Meet the New Board Members: Paul Aroune, Class of 1991

Current Profession/Background I spent 20 years as a school counselor. I spent the first five years of my career in a special day school working with students classified as emotionally handicapped. For the next 15 years I worked at Springville Middle School in the Springville-Griffith Central School District, where for 10 years I served as the president of the Springville Teachers Union. That led me to my second career. In 2011 I changed career paths and went to work for the New York State United Teachers Union as a labor relations specialist. I represent roughly 3,400 educators, support personnel and rehabilitation specialists for the mentally and physically handicapped in the Western New York region. First and Favorite Memories at the Mountain My first experience of The Mountain was on a day retreat in October of 1987. A small group of Bona students went up to the Mountain for a day of quiet reflection. Unfortunately, the station wagon (that's right ... station wagon) that Fr. Dan Riley drove us up in died on the Mountain road about a mile from the house. Fr. Dan and I bonded that day, getting the car pushed up the hill and finally fixed. I had met Fr. Dan through my older brother who graduated from Bonaventure in 1987, but it was my first opportunity spending real time with him.  He and I remember that day as if it was yesterday. I had so many amazing moments at The Mountain. The “barn-raising” day when the Chapel was raised stands out, but one of my favorite moments was an overnight retreat in the fall of 1990. I was a part of a small group that went up to the knoll just beyond the chapel. We slept out there and just watched the stars and talked most of the night. It was an amazing experience and something I won't forget. Inspiration for Donating Time & Talents to the Mountain’s Mission Like most people who creep ever closer to the age of 50, you do a lot of reflecting. Like most people, my life has its ups and downs. Through that reflection process, I recognized how fortunate I have been in my life. I am blessed with a loving family (three brothers, 14 nieces and nephews, and two parents who have been married for 63 years and are still alive), I have two amazing daughters who are happy, successful young adults and a spouse who I just don't know what I would do without her in my life. I realized that one of the largest influences of who I am and the path I have taken in life are my experiences at Mt. Irenaeus. My leadership role and relationships in Students for The Mountain during my time at Bona's truly defined me. The faith that was developed during my days of prayer and reflection at the Mountain truly "re-created" the young 20-year-old and freed him up to become confident and to grow and practice the Franciscan faith.   Goals/Areas of Focus as a Mt. Irenaeus Board Member I am currently working with Mike Fenn and Mary Schlosser on writing grants to support the goals of the Mountain. I plan on continuing that focus, as well as possibly becoming involved in the building and grounds committee. One of the goals would be to obtain a grant to pay for the needed updates to the House of Peace and support the expansion of the Mountain Companion program.

Meet the New Board Members: Karen Pulaski, Class of 1984

Current Profession/Background

I am currently employed as an occupational therapist in an outpatient center that provides treatment to neurologically impaired adult patients; primarily survivors of stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. I have been a therapist for 28 years and have worked as a supervisor for more than 20 years in this field. Although I always maintained my own caseload while in management, I returned to a staff position almost three years ago for both professional and personal reasons.

First and Favorite Memories at the Mountain

I first became involved in the Mountain when I was an undergraduate at Bona's and the Mountain was just a vision of Fr. Dan's! For my senior-year thesis I did a research project that focused on completing a needs assessment survey with students and faculty regarding who might use the Mountain, how often they might use it and what they saw as the need for a place like the Mountain. That summer, the land was purchased and the rest is history!

I attended retreats every semester while I was a student at Bona's and while the Mountain didn't exist in physical form, the essence of the Mountain was the foundation of those retreats. Through those retreats, as well as my participation at the campus ministry center, I was given the opportunity to develop a more authentic faith and relationship with God. I came to know many of the friars in my four years at Bona's and they were a guiding force during my time there, especially Fr. Dan!  

Inspiration for Donating Time & Talents to the Mountain’s Mission

I stayed in touch with Dan intermittently throughout the years, coming back to the Mountain in 1989 and then again in 2000 (the last time bringing my 2-year-old son! He is now 19 and a freshman in college! I returned to the Mountain this past September for a week-long stay and my love and interest in the Mountain was reignited. It felt like coming home at a time in my life when I really needed to feel that way.  

Goals/Areas of Focus as a Mt. Irenaeus Board Member

I know that God led me back and I am working hard to listen and open my heart to hear what God has in store for me! Because of that, I am trying very hard not to "over plan" what my role on the board will be, but will wait and be led by what He wants to present to me. I do know the most important thing to me is that we all work together regarding the issue of sustainability for the Mountain and to ensure it will be there for many future generations. I also feel drawn to any work that allows us to extend the Mountain experience beyond the physical place of the Mountain itself. I am honored to have been considered and accepted onto the board and I look forward to exploring what the future brings!

