Father Norbert Burns, SM – 75 years

Fr. Burns was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended elementary school at St. Ignatius and high school at St. John’s High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended scholasticate at Mount St. John in Dayton, Ohio, and professed first vows on Aug. 22, 1943, in Beacon, New York.

Fr. Burns attended University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1945.

He completed seminary studies at University of Fribourg’s Regina Mundi Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland, where he earned his STL in 1953. He was ordained on July 12, 1953, in Marcy, New York, and later earned his STD at Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas – Angelicum University in Rome in 1955.

Prior to entering the seminary, Fr. Burns spent his first five years as a Marianist brother teaching high school. He served from 1945-1949 at his alma mater, St. John’s High School, in Philadelphia and the next year in Beacon, New York, at Marianist Prep. After ordination, Fr. Burns returned to Marianist Prep, where he served as chaplain for three years (1955 to 1958).

Changing ministries, Fr. Burns served at Mount Saint John in Dayton, Ohio, from 1958- 1964 as province vocation director and province affiliation director. He also returned to teaching and began what would become a four-decade tenure as professor at University of Dayton. During his professorship, from 1964-2008, Fr. Burns also served for seven years (1964-1971) as director for the UD Marianist community.

After 44 years as professor, Fr. Burns retired in 2008 and resides at the Marianist community on University of Dayton’s campus.

“This year, I am celebrating 75 years as a Marianist, 65 as a priest and nearly 55 years as professor at University of Dayton where I am professor emeritus, having served since 1964. My work has been my great expression of my love for Mary.”

Father H. James Bartlett, SM – 60 years

Fr. Bartlett was born in Utica, New York, and moved to the suburb of New Hartford during his teenage years. He attended elementary school at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School in Utica and high school at New Hartford High School. He attended scholasticate at Mount St. John in Dayton, Ohio, and professed first vows on Dec. 8, 1958, in Marcy, New York. Fr. Bartlett attended University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1960.

He completed seminary studies at University of Fribourg’s Regina Mundi Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland, where he earned an STB in theology in 1967 and his STL in theology in 1969. He was ordained on July 25, 1969 in Marcy, New York, and later earned a master’s degree in religious education at Loyola University of Chicago in 1976.

Prior to entering the seminary, Fr. Bartlett spent his first five years as a Marianist brother teaching high school. He served two years in New York and three years in Cincinnati at Purcell High School. After ordination, Fr. Bartlett returned to Cincinnati where he resumed teaching and served as chaplain at Moeller High School for four years (1969 to 1973), Memphis, Tennessee, for four years, and returned to Ohio to teach and serve as chaplain at Chaminade Julienne High School in Dayton from 1977 to 1981.

Fr. Bartlett left the U.S. to serve as teacher and chaplain at St. Laurence College in Dublin, Ireland, from 1981 to 1985 and returned to the States in 1985 for theology studies and a sabbatical. In 1987, he began providing pastoral services at St. John’s Church in Albion, Michigan, where he was pastor and director until 1992, when he began a 13-year service as pastor at Queen of Apostles Parish in Dayton, Ohio.

In 2006, Fr. Bartlett spent a year in Texas, assisting with high school chaplaincy in Fort Worth and parish duties at a parish in Denton, Texas. He left Texas in 2007 and served as teacher and chaplain at Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii, until he returned to Ohio to serve as high school chaplain at Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School in Cleveland from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, he moved to the Marianist Residence at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, where he resides in retirement.

“Looking back through the years, I felt that God was working through me, even at times when I would feel helpless. Afterward, I’d know that all my words came from the Lord. Now, these 60 years in the order proved my pastor right!”

Father Lawrence Schoettelkotte, SM – 60 years

Fr. Schoettelkotte was born and raised in Cincinnati where he attended St. John the Evangelist elementary school in Deer Park and Purcell High School. He completed his scholasticate at Mount St. John in Dayton, Ohio, and professed first vows on Sept. 8, 1958, in Marcy, New York.

He attended University of Dayton, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1961. He began seminary studies in 1966 at University of Fribourg’s Regina Mundi Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland, where he earned a bachelor of sacred theology. Fr. Schoettelkotte was ordained there on July 18, 1954. He later earned a master’s degree in theology from St. Louis University in 1970.

