Oct 28, 2015
by William Richardson
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of our Sacred Heart Seminary college graduation, members of the class of 1965 got together for a weekend in Detroit in mid-June.
The total count of those who attended at least one of the events was twenty-five. Adding spouses brought the total to thirty-five.
On Friday evening, we gathered at classmate Bill Sumner's home. He presented the group with a most unusual commemorative cake. It featured an image of the seminary building etched in frosting with a Latin inscription translating as The Seal of Sacred Heart Seminary. The rectangular cake was topped by life-sized replica of a birettamade of cake and coated with frosting. The biretta is a hat commonly worn by priests back in our seminary days, including junior and senior collegians.
On Saturday, the group re-gathered at the seminary for Mass, dinner, and unrehearsed speechmaking. Former faculty members were invited, but only one was able to attend: long-time librarian and English professor Arnold Rzepecki, along with his wife, Eleanor. Fr. Bob Ruedisueli was the chief celebrant, assisted by Fr. Steve Makranyi and Fr. Jim Cronk, who also was the homilist.
Finally, on Sunday, a number of us joined classmate Fr. Howard Vogan at his Livonia parish of St. Genevieve-St. Maurice for Mass and a great Italian dinner at a local restaurant.
Although not all attendees made all three events, we all had a great time. While our post-seminary lives have diverged in so many ways, our class remains a close one, one that values those days together in the seminary and the education that the fine faculty of a half century ago gave us.
Sacred Heart alumni are welcomed to celebrate the anniversaries of their class at the seminary. Contact Emily Berschback, event manager, at 313-883-7424 or berschback.emily@aod.org. Ask Emily about celebrating a class anniversary at the annual Archbishop's Gala in June.
William Richardson
William Richardson is a member of Sacred Heart’s College Class of 1965 and a former board chairman of the Sacred Heart Alumni Association. He is a contributor to and editor of Wandering Between Two Worlds: The Sacred Heart Seminary Class of 1965, which is available at Amazon.com.