The SUE Province’s Jubilarians of 2025

By Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB

(New Rochelle, NY – September 10) – On Thursday, September 11, the SUE Province will celebrate 16 confreres who have 25, 40, 50, 60, 70, 75, and 80 years of religious profession and/or ordination. The jubilarians will be honored with a Mass at the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Stony Point, N.Y., at 4:00 p.m. ET. A dinner reception will follow at Town & Country Caterers in Congers, N.Y.

The most senior member of the province (97 years old), Fr. Enzo Trigatti, on August 16 achieved the rarity of 80 years as a professed Salesian and thus heads the roster of sixteen. Fr. Enzo made his first profession in 1945 at Chieri, Italy. He was born in Zompicchia di Codroipo (Udine province) in 1928 and began his Salesian formation at Bagnolo (Cuneo) in 1943. He was ordained at Bollengo (Turin) in 1956. In Italy he engaged in teaching and pastoral work, was vocation director, and for 23 years assisted with secretarial work at the Generalate. He came to Montreal in 1996 and ministered at Maria Ausiliatrice for 9 years. Since 2015 he has been assistant pastor in Etobicoke, ministering particularly to the Italian population.

Not very far behind Fr. Enzo is Fr. Jan Bernas, professed for 75 years, since August 16, 1950. He was born in 1930 at Oswiecim, Poland, home of the Salesians’ first work in that country, and made his novitiate and first profession at Kopiec. He was ordained in Krakow in 1958. After 23 years of ministry in his native land, he offered himself for Project Africa and was sent to London to learn English. Then he went to Zambia in 1984, serving for 8 years as a director and parish priest. He keenly promoted vocations and is proud to have had some success. After a few years back in Poland, in 1997 he came to a Polish nursing home in Woodbridge, N.J., to serve as chaplain. After retirement, he has remained in residence there. He’s the third-oldest confrere in the province.

Two novitiate companions hold the distinction of 70 years professed: Frs. John Blanco and George Hanna. They made their first profession on Sept. 8, 1955, at Newton, N.J. Fr. Blanco is the second-oldest confrere in the province, born in New Rochelle in 1930. He’s a member of that city’s sports hall of fame. He starred in baseball at Manhattan College before going to Newton as a Son of Mary in 1953. He was ordained in Turin in 1964. He has taught or administered in schools in Haverstraw, Marrero, Ramsey, New Rochelle, and Paterson, been a parish priest in Manhattan and Port Chester, and served as treasurer in Columbus, East Boston, and New Rochelle. Since 2017 he’s been in Ramsey, still doing priestly ministry.

Fr. Hanna, a few years younger than Fr. John—“only” 91—is still active as associate pastor in Harvey, La. He was born in Pawtucket, R.I., and became a Son of Mary at Newton in 1953. He was ordained in Rome in 1966. As a young Salesian, he taught in Haverstraw and Beirut; as a priest, he has engaged in vocation ministry and an abundance of parish ministry: Paterson, Elizabeth, Harlem, Orange, and Washington, D.C., before going to Harvey in 2014.

A trio of confreres were celebrating 60 years of profession: novitiate, college, and theology classmates Frs. William Ferruzzi and Timothy Ploch, and Fr. Joseph Vien Hoang, whose vocation followed a more radical trajectory. All made their first profession on August 16, 1965.

Frs. Ferruzzi and Ploch professed at Newton and were ordained in Westerville, Ohio, in 1976. Fr. Joe Vien, as he’s usually called, professed at Hong Kong. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1979, he was ordained in Columbus in 1983.

Fr. Ferruzzi, born in Boston in 1947, was raised in Revere, Mass., and was in the first freshman class at St. Dominic Savio H.S. before going to Ipswich as an aspirant. He has been director of communities in New Rochelle (twice), Columbus, and Tampa besides teaching at Cedar Lake, New Rochelle, East Boston, and Goshen. He was a formator in South Orange and CYM at the Boys & Girls Club of East Boston. He’s now on the staff of the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw.

Fr. Ploch had a Salesian link from birth because his mother had gone to Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon. He was born in Paterson, N.J., in 1946 and began his own Salesian experience as an aspirant at Haverstraw. He moved with the aspirants to Goshen in 1961 and entered the novitiate in 1964. He served initially in schools: Cedar Lake, Goshen, Ramsey, and Miami. He was also director in Columbus, Port Chester, and New Rochelle. He was provincial in New Rochelle (1991-1997) and also in San Francisco (2009-2014), the latter term interrupted when the 27th General Chapter elected him regional councilor for Interamerica. His happiest ministry, though, has been as a parish priest in Port Chester for 10 years between his terms as provincial, and now in Chicago.

Fr. Joe Vien was born at Trung Dong, Vietnam, in 1946 and made his novitiate at Dalat. He taught in Vietnam and at New Rochelle and Marrero. He was parochial vicar in Harvey, La., for 12 years and has been parochial vicar since 2012 in Port Chester, where he’s also the delegate for the Salesian Cooperators.

