Archbishop Timothy Dolan Spirituality Endowment
Church documents direct that “every seminary must provide a milieu of human and spiritual formation in which the seminarians are encouraged to grow continuously and progressively in their personal relationship with Christ and in their commitment to their Church and to their vocation.” (PVD, 43-50)
“The second year fall retreat allowed me the extraordinary and precious opportunity to deepen—without the usual distractions—my relationship with Jesus, our Blessed Mother, and my brother seminarians through the Eucharist, the Rosary, and fraternity.”—Karl Bissinger, Diocese of Fall River, Class of 2005
The North American College indeed provides such a milieu of formation for its seminarians. Entering this milieu, the seminarian will understand that spiritual formation is a life-long task. Its aim for him now and later as a priest to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ and, specifically, to become a more transparent sacramental sign of Him in whose person and name he acts.
One of the most important means for helping this to happen is the annual six-day retreat which takes place right before the Roman universities open. Each seminary class leaves the city and the seminary to stay in a religious retreat house it the countryside, where the atmosphere safeguards and promotes solitude, silence, and meditation necessary for a grace-filled retreat.
“After a month of learning to live together in Rome, the retreat gave us the time for prayer and reflection that we needed to become brothers united in the love of Christ.”—Harold Reeves, Archdiocese of Washington, Class of 2007
First year men experience a traditional retreat on the essential elements of the spiritual life. This is a preached retreat, conducted by one of our seminary spiritual directors. The second and third year men have a more Ignatian-style retreat, guided by carefully chosen priest-directors. Fourth year men (with their ordination to deaconate only a week away) have a retreat preached by another of the spiritual directors of our house to prepare them for the imminent reception of the sacrament of Holy Orders.
To subsidize room and board at four religious retreat houses, to provide transportation, and to offer stipends to our outside directors, costs the college approximately $60,000 a year.
The North American College believes that a deep prayerful and spiritual life is essential to the priest’s role in the evangelization of culture in accord with Church teaching. Alumni of the College are prepared for parish ministry in the United States, and will be in the forefront of fostering, facilitation, encouraging, and nurturing Catholic men and women in all aspects of parish life.
It is the conviction of the College that today’s Catholics in the United States want holy priests well-grounded in the essentials of the spiritual life, who are able to communicate sound lessons of the soul to their people with clarity and conviction. As the scholastic maxim says, “Nemo dat quod non habet.” (“No one gives what he does not have.”)
“The September retreat is a chance to experience God peace. It is a chance to follow the lead of Christ who ‘went up on the mountain by himself to pray.’ The retreat is such an essential part of the life of the diocesan priest and for those discerning that call. It is a change for us to do just that: listen to what God wants to tell us.”—Bryan Stitt, Diocese of Ogdensburg, Class of 2003
If our seminarians are not rooted in the life of Christ, they can hardly share it with their people after ordination to the priesthood. Solid annual retreats help the seminarians integrate and interiorize the like of Christ.
If you would like to make a donation to the Dolan Endowment, please use the Donation Form, and check that the gift is for the “Archbishop Timothy Dolan Spirituality Endowment.”
Monsignor Charles Kelly Chair of Pastoral Formation
To honor our beloved alumnus, Charles A. Kelly, class of 1968, friends and alumni of the North American College created a Chair for Pastoral Formation. Our goal is to build an endowment of $150,00 to help fund annual sessions in pastoral formation for seminarians.
Msgr. McCoy, Rector, explained the need for such a program, “Much of the seminarians’ day is spent in the Roman University classrooms learning theology. These graduate courses are highly intellectual, and while they feed one’s spiritual life and prayer, they do not always translate that theological insight into practical, applied pastoral application.”
Among the pastoral projects that are available to the seminarians are available to the seminarians are outreach to Hispanic immigrants in Rome, ministry in Roman hospitals, teaching at Marymount International School, and immersion in the work of the Church in Central America and Asia.
Msgr. Kelly was a seminarian in Rome from 1964 to 1968, and then from 1971 to 1978 as formation advisor and vice rector. His tenure was marked by his constant and dedicated involvement with all aspects of the students training, “He was the one who wanted to assure the faithful that the priest who left this seminary would have some understanding of the ‘how to’s’—how to be a good confessor, how to comfort the sick through the sacrament of anointing, how to prepare a couple for marriage,” Msgr. McCoy said. “He was a pastor at heart. As Vice Rector, of course, he had to attend to the nuts and bolts of the seminary life, its daily schedule, but he always had time to offer a man some insight on the practical aspects of the pastoral life.”
Sadly, Msgr. Kelly was taken from us at an early age. We are thankful for all that he did for the College, and are glad that we have the chance to honor his memory by establishing the Charles Kelly Chair for Pastoral Formation.
If you would like to make a donation to the Charles Kelly Chair, please use the Donation Form, and check that the gift is for the “Msgr. Charles Kelly Chair of Pastoral Formation.”
