Immaculata honors deceased Spartans at memorial Mass

Nearly 300 people gathered in the Immaculata High School gymnasium on Nov. 10 to celebrate the 21st Spartan Memorial Mass and honor alumni, faculty and staff, religious and family members who have passed away.

Against the backdrop of blue and white flowers and symbols of generations of Spartans passed, Msgr. Joseph Celano, pastor and director of schools, was joined in celebrating the liturgy by three parish deacons, themselves graduates of the high school – John Czekaj and Frank Quinn of the class of 1966, and David Lang of the class of 1983. 

Colleen Paras, an alumna and now director of campus ministry at the school, welcomed the assembly, noting that “much has changed, yet so much has remained the same” in the years since many of the guests walked the school’s halls. “Our school provides a soft landing for young men and women as they begin to take those difficult but necessary steps into adulthood,” she said. “For those reasons, and so many more, Immaculata remains as important and necessary today as it ever has been.”

She continued, “Today, we remember your loved ones who shared this time in life with us…friends who brought joy and laughter to these halls, teachers and colleagues who taught with love and conviction, coaches and athletes who glorified God with their talents, artists and musicians who provided color in our daily existence, and servants who worked among the least of us to lead others to Christ.”

Paras reminded the gathered of the Guardian Angel Scholarship Fund, which honors the memories of deceased family members, beloved teachers and coaches, and cherished classmates. Gifts to the Fund perpetuate the memories of fallen Spartans by providing tuition assistance to current students and those entering the school. 

In his homily, Msgr. Celano recalled St. Teresa of Calcutta, who took a fourth vow – beyond the traditional religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience – to deny Jesus nothing, even her suffering. Mother Teresa, he said, understood that without suffering, work would be merely social work, good and helpful, but not part of the redemptive work of Jesus. 

Recalling the day’s Gospel, Msgr. Celano held up as an example of trust the poor woman who offered the only few cents she had to God. “Many things threaten trust – loss and grief among them,” he said. “We must look to Jesus, who took to Himself our agony and even death, and see the redemptive love that is rooted in him, and which transforms suffering into compassion. Jesus saw here a woman who, despite despair in her life, denied God nothing.”

“If we wish to know redemptive mystery,” he concluded, we ought to reflect on the lesson of this event: “Generosity is measured not by what we give, but by what we hold back.”

Closing the service was Terry Lavin Kuboski, a member of the class of 1969 and one of the team who first established the memorial Mass in 2005. “The Blessed Mother is the patroness of this high school, serving as a model of kindness, patience and goodness,” she said. “But for this community, she fulfills another important role: that of teacher. By her example, she demonstrates how to mourn with grace and faith.” An impressive number of the gathered rose as alumni were invited by Kuboski to stand in support of the grieving families, remembering that “once a Spartan, always a Spartan.”

Guests walked the halls and reminisced before and after the Mass. Stephanie Shaffer, now of Kendall Park but a Manville resident as a student at Immaculata and a member of the class of 1979, was on hand to remember a number of classmates who had passed. She photographed plaques commemorating friends as “Spartan athletes of the year” to share with those unable to be at the Mass. “I’m here for fallen Spartans,” she said.

In the school cafeteria, family and friends gathered to flip through countless volumes of yearbooks that froze moments in time gone by. Among the memories captured in the books were words from the class of 1966: “Besides the subjects of mathematics, science and languages, we are educated in our faith – we are ‘whole men’ – we have a soul.”