Hi Ed,
Thanks for your thoughts. I find it ironic and interesting that I was
"in Maryknoll" from 1960-1972 and left just one year shy of ordination
but never really heard much about people being asked to leave. I only
knew of a very few isolated cases in those 12 years and they happened
primarily in high school and early college years.
In most cases, I found that the upheaval in the culture and the
Catholic church were the biggest causes of departure for the guys who
communicated with me. One of our old classmates, now Dr. James
Leonard, went through high school and left early in Glen Ellyn. He
just didn't feel that he was cut out for that kind of work, enlisted
in the army and used it to become a doctor. He has been a noted
professor at the University of Michigan School of Medicine for many
years.. I guess my point is that Jimmy, like most of the rest of us,
was motivated to serve others and the best model for that for Catholic
boys who grew up in the 50's were priests. As the Catholic Church and
American culture in general were shaken during the 60's a whole lot of
other models for service like the Peace Corps and VISTA etc. arose.
Then there were the radical changes that Pope John Paul XXIII
introduced in the early 60's that lead to the "agiornamento" of the
Catholic Church and such upheaval all over the world. I remember in
particular that there were many guys in our college ranks who, after
1964, were convinced that at any time the Catholic Church would open
up to a married priesthood but who got tired of waiting. Celibacy is
an incredible gift given to a very few men whom I have known within
and outside of Maryknoll and I have a world of admiration for those
who truly live out that calling without "compensating". I speak as
one who worked for two years on the mission field with Knollers in
Venezuela and trained with others in Bolivia. The whole issue of
mandatory celibacy, in my opinion, robbed the Catholic Church of some
of its finest servants and terribly damaged others who sublimated with
alcohol, pornography and sexual obsessions. I guess I left in '72
after finishing my MA in Theology in Caracas because I just couldn't
see myself drifting into the priesthood only to leave after a short
while to marry someone. I had seen the devastation that was left
behind both in the parishes in Latin America and in the personal lives
of many of the guys I worked with. Heck, the superior general of
Maryknoll (forget his name) ran off with the mother superior of the
Maryknoll nuns in the early 70's, if memory serves me correctly. Talk
about leaving a confused bunch of people in his wake!
In a curious way, the turmoil of the Catholic Church and American
culture succeeded in scattering some wonderfully compassionate and
committed young Catholic men into fields of endeavor where they might
never otherwise have had a chance to impact people's lives. I think
of Jo'c serving as a Lutheran chaplain for many years in a Canadian
hospital, Dr. Jimmy Leonard teaching a couple of generations of
doctors at the University of Michigan, Eddie Armstrong practicing law,
Dale Meisel serving as the prison warden of a Pennsylvania county
jail, Mike Mulhern an editor, writer and interviewer of famous
people....the list could go on for a long time. I think that the
fruit of our emails and conversations will be discovering the
wonderful placement of talented, passionate young in service to others
in so many different ways. That is the story I can't wait to continue
to hear.
Foster Braun fosterbraun@hotmail.com
(586) 940-1633 Mobile
================================================================================
Foster Braun
To: John JSPS
What a delight to hear from you but I have to admit that it blew my
mind when I used Google to find the bustling crossroads of Middle West
Pubnico, NS. How in the world did you land about as far east as you
can on continental North America? My sister did the same thing in the
opposite direction; she headed for BC in the early '70's, spent 30
years as an OT in the Canadian Health System and is now retired,
landed immigrant in Fanny Bay, BC on Vancouver Island.
Let me make this a personal plea to all the guys on the mailing list,
although I have already enjoyed Paul Manghi's response: Would you all
please put together a brief bio that traces the arc of your lives from
our days at MK to your present circumstances and send them on to Mike
Mulhern (mcmulhern1@yahoo.com) to compile. He has the editorial
skills and the writer's gift to compile them into a very interesting
documentary of the lives of a group of uniquely gifted, idealistic
young men who were at an age when most were concerned with getting
ahead sexually and socially, concerned with a brighter vision.
Some of you may know that I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (bone
marrow cancer) in October and am undergoing chemo therapy for a
remission some time this year. Today, Wednesday, my hematologist will
take a bone marrow sample to see just how well the chemo combo is
doing at reaching that goal. If you are at all interested you can
follow the saga through a medical website for families and friends of
people with life-threatening illnesses called CaringBridge As a matter
of fact I have already heard from a number of you through that site
thanks to Mike's efforts. I apologize if it sounds like I am trying
to sell something here but the guestbook comments that I have received
from some of you guys have been a lifeline of encouragement and I am
selfish enough to admit freely that I need all that I can get. Feel
free to ignore this but I have to say that it has opened some rich
sharing with a few of you that I will treasure for the rest of the
days that God grants me.
I hope to be able to find out more about paths that have taken you to
places like Middle West Pubnico in the wilds of Nova Scotia or to
being the warden of a county jail in Pennsylvania! I think that I was
one of the last ones from the original Venard Class of 60 to finally
leave Maryknoll. In 1972 I returned from Caracas, Venezuela where I
had completed my Master of Arts in Theology at the major seminary. I
left Maryknoll that year at the tender age of 26 deeply appreciative
of all that I had received along the way in education, camaraderie,
and a vision for helping "the least of the brethren" but convinced
that the Catholic priesthood was not the path to achieve those ends.
