The Reverend Stanley Lukaszewski…Father Stas…will offer the annual Mater Dei Mass of Remembrance scheduled for Saturday, September 21t at noon at St. Mary, Mother of God Church, New Monmouth.
Graduates, families of graduates and others affiliated with the former Mater Dei High School are invited to serve as readers, gift bearers or Eucharistic Ministers for the mass which honors deceased teachers, priests, nuns, staff, and graduates of Mater Dei High School since its first graduating class of 1965.
Father Stas, who served as parochial vicar at St Mary’s for many years and is always popular with Mater Dei students both for spiritual guidance and friendship, retired from the priesthood in 2020 and is in residence in Trenton as well as serving as weekend assistant at churches in Hamilton Square and Willingboro.
He recently celebrated his 45th anniversary in the priesthood, having been ordained by Bishop George W. Ahr in May 1979. Father Stas also served as pastor in parishes in Manasquan as well as St. Barnabas in Bayville and held numerous positions throughout the Trenton diocese and the Knights of Columbus.
Tradition and remembrance die hard among Seraphs, and this Mass is no different. For those who went to Mater Dei High School in the mid-1970s and onward in the 20th century, there was always Thomas C. Murray, the award-winning history teacher whom students loved and regarded as an outstanding educator, friend, and leader.
Mr. Murray did more than teach history in a classroom. He taught each of the students to become good decent adults, to commit themselves to helping others, to always do the right thing. He kept up with his former students as well. He had taught at Essex Catholic High School in Newark before coming to Mater Dei during his four decades as an educator.
A graduate of Fordham University and Iona College, he devoted his last years to writing and authored several books, including one on poetry and another, “Just a Kid from Hell’s Kitchen,” a biography. He was an actor and a playwright, and a member of the ACLU.
In June of 2007, TC, as he was affectionately known, reached out to his Mater Dei family with the idea of an annual Mass of Remembrance, to ensure that graduates of the high school who died would continue to be remembered by their alma mater.
He put together the first Mass of Remembrance, that year with former classmates of deceased members among those reading the Necrology so teachers, staff, priests, nuns and students, would be remembered.
When it was over, TC reached out to one of the alumni, Mari Campanella Kovach, whom he had asked to help with the first Remembrance Mass and asked her to be sure the annual Mass would continue. Mari willingly agreed and assured her former teacher she would.
TC died in June the following year.
Mari and a dedicated team of Mater Dei alumni have continued the annual mass every year since.
Father Stas is also continuing the tradition of former parish clergy offering the remembrance mass. When he offered the remembrance mass last year, he was following the tradition that included another clergy who came back to New Monmouth for the annual memorial.
Members of the Mass of Remembrance Committee include those who have made the commitment to TC besides Kovach Class of ’78, including Cathy Daniels, class of ’79, and Tom Dooley, Class of ’65.
After the final blessing of the mass, the names of those in the school’s Memorial Necrology, along with their graduation years, will be ready by former classmates, friends, and family members of those being honored. Always included in the Memorial are Monsignor. Robert T. Bulman, Founder of Mater Dei High School, and Founding Principal Mother Bede Loob, OSF, and other former principals and school administrators who have died.
Approximately 500 alumni and staff will be remembered in the mass on Saturday September 21, marking all those who have died since the school’s first graduating class of 1965 and who are on the school’s Necrology List.
A special invitation is extended to family members of Seraphs who have died as well as alumni from the classes celebrating their milestone reunions: 1969, 1974, 1979, 1989, 1984, 1999, 1994, 2009, 2004, 2014, 2019.
Those wishing to take an active part in the mass can contact Ms. Kovach at deckhill@comcast.net), Tom Dooley ’65 (tfdooley1947@gmail.com) or Cathy Daniels ’79 (cathy_daniels@verizon.net).
For graduates or family members who want to provide updated information to the Mater Dei Prep Memorial Necrology, e-mail deckhill@comcast.net
