Seminary Honors Alumni for
Ministry, Achievement
|
Front from left, Fr. Edward Ritter, Outstanding Senior Clergy; Sacred Heart rector Fr. Steven Boguslawski, O.P. Rear from left, Mr. Peter Herbeck, Outstanding Lay Alumnus; Msgr. Patrick Halfpenney, Outstanding Former Faculty; and Fr. Lawrence McCulloch, M.M., Outstanding Clergy Alumnus. |
Published February 24, 2006
Four men affiliated with Sacred Heart Major Seminary were recognized on Sunday, February 19, for their ministry, scholarship and commitment to Christian life. Those honored were Fr. Lawrence McCulloch, MM, Peter Herbeck, Fr. Edward Ritter and Msgr. Patrick Halfpenny. These 2006 Alumni Award recipients were recognized during the twenty-ninth annual Alumni Day Celebration at the seminary.
Father McCulloch received the Bishop Henry Donnelly Award, which recognizes an outstanding clergy alumnus. He entered Sacred Heart Seminary in 1957 as a high school freshman and graduated from the college in 1965. He spent a year at St. John Provincial Seminary in Plymouth before joining the Maryknoll Missionaries to serve in foreign missions.
Father McCulloch received his first mission post in 1973, in El Salvador, and later served in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Taiwan. He works today in Jacksonville, Florida, giving retreats and mission appeals throughout the South.
Mr. Herbeck received the Walter Romig Award, which recognizes an outstanding lay alumnus. Herbeck, part of the seminary's class of 1999, is vice president and director of missions for Renewal Ministries, a lay organization devoted to Catholic evangelization throughout the world, supporting the Church's mission through television, radio, publications, conferences, and missionary retreats and rallies.
Herbeck oversees the work of lay mission teams in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, North America and the South Pacific. He is a frequent conference speaker and has written a book and numerous articles on evangelization and the exercise of spiritual gifts.
Father Ritter, a 1947 graduate of the seminary, received the Msgr. Albert Matyn Award, which recognizes an outstanding senior clergy. He retired two years ago at age seventy-five after serving as pastor of St. Mary Parish in St. Clair.
Since Father Ritter became a senior priest, he visits a local nursing home, where he regularly celebrates Mass, and a local hospital where he brings the sacraments to patients. He also cared for Fr. Karl Hubble before his death in December.
Msgr. Halfpenny received the Msgr. Daniel Ryan Award, which recognizes outstanding former faculty members. Msgr. Halfpenny graduated from Sacred Heart in 1965, attended St. John Provincial Seminary in Plymouth and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1975. He served as associate pastor of several parishes and as spiritual director and later vice rector and assistant professor of pastoral theology at Sacred Heart.
Msgr. Halfpenny is pastor of St. Paul on the Lake Parish in Grosse Pointe Farms and is also ecumenical officer for the archdiocese. He was named monsignor in October 2005.
Sacred Heart Major Seminary has been celebrating Alumni Day annually since 1977, when it started giving out the Walter Romig Award and the Bishop Henry Donnelly Award. The Msgr. Daniel Ryan Award was added in 1987, and the Msgr. Albert Matyn Award in 2000.
The awards celebrate the contributions of the seminary's alumni who distinguish themselves in their ministry and profession; criteria considered include the person's commitment to Christian life, evidence of scholarship, professional recognition, public ministry, creativity and a history of mission activity. Nominees are accepted to the Marketing and Alumni Relations office at (313) 883-8533 or through nomination forms that are published in the seminary's Mosaic magazine.
|