In his early years of service, Fr. Schoettelkotte served as a teacher in Cleveland (1961-1963) and Chester, Pennsylvania, (1963-1964). The following year he returned to Ohio to serve as teacher and assistant athletic director at Chaminade High School in Dayton. He spent the next five years in study, including two years in seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland, and two years at St. Louis University.

For the next 15 years, Fr. Schoettelkotte served as a teacher at St. Joseph High School in Cleveland (1970-1979), where he also was director of the Marianist community, and then high school teacher and chaplain in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1979-1985. After a one-year sabbatical, he relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, where he served from 1986-1991 as community director as well as high school guidance counselor and chaplain. Fr. Schoettelkotte spent the last two years of his teaching ministry in Pittsburgh, where he was a high school guidance counselor and chaplain from 1991-1993.

Switching from teaching to parish ministry in 1993, Fr. Schoettelkotte’s first assignment was in Portage, Michigan, where he served six years as an associate pastor. In 1999, he began serving at All Saints Church in Cincinnati, where he continues his ministry today.

Fr. Schoettelkotte resides at the Marianist Community on Montgomery Road. He celebrated his 60th jubilee on Saturday, Aug. 11, in Dayton.

“Over the years, I have been grateful for all the support from the Marianists with whom I lived and worked. Each new assignment brought new challenges and new opportunities for growth. Most of all, I thank our Blessed Mother for her guidance and inspiration through the year.”

Father Theodore Cassidy, SM – 50 years

Fr. Cassidy was born in Jackson Heights, New York, and grew up on Long Island in Floral Park and Garden City. He attended elementary and middle school at Our Lady of Victory School in Floral Park and St. Joseph School in Garden City. He attended Chaminade High School in Mineola, graduating in 1956. He professed first vows on Sept. 5, 1957, in Marcy, New York.
Fr. Cassidy attended University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1960.

He attended Western Reserve University in Cleveland for additional studies in English and St. John’s University in New York City for additional studies in philosophy. He attended seminary at University of Fribourg in Fribourg, Switzerland, where he earned a licentiate in theology in 1968. Fr. Cassidy later earned a master’s degree in religious education at University of Detroit in 1973. In 2000, he earned a doctor of ministry degree at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

Prior to entering the seminary in 1964, Fr. Cassidy spent his first four years as a Marianist brother teaching high school English and Latin for two years in Cleveland at Cathedral Latin School and two years back in New York at Most Holy Trinity High School in Brooklyn. Upon his ordination in Fribourg on March 30, 1968, Fr. Cassidy resumed teaching for the next 13 years at St. James High School in Chester, Pennsylvania, (1968-1977) where he taught theology and served as chaplain, and at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Baltimore, Maryland, where he taught religion and served as chaplain (1977-1981).

Fr. Cassidy left teaching in in 1981 to serve as associate pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Vernon, Connecticut. Five years later he became pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Community in Sykesville, Maryland, and served there for the next decade until 1996. He left Maryland to serve for the next two years as novice master at the Marianist Novitiate in Dayton, Ohio. He then took a one-year sabbatical during which he pursued higher studies at Catholic University of America. From 1999 to 2007, Fr. Cassidy was a chaplain at the Marianist Family Retreat Center in Cape May, New Jersey, followed by five years in service as pastor at St. Aloysius Church in Cleveland.

In 2012, Fr. Cassidy moved to Dayton and took a two-year sabbatical while living at the Alumni Hall Marianist Community at University of Dayton. In 2015, he became a member of the University’s Stonemill-Kiefaber Marianist Community, serving as spiritual director and assisting with campus ministry.

He celebrated his 50th jubilee on Saturday, Aug. 4 in Douglaston, NY.

“My work as a Marianist has fulfilled my life by giving me a vision, a community, a system of spirituality and a way to use my talents to serve and find joy. The Marianist charism of the interior life based on union with Jesus and Mary in the grace of the Spirit, and the Father’s love have been the guides and energy of my life. In humility and great joy I celebrate it with you all. ”

Brother Steven Grazulis, SM – 50 years

Bro. Grazulis was born and raised in Painesville, Ohio, where he attended State Street (elementary)School, Walnut Junior High School and Harvey High School. He professed first vows on Aug. 22, 196 8, in Marcy, New York. He attended University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1973. He later earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology at United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1991.

