Br. Joseph A. Cussen ’57 Endowed Scholarship

A testimonial from Br. Joseph A. Cussen '57

"My expression of gratitude to all those who have donated an endowed scholarship to assist an Iona student achieve their goals."

My Early Years

Far away in Bombay, India, I saw the light of day on October 16, 1935.

My father, Joseph J. Cussen worked for American Foreign Power, an American utility Company that provided electricity to parts of India. This Company also operated power plants in Cuba and Chile, as well as in other countries. As this narrative unfolds, one will see how my father’s assignments in these two nations impacted my life.

Dad, the second son of an Irish immigrant family, graduated from the Brothers’ All Saints Grammar School and soon after went out to work, operating the elevator at the headquarters of American Foreign Power (AFP) located at 2 Rector Street in lower Manhattan. From this modest first job, in time he became one of the most successful Chief executives running the Company’s utility plants in Chile.

It bears mention that the eldest son of this Irish clan, John Cussen (1902 – 1973), my father’s older brother and my uncle also graduated from All Saints and became the first American vocation to the “Irish Christian Brothers” entering the Congregation on Nov. 1, 1916.  At age 15, he received the habit taking the name, Br. Calasanctius. Two years later he was assigned to Mt. St. Francis, NFLD and from 1923 – 1936 to teach at the Instituto Marcantonio Colonna in Rome.  Shortly after his return to the USA he received his dispensation and left the Congregation in 1940.

After returning from India in 1938, I lived a short time with my mother’s parents, Robert and Lilly Lechleiter in Shelbyville, Kentucky. My grandparents on my mother’s side, hailed from Germany and had settled in Kentucky. I would guess they were upper middle class as they vacationed with their daughter, Pauline, in Cuba. It so happened that my father was working for AFP/ Cuban Electric Co.  and it was here in Havana that my dad met Pauline, my future mother. They were married in Shelbyville, KY in 1933 and shortly after left for India where I was born in 1935, as mentioned. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of these early years in India as we left Bombay before my third birthday.

My mother, Pauline, developed tuberculosis and after treatments in Saranac Lake and Orlando, Florida, we moved to Santiago, Chile in 1941, where the climate was thought to be beneficial. It didn’t help and mother passed away November 18, 1944, just after my 9th birthday. We brought her remains back to the States, by car, Liberty ship, “David A. Curry” and train to Louisville, KY where she was buried on December 23, 1944, next to her father, my grandad Lechleiter.

In 1946 dad remarried and I had a new mother, one I would become very close to and very fond of. Victoria (Vica/Vicky) Mackenna came from a prominent Chilean family descended from the illustrious General Juan Mackenna, a hero of Chile’s wars of Independence. Her father, a very learned man, founded the Art Museum in Santiago, and, as Intendente / Mayor of Santiago led the campaign to plant and beautify the environmental treasure of Chile’s capital, San Cristobal Hill. In a way, he was a forerunner for climate change and the preservation of natural beauty.

Soon I had brothers: Patrick (1948), Albert (1950), Tony (1952), John (1954) and Robert (1960). Five in all … and ones I am very close to. My Dad always spoke to my brothers in English, as he did to Vicky, who spoke a beautiful English. Our Mother (Vica to her friends) spoke to her children in Spanish, but as I remember, sometimes in English in the presence of our dad.

The Farley Years

As I recall, Mother (Vica) was against sending me up to Cardinal Farley Military Academy in 1947, but Dad had the last word. He was probably correct as I was not doing well in the British Grange School in Santiago. So off I went on a 3-day plane trip to school in Rhinecliff, NY.  Since CFMA had no 6th grade I entered 7Th Grade to graduate 6 years later.

My 6 years at Farley were the cornerstone years of the future and the cradle for my vocation. From near the academic lower rung of the class in Chile, I was first in class 4 of my 6 years at CFMA, ending up a “Captain” and Valedictorian in 1953. In addition, I made lifelong friends with the many Brothers that nurtured my future vocation. To mention a few Brothers: Pat Doyle, who wrote me nearly every day for 2 years, Dave McKenna, Coleman Crean, Tom Lopez, FIO, Cel Penny, Pi Burns and countless others.

Striking a Deal: A Gap Year

My going to Notre Dame after graduating from CFMA involved a deal. Originally, I was considering joining the Brothers after high school. However, my dad thought I had been too close to the Brothers during the 6 years at Cardinal Farley and strongly advocated going to Notre Dame University for two years before making a decision. We struck a deal: one year and then decide.

And so I headed for South Bend in September, 1953 for my freshman year at ND. I loved everything at Notre Dame: the contagious mystique that enveloped the campus, especially the welcoming Golden Dome, the Grotto, the undefeated football season, the classes and so on. For the summer vacation it was back to Chile were in July I received a telegram from Br. Pat Doyle indicating that the Provincial, Br. Loftus, “gives permission for you to enter the Brothers in August if you wish.” And so, on Friday, August 13, 1954, I entered the Congregation at West Park to go the next day to the Novitiate in South Kortright.

The Christian Brothers (1954 – Present)

Named the Marian Year Group, 50 or so candidates received the Habit on the lawn at Mary Immaculate Novitiate on September 4, 1954 and made First Vows on September 8, 1955.  Since I had my year at Notre Dame, I moved directly to Edmund Hall on the Iona College campus to continue my College studies while majoring in Spanish. My graduation from Iona took place in June, 1957 and my first teaching assignment was the 7th grade at St. Cecilia´s Grammar School where I was assigned the 7th grade.

