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Fr. Dan Riley to receive Gaudete Medal

2009-01-23

 

To register for the 2009 Gaudete Award Celebration, buy a tribute ad in the Gaudete program booklet, add your name to the list of those married by
Fr. Dan, or for more information about the event, click here.

 

Fr. Dan RileyA man who once dreamed of becoming a doctor is being honored this spring for bolstering the spiritual health of St. Bonaventure University for more than 30 years.  


Fr. Dan Riley, O.F.M., who began his college career in 1960 as a pre-med student at St. Bonaventure, will receive the university’s Gaudete Medal at the annual awards celebration Friday, May 1, at the Country Club of Buffalo.  


   

The Gaudete event will also pay special attention to the university’s 150th anniversary, which concludes its 15-month celebration on May 31; the college was dedicated Oct. 4, 1858.  

   

St. Bonaventure’s Gaudete (gow-DAY-tay) Medal honors business and community leaders who exemplify the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi through their joy, hope, positive outlook on life, sincerely compassionate spirit and desire to serve humankind. Recipients of the Gaudete, which means “Rejoice!” in Latin, have inspired, encouraged and enlightened others through their personal and professional lives.  

   

“It is fitting that we honor Fr. Dan at this, the culminating event of our 150th anniversary celebration.  I can’t think of anyone more deserving than Fr. Dan to receive this award,” said Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., university president. “The generosity of his soul and the light that Dan always radiates are emblematic of the virtues we hope our students will take from this place when they leave here.”  

   

The Gaudete event is being coordinated by a committee of some 35 alumni and friends of St. Bonaventure University and chaired by the Lawley family — William Jr., Michael, Mark and Kathy Lawley Best. The Lawleys are also a major sponsor of the event.  

   

“The Lawley family is proud to be associated with this event,” said Bill Lawley Jr.  “To play a role in highlighting the service of Fr. Dan Riley is a special privilege and blessing.”  

   

Greatbatch Inc. has agreed to serve as the lead sponsor for the Gaudete event.  

   

 “We believe in St. Bonaventure and what it represents.  We are proud to be among the many organizations that will join in this momentous celebration of the university’s history and the iconic Fr. Dan Riley,” said Tom Hook, a 1984 alumnus of the university and president and CEO of Greatbatch Inc.   

 
Other sponsors to date are:
  • Swan Foundation  
  • Independent Health  
  • Lana and Howard Benatovich  
  • Ellicott Development  
  • Dr. Sean Keating  
  • The McCarthy families  
  • John and Susan Berger  
  • CIC Benefits Group  
  • Phillips Lytle LLP  
 
  • Attea & Attea  
  • Jim and Eileen Buzzard  
  • Mass Mutual Financial Group  
  • Travers Collins & Company  
  • Integrity Distribution  
  • Chemmet LLC  
  • Scott Danahy Naylon  
  • Damon & Morey LLP  
 
The guardian of Holy Peace Friary at Mt. Irenaeus, the university’s Franciscan sanctuary in the hills of West Clarksville, Fr. Dan is often the first friar students meet when they come to St. Bonaventure. His radiant smile and booming laugh have been omnipresent fixtures on campus since 1971, when he returned to his alma mater and started the university’s campus ministry.

   

He was assigned by Holy Name Province to positions in Boston, New York City, Portsmouth, N.H., and Washington, D.C., between 1974 and 1979, but returned to St. Bonaventure in 1979 to become coordinator of the university’s vocation program and campus minister.  

   

Even more than his infectious smile, the indelible mark Fr. Dan will ultimately leave at St. Bonaventure is Mt. Irenaeus.  

   

Named after longtime librarian Fr. Irenaeus Herscher, O.F.M., the Mountain was established in 1984 when Fr. Dan signed a purchase agreement on a 207-acre, hardwood-covered hilltop in Allegany County. Three cabins were built in the 1980s, Holy Peace Chapel was dedicated in 1990, and Holy Peace Friary — a large community house for the resident friars, with gathering space for prayer and meals — was completed in 1995.  

   

Twenty-five years after its founding, Mt. Irenaeus continues to host members of the St. Bonaventure community and visitors of all faiths, offering a quiet, natural setting and contemplative atmosphere that encourages people to develop their spirituality, or simply to get away from the stresses of daily life for a little while.  

   

Several times a year, Fr. Dan takes the “Mountain on the Road,” a program that brings the Mountain’s services wherever its presence is requested. Participants at the retreats open up to important parts of their spiritual journeys, while reconnecting within the St. Bonaventure family.  

   

A native of Rochester, Fr. Dan graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, and joined the Franciscan Order in 1965. He received his master’s in theology from Washington Theological Union, and was ordained a priest in 1971.  

   

Fr. Dan also plays a vital role on campus as a minister-in-residence in Devereux Hall.  

   

For more information on Gaudete event sponsorships and individual tickets, contact Anne Goergen at agoergen@sbu.edu or 716-375-4085.  

   

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About the University: St. Bonaventure is in the top 25 percent of institutions in U.S.News & World Report’s 2009 ranking of Northern Universities – Master’s. It has a history of accomplishment and service that extends back 150 years. At the heart of St. Bonaventure University is the Franciscan affirmation of the dignity and worth of the entire created order. Fundamental to this vision is an awareness that it is within relationships and community that individuals discover and develop their potential.