June 21, 2017 // Special

Brothers of Holy Cross celebrate jubilees at Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Todays Catholic

60-year jubilees

Brother Michael Becker was born in Huntington on March 22, 1937, graduated from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and entered the juniorate on Sept. 10, 1955. Following his novitiate year, he studied at St. Edward’s University.

His early assignments were in Milwaukee, Wis.; Akron, Ohio; Watertown, Wis.: and Rolling Prairie. For the next 38 years, Brother Michael’s focus was on clerical work in various community offices. From 1983 to present day, Brother Michael has been in the Provincial Business Office at Notre Dame.

Brother Edward Dailey first served for 13 years as a teacher and school administrator in Ghana and Liberia. After teaching in Ohio and working with the administration of the Midwest Province, he served for 24 years as the general secretary of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Rome, Italy. During this time, Brother Edward assisted with the beatification of their founder, Blessed Basil Moreau, in Le Mans, France, the canonization of Brother Andre Bessette at the Vatican, and the opening of the cause for beatification of the Most Rev. Vincent McCauley, CSC, in Fort Portal, Uganda.

During the past eight years, while working in Rome, he went to Bangladesh as a teacher in an intensive English course for young religious from different communities ministering in that country.

Brother Larry Stewart studied at Notre Dame after the novitiate, earned his bachelor’s degree in pre-med in 1960 and was selected to study for a master’s degree in virology. The next year he went to Ghana, where he spent 10 years teaching. When he returned to the United States, he was awarded an NSF scholarship and began study for a Ph.D. in physiology at the University of Texas in Austin. He earned another degree in exercise physiology at Ball State University.

His teaching career has included positions at Holy Cross Junior College, Saint Mary’s College, Ball State University, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Tulane School of Tropical Medicine and St. Edward’s University. In 2007, he assumed the job of province archivist.

Brother Kenneth Allen was born on July 5, 1935, in Green Bay, Wis. He graduated from St. Phillips Elementary School and Central Catholic High School, both in Green Bay.

He entered the juniorate Nov. 13, 1955. After his novitiate year, Brother Kenneth remained at Silver Lake Farm for two years. For the next 13 years, he was a mechanic and farmer at St. Joseph Farm in Granger. Brother Kenneth then did maintenance at three different novitiates the congregation operated for the next 21 years.

Since 1994, Brother Kenneth has been at the University of Portland, where he oversees maintenance of the Holy Cross Courts residence for priests and brothers.

Brother Gerald Nettesheim, celebrating 60 years as a brother of Holy Cross, was born in Waukesha, Wis., Nov. 17, 1935. He entered juniorate on Sept. 24, 1955, and made his first vows in Rolling Prairie on Jan. 26, 1957.

Brother Gerald spent 51 of 60 years as a Holy Cross Brother in the service of troubled youth, either in direct care or support services.

Following the novitiate, he spent a year and a half as a scholastic at Dujarie Hall, Notre Dame. In 1958 he was assigned to Father Gibault School for Boys at Terre Haute, and in 1966 he was assigned to Boysville of Michigan, now Holy Cross Children’s Services, where he worked for 43 years. Since May 2009 he has been a resident of Columba Hall at Notre Dame.

Brother William Mewes was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1933, but spent his early years in Texas and Wisconsin. He joined the U.S. Navy, where he decided to become a brother, and entered the juniorate in Wisconsin in October 1955. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1960 and received his master’s degree in theology in 1965.

He taught for 10 years in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana before he worked in children’s treatment service and at a prison in Kentucky. He was a high school social worker, the executive secretary of the Social Justice Commission for the Midwest Province and the director of the Indiana nuclear weapons freeze campaign. He returned to Notre Dame for a year of updating in theology before going to Ghana, West Africa, where he taught at a seminary before doing formation work with potential Brother candidates.

Back in the U.S., he worked for Catholic Social Services in Florida and at Saint Edward’s parish in Richmond, Va., before moving to Annunciation parish in Albuquerque, N.M., where he retired. In retirement, he has done various volunteer jobs with Holy Cross College, Meals on Wheels and teaching courses on prayer.

50-year jubilees

Brother Shaun Gray is originally from Waukesha County, Wis. When he was 10 years old, his father enrolled him in Sacred Heart Military Academy, operated by the brothers of Holy Cross.

He attended and graduated from Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha in 1965, and entered the community on his 18th birthday. While he was a scholastic, Sacred Heart Military Academy moved to Rolling Prairie and was renamed Le Mans Academy. When he took his vows in 1967 he was given a temporary assignment to Le Mans Academy. This lasted for 35 years, until the school closed. In 2004 he became a pastoral associate at St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Michigan City.

Brother Joseph Kofi Tsiquaye has ministerial experiences that started during university, when he spent summers teaching with the brothers in Liberia. After graduating from University of Cape Coast, he joined the faculty at St. Augustine’s College. Later, he taught in Ghana.

After a sabbatical in the USA in 1977, he returned to Ghana where he was elected District Superior in the Diocese of Sunyani and he served in various capacities for 13 years.

After serving as District Superior, he joined the Holy Cross Novitiate Staff in Uganda. He studied Formative Spirituality and returned to Uganda. He re-opened the Ghana Novitiate Program in 1999, the year he graduated from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa. In 2000, the superior general invited Brother Joseph to serve on the General Council in Rome. For the next 10 years he was the councilor responsible for Congregational Planning and Structures, and then the councilor responsible for Formation. In Ghana, he assists in the formation ministry.

Brother John Tryon began religious life in Holy Cross at Sacred Heart Juniorate in Watertown, Wis., and entered novitiate in Rolling Prairie.

His ministry has included teaching English and theology, and serving as counselor and campus minister at Midwest Province and diocesan schools in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. He also taught composition and literature in Chicago and Holy Cross College at Notre Dame.

In addition to teaching, he served as development director at Holy Trinity High School, director of the Public Service Institute at City Colleges of Chicago, director of the Indiana Training Institute, vice-president for institutional advancement at Family and Children’s Center in Mishawaka, and director of vocations and the Associates of Holy Cross for the Midwest Province of Brothers. He currently ministers in Peru.

40-year jubilee

Brother Dennis J. Bednarz was born on the north side of Chicago in Holy Trinity Parish. He attended Holy Trinity Elementary School and High School, where he became acquainted with Holy Cross priests.

History always fascinated him, and he decided to major in it. Since the brothers were teachers, he then opted to explore religious life as a brother. After two years in college, he went to the novitiate in Bennington, Vt. He completed his undergraduate work at Notre Dame. After five summers of graduate study he earned a master’s degree at Indiana University in Bloomington. Over the years, he taught in five schools in the Midwest Province.