MERRILLVILLE – “The deepest hunger we have is for the Lord,” said Diocese of Gary Bishop Robert J. McClory as he touched on the day’s Gospel about the loaves the fishes (John 6:1-15) at a Mass marking the 70th anniversary of the Serra Club of Northwest Indiana on July 28 at Holy Martyrs Parish.
For the past seven decades, those in the diocese discerning the vocation of priesthood or the religious life have had the Serra Club to feed them spiritual, emotional and financial support, sustaining them throughout their seminary and convent training and throughout their lives of service to God and his people.
“Today we honor (the Serra Club’s) dedication to vocations, to the religious life and priesthood … for it is in priests that the Eucharist is perpetrated,” the bishop noted. “Let us pray for the Serrans, and that the Lord will always honor us with the gift of the priesthood, so if we are hungry, he will fill us with the most beautiful gift of the Eucharist.”
The Serra Club is named after the Spanish missionary Junipero Serra, the first saint canonized on U.S. soil, in 2015. It was founded in 1935 in Seattle by a small group of Catholic laymen who saw the need to foster vocations to religious life, and each club is part of Serra International.
There were formerly three clubs in the Diocese of Gary, the Hammond club founded in 1949, the Gary club established in 1954 and the Michigan City club formed in 1955. After the demise of the Michigan City (2004) and Hammond (2010) clubs, the surviving Gary club changed its name to the Serra Club of NWI in 2011 and has been adding members and activities for the past five years under the leadership of immediate past president Susan Gryfakis.
Jack Serletic, recruited 50 years ago by his employer, the late Mike Pampalone, is currently the longest surviving member. “I’d never heard of the Serra Club, but Mike invited me and I remember lavish meals at the Radisson Hotel,” said Serletic at the Avalon Manor luncheon following the Mass. “After two of those dinners, I felt obligated to join, and my greeting at my installation was the best I’d received among the many organizations I’d joined.
“I thank Susan (Gryfakis) and Rich Reffkin for their efforts to keep the club going, and I’m so grateful to John Vidal for carrying on as the new president,” added Serletic.
Vidal admitted being “the most reluctant recruit” in 2013 when he agreed to accompany his father, at the time experiencing the early stages of dementia, to Serra Club meetings. “My mom asked me to bring him, saying the Serrans were truly his friends, and I found all the guys in the group to be very genuine and very welcoming. A year-and-a-half later, I decided to join and I’ve never looked back.
“Susan has taken the club to new levels, and we aren’t going to die out now,” added Vidal, who is one of two father-son Serran teams along with his late father, Louis Vidal, president from 1989-90 and 2005-06, who has recruited several new members.
Phil Baumeister, a fellow parishioner of Vidal at Holy Spirit in Winfield, joined the Serrans just three months ago after encouragement from Vidal. “I know it’s a struggle encouraging vocations and between Father Tom Mischler’s efforts as our pastor and other priests I know, like Father Jeff Burton, who is my son’s confirmation sponsor, it is a personal mission for me,” he said. “If I am able to support the Serrans’ work, I’m happy to do it.”
Just a newcomer, Baumeister has already joined the Serra Club’s Adopt-a-Seminarian program and is grateful he did. “I was assigned seminarian Leo Marcotte, from Crown Point, and I’ve made a commitment to pray for him in a special way, send him birthday and holiday cards, email him encouragement and get to know him,” said Baumeister. “We recently met for a couple of hours and got to know each other. He’s a great person and I came away energized by him.”
A special guest at the luncheon was Barbara Prieto Luster, a Gary native and Bishop Noll Institute class of 1981 graduate who serves as membership chief for Serra International, headquartered in Chicago. “I’d never heard of Serrans before I joined the staff three years ago,” she admitted, “but it is our goal to grow the organization and reach out to the younger generations through every club. It is great to have clubs reach 70 years or more.”
Father Jacob McDaniel, assistant vocations director for the diocese, offered “a note of gratitude from all the priests of the diocese,” including Father Nate Edquist, vocations director, and Father Roque Meraz, also an assistant vocations director. “On the first day of summer after my first year in the seminary, Bob Halfman, a Serran, came to meet me, and I didn’t even know how to spell Serra Club, so I wondered why he was introducing me to a group about trees,” joked Father McDaniel. “On behalf of all of us, I want to thank you for your efforts and I look forward to walking alongside you.”
Deacon Ivan Alatorre, looking ahead to his priestly ordination next year, said he has appreciated the Serra Club’s support throughout his training. “In the early years of my formation,” he explained, “I was guided through seminary life by their prayers and cards and emails, especially Susan (Gryfakis), who has been my Serran mom. Even now, I know she and the other members are praying for me.”
Caption: Members of the Serra Club of Northwest Indiana gather with Diocese of Gary Bishop Robert J. McClory (front row, center) and club chaplain Father Dominic Bertino (to the bishop's left) to celebrate the club's 70-year anniversary with a Mass and luncheon on July 28. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)