Madeline Wheare, the former regional secretary visited Stanley on September 16th. Madeline now lives in the UK.
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Chinahand ,Fr. Ron Saucci dies in New York
Father Ronald R. Saucci MM, a pillar of UCAN for over 25 years, passed away Sept. 1. Father Saucci was 81 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 51 years. His friend and UCAN's publisher Father William Grimm MM pays tribute to his mentor and guide and someone without whom UCAN would not still exist.
Last night, a friend called to say that our colleague, mentor and friend Maryknoll Father Ron Saucci has died. Ron had been told more than nine years ago that he had only months to live, but as the hymn says, "Lord I keep so busy workin' for the kingdom ... Ain't got time to die." So, he kept working for the Kingdom. And his friends kept thinking that he just might keep going forever.
After the call, I went to my computer to send word to others. The radio was on, and the announcer said that the next piece would be Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.
"Yes, that's Ron's music," I thought.
Fanfare would certainly suit him. Ron was incredibly multi-talented. He hosted a popular TV program in the United States for years. He was a publisher, a film producer, a pastor and port chaplain in Hong Kong, an artist, a cook, a martial arts black belt, a businessman on behalf of the apostolate. He set up contemporary China's first Catholic printing plant. He was one of the early directors of UCA News and for decades kept this Asian church news agency alive through his ability to garner financial contributions for its operations.
Admittedly, some would also point out that if a fanfare were played for Ron Saucci, the likelihood is high that he would be among the trumpeters. He blew his own horn, something that especially bothered those who had only tin whistles upon which to peep. Those who loved him knew better.
One day, several carloads of priests were returning from a funeral, and stopped to visit a famous shrine. I was in Ron's car as we pulled into the huge, completely empty parking lot. Ron drove clear across the lot to a section reserved for clergy parking. As he pulled into one of the spaces, he said, "There — that should give them something to talk about." All I could say was, "Ron, sometimes you do an excellent Ron Saucci imitation." He smiled and said, "You figured it out."
Ron was the son of a Brooklyn pizzeria owner, and he never stopped being so. He knew political, social, cultural and financial leaders around the world, but his happiest relationships were with waiters, parking lot attendants, gardeners and old men sitting on benches in Hong Kong.
He was idolized by the mainly Filipina congregation with which he celebrated the Sunday Eucharist in Hong Kong. He had an uncanny ability that I envy as a preacher. He was not a scholar or theologian, but knew how to help his hearers open their hearts to respond to the Holy Spirit preaching within them. He did it by sharing his own heart stories, but in such a way as to awaken his hearers' own stories. Any time I heard him preach, I wished I could manage to do as he did, but I lack the humility that his bluster hid.
Those of us who worked with him experienced another aspect of that ability. He often detected talents that we ourselves did not know we had. And then he challenged us to explore and develop them while allowing us to stumble along the way, even if sometimes our stumbles might take him down as well. Ron had great respect for the abilities, dreams and potential of youth.
When I was still a seminarian and Ron was in one of his stints as a department head at Maryknoll's headquarters, he was at a table with a group of us students as we were being hounded by an older priest who was infamous for his ill-mannered assaults upon anyone and anything that smacked of Vatican II. When in the course of a diatribe which we seminarians endured with uncharacteristic patience he said, "I would never enter the seminary today!" Ron calmly spoke on our behalf. "Then shut up and give some respect to these men who are willing to do what you wouldn't for the Gospel." I had liked him before; that's when I came to love him.
Ron Saucci did not have a common touch. He did not need it. He was a common man. He had the foibles common to us all. But, he used those foibles for the sake of his vocation as a priest and missioner. He could touch and teach the common man in everyone, no matter how "uncommon" they might appear to others, or even themselves.
Just as for that congregation in Hong Kong, so too he helped everyone he met to touch the glory of God within each of us. He knew that the common man deserves fanfare. May he be welcomed into God's kingdom with heaven's fanfare for the common man.
As I wrote that last sentence with the radio tuned to another station, Copland's Fanfare started playing. An echo of heaven?
Father William Grimm, MM, is publisher of ucanews.com and is based in Tokyo.
