|
 Father Larry Mick Burse:
A Living Legacy for
60-year Jubilee
The Rev. Christopher
Armstrong has decided to honor a mentor and friend he has known for 40
years.
Father Armstrong, pastor
at St. Antoninus Church in Green Township, has created a burse to
celebrate the Rev. Lawrence J. Mick’s 60th anniversary as a priest this
year.
“The idea came partly from
the fact that I was the beneficiary of a burse. I was thinking ahead
because Father Mick is going to celebrate his 60th anniversary and I
have known him since I was in the Gregorian program (at the Athenaeum)
where I first met him in the spring of 1968,” said Father Armstrong,
former chancellor of the archdiocese. “He is such an example of piety
and zeal in the best sense of both words.”
Father Mick taught Latin, music and mathematics at
the Athenaeum during his tenure from 1954 to 1980. He also served as
seminary principal and disciplinarian.
“I have lived (at St.
Antoninus) with Father Mick for five years” of the nine years he has
been in residence at the parish where he came following his retirement
in 1997, said Father Armstrong. Father Mick had been pastor at St. John
Parish in Deer Park.
A burse is a permanently
restricted endowment, with the interest used to help offset the cost of
training local seminarians for the priesthood including tuition, room
and board –
about $30,000 a year. The goal of a burse is to fully endow one
seminarian’s formation.
Currently, a burse:
* Requires a minimum pledged donation of $25,000
to be established.
* Provides naming opportunity rights
–
benefactor or honoree or as a memorial.
* Is regulated by the board of trustees with
interest presently allocated at six percent annually.
“At today’s rate, a fully
endowed burse requires a financial investment of $500,000 per seminarian
to cover the average costs incurred. Burses may receive additional
capital over one’s lifetime and even beyond through inclusion in one’s
will. What a wonderful way to plan toward leaving a legacy,” said Ms.
Kaelin.
“I certainly approve any
burse given to the seminary. I’m just wondering why Father Armstrong
selected me,” Father Mick said. “I was there a long time, of course. My
connection there goes back to the very first day I entered the seminary
in 1937” as a high school freshman. “I was ordained in 1949. I very much
enjoyed being the organist and choir director. The last two years after
we went from singing Gregorian chant to English (Archbishop Daniel E.
Pilarczyk) gave me the job of writing the music for each Sunday and he
gave me compliments about it.”
Father Armstrong noted:
“Those of us who went to St. Gregory Seminary (the former college/high
school semi-nary) have the deepest affection for it. When I am with my
contemporaries, we speak in glowing terms of the education and formation
that we received, and Father Mick was a big part of that.”
For more information about
burses or to donate to the burse in honor of Father Mick, contact Ms.
Kaelin or Jim Jackson in the Athenaeum’s advancement department,
513-231-2223 or leavealegacy@athenaeum.edu |
