee and a Master’s of Divinity degree from SHST.
As a priest he served at the Kateri Indian Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., at St. Martin Church in Murdo, S.D., and as a “help-out” priest in parishes too numerous to list.
Fr. Bernie, 78, is doing what he wanted to do for as long as he can remember. “I always wanted to be a priest,” he said. “I have to clarify that and by saying that I wanted to be a priest/pilot or a priest/fireman. I had more youthful intentions for the vocation when I was younger.”
The SCJs were not Fr. Bernie’s first choice though. He wanted to go to Detroit’s Sacred Heart Seminary. However, because his family was of Polish descent he was expected to go to the Polish national seminary at Orchard Lake. Large cities often had national parishes for ethnic groups and priests needed to be prepared to serve them. “But I wanted to be a member of the universal Church, not just the Polish church or any other national church,” he said.
Fr. Bernie was attracted to the SCJs because he wanted to be a missionary. He never was able to fulfill that dream (though did teach ESL in the Philippines this year), but he said that as a teacher for many years he did the next best thing: he prepared missionaries.
Except for a brief stint in vocations, most of Fr. Bernie’s ministry has been academic or administrative. He taught at Divine Heart Seminary in Donaldson, Ind., at Dehon Seminary in Great Barrington, Mass., and at Sacred Heart School of Theology.
In 1990 he was named provincial secretary but stayed with the Provincialate for only a year before being asked to serve on the staff of the Generalate in Rome. He was there from 1992-1998, after which he returned to SHST. In 2001 he was back to his old job as provincial secretary. He also served on Provincial Council.
He retired in 2007, but it has been an active retirement. Fr. Bernie served on the Lower Brule Pastoral Team in South Dakota, and continues to assist the general curia with translation duties. He now lives with the SCJ community at St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, SD.
Fr. Bernie has degrees from the Gregorian University in Rome, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
The jubilee celebration begins at 4:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Monastery. Photos will be posted on the province website this week.