The Community of Brothers walked each day from our residence in All Saints Parish on Fifth and 129th Street to the school on 106 Street. While at St. Cecilia’s I had charge of the Release Time Program and moderated the Legion of Mary.

September 1958 saw me transferred to Bergen Catholic H. S. in Oradell, NJ and a reunion with my friend from Farley days, Br. Dave McKenna. Here at “BC” I taught 3 English III’s, an American History, a Spanish and a Religion I. In addition, the Principal, Br. McKenna, kept giving me “jobs” I was happy to accept. Among the activities I remember were The Herald (the school newspaper), the Freshman Basketball team, the school play, Varsity Baseball (moderator), and Sacristan.

I loved it at “BC” and made friends that have endured over 60 years. Among these, I mention John Groh, Br. Pat Moffett and Fr. Pat Lynch, SJ, students at that time in the first and second graduating classes of Bergen Catholic. And so, I was “heartbroken” to receive the news in mid-August that a Spanish teacher was needed at Rice High School, and the Provincial’s finger pointed to me.

Six eventful years at 124th Street and Lenox Ave., the site of Rice H.S., began in September 1959. Highlights of these years included 5 Spanish classes and 1 Religion class each year and a dedicated Legion of Mary group co-led  with now Br. Salvatore Patricola.  I became President of the CHSAA Freshman Basketball League and coach of the Rice Freshman Basketball Team which won a memorable City Championship in the 1961 – 1962 season.

A special year was 1961 in that I made Final Profession, received my Master’s Degree in Sacred Science from St. John’s University, permanent Certification in Spanish from NY State, visited home (Chile) after 7 years and soon began studies in Spanish at Teacher’s College and Columbia University.

In the Fall of 1962, I was appointed President of the Archdiocesan Foreign Language Council, a newly formed association under the overall supervision of the Superintendent of Education of the Archdiocese of NY. This Council was composed entirely of members of Religious Orders from the 96 Catholic Schools in the Archdiocesan system. In the wake of Sputnik, stress was being given to Math, Science and Foreign Languages which presented our Council with a unique opportunity as we set out on an aggressive agenda to improve the level of language instruction in the Archdiocese.

Our initiatives included a very well attended Annual FL Conference held at Cardinal Spellman H. S., an In-Service Program for teachers of French and Spanish on Saturday’s at Regis H.S., a TV Program on FL Teaching methods and a European Study Seminar in Paris and Madrid for teachers of French and Spanish. I will always be grateful to our Provincial, Br. Celestine Penny in approving my request for 16 of our Brothers to participate in this 8 week Program in France and Spain and for coming to the NY Airport on June 28,1965 to see us off in our chartered aircraft.

It was an honor for me to teach Spanish to the Scholastics at St. Gabriel’s in Lakewood, NJ during the summers of 1962, 1963 and later in 1968.

THE IONA YEARS (1965 – Present)

I count myself blessed to have been all these years in ministry and in residence at Iona College. Fifty-eight years at this writing (February 2023), which includes 3 eventful years, 1975 -1978 across the street at St. Joseph’s with the Postulants and teaching at IONA.

It all started in 1965 when Dr. Italo Ponterotto, Chair of the FL Dept., requested of Iona President, Brother Power, that I join the Language Department to teach Spanish.  And so ended my days a Rice H.S. and began a happy and productive 56 years of teaching Spanish at our College – this the longest teaching stretch of any Brother on the Iona faculty.  Add my 2 student years, to the 56 teaching years and now my 2 retirement years, brings me to my 60th year on the Iona campus.

In addition to teaching the normal four courses each semester in either the Spanish language, Literature or Culture, I recall some of the highlights during these years as follows:

The living with so many learned and distinguished Brothers in Community during this time has been a blessing and a “highlight” of these years.  So too are the many friends in the FL Dept., and among the other Faculty and Staff.

The annual Iona Language Contest, which I directed from 1966 to 1996, brought the best high school students to the Iona campus for a Written Competition followed on a different day by an Oral Exam involving only the very best in each Category, and Prize Ceremony.  Some years, 70 Metro-area High Schools entered the Competition’s 14 different language exams.

Publishing 3 editions of the very successful Intermediate Spanish text, Casos y cosas, co-authored with Dr. María C. Dominicis of St. John´s U. was another highlight of my time at Iona. Other works, World Youth and the Family, and the book on Spain, España y las Nuevas Españas, co-authored with Br. Eduardo Barros, FSC (not published but used in class) took me in research to 16 of the 17 Autonomous Communities that make up the Spanish State, was a great learning experience!

Student Travel Seminars, mostly during the December – January Intersession and nearly all co-led with Dr. Ela Gómez-Quintero, with each of us teaching a 3-credit course while in Spain, Mexico and Peru were memorable for the value they had for the students. Important also were many short trips to Puerto Rico with students during my Puerto Rican Heritage course – the last of these being in Sept. 2019.

Special Travels of the Spirit. These years at IONA carried the special blessings of Retreats at Lourdes, Jerusalem, Manresa, Ávila and Montserrat, in addition to pilgrimages to the shrine of St. James in Compostela, all searching for the illusive spirit from the God of surprises.

Other memories, especially my milestone 80th birthday celebration in October of 2015, organized by my sister-in-law, Verónica in Santiago, with some 42 "Cussens" present,  – and other, too numerous to mention events, have filled up these years. 

to assist an Iona student achieve his/her goal.

                                                “Stay awake and be ready!

                            For you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

                                                                                           Matthew 24: 42, 44