Learn what inspired Fr. McCloskey to become an Augustinian.
“The first Augustinian I met was Fr. Bob Andrews, who was mowing the lawn at Augustinian Academy on Staten Island. I was accompanying my father as he was meeting with Fr. Jim McGrane about a Fathers’ Club event. At the time, my brother Bill and my cousin, Mickey Genovese, were in high school at the Academy. While those Augustinians were very different personalities, as were all the other Augustinians I met at that time, they impressed me with their “down to earth” quality as well as their interest in working together for the good of others and the Church. These were qualities I found in the Presentation Sisters who taught me but did not find in the diocesan priests in our parish. As I was thinking I might have a vocation, their spirit invited me to enter Augustinian Academy in the minor seminary program.
In the more than 50 years since then, some of those Augustinians have left us and others have passed on. Augustinian Academy and high school formation programs are no longer part of our Augustinian life, but the down to earth spirit and the willingness to minister together for the good of others and the Church still inspires me. I hope that I am now inspiring these qualities for others. I find it thriving in those who are joining the Augustinians and creating our new future.”
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