Bros. Michael Eguino,
Robert
Malusa
Make Perpetual Profession
Two Salesians
made their perpetual profession on Saturday, Aug. 18, at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw-Stony Point, N.Y. They were Bro. Robert Malusa, SDB, 47,
and Bro. Michael Eguino, SDB, 27.
Fr. Tom Dunne, our provincial, received the vows. Bishop
Luc Van Looy, SDB, of Ghent,
Belgium,
presided over the Mass of Religious Profession and gave the homily.
Bp. Luc preaching the homily |
Both
brothers made their first profession of vows in 2006 at Mary Help of Christians
Church in New York City
following their year of novitiate there.
Bro. Rob
is the son of Dominick and the late Marie Malusa and entered the SDBs from
Locust Valley, N.Y.; the family belonged to St. Gertrude’s
Church in Bayville, where his father still worships. He has three brothers,
John, Mark, and Stephen.
Before
“discovering” the SDBs, Rob taught math for 15 years in two private schools;
the second was a Lutheran school that scheduled missionary-service trips every
year at Christmas time. After taking part in several of these, he was looking
for a longer-term program. The pastor of the school highly recommended the
Salesian Lay Missioners, to which Rob applied and was accepted.
He was
posted to Sierra Leone in 2002 and wound up working in the home founded for
street children by Fr. John Thompson (originally of our province) in Freetown; many
of these kids had been child soldiers during the country’s brutal civil war
(graphically depicted in the 2006 film Blood
Diamond).
Bro. Rob professes perpetual vows before Fr. Tom Dunne. The witnesses are Fr. Dom DeBlase (left) and Bro. Bernie Zdanowicz (2d from left). |
Rob loved
this apostolic work, as he witnessed an “amazing transformation” in these boys
and girls and, eventually, a reunion with their parents or other relatives. The
program involved work, play, and a gradual introduction to faith at the
youngsters’ own pace in “a very free, open, and natural” manner.
Working
with the SDBs in Freetown
also answered a quest of Rob. He’d been working with young people as a teacher,
and he’d seen the impact that a particularly charismatic person could have on
selected individuals. But he wanted to reach more than a few individuals, and
he wanted to be part of a group or a team in that effort. He found that among
the SDBs.
He also
found that he was already—without having been aware of it—practicing the
Salesian method of education, based on reason, religion, and kindness.
So on his
return from Sierra Leone
in the summer of 2003, he began to think about applying to the SDBs. The
following summer he entered the formation program at Orange, N.J.
After his
first vows, Bro. Rob returned to Orange for two
years of further formation and for studies in pastoral ministry at Seton Hall
University.
In 2008
he was assigned as youth minister to St. Philip Benizi Church in Belle Glade, Fla.
He oversees an extensive program of religious education, Bible study, CYO, and
other recreational activities for youngsters from tots to teens, and lives in
community with several other SDBs. He continues in that apostolic work as
a lay member of the Salesian Society (also known as a “coadjutor brother”).
Bro. Mike
is from St. Benedict’s Church in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx. His parents are Rose and Ubaldo Eguino, and he has
three younger siblings: Christine, Matthew, and Stephen. Steve just entered the
SDB novitiate in California.
Mike graduated
from Salesian High
School in New Rochelle in 2002
and entered the SDB candidacy program in Orange
that September. During the three years that he was a candidate in Orange, he worked in the Don
Bosco Youth
Center affiliated with the Salesian
house and Our Lady of the Valley
Church. Happily, he
recalls that one of