2020
Capuchin friar Senan Glass, OFM Cap., died on Saturday morning, December 26, 2020, following a short residence at Manor Care Nursing Home in Wexford, PA, where he had been undergoing rehabilitation following treatment for an infection at Shadyside Hospital, Pittsburgh. He was 90 years old.
Born and baptized Paul Glass on February 27, 1930, in Uniontown, PA, the future friar was raised in Brownsville, PA, and he and his family were members of St. John Parish in Uniontown. He began his education at the parish elementary school and completed grade school at St. Peter School in Brownsville before entering St. Fidelis Seminary High School and College Seminary in Herman, PA, in 1944. Following his second year of college, Paul received the name Br. Senan as well as as his Capuchin habit when he began his Capuchin novitiate in Annapolis, MD, on July 13, 1951, and made his first vows as a friar on July 14, 1952. He returned to Herman complete his collegiate studies and moved on to study Theology for the priesthood at Capuchin College in Washington DC in 1954. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 1957 along with Capuchin classmates Basil Gasper (+1994), Bennett Colucci (+2000) and Leon Leitem, who survives him.
Our Capuchin brother Dismas Young, OFM Cap., died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday morning, December 17, 2020, at Vincentian Home in McCandless, PA. A proud “Butlerite” from St. Paul Parish in Butler, PA, his baptismal name was Leo, born to parents Eugene and Mary (Steinhiser) Young on November 12, 1938. He was one of four children born to the couple and was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Eugene, and his sister, Nancy (McKain). His sister Alice (Bernard) Carbin survives him and shares our loss.
Leo was familiar with the Capuchins who would come to his parish from nearby St. Fidelis in Herman, PA. After graduation from Butler High School, he felt his call to be a Capuchin brother and entered the Capuchin Brothers Training Center in Cumberland, MD. When he decided that perhaps a call to the Capuchin priesthood might best suit his talents, he enrolled at St. Fidelis College and Seminary in Herman, PA, in 1958, where he would join classmates who were a bit younger than he: John Getsy, Joseph Mindling, Emil Fischer (+2001) and William Wiethorn (+2014). They were all invested as Capuchins after their novitiate year in Annapolis, MD, where Leo was given the name Dismas. He wore his name proudly and never returned to his baptismal name as others did when permitted to do so in 1968. Besides, his patron was the “good thief” whose faith on the cross near Jesus allowed him to accompany Jesus to paradise. The class professed their first vows on July 14, 1961.
We mourn the loss of our dear brother & friend Luis Francisco González Rivera, OFM Cap., on December 14, 2020. Luis most recently served as the vice minister of the Custody of St. John the Baptist in Puerto Rico. He lost his life from complications related to his contacting the COVID virus. He was a tireless worker, an indefatiguable minister and an incompatable creative artist. As a vice minister, he was a good and faithful servant to the brothers of the island. He is missed. An official obituary will be forthcoming in these days.
Our brother Vernon Busch, OFM Cap., passed to eternal life in the Lord on the morning of Saturday, April 18, 2020, at St. Augustine Friary, Pittsburgh, PA, the fraternity in which he has lived for the past 16 years.
Born and given the name “Robert” on October 16, 1934, in Pittsburgh’s Allentown section, he was a proud member of St. George Parish there, one so central to German-American immigrant life in the city. He was also full of pride for his Pittsburgh roots, keeping that distinctive Pittsburgh “accent” throughout his life. After elementary school in the parish school, he was recruited by his pastor to attend St. Fidelis High School and College in Herman, PA.
As was the tradition, following his second year of college, Robert entered the Capuchin novitiate in Annapolis, MD, in 1954 and was given the name “Vernon,” a name he maintained even when friars were permitted to return to their baptismal names in 1968.