Br. Randal Riede Library Fund
On November 7, 2003, the North American College lost our very dear friend and honorary alumnus, Brother Radal Riede, CFX, who died at the age of 86. Br. Radal was hired by then rector Bishop James Hickey in September 1971 on a one-year contract to be the librarian/archivist. That one year turned into twenty six years as librarian until his retirement in June 1997 when he was 80.
Those who were students during his time knew Br. Randal as much more than a librarian; he was also a confidant, mentor, someone who would listen, and always a gentleman. At his retirement, and again a year later when the library was named in his honor, Br. Randal always spoke about what the College and its students meant to him and what they did for him.
Br. Randal built the collection such that it has become the finest English library in Rome. The eminent Church historian Monsignor John Tracy Ellis publicly noted Brother’s accomplishment as have so many scholars.
Now is the opportunity to honor Br. Randal’s memory. This vast and priceless collection needs to be preserved and expanded.
So many seminarians, Casa priests, ICTE priests, and scholars in Rome use the library on a continuous basis furthering their education to better preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Since Brother’s retirement, Sister Rebecca Abel, OSB, has increased the collection and has modernized the computer and research functions. Sr. Rebecca has said many times that if anything ever happened to the library, even if she had unlimited funds, she could never replace the collection that he amassed. Most of his finds are not even in print today! They are true treasures.
If you would like to make a donation to the Br. Randal Library Fund, please use the Donation Form, and check that the gift is for the “Br. Randal Riede Library Fund.”
If you would like to share a memory of Br. Randal, please send it to our U.S. Office:
3211 4th Street NE
Washington DC 20017
or by email at mdidonato@pnac.org.
A special thank you to Bill Trainor and Msgr. Ed Whalen for initiating this project.
Memories of Brother Randal
Fr. Dale Korogi, NAC’83
Church of Christ the King, Minneapolis
The Second Sunday of Advent, 12.7.03
On November 7, one month ago today, a beloved friend and guide went on to the Kingdom. Brother Randal Riede, a Brother of St. Francis Xavier, was the former librarian at the North American College in Rome, my alma mater. Slightly stooped at about five feet seven inches and eighty-six years, he was a library in himself. Every day, he sported a white shirt and tie and a navy blue jacket or a humble, well-worn gray suit. Even in the dead of the Roman summer, he wasn’t without a coat or sweater for fear of a potentially lethal draft. In his funeral homily for Brother Randal, Father Paul Holmes, a priest from the Archdiocese of Newark and my dear friend, noted Randal’s “courageous fashion sense.”
“Who but Randal would wear a beret outside of France: Or a sweater in July? Find me another man who could, with no compunction whatever, wear his eyeglasses on a cord around his neck—and with such panache—always at the ready to read a worn Latin inscription on some seldom-visited tomb, or decipher a smudged ISBN number on the back of a new book.”
Randal was almost courtly in his manners, a man of letters, a man of prayer, our resident sage. The library workroom—his office—was daily post-prandial destination where, with an intonation betraying his Kentucky roots and Noel Coward charm, he would offer “coffee, tea, or sympathy,” and wise counsel. The generally suspicious seminary administration thought him subversive—he spoke the truth. The day I left the seminary after five years to return home to priestly ministry, I went to Randal and sobbed, “Brother, I can’t believe it’s over.” Taking hold of my shoulders, he said, “Why it’s only the beginning, my dear, only the beginning.” Randal often glanced down or away in search of a thought or word, but looking me straight in the eye, he declared, “you’re much better than you think you are, my boy. Corraggio.” Courage.
Of the incalculable number of encounters in our lives, only a remarkable few are etched in our memories, unforgettable. I will always be grateful for Randal’s words that have given me heart, time and time and time again.
The founder of the Xaverian Brothers, Brother Theodore Ryken, wrote that he tried to follow God’s will in “the common, ordinary, unspectacular flow of everyday life.” I pray that we, like dear Randal, will hasten the approach of the Kingdom with common, ordinary, unspectacular words and kindness that give hear to another: those seemingly small things, but loaded with grace, that bring God’s reign a little nearer.
Funeral Homily given by then Rector Msgr. Kevin McCoy
St. Brigid’s Church, Louisville, KY November 14, 2003
Scriptures: Wisdom 3: 1-9; Romans 6: 3-9; Matthew 25: 31-46
Your Excellencies, my brother priests, the Xaverian community, Sister Marita and the family of Brother Randal, friends all, I extend to you my condolences on the loss of our dear brother and friend, Randal Riede. Certainly there are among my brother priests probably those who could more eloquently preach this homily, but the task has fallen to me as Rector of the Pontifical North American College and as a friend so dear. Now as I begin I am reminded of some of Brother’s sage advice that mutual friends recalled for me just the other evening, as Randal would encourage any spear or preacher to observe the three B’s: be sincere, be brief and be seated. Well, sincere I will surely be, but dear Brother pardon my lack of brevity today, though I assure you all that I will soon be seated.