Fr. Thomas Gwozdz has the distinction of having been ordained by a canonized saint, viz., St. Paul VI. That was 50 years ago, on June 29, 1975, in Rome as part of the jubilee year, following theological studies at the Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio. He was born in 1940 in Springfield, Mass., and went to Newton in 1962 as a Son of Mary. He professed in 1964. He earned a PhD in philosophy from Fordham in 1996 and taught at Don Bosco College (Newton), the Josephinum (Columbus), and St. Benedict’s Seminary (Louisiana). He also taught at Ramsey and has been a parish priest in Port Chester and chaplain for the Salesian Sisters in Newton. He’s now retired at Tampa’s St. Philip the Apostle Residence.

Fifty years professed this year is Fr. James Heuser, who made his first profession on Sept. 1, 1975, at Newton. He was born in Brooklyn in 1955, was an aspirant at Goshen, and was ordained in Columbus in 1984. He taught at Goshen and DBT Boston, was vocation director, vice provincial, and master of novices, director at South Orange and Ramsey, and Eastern Province provincial from 2003 to 2009. Since 2021 he has been president of Salesian H.S. in New Rochelle.

Another trio were ordained 40 years ago: Frs. Richard Crager, James Mulloy, and Steve Shafran. Frs. Crager and Mulloy began their Salesian life together as Sons of Mary in Tampa, professed together at Newton in 1978, and were ordained on May 18, 1985, in Columbus. Fr. Shafran, on the other hand, graduated from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, went to Newton as a Son of Mary in 1974, and professed there in 1976. All three studied theology at the Josephinum, but Fr. Shafran’s first three years were at the Ukrainian seminary in Rome under the auspices of the UPS, and he was ordained in the Ukrainian Rite at Philadelphia on May 5, 1985.

Fr. Crager was born in Parsons, Kan., in 1952 and has taught at Ramsey, Goshen, Marrero, and DBT Boston and served in the Boys & Girls Clubs in Columbus and East Boston. After some years as assistant pastor in Elizabeth, he has most recently served as treasurer in New Rochelle and currently in Tampa.

Fr. Mulloy was born in Gary, Ind., and raised nearby in Merrillville. He has always been a schoolman, teaching in Tampa, DBT Boston, New Rochelle, and now Ramsey. He was director in Tampa and was briefly a formator in Orange.

Fr. Shafran was born in Passaic, N.J., in 1956. In addition to teaching at East Boston, New Rochelle, and Marrero, he has served as a vocation director and director of communities in Columbus and Ramsey and was the founding president of Don Bosco Cristo Rey in Takoma Park, Md. He earned a PhD in education from the University of San Francisco in 1994. He was a provincial councilor for 9 years, provincial for 2 years, coordinator of the Marian Shrine for 7 years, and now teaches at Cristo Rey Tampa.

Fr. James Berning and Alain Leonard made their first professions 40 years ago, on August 25, 1985. Fr. Berning professed at Newton after novitiate there, and Fr. Leonard in Sherbrooke after novitiate in that house.

Fr. Berning was born in 1957 in Lincoln’s hometown, Springfield, Ill., and was a prenovice in Marrero. After ordination in Columbus in 1993, he has had a varied ministry. He taught at Marrero, was a parish priest in Port Chester, Washington, D.C., Etobicoke, and Chicago, was a formator in Orange and director in Marrero, coordinated retreats in Haverstraw, and served as vocation director in Canada. He was recently assigned to the Don Bosco Cristo Rey community in Maryland.

Fr. Leonard has spent almost his whole life in Sherbrooke, where he was born in 1964, attended Seminaire Salesien (now Le Salesien) and university, and did part of his theology. He completed theology at the UPS in Rome but was ordained in 1993 in Sherbrooke. At Le Salesien as a cleric and a priest, he’s ministered as a teacher, treasurer, director, and school chaplain.

Two silver jubilarians of ordination are new to the province. Fr. John Jaejun Chong has just come from Korea to serve the Korean parishioners at Mary Help of Christians Parish in Tampa. He was ordained on November 11, 2000, in Seoul, his hometown. He was born there in 1968 and made his first profession at Daejeon, South Korea, in 1994. He studied both philosophy and theology at Gwangu Catholic University and has done Salesian ministry in Seoul.

Fr. Krzysztof Nizniak was ordained in Wroclaw, Poland, on May 5, 2000. He was born at Lubin in the Silesian region of Poland in 1970 and made his novitiate at Kopiec in 1990-1991. He went to Africa as a missionary in 1995 and studied theology at Nairobi. He became a member of the Anglophone West Africa Province, since reorganized to form West Africa-South, including Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. He expects to arrive in New Rochelle toward the end of September to become assistant director of Salesian Missions.

Please pray for all the jubilarians of 2025, and stay tuned to see how the event went. It will be featured in next week’s issue of Salesian News.