In his early ministry as a Marianist, Bro. Grazulis served at high schools in Ohio for nine years. From 1973-1979, he was teacher, assistant athletic director and head cross country coach at Cathedral Latin School in Cleveland and teacher, head cross country coach and assistant track coach at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati for three years (1979-1982).

His service took on both a new focus as well as a new continent — Africa — in 1982 when he began what has become a 35-plus-year formation ministry for the Society of Mary. Bro. Grazulis initially served in Ekpoma, Nigeria, as a formator for the Marianist novitiate, followed by more than 25 years of formation work in Nairobi, Kenya. His formation work in Kenya, which spanned from 1985 to 2011, included a wide age group, from aspirancy to scholasticate and novitiate, and from college to seminary. His roles during that time in Nairobi included formator, novice director, lecturer at Apostles of Jesus Seminary and college instructor at Marist International Centre and Tangaza College.

In 2011, Bro. Grazulis began serving at the Faustino Formation Community where he resides and serves, primarily, in the formation of aspirants. He celebrated his 50th jubilee on Saturday, Aug. 11, in Dayton.

“Nothing we plan can ever be as rewarding or fulfilling as God’s plans for us. What a magnificent journey and adventure: from Cleveland to Cincinnati to Nigeria, Kenya and now, Zambia. What a mysterious adventure of faith it has been.”

Brother Ronald Luksic, SM – 50 years

Bro. Luksic was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended Holy Cross School and St. Joseph High School (now Villa Angela-St. Joseph) in Euclid, Ohio. He professed first vows on Aug. 22, 196 8, in Marcy, New York. He attended University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1972 and a master’s degree in education in 1976.

In his early ministry as a Marianist, Bro. Luksic served at Monsignor Hackett High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for one year and as teacher, guidance counselor and academic dean at Chaminade Julienne High School from 1973 to 1980.

In 1980, Bro. Luksic began an education ministry at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, for which he is approaching a nearly four-decade term of service. He initially served as a teacher and guidance counselor, and later served in additional roles including academic dean, pastoral minister and admissions director.

In 2013, Bro. Luksic began serving in Moeller’s advancement office securing alumni and named scholarships, assists with Kairos retreats and coordinates and attends the annual senior class trip to Europe as part of the school’s administrative team. He resides at the Marianist Community in Cincinnati and celebrated his 50th jubilee on Saturday, Aug. 11, in Dayton.

“For nearly 50 years, I have had the opportunity to live out my life as a Marianist working with young people. I have been challenged to develop skills I never thought I had. All of this ministry was carried out in the context of a supportive, prayerful Marianist community.”

Brother Robert Metzger, SM – 50 years

Bro. Metzger was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, where he attended St. Agnes Grade School and Chaminade High School. He professed first vows on Aug. 22, 196 8, at the Marianist Novitiate in Marcy, New York. He attended St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1981. He became a certified public accountant in 1984 in the state of Ohio.

In his early ministry as a Marianist, Bro. Metzger served from 1970-1973 as assistant business manager at Bergamo Center for Lifetime Learning in Dayton. For the next five years, he served at Bergamo Center as business manager until returning to St. Mary’s University in 1978 to complete his degree. In 1981, he returned as business manager at Bergamo and served there until 1986 when he relocated to Cincinnati and became assistant treasurer for the Society of Mary Cincinnati Province. Bro. Metzger served in that role until 1997 when he was appointed assistant for temporalities for the province from 1997-2002.

In 2002, Bro. Metzger began serving in St. Louis, Missouri, as director of finance for the U.S. Province. He continued in this role until 2007 when he began serving as associate director for planning and education for the National Religious Retirement office under the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. He served in this role while residing as a member of the Marist Center Community in Washington, D.C.

Bro. Metzger moved to Cupertino, California, at the end of September, where he resides and helps out at the Marianist Community. He celebrated his 50th jubilee on Saturday, April 28, in St. Louis, Saturday, June 2, in Cupertino, California, and on Saturday, Aug. 11, in Dayton.

“I see my ministry as a service to the province and to other religious institutes. For most of my Marianist life, I have been doing accounting and finance work and have found this work to be very enjoyable.”