October 24, 2008
On
Sunday, October 19, 2008, more than 60 alumni and friends from St.
John’s University’s historic Brooklyn campus on Schermerhorn Street
and members of The McCallen Society gathered at the Museum of the
City of NY to reminisce about days gone by and tour the exhibit
“Catholics in New York.”
Photo Gallery
The day began with Mass on the Queens campus after which they
departed for the museum. Attendees enjoyed a leisurely Sunday
brunch in a private room at the museum before touring the exhibit,
which explored the influence of the Catholic church on the
development of New York City.
Bill Schaeffer ’73CBA, Director, Office of Alumni Relations,
welcomed attendees and discussed current construction projects at
St John’s including the new University Center/Academic Center. He
also invited everyone to the upcoming Reunion Celebration Weekend
2009. Bill Lipson, Assistant Director, Office of Alumni
Relations, recognized the Schermerhorn Street Committee members for
their hard work, support and dedication in planning the event and
in keeping the Brooklyn campus and its memories alive. Lipson also
announced that next year’s annual Schermerhorn event will be held
in Brooklyn.
Autum Nyuri, Senior Curatorial Associate at the museum, then
shared the inspiration behind the Catholics in New York exhibit and
Stephen Rzonca ’69Ed, ’00G discussed connections between the
exhibit and the mission of St John‘s, which was featured as part of
the exhibit.
The program concluded with remarks from Susan Damiani ’87CBA,
Director, Office of Gift Planning who invited guests to attend
future exhibitions at the University Gallery, upcoming lectures
about St. Paul conducted by Father Griffin and the Annual
Recognition Luncheon on November 7 with Father Harrington.
Attendees learned a lot from the exhibit and were happy to have
attended the event. “The exhibit and my experience at St
John’s makes me proud to be a Catholic,” remarked Schermerhorn
Street Committee member Lillian Gehshen ’73CBA. Tom Joyce
’73CBA agreed saying, “The Catholics in NY exhibit was very
interesting and it was even better sharing it with my former
classmates!”