Kanty Alumni Website

St. John Kanty Prep - Erie, PA
For God, For Country, For Kanty...

Dr. Joseph Matala

Dr. Joseph Matala

Dear Fellow Kantyites,
On 12/31/2011 A true Kantyite passed away.His name is Dr. Joseph Matala who graduated from Kanty in 1948. He was from the Black Rock Area of Buffalo ,N.Y. and attended Assumption School where he was a star athlete and an honor student. His parents were Joseph and Mary who were very prominent professionals. His father attended Kanty and was a lawyer in the community.
He and fellow classmates,Dr.Joseph Kij and Judge Mike Zimmer became the backbone of the Buffalo contribution to Kanty.
I was a young paperboy who delivered to Mike and Lou Kubala (also a Kantyite ) the Dziennik Dla Wszystkiech (a Polish Newspaper) and every day they told me of their boy Jojo as he was called. He was a football, basketball, and baseball star at Kanty and his uncle Lou Kubala, who owned Kubala furniture always told me what Jojo was doing at Kanty.
Kanty was a boarding school at the time St. Francis was in the Buffalo area.
In 1949 when I graduated from Assumption, Fr. Adam Minkel showed up at the school and because of the influence of Jojo, many of my classmates chose to go to Kanty.
We are sorry that Jojo passed away and we will forever remember that it was he that gave us some of the best years of our lives. His influence will always stay in my heart as in many of my classmates. Jojo was a fighter and he fought until the last day of 2011. Now he will play and fight in the new year for another team and I am sure he will be the captain as he always was at Kanty.
Team God against Team Devil.
I spontaneously wrote this and it would take several days to honor and thank Jojo for the influence he was on my life. His wife Elaine and his children gave Jojo the best care he could possibly have since they all are in the Medical field.
His wife attended the reunion in Cleveland and I could not get enough info about Jojo except that he wished Kanty the best as always
Jojo you will be missed by us all especially me.
Bog Zaplac
Sincerely,
Archie and fellow Kantyites

Holiday videos ... relax and enjoy

Breath of Heaven
Still, Still, Still
Mary Did You Know
O Holy Night
Wintersong
It Wasn't His Child

Honoring St. Anthony’s Father Czok
Nov 23, 2011
by Michael Cesarczyk
Last week, Greenpoint honored one of its most faithful servants.
Last Sunday, November 13th, over 300 people attended a formal retirement party for Pastor Robert W. Czok of St. Anthony’s Church. After years of devoted service to the community, Fr. Czok retired on the first of the month.

Baptized at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church and raised in Greenpoint, the Polish-American Czok became pastor of St. Anthony in 1999. From that time, he worked tirelessly to maintain his church and never missed a community meeting. He also became a friend and protector of the neighborhood’s homeless.

Around five years ago, volunteers Eryka Volker and Janusz Pukijaniec had their Astoria-based shelter, Partnership for the Homeless, closed down by the city’s Department for Homeless Services. Facing a bitterly frigid winter and still in possession of supplies, Volker put out an ad in Polish newspaper Kurier Plus and called every establishment she could, but was turned down. “We tried every place, every church,” said Volker. “We only wanted an emergency shelter to help the homeless during the coldest winter nights.”

Eventually they called Fr. Czok, who not only agreed to let them use the church basement, but also visited the homeless every time they came to make sure they received proper care. “He wanted everyone in Greenpoint to have an equal share of services,” said Volker. “Once he got up at two in the morning just to see if everyone was safe.” Fr. Czok has also supported homeless Polish immigrants in getting their lives back on track. On Thanksgiving, with the support of the Polish Consulate, the shelter will be sending their tenth Polish individual back to Poland to be reunited with his family.

When Greenpointers had a heated debate about the possibility of an assessment shelter on McGuiness Boulevard, Fr. Czok encouraged his community to discuss the issue rationally and reminded his parish of their social responsibilities. In the January 8th edition of Pastor’s Corner, his church bulletin, he wrote, “The community needs to be informed to make its views known. In the meantime, we all ought to do what we can to alleviate the suffering of the homeless already in our area.”

Fr. Czok’s work has not gone unnoticed. In 2009, he was given the Gold Medal Award by the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski. At the retirement party, the visibly moved priest was presented with a letter of recognition by Polish Consul Piotr Janicki and a painting donated by Ania Winiarska. Among those who attended were Polish Consul Monica Clark, current St. Anthony pastor Fr. Sojan Antony, Neil Sheehan, the Executive Vice President of the Outreach Project Brooklyn and representatives of the St. Vincent De Paul Society – Homeless SOS, including Eryka Volker, who gave a heartfelt speech in appreciation of Fr. Czok. “He never wants to talk about it, but today I would like everyone to know that many lives in this community were saved because of Fr Czok’s tenacity and humanity. He offered a shelter for all people regardless of color. Thank you Fr. Czok for being an example and an inspiration.”

From JOHN SENDROWSKI

Dear Conrad,
I don't know how to post on the Kanty Site.

John S. Gaj
MERIDEN - John S. Gaj, 77, died Monday, Aug. 17, 2009 at the Masonicare home.

Born Dec. 22 1931, he was the son of the late John and Frances (Przyware) Gaj.
He was a parishioner of Stanislaus Church. He is retired from Washington Middle
School as a school teacher.

He is survived by a sister, Jenny Edgor, of Southington; and three brothers. Joe,
Stanley, and Henry Gaj , all of Meriden. He was predeceased by two brothers, Ted
and Edward; and sister, Bernice Kasabucki.

There will be no calling hours and burial will be private.

Published in the Record-Journal on August 20, 2009.

We weren't informed of John's death; found the obituary by chance. Hadn't heard
from him for some time and went looking.
John would visit with us on his way to Atlantic City. He would go upstairs to the
guest room after lunch for a "short nap", four hours later we had to wake him up for
dinner. Once we moved to Delaware the only contact was via Christmas cards.
John & Florence Sendrowski 1951

Happy Holidays! We hope you had a chance to sit down with Family and enjoy your Thanksgiving!

All alumni - I am really glad I attended the Kanty alumni reunion this past weekend. I had a great time seeing old friends & meeting many of the alumni from the 50's - 60's.

Hope to see more alumni at next years reunion!!

Paul Groszkiewicz - '76

2011 Kanty Celebration

The Kanty Prep Celebration of 2011 was very successful. We reveled with many of our fellow Eagles, some we haven't seen since our days at Kanty. We will be posting links on this site to videos and photos taken at the various events. Please upload your images here. We hope to get the word out for the 2012 celebration. Erie, PA was voted on by those present at the annual meeting to be the host city for the 2012 celebration. It was virtually a tie between Erie and Buffalo, NY. After discussion, the general consensus was to hold it in Erie next year to generate even MORE interest from the later year students um, called "DAY-HOPS"! If the numbers warrant, the plan calls for a Buffalo, NY event in 2013.

The 2011 Kanty Celebration Committee would like to extend our gratitude to the following businesses who helped make this year's celebration so successful. We recommend that whenever possible, you utilize their services. They were exemplary!

The AWARD WINNING Courtyard Wineries
The Erie Maennerchor Club
Misery Bay Big Band!
The Concourse of Union Station
The Avalon Hotel
Catering On Parade

Also, a special thank you to Thomas Zielinski, webmaster of the Vincentian site, Congregation of the Mission.

On behalf of the 2011 Committee, we'd like to thank all who attended any of the events, and we hope when the date is announced, you are able to celebrate Kanty with us AGAIN in 2012! Please bookmark this site and check back often for updates or risk being put in THE DIARY or WORSE ... a visit to the DREADED SMOKER!