Anyone who knew Brother Randal knows that Brother was always ready for a journey. In fact, he enjoyed the preparation for the journey almost as much ash he did the journey itself, because in his preparation eh could relish with anticipation the very thought of feasting his eyes upon a specific work of art or anticipation traipsing through some obscure archeological site. But even more important in these recent year was his joy in anticipation seeing once again friendly faces of men he had loved and who had come to love him—be they another Xaverian brother whom he may have a had as a student, a colleague, or an alumnus from the North American College—yes, Randal loved the idea of the journey.
Well today we who love him and were loved by him, gather to celebrate with joy the end of his earthly journey, and to pray him to his new heavenly home. His was a journey begun some 86 plus years ago as William K. Riede was born very near to this spot where we now gather. His journey of faith began with his baptism into the mystery of Christ’s death and the hope of sharing in his resurrection. It was this gift of faith, his faith in God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—that would guide him to respond to God’s call. His vocation was to the brothers; a life that he lived faithfully for over 67 years. And in doing so, he saw nothing about his life to be extraordinary. No, as a Xaverian, he sought each day to see God in the ordinary things of daily life—in his prayers, in his work, and most especially in his relationships with others and with God. And so many of us are here today because through his life and vocation, Randal taught us to live for this same goal: to seek the will of God and to live it boldly and simply.
Randal would say to me on various occasions, “you know, my boy, some people just don’t understand my vocation.” Of course, what he meant was that every so often he would encounter a person who just could not understand why he never would have pursued priesthood. And he would simply smile, and with the unexpressed “brother knows,” he would consider the “poor thing” and simply excuse their inability to appreciate Gods’ will for him. Well, how happy are we that Randal would stay the course, as his religious life came to be so formative for our own.
In the way Brother lived the Faith, he taught us to see the face of Christ in every person around us. As this morning trek to the College would take him across the city of Rome—whether in the early days from his residence at the generalate on Via Antonio Bosio or from the Casa Santa Maria—Brother would begin a quite day of instruction us in the Christian life. “When did we see you hungry or thirsty; homeless or naked, and we supplied for your need?” (Matthew 25) As Randal would duck into a church along his way to the College to greet the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, he, without fail, would reach into his little coin purse to share a little of what he had with whatever beggar adorned the church door that day. Countless were the times that I (and others) would witness this charity, and more than once we would question his support of these people who could easily be frauds. But Brother was not naïve, he would simply look at you with that “brother knows” look to acknowledge the reproof, and then he would bring it back to the gospel that he so ardently strived to live. He would grant you that there might be the frauds among the beggars, but judgment, he would remind us, was the Lord’s prerogative, not his. And many more stories could be told of how he would school us in the significance of the gospel—“as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.” (Matthew 25)
Yes, Brother taught us to see the face of Christ in not only the poor, but also in one another—be it as a seminarian new to Rome or as a graduate student priest at the Casa Santa Maria. Brother taught us a great deal about Christian living. Perhaps it was in his invitation to the library work room where he would freely dispense a little coffee, tea and even sympathy. Or perhaps it was in his sage advice to the tessina writer, “it doesn’t have to be perfect, my boy, just get it down on paper and get it finished.” Whatever the case may have been, Randal taught us a great deal about caring—dare I say—about loving one another as brothers.
In both houses of the College—the seminary and the graduate house—they were filled with men of great talent and rich backgrounds, Randal would teach us first to be civil to one another and then to be Christ-like in our dealings with a brother. And he did all of this in a very unassuming way, by helping us first to know ourselves and then to recognize the fits that the Lord had given to us in the people he brought into our lives.
In his early days at the College (prior to 1985), Randal would relish in hosting a Saturday lunch at the generalate on Via Antonio Bosio. We always maintained that it was his sociological experiment to see just how interesting of a conversation he might produce from his deliberate “cross-pollination” of the group invited for lunch. But what really happened in these encounters was that we all were enriched by the Xaverian brothers who hosted us. We were exposed to brilliant men, who lived simply, who had labored for the Lord in mission countries and in university apostolates across the globe. The brothers saw our youthful idealism and energy, and they helped to focus it all to Christ and his Church. Randal gave us a cherished glimpse into the Xaverian religious life, and the strength which he himself drew from its discipline of finding God in the ordinary realities of our journey through life. I could rattle on and on, but that would be to ignore Randal’s sage advice.
In all, our brother, Randal, strove to live a life of holiness, and he did his best to drag a few of us along the same path. He lived with a sure and certain hope that he would come to this day believing that Christ the Lord would bring him home to share in the glory of the resurrection, and of this no one of us has any doubts. And while we shall miss our friend and brother, I know that in one sense we are close today than perhaps when I visited with him on the phone three weeks ago. We are closer now because ours in now a conversation that we can have daily as I number him among the communion of saints, a doctrine in which Brother instructed so many of us. Brother, you showed us the face of Christ in this your earthly journey—please now as you contemplate the Lord face-to-face in the heavenly Jerusalem, remember us who are yet on the journey.
I hope the art work is to your liking in your new heavenly home, and we will all be anxious to benefit from your travel tips which surely you will develop for the heavenly realm, should God deem us worth to share the lot of the saints in His Light. Rest in peace, dear friend, pray for us as we do for you.—and now, I shall be seated.