Meet the New Board Members: Hans Auer, Class of 1993

Current Profession/Background

First Vice President, Financial Advisor at UBS Financial Services. I'm part of a team that works with successful families and business owners to help them make informed decisions about how they manage their wealth.

First and Favorite Memories at the Mountain

While I spent a few weekends at the Mountain as a student, I rediscovered my love for the Mountain during an alumni retreat last year. Just being around a great group of people who all shared their life experiences and how lessons learned at the Mountain and from Fr. Dan Riley that have helped them see what's really important in life.

Inspiration for Donating Time & Talents to Mt. Irenaeus’ Mission

Spending some quality time with Fr. Dan and Mike and Julie Fenn at my home the last two years sort of opened my eyes to how the Mountain can be more than just a place, but a way of life. Wanting to share that way of life with people I care about (and maybe people that I have yet to meet!) helped me to commit to getting involved and inspired the thought of helping to share that gift.

Goals/Areas of Focus as a Board Member

Naturally, I'd be happy to help with any finance- or investment-related support, but what I would really be interested in is helping to spread the mission of the Mountain in our community, especially with young people. Having two teenagers, I have seen how sometimes they tune out during traditional Sunday Mass. I think having kids see things from a different perspective could be life-changing for many of them and could ultimately help to make the world a better place. There may be an opportunity in our community given our proximity to the place, "The Mountain", that I feel like I might help facilitate.

Meet the New Board Members: Mari Snyder, Class of 1990

Current Profession/Background

Enjoying a one-year career sabbatical after more than 25 years in corporate America working in social responsibility/sustainability, public affairs and trade development.

First and Favorite Memories at the Mountain

I first came to the Mountain as a student, but my favorite memory is my most recent one. I stayed on the Mountain for nearly a week last October to participate in the board meeting and to serve as “leader in residence” for St. Bonaventure’s business school. Joining in the prayer and everyday Mountain life with the friars was a truly sacred experience for me.

Inspiration for Donating Time & Talents to Mt. Irenaeus’ Mission

I want to help the Mountain and its community grow, given how enriched my life has been because of my experiences there.

Goals/Areas of Focus as a Board Member

I’m working with Fr. Dan on the Council for Spirit and Life.  I hope to empower growth for the Mountain and its communities, and to be a bridge between the Mountain and the Business School given that I serve on its advisory council.

Unity in a Broken World

Fr. Dan Riley, ofm, inspired by the words of Thomas Merton, shares the first of a series of reflections on the writings of the famous Trappist monk and author, who taught at St. Bonaventure University in the early 1940s. 

"And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and is beyond speech, and is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an old unity. We discover an older unity. My dear brothers (and sisters), we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to discover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are."
- Thomas Merton (an informal talk at Calcutta, October 1968)

Thomas Merton's faith deepened, and his Franciscan vision of Christ and creation blossomed at St. Bonaventure University in the early 20th century. He left Bona's in 1941 and became a monk in a Kentucky monastery. There he lived a deepening life of solitude and at the same time grew in many relationships with women and men of different religious traditions and other countries. He became a significant proponent of peace and peaceful ways, having grown up in a time of war and realizing the sufferings of segregation in America.

He called for dialogue between peoples and traditions. He offers us a contemporary model of St. Francis of Assisi and our own spirit of peacemaking. He went among others and engaged them with respect and openness. Silence was often their common language.

The quote above invites us to know that if we do not discover an "older unity" we will live hurting in an already broken world.

For those of us who call ourselves Christians, we are challenged to live what we believe with all others "in Christ Jesus."  Which is to say all of creation!

While Christ is beyond "speech and concept," he abides and shows himself in each of us, in each creature.  This is our home base for all love, reverence, hope and trust.

As we have begun a new year, we have an opportunity to go our way living as one with others both in our own homes, households, and places of work and on the street. Simple, peaceful actions will buck attitudes and systems (or places where people would laugh and ridicule us that we would believe we are "one.”) The unity and community that we are in Christ comes about by ways in which we practice our daily life. We come to believe the truth of what Merton says and the world around us can see this if it wishes to do so.

You and I might think about how in the next day we might reflect with great joy and trust. Then, with new conviction, enter relationships with new respectfulness. A respect that enables us to differ in nonviolent ways. Thus we will resist a larger culture that seems to dismiss unity and the gifts and joy it brings, and in their place courts divisiveness and even hostility amongst its members.

If we are going to be who we say we are － leaders of the free world and a nation for peace － then we will again begin finding ourselves as one in the One who has made us one and given us the grace to live this way － the Prince of Peace, Christ our Lord.