Don't miss out on the chance to win BIG money in PC's August 11th raffle! To participate, contact the Advancement Office at the school  973-278-1024 (x. 36) and purchase your $10 raffle.  Three winners will share half of all of the money collected in percentages of 70, 20 and 10.  Why not be among the winners taking some extra money into the final weeks of summer!!!

40th Anniversary

Strength through Faith & Knowledge

As Paterson Catholic celebrates 40 years of Catholic education, we welcome you to our new online community.  Membership is FREE and available exclusively to our alumni and friends.

Search for friends and make new connections with the online community.  All you need to do to take advantage of all the community has to offer is to proceed through the registration process to establish an account.

Paterson Catholic is a family and graduates are an important  part of this family even though they have been away for a while. We want to welcome back alumni whom we hold as dear as our present students.

The official PC 40th Anniversary hat is now on sale.  It's a very attractive, dark khaki cap with maroon stitching and the PC logo on front.  On one side, the celebration of "40 years" and on the other, the school's tagline, "Strength Through Faith & Knowledge."  Get yours now by emailing or calling the school - $15 each.

PATIENCE, PLEASE! Please be patient with our web site as it is still under construction. All of the credit for its inception and design go out to Chris of Alumni Channel who has been a key partner in this project with us. Thanks so much!

COMING SOON:  A list of alumni activities and events for the Fall of 2008!  Check back soon ...

Simply click on the first A above the words Paterson, NJ on the Home page.  You can adjust the size of the type on our website.  It might make reading the article more enjoyable!

Please consider posting a photo of yourself in your profile.   The process is very easy.  Just go to your profile, click add photo, enter the location of your photo on your computer, hit browse and it should work!  Please remember that only appropriate photos are welcome!

No matter who we hear from, our alumni always want to know, "… and how are the Benedictine Sisters? Do you ever see them?" The answer is they are still the great women they were when they walked the halls of Paterson Catholic from the first day it opened in 1967 until they day they left to staff their own school Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth, NJ in 1990. Sr. Philomena Fleck, now the sub-prioress of the community, was kind enough to put together the update you see here. The Sisters are looking forward to being present to as many of the Anniversary events as they can. Should you want to contact the Sisters, you can address your correspondence to the particular Sister, in care of St. Walburga Monastery, 851 N. Broad Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07208. 

• Sr. Germaine Fritz spent 17 years of her life at PC. She started her tenure as the music teacher and became the much-loved principal for fifteen years. Sr. Germaine left PC to serve as Prioress of the Benedictine Community, a position she held for 12 years. After a three-month sabbatical, she went to work at Benedictine Academy as Development Director and President. Sr. Germaine remains in that position today and has come full circle at Benedictine which is her high school alma mater.

• Sr. Martin Elizabeth Duffy who was the most helpful librarian in the world is still hard at work in the library of Benedictine Academy. Sr. Martin Elizabeth worked at PC from the very beginning and was one of the last Sisters to leave! In her honor, we still remind students in the library to push in their chairs! 

• Sr. Philomena Fleck served at PC from 1973 until 1984. She left to become Principal in Rev. George Brown School in Sparta. From there, she went on parish work and was the DRE in New Paltz, NY. Sister Phil is currently serving as the Sub-Prioress of the Benedictines and is residing in Elizabeth. This summer, she will travel to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to work with the Benedictine Sisters there. 

• Sr. Marita Funke worked at PC from 1984 until 1990 and was one of "the last to go." Having been a religious education teacher while at PC, Sr. Marita is now the Director of the monastery’s Spirituality Center and has been doing retreats and spiritual direction since the mid-90's. She is also the community's Vocation Director and Co-Director of the Oblates. 

• Sr. Ruth Rohr taught for 5 years at PC. She went on to teach at Benedictine and then served in various religious education positions. She is currently a full-time upholsterer as well as the Transportation Minister at St. Walburga's. 

• Sr. Marcia Lammerding was at Paterson Catholic twice in her career. She first served as math teacher from 1971-1980. She returned as Vice-Principal from 1983-1988. Upon leaving PC, she was appointed Principal of Benedictine Academy. She then returned to teaching at Bender Academy, and she is currently teaching at St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth.  

• Some of the Sisters who served Paterson Catholic so well are now permanent members of the Benedictine Infirmary. Sr. Elizabeth Anne Hanko served from 1969 – 1973; Sr. Flavia Mundie from 1967-1990; Sr. Giles Sharkey from 1969-1973. They are praying for all of us! 

• Sadly, some of the Sisters who worked at PC have passed on and are at rest with God. They are the angels who watch over Paterson Catholic to this day. Sr. Pierre Van Eck (2007), Sr. Marie Celeste (1993), Sr. Martha (1985).

Understanding that every successful endeavor has a force or strength behind it, we would like to recognize and thank the founding members of Paterson Catholic’s Alumni Association. They began meeting as a group about five years ago. They built a set of by-laws that governed the group, and they met regularly to work on ways to get more graduates back into PC. They searched various websites and Classmates.com to round up as many grads as possible. They sent out thousands of emails and tried their best to get folks out to their monthly meetings. They held two very successful “grand reunions” and sponsored two equally successful volleyball mini-marathons. Perhaps their greatest success and crowning achievement has been to fulfill their goal of sponsoring a $1000 scholarship for a present PC senior. Mission accomplished!

With great admiration, we wish to thank these alumni for their hours of service. While their group has been especially busy lately with home, work and kids, they certainly are the proverbial rock on which we can build for the future. Thank you so very much for all you have done and continue to do for your alma mater!

• Alex Cerna
• Dr. Rob Razzak
• Ruth Illescas
• Nancy Toledo
• Beverly & Joe Imperato
• Kim (Kramer) Gallagher
• Wayne Kaskie
• Lisette George
• Orlando Pagan
• Jennifer De Marata

In a very special way, we would also like to thank several alumni who have been extremely helpful to Paterson Catholic in so many, many ways. It’s so nice to know that they are still fond of their high school years. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Steve Malzone ’76, Myriam (Jimenez) Mackey ’77, Doug Herzog ’77, John Eason ’78, Sue (Katz) Shouldis ’78, Tim Thomas ’96 … and our wonderful alums who continue to serve PC as members of our faculty: Dr. Michele Williams, Donna Rizzi, Crystal Cox-Tober, Shadu Moore and Len Campobello!

Keep your e-mail and mailing addresses current and you'll receive the details for all alumni information, activities, events, and reunions.

• James Gallagher - Member of the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders, married to Kim Kramer;
• Tim Thomas - Class of 1996, NBA player with several teams ... currently with the LA Clippers ... married to Natricia Jones; 
• Doug Herzog - Class of 1977 ... President of Comedy Central and Spike TV!
• John Restrepo - Class of 1981 ... Now Fr. John Restrepo, a missionary priest currently working in South America.

Michele Neves (Assistant Principal) is your administrator of this web site.

A bit of sad news has come our way in recent days.  Rev. Hugh P. Murphy, the beloved President of Paterson Catholic Regional High School, has been transferred to a new post by Bishop Arthur Serratelli.  A successor has not yet been named.  Fr. Murphy is best-known for his special gift of story-telling and his profound compassion for the community he serves.  The students will miss his special homilies at school Masses.  Father plans to take some well-deserved and long-overdue vacation time before deciding on his next assignment.  We wish Father the best and want him to know that he is always welcome at PC!  Anyone wanting to get in touch with Father may send email or regular mail to the school and it will be forwarded.  God bless you, Fr. Murphy!