As a matter of fact I hadn't the vaguest idea what I wanted to be when
I grew up. Eventually I began a career in radio broadcasting which I
still dabble in (www.internetadvisor.net) on a Detroit radio station
where I have worked for the last 12 years. Along the way, I was
blessed to meet and marry Ginny and her four daughters who have given
us 17 grandchildren and are my best friends and biggest supporters.
Cancer went off like a grenade in my life in October of this past year
when an acute back problem was operated on and the bone marrow
revealed the extensive damage done by MM. The other major change that
took place in my life occurred much earlier in 1978 when I gave up
religion and became a disciple of Jesus Christ. We have served for
the last 31 years in various capacities in the same church in suburban
Detroit doing everything from leading worship to teaching Sunday
School and most recently to becoming an adjunct professor of theology
for Central Bible College, Springfield, MO. The rest...well, that is
history that is being written as you read and if you are interested, I
would be happy to share with you as it unfolds.
There you have my thumbnail contribution. Feel free to ignore it or
enjoy it; I would love to know your "story" as well. During the last
half century approximately since this process began for many of us,
our class as a whole has not had much success in keeping in touch with
one another or, more honestly, I have had little success in keeping in
touch with many of you. I do hope that this changes but will
understand if you have no interest in continuing the contact. Mike,
thanks for starting the process and I will commit to working with you
to help in any way that I can. Every day is a gift for me and I don't
want to squander it.
Bless you my brothers and Jo'c thanks for starting the ball rolling.
Paul M, thanks for the second shove; here we go!
Foster Braun
20633 Van Antwerp
Harper Woods, MI 48225
fosterbraun@hotmail.com
(586) 940-1633 Mobile
Braun Mighty Men
================================================================================
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the DVD. For some reason my Mac won't play it but Windows
Media Player running on Win 7 Pro did just fine. I was impressed with
the quality of the production for the two promotional pieces on
recruiting since I have dome some video production myself. I did get
a kick out of seeing my classmates and myself from the early 70's; it
looked like an audition for "Hair"! LOL I, in particular, looked like
I had just awoken from sleeping under a bridge and was having a bad
hair day! Jake Dunn and Jerome "Froggy" Kernen were by far the most
articulate spokespeople for our group. It was also fun to see Tom
Bamat on the video. He and I travelled to Buenos Aires together with
some of the language teachers as their "chaperones" after we finished
language school in 70. Tom stayed on to finish his studies in Chile
or Peru, I forget which.
Hi Ed, (Armstrong)
Thanks for your thoughts. I find it ironic and interesting that I was
"in Maryknoll" from 1960-1972 and left just one year shy of ordination
but never really heard much about people being asked to leave. I only
knew of a very few isolated cases in those 12 years and they happened
primarily in high school and early college years.
In most cases, I found that the upheaval in the culture and the
Catholic church were the biggest causes of departure for the guys who
communicated with me. One of our old classmates, now Dr. James
Leonard, went through high school and left early in Glen Ellyn. He
just didn't feel that he was cut out for that kind of work, enlisted
in the army and used it to become a doctor. He has been a noted
professor at the University of Michigan School of Medicine for many
years.. I guess my point is that Jimmy, like most of the rest of us,
was motivated to serve others and the best model for that for Catholic
boys who grew up in the 50's were priests. As the Catholic Church and
American culture in general were shaken during the 60's a whole lot of
other models for service like the Peace Corps and VISTA etc. arose.
Then there were the radical changes that Pope John Paul XXIII
introduced in the early 60's that lead to the "agiornamento" of the
Catholic Church and such upheaval all over the world. I remember in
particular that there were many guys in our college ranks who, after
1964, were convinced that at any time the Catholic Church would open
up to a married priesthood but who got tired of waiting. Celibacy is
an incredible gift given to a very few men whom I have known within
and outside of Maryknoll and I have a world of admiration for those
who truly live out that calling without "compensating". I speak as
one who worked for two years on the mission field with Knollers in
Venezuela and trained with others in Bolivia. The whole issue of
mandatory celibacy, in my opinion, robbed the Catholic Church of some
of its finest servants and terribly damaged others who sublimated with
alcohol, pornography and sexual obsessions. I guess I left in '72
after finishing my MA in Theology in Caracas because I just couldn't
see myself drifting into the priesthood only to leave after a short
while to marry someone. I had seen the devastation that was left
behind both in the parishes in Latin America and in the personal lives
of many of the guys I worked with. Heck, the superior general of
Maryknoll (forget his name) ran off with the mother superior of the
Maryknoll nuns in the early 70's, if memory serves me correctly. Talk
about leaving a confused bunch of people in his wake!
In a curious way, the turmoil of the Catholic Church and American
culture succeeded in scattering some wonderfully compassionate and
committed young Catholic men into fields of endeavor where they might
never otherwise have had a chance to impact people's lives. I think
of Jo'c serving as a Lutheran chaplain for many years in a Canadian
hospital, Dr. Jimmy Leonard teaching a couple of generations of
doctors at the University of Michigan, Eddie Armstrong practicing law,
Dale Meisel serving as the prison warden of a Pennsylvania county
jail, Mike Mulhern an editor, writer and interviewer of famous
people....the list could go on for a long time. I think that the
fruit of our emails and conversations will be discovering the
wonderful placement of talented, passionate young in service to others
in so many different ways. That is the story I can't wait to continue
to hear.
Foster Braun
fosterbraun@hotmail.com
(586) 940-1633 Mobile
================================================================================