By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
MIAMI — The annual celebration for men and women religious who are marking 25, 50 or 60 years of profession will take place Sunday, Jan. 31, 4:30 p.m. at St. Mary Cathedral, 7525 N.W. Second Ave., Miami.The Mass will be celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop John Noonan. The public is welcome. Following are brief biographies of those marking anniversaries this year.
Diamond Jubilarians – 60 years
Sister Francisca Jauregui, DC
Sister Jauregui was born in Santiago de Cuba, Province of Oriente, Cuba. She entered the Company of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul on Aug. 5, 1950. After completing her education and taking vows, she was assigned to La Santa Infancia School in San Antonio de los Baños, Havana, where she served until August 1957, when she was transferred to La Milagrosa School in Guanabacoa, also in Havana. In 1961, she was forced to leave Cuba for political reasons. She arrived in Puerto Rico with other members of her congregation and served from 1961 to 1963 at St. Vincent de Paul School, Santurce. She then was assigned to La Sagrada Familia School in Ponce and Residencia Santa Luisa, Caimito, Rio Piedras, a home for sick and elderly sisters.
In 1970, she was transferred to Miami and assigned to serve at Gesu Church and Centro Hispano Católico (Catholic Hispanic Center). After serving at St. John Bosco Parish, she was moved in 1975 to the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity. In June 2007 she was transferred to the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul, Miami.
Sister Jauregui says she is very grateful to God for these 60 years of service to the Church and the community, and for the opportunity to serve the poor everywhere she has been.
“God is generous when he calls a person to follow him and leave everything to serve others,” she said. “For me it is a special grace to celebrate this anniversary in the year of the jubilee of the 350th anniversary of the deaths of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac, founders of the Daughters of Charity.”
Brother William Lavigne, FMS
Brother Lavigne was born in Lawrence, Mass. He was so influenced in high school by the spirit and dedication of the Marist Brothers that he joined their religious community in 1950. His educational background includes graduate degrees in history from Seton Hall University and in theology from Newark Archdiocesan Seminary. For 20 years, he taught in various high schools in New Jersey and New York and was on the staff of the Marist Brothers Formation program.
In 1974, he began 35 years of parish ministry which has involved him in various aspects of parish life: catechesis on all levels; sacramental preparation and celebration; Bible study; liturgy/music; spiritual renewal groups and experiences; ecumenical associations. In 2008, a new assignment brought him to Miami, as director of a Marist House of Hospitality for senior brothers. But he has been able to continue his love for parish ministry by involvement in adult religious education courses at St. John Neumann Parish in Kendall.
He said his 60-year journey of Marist life and ministry “has been a very fulfilling, grace-filled experience, especially the many opportunities it has provided for sharing St. Marcellin Champagnat’s charism of ‘making Jesus known and loved.’”
Golden Jubilarians - 50 years
Sister Helen Faiver, OP
Sister Faiver was born in Lansing, Mich., the youngest of five children. She attended elementary and high school at Resurrection School in Lansing, conducted by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Following graduation in 1960 she entered the Dominican Order. After formation in Adrian, her ministry took her to schools in Clawson, Greenville and Detroit, Mich., where she taught elementary and junior high school. She then worked in the order’s central information office, and at their then-motherhouse and the Immaculate Conception Provincial Office in Detroit. She then went to the rural area of Santa Cruz Parish in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico for three years, and spent 19 years serving the needs of the sugar cane workers of San Jose Obrero Parish in Guaymate, Dominican Republic. In 2003, Sister Faiver moved to Miami, where she is currently doing volunteer ministry helping with the needs of those in the Miami area.
Brother Richard DeMaria, CFC
Brother DeMaria, a Christian Brother, holds degrees in science and in religious studies, including a doctorate in theology from St. Michael’s in the University of Toronto. He was a faculty member at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. for 18 years, holding various positions including chair of the department, dean of students, provost, and chief operating officer of the university. He has published many articles on spirituality. Beginning in 1989, he worked as an educator with the Hispanic migrant people on the west coast of Florida. He then served as principal of Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School in Miami from 1993 to 1998. Beginning in 1998, he served as superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Miami and now holds the position of executive director of Christian formation and superintendent of schools. He entered the juniorate of the Christian Brothers in 1958. This year marks the 50th anniversary of his entrance in the novitiate.
Brother Patrick Sean Moffett, CFC, Ph.D.
Brother Moffett was born into a close-knit family grounded in faith. He attended parochial schools conducted by the Sisters of Charity in New York City and New Jersey and met the Christian Brothers at Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey. “Their joy-filled engagement in the process of opening to us a greater world helped consolidate my vocation,” he says.
His assignments have included seven years as a teacher and counselor in high schools in Chicago and New York, 15 years as a professor of psychology, and pastoral counseling and administrator at Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y., followed by 15 years as president of Boys’ Towns of Italy, Inc. and administrator of the Girls’ and Boys’ Towns of Rome. He is currently in his sixth year as principal of Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School in Miami.
“It has been a rich journey with many side trips,” he said. “I have worked with challenged students in Harlem, with our young brothers in formation, with our brothers in West Africa, and with religious congregations in the U.S., England, Ireland, Italy, India and Australia. The brothers have afforded me time to chronicle these adventures in the popular and professional press. The story that emerges is one of Christ being present to me and to all of us in the children we are privileged to serve.”
Sister Helene Kloss, OP
Sister Kloss is a native of Detroit, Mich. She attended Edwin Denby High School and began her studies in music education at Wayne State University before entering the Adrian Dominican Congregation in Michigan. She has taught school in Ohio, New York, Miami (St. Rose of Lima), and Puerto Rico. The love of people, music and pastoral work has made liturgical music the ideal ministry for her. She has been director of music at Visitation Parish in North Miami, St. Patrick in Miami Beach, and presently at Our Lady of the Lakes in Miami Lakes.
Silver Jubilarian - 25 years
Sister Immaculata Hanisch, OCD
Sister Hanisch was born and raised in Tulsa, Okla., the second of eight children in a loving Catholic family. When she was 23 years old, being drawn to a deeper prayer life, she entered the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. For 14 years she worked as a clinical dietitian at Santa Teresita Hospital and Manor, while at the same time teaching religious education. In August 2002 she was assigned to Miami’s Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School, where she currently chairs the theology department and teaches Sacred Scripture to sophomore students.
