Every time I visit Herman and see the Summit Academy, what used to be our beloved Saint Fidelis Seminary, I feel wistful. Although I was there only eight years out of a long life, those years were the most meaningful. They made me the man I became.
We lived a God-centered life at SFS. Our days began and ended with prayer. We knew that we were being prepared for a mission of brining God to people, especially people in need. Some of us SFS alumni became Capuchins; most alumni did not. Regardless, all of us grew up in a milieu where God was first and where we were taught that we had a duty to serve others in God’s name.
I remember one snowy Saturday afternoon during my high school sophomore year. We were working with Father Vance in the attic. Actually we weren’t doing much work, mostly exploring and playing, while Father Vance worked on some project. I remember finding in an old book a poem written by Father Rudolf Blockinger, a Capuchin missionary to China. If I remember correctly the poem was titled, “An Exile’s Death”. I think that he wrote the poem while he was a student at Saint Fidelis and it was his musing about the missionary life he hoped to have. He imagined as a boy that he would live and die in some foreign mission. His dream came true.
When we were boys at SFS, we all dreamed of our futures and our dreams were not purely selfish, but dreams that we would do something good. Our alumni have done important things. But 2022 is not the time to be satisfied with what we have done. We are still needed. The world of 2022 needs men of faith and love. Who imagined this time of pandemic and fear? Our country and Church are divided by ideology and we are separated into hateful and opposing camps. Many people have left the practice of faith and the energy that used to be given to religion is now given to divisive politics. The darkness closes in.
The world needs hope and light today, in 2022. My brother alumni, stir up in your hearts your best youthful dreams and resolve now to make your mark for good, for God, for God’s people. No matter how old you are of what you have done, rouse yourself to do something, for you are needed again!
