Issue of April 10, 2005

Edward J. Moskal
Polish American civic leader
A funeral Mass was offered at St. John Cantius Church March 30 for Edward J. Moskal, 80, president of the Polish National Alliance, and president of the Polish American Congress. (PNA is the largest ethnic fraternal organization in the United States.) He served as president of PAC from 1988 until his death.

Mr. Moskal was a Chicago native, born and raised in St. John Cantius Parish. He died at his home March 22, after suffering many years from diabetes.

Through the years he was awarded the highest civilian honor of the Republic of Poland by then-President Lech Walesa, and was later made an honorary citizen of the City of Krakow.

He received the title of honorary doctor from the University of Poznan Medical School in 1997, the same year he had a private audience with Pope John Paul II to discuss Polish and Polish-American matters.

A veteran of World War II, he was a man of practical business acumen and an innovator. He computerized PNA’s home office in Chicago, making it a state-of-the-art operation, and developed its Web site.

Polish Catholic survivors of Hitler’s prison camps particularly revered his forthrightness on their behalf.

Mr. Moskal is survived by his wife Wanda (Sadlik), daughter Pamela Komorowski, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, six brothers and six sisters.

A memorial Mass for Mr. Moskal will be offered at St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Church in New York City on April 10.


Father Luzbetak, SVD, dies
Divine Word Father Louis J. Luzbetak, a pioneer in the use of anthropology in mission work and the founding executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, died March 22 of a heart attack at the Divine Word residence in Techny. He was 86.

Until recently he had continued writing articles.

A Mass of Christian burial was scheduled for March 30 at the chapel in the Techny residence.

Father Luzbetak advocated a missionary approach that was tied to the cultural context of the people being evangelized.

From 1952 to 1956, he did anthropological field work in the New Guinea highlands. He promoted literacy, developed phonetic alphabets for unwritten languages and served on the government’s Commission on Languages.

In 1963, he published his first book, “The Church and Cultures: An Anthropology for the Religious Worker,” which was translated into several languages and became a handbook for missionary training. He revised the book in the 1980s to reflect post-Vatican II trends.

In 1965 in became the first executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate in Washington, which conducts studies on church life in the United States. He left the post in 1973 to become president of the Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa.

Father Luzbetak was born in 1918 in Joliet and entered the Divine Word society in 1932 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1945. He studied theology at the Gregorian University in Rome and received a doctorate in cultural anthropology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

In 1987-89 he was a staff member of the Pontifical Council for Culture at the Vatican. He is survived by his brother, Francis, who lives in Joliet.



Anna Helen Reuter

TEACHER, PLAYWRIGHT

A memorial Mass for Anna Helen Reuter, 95, was offered March 29 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Chicago. She died March 17 at her home in Chicago.

After studying at Pasadena Playhouse and other drama schools, she taught speech and directed plays in Catholic girls’ high schools in the Chicago area, including Alvernia from 1934-59 and at Immaculata, from 1938-77.

The writer, producer and director of many plays, including “Life with Mother Superior,” (co-authored with Jane Trahey), “Five Famous African-American Women,” and “Meet Mr. Shakespeare,” she headed Rose Productions from 1985 until her death.

She was the daughter of George J. and Anne (Pollak) Reuter, and sister of the late Agnes (Reuter) Klipfel.

Sr. Blanche Patricia Butler

PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER

Sister of Providence Blanche Patricia (Catherine Aloyse) Butler, 91, died March 22 at St. Mary of the Woods, Ind.

Baptized at St. Leo Parish in Chicago, she was educated at St. Francis of Rome School, Cicero; Providence High School; and St. Mary of the Woods College in Indiana.

She entered the Sisters of Providence in 1935, made her first vows in 1938 and her final profession in 1943. Sister Butler was a primary teacher for 47 years in Indiana, Illinois and Maryland. She taught at Sacred Heart School, Lockport, from 1957-63. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Andrew School, 1970-77; at St. Sylvester from 1968-70 and Our Lady of Mercy School, 1977-84.

She is survived by her brother, Don Butler.

