Anniversary and Reunions

       
Brother Stavros celebrated fifty years in monastic life, Holy Wisdom Church.

        



The summer after graduation from high school in 1961, Harry Winner (the future Br. Stavros) and one of his best friends, Tim Nau, traveled to the upper reaches of the Saint Lawrence River to Quebec City to attend a special immersion course in French for foreigners at Laval University. The walled and fortified city, the oldest on the continent north of Mexico, and the university, the oldest after Harvard, earned a place in his heart and imagination. This summer, he met up with his friend at his home in Toronto, and they took the train up to Québec to revisit their old haunts. The city has not lost its European flavor; in fact, they observed that it is even more beautiful. Back then as students they ate on the cheap. This visit provided an opportunity to appreciate the superb cuisine of the region. A particular joy, Br. Stavros recalled, was “approaching the basilica at the time of Sunday Mass and hearing, as well as feeling, the massive bell peal repeating the thrill it brought me half a century ago.”



Just before this northern excursion, Br. Stavros enjoyed another reunion, at Ukrainian Greek Catholic seminary just off campus. They had also been together at St. Basil’s Seminary in Stamford, Conneticut. Br. Marc (then Dennis Labish) had been at St. Basil’s a year ahead of them, and our late Br. Elias (Jim Ippolito) preceded them by two years at both St. Basil’s and Catholic University. Josephat’s Niagara Falls, Ontario, this time with four priests who were in his graduating class in 1965 at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Although they earned their degrees from Catholic University, they belonged to St.





On September 13, the Sunday of the Vigil of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Br. Stavros celebrated fifty years in monastic life with a brief rite that concluded the Divine Liturgy, during which he was presented with a candle and a hand cross. A reception was held afterward, generously provided by the many friends and parish members who attended. His niece Susan, her husband, Jack, and their second son, Aidan, traveled from northeastern Pennsylvania to mark the occasion. All joined in the salute: God grant you many years!




















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