July 23, 2018 - July 25, 2018
Save the Date! The next Alumni Reunion is July 21-24, 2019!
Click here to see photos from the 2018 Alumni Reunion.
Monday: Golf and Fr. Dave Dwyer’s Workshop
The 90th Alumni Reunion included time for fellowship with classmates, relaxation, spiritual renewal, and learning.
The reunion kicked off on Monday, July 23, with a golf scramble at Christmas Lake Golf Course in Santa Claus and a workshop presented by Father Dave Dwyer, CSP, a Paulist priest and Executive Director of Busted Halo Ministries.
Fr. Dwyer is the publisher of BustedHalo.com which has been honored with top awards from the Catholic Press Association and the Associated Church Press, and the host of “The Busted Halo Show with Father Dave,” a call-in radio talk show airing five nights a week on SiriusXM radio on which he answers questions of faith for over thirty million subscribers.
His two-part workshop was titled, “Leaving the Upper Room: How the Church Needs to Reach Out to the Millennial Generation.” You can listen to the audio here (morning session, afternoon session). In this interactive workshop, Fr. Dave facilitated a conversation about how parishes and other ministries can be more proactive in reaching young adults.
That evening, the anniversary classes of O’68 (50 years), O’78 (40 years), T’93 (25 years), T’08 (10 years); College classes of 1968 (50 years), 1978 (40 years), and 1993 (25 years); and high school class of 1968 (50 years), and the college class of 1973 (45 years) were honored at a banquet.
Tuesday: Fr. Mark O’Keefe, OSB, Br. Francis Wagner, OSB, Archbishop Peter Wells
On Tuesday, Fr. Mark O’Keefe, OSB, gave a workshop. You can listen to the audio here. An author and a moral theologian, Fr. Mark was the president-rector of Saint Meinrad School of Theology from 1996 to 2008. Alumni also attended a workshop given by Br. Francis de Sales Wagner, OSB, author of several Abbey Press publications on Benedictine and Catholic spirituality, including “Grace in the Wilderness: Reflections on God’s Sustaining Word Along Life’s Journey” (2013). You can listen to that talk here.
Archbishop Peter Wells C’87, Apostolic Nuncio to South Africa and Botswana presided and preached at Tuesday afternoon’s Reunion Mass in the Archabbey Church. Originally from the Diocese of Tulsa, Archbishop Wells entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1999. Wells most recently was the Assessor for the General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, a position equivalent to deputy chief of staff, which handles most Church affairs apart from relations with states.
At the banquet on Tuesday evening, Archbishop Wells received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. You can listen to his acceptance speech here.
In addition to these events, there was ample time to socialize with classmates and friends. There were receptions before and after the banquets each night and plenty of time to catch up throughout the day.