Sr. Mary Smagacz

TEACHER, SACRISTAN, ORGANIST

Franciscan Sister Mary (M. Innocent) Smagacz, 86, died March 27, The fifth of nine children, she was baptized at Five Holy Martyrs Church in 1919 and later attended St. Pancratius School, Chicago.

She traveled by streetcar with her mother to enter the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago novitiate in 1934, making her perpetual vows in 1942. She received the name Mary Innocentine, which she later requested to have changed to Mary Innocent.

Sister Smagacz received a bachelor of science degree in education from Chicago State University and taught in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. In the archdiocese of Chicago she served at St. Stanislaus B&M, St. Florian, Five Holy Martyrs and St. Pancratius schools in Chicago; St. Elizabeth’s and Guardian Angel day care centers; St. Joseph Home, Chicago; and St. Louise de Marillac School in LaGrange Park.

She is remembered for her care of the elderly, taking younger sisters on Sunday afternoons to visit widowed or infirm parishioners.

Deacon Alphonse M. Perez

SERVED ASSUMPTION CHURCH

A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated for retired Deacon Alphonse M. Perez, on March 30 at Assumption Church, 2434 S. California Ave.

Deacon Perez, ordained in 1988, died March 25.

He leaves behind his children Alphonse Jr., Guadalupe Cesal, Robert and Perry and seven grandchildren.

Deacon Perez ministered at Assumption/Kolbe House Parish from the time of his ordination until his retirement.

Interment was in Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Hillside.

Deacon John C. Kearney

LOVED GOD, BASEBALL, MUSIC

A funeral Mass for Deacon John C. “Jack” Kearney, 74, was offered Feb. 15 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Chicago. Ordained to the diaconate in 1986, he had attended a seminary in Missouri for a time. Those studies were interrupted by a stint in the Navy, where his talent took him to the South Pacific in the Korean War as a bandleader. He later combined his love for baseball and music as an organist at Wrigley Field.

As a deacon he served in prison ministry and helping down-and-outers, and was once stabbed by an inmate while trying to break up a fight. He was a good friend to many Chicago Police officers.

While suffering from emphysema in his latter years, he occasionally preached at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church with an oxygen tank by his side.

Interment was at All Saints.

Sr. Anne Marie Hakul

EDUCATOR

Servant of Mary Sister Anne Marie (Benedict) Hakul, 93, died March 29 at the Addolorata Villa Nursing Home, Wheeling, Ill.

A native of Wheeling, she entered the congregation in 1927; made her first profession in 1929 and her final vows in 1933.

She is survived by many nieces and nephews.

Sr. Christine Stritt

TEACHER, LIBRARIAN

Sister of Providence Christine (Barbara Marie) Stritt, 88, died March 18 at St. Mary of the Woods, Ind. She entered the community in 1935, made her first religious profession in 1938, and her final vows in 1943.

A native of Indianapolis, she earned a master’s degree in education at Ball State University in Indiana.

Sister Stritt taught in classrooms in Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina, spending 50 years teaching grades two through eight, and nine years as a librarian.

In the Chicago Archdiocese she taught at St. Mel, from 1938-42; 1962-64; and St. Andrew School from 1949-54. She later returned to St. Mary of the Woods for her ministry of prayer.

She is survived by her sisters, Clara (Stritt) Logan, Mary Stritt and Helen Stritt.

Sister Ursula Driscoll, BVM

TEACHER

BVM Sister Ursula (John Patrick) Driscoll, 88, died March 30 at Caritas Center, Dubuque, Iowa.

She entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1938. She professed first vows in 1941 and final vows in 1946.

In the Chicago Archdiocese, she taught at St. Thomas of Canterbury, 1941-42; Blessed Sacrament, 1942-44; St. Tarcissus, 1963-65 and 1970-75; St. Odilo, Berwyn, 1965-66; St. Eugene, 1966-68; Maryville Academy, Des Plaines, 1968-70 and 1975-79; and South School, Des Plaines, 1979-86. In retirement, she lived at St. Eugene Convent and Wright Hall.

She is survived by sisters Josephine Driscoll, Eileen O'Hara and Mary Reidy, and a brother, Charles Driscoll.