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Maryknoll
- Tools for Evangelization Linkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5sfU7JPbQc&list=PLSlEQOucr48SDr7dYXlUkaai5tQVQKjNb
- MaryknollMaryknoll was established in 1911 as the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America by the Bishops of the United States. Responsibility for its development fell to two diocesan priests, Fr. James Anthony Walsh of Boston and Fr. Thomas Frederick Price of North Carolina, with the commission to recruit, send and support U.S. missioners in areas around the world. On June 29, 1911, Pope Pius X blessed the founding of Maryknoll. Maryknoll's first missioners left for China in 1918. Today there are over 450 Maryknoll priests and Brothers serving in countries around the world, principally in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Maryknoll History
- Maryknoll's FoundersBishop James A Walsh James Anthony Walsh, son of James Walsh and Hanna Shea, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on February 24, 1867. After completing his elementary education in the public schools, he attended Boston College High School where, in extracurricular activities, his skills in debating and journalism were first recognized and developed. He began his college program at Boston College, interrupted it to study bookkeeping, transferred to Harvard College as a "special student", and completed his studies at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. He was ordained on May 20, 1892, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. Early Accomplishments After ordination, Walsh was appointed curate at St. Patrick's Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts where he directed sodalities and organizations for both the young men and women of the parish. In 1903, he was appointed Diocesan Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and in 1907 founded The Field Afar magazine, a monthly publication about the foreign missions of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America Walsh's interest in the foreign missions led to his founding, together with Rev. Thomas Frederick Price, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (C.F.M.S.A.) (commonly referred to as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers) in 1911. He acted as spiritual father and co-founder, with Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, of the Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic (now called Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic). He served as Superior General of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers until his death in 1936. During the founding process and in his service as Superior General, Walsh made trips across the United States, to Rome and to other places throughout the world. A Lifetime of Service In 1933, Walsh was elected to the episcopacy and named Titular Bishop of Siene. He was consecrated in Rome on June 29, 1933, in the College of Propaganda Fide by Cardinal Fumasoni-Biondi. He died at Maryknoll, New York, on April 14, 1936. Fr.Price Youth and Education As a youth, Price had close contact with the priests of his parish (St. Thomas, Wilmington, North Carolina). One priest who figured prominently in his early life was Bishop James Gibbons, newly appointed first Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina. Gibbons established his headquarters at St. Thomas Church and soon began to show a special interest in young Price. Price often served Mass for Gibbons and accompanied him on special trips throughout the Vicariate. With his religious background (especially the deep devotion of his mother to the Blessed Virgin), Price soon felt an attraction to the priesthood. He confided his interest to the parish priest, Fr. Mark Gross, and arrangements were made for him to enter St. Charles Seminary at Catonsville, Maryland, in August, 1876. On route to the seminary by ship, Price escaped death in the shipwreck of the Rebecca Clyde. Price attributed his survival to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the accident, he returned home until January 1877. Price attended St. Charles' Seminary from January 1877, until his commencement on June 28, 1881. On September 1881, he entered St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 20, 1886, by Bishop Northrup at the pro-cathedral in Wilmington, North Carolina (Both of Price's parents had died prior to his ordination.) Price was the first North Carolinian to be ordained to the priesthood, and he was assigned to missionary work in the eastern section of his native state. Early Years of Priesthood Within one year after his ordination, Price was appointed the pastor of the few Catholics in and around the towns of Asheville and Bern. After the first few years of priesthood, he obtained permission from Bishop Haid, his ordinary, to begin a statewide evangelization program. His methods were influenced by Fr. Eliott, a famous Paulist preacher. One of Price's tools for evangelization was the publication of the magazine Truth, which he began to publish and edit in April 1897. A second tool was the establishment of Nazareth Orphanage in 1898. Price's plan was to first help the underprivileged of an area and thereby win the favor of the general population who would then be more inclined to listen to the message of the missionary. Following the success of the Nazareth Orphanage, Price organized summer catechizing teams of seminarians. Finally, in 1902, Price opened his missionary training house at Nazareth. It was a preparatory seminary whose sole purpose was the education and formation of missionaries for the home missions. It was called Regina Apostolorum. From 1902 to 1909, Price directed the Regina Apostolorum and acted as its primary teacher and spiritual director. Plans for a Foreign Mission Seminary As time went on, Price began to emphasize more and more often in the pages of Truth the need of a seminary for the training of young American men for the foreign missions. At the same time, Rev. James Anthony Walsh, of Boston, was developing the same idea in the pages of The Field Afar. At the Eucharistic Congress in Montreal in 1910, the two priests met and began to formulate plans for the establishment of a seminary for foreign missionaries. With the approval of the American hierarchy, the two priests traveled to Rome in June 1911, to receive final approval from Pope Pius X for their project. After meeting with the Holy Father, Price traveled to Lourdes for the first time. During his stay at Lourdes, Price had a spiritual experience that was to significantly affect all of his future life. Price refers to the experience in his personal diary. A special devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and Bernadette Soubirous would follow him all the way to his death. Returning to the United States, Price, together with Walsh, began the plans for the establishment of the new seminary and the foreign mission society. After a brief stay at Hawthorne, New York, property was purchased at Ossining, New York, for the site of the new society: the American Catholic Foreign Mission Society (popularly known as Maryknoll). Foreign Missions Begin Price made an around-the-country tour of America to gain support for the new endeavor. By 1918, three young priests (Frs. James E. Walsh, Francis X. Ford, and Bernard F. Meyer) were ready for the foreign missions in China. On September 7, Price went with them as superior to the new missions. From the time of the foundation of Maryknoll, Price had understood that Walsh was the one capable of administering and directing the seminary itself. Price himself had always hoped to be chosen as one of Maryknoll's first missioners, and his dream was realized. Because of his age, Price had great difficulty learning the Chinese language. He also suffered from physical ailments. On September 12, 1919, he died in Hong Kong as a result of a burst appendix. In 1936, his body was exhumed and transferred to the cemetery at Maryknoll, New York. In 1955, his remains, together with those of Bishop James A. Walsh, were finally interred in the crypt below the Maryknoll Seminary Chapel.