On June 25, 2011, five friars, along with their friends and family, celebrated jubilees, marking their arrivals into the community and the start of their religious careers.
V. Rev. James F. Puglisi, SA, Minister General, was the principal celebrant and homilist at the Mass in Pilgrim Hall.
Celebrating their Jubilees were: Fr. Dennis Polanco, SA (50 years); Fr. Joseph Scerbo, SA (50 years); Fr. Robert Warren, SA (50 years); Fr. David Doerner, SA (60 years); Fr. Daniel O'Shea, SA (60 years), and Fr. William Schmidt, SA (60 years).
Fr. David Doerner, SA, who currently resides at the Sisters of Mercy McAuley Center, in Rochester, NY, was born in Brooklyn and joined the Friars in 1951. Ordained in 1960, he served in Japan until 1977, where he was a pastor and a professor at Sophia University, Tokyo. Upon his return to the United States, he served as a hospital chaplain and became active in ecumenical activities and parish work at St. Francis Xavier and St. Odilia’s in the Los Angeles area until 2007.
Fr. Daniel O’Shea, SA, was born in Brooklyn and joined the Friars in 1951. Following his ordination in 1964, he served five years as the vice rector of St. John’s Atonement Seminary in Montour Falls, NY. Following this, he was assigned to the Friars’ house in Rome, Italy, where, for eight years, he was the local superior and the Friars’ representative to the Vatican. In 1977, he was elected to the Friars’ general counsel. He was then assigned to Christ the Redeemer parish, Sterling Park, VA, where he served for eight years, four of them as pastor. He then went to Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Yonkers. In 1999 and again in 2004, Fr. O’Shea was elected the Friars’ vicar general. In 2000, he returned to Rome as local superior and representative to the Vatican. He has served at the Chapel of Our Savior in Brockton, MA since 2009.
Fr. William (Reinhold) Schmidt, SA was born in McKeesport, PA and joined the Friars in 1951. After his ordination in 1959, he was assigned to St. John’s Seminary, Montour Falls, NY until 1963 when returned to Graymoor to serve in formation. Subsequently, he worked in formation at Our Lady of the Atonement Friary, Cumberland, RI and at Atonement Seminary, Washington, DC. In 1972 he was named the first pastor of Christ the Redeemer parish in Sterling, VA. In 1980, he was named guardian at Graymoor. In 1982, he helped establish St. Andrew’s parish in Apex, NC, where he also served as pastor.
In 1990, while at St. Andrew’s, Fr. Schmidt was elected to the Friars’ general counsel. In 1999, he returned to Christ the Redeemer where he served as parochial vicar until his retirement in 2010. He currently lives and serves at Christ the Redeemer.
Fr. Dennis Polanco, SA was born in Baltimore, MD and entered the Friars in 1961. After his ordination in 1974, he became associate pastor at Christ the Redeemer parish in Sterling, VA. In 1979 he was named the ecumenical officer for the archdiocese of Oklahoma and the associate pastor of St. Thomas Moore University parish in Norman, OK. In 1981 he returned to Graymoor and served as vocation director until 1986. From 1987 to 1989, he was a member of a pastoral team at St. Augustine Church, Oakland, CA. In 1989, he was elected to the Friars’ general council and from 1990 through 1994 was the guardian and director of studies at Atonement Seminary, Washington, DC. In 1994 he was reelected to the general council and appointed pastor of St. Joseph the Worker, Richmond, BC where he ministered until 2004. In 2004 he was reelected to the general council for a third term. In 2009, he took up residence in Washington, DC, where he is currently director of vocations, serves on the formation team, and is director of candidates.
Fr. Joseph Scerbo, SA was born in Hoosick Falls, NY, and joined the Friars in 1961. Following his ordination in 1970, he continued his graduate studies in California stressing the psychological/spiritual side of health. From 1981 to 1986, he served at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center as a staff member and program director. In 1986, he returned to Los Angeles where he has worked in a variety settings. He is currently active in parish ministry at St. Paschal Baylon Catholic Church, in Thousand Oaks, CA.
Fr. Robert Warren, SA was born in London, England and entered the Friars in 1961. After his profession, he performed administrative duties at Graymoor, the Catholic Central Library in London, and at Our Lady of the Atonement parish in Gardiner Mines, Nova Scotia. He began studying for the priesthood in 1977 and was ordained in 1981 after which he served as associate pastor at the Church of the Atonement in Windsor, Ontario. In 1984, he returned to Graymoor where he worked in the vocation department. In 1989, he established Do Not Fear to Hope at Graymoor — the first support group of its kind in the area for people with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones — for which he was awarded the ARCS Community Enhancement Award in 1994. Still involved with Do Not Fear to Hope, he has served as the Friars’ associate director of development since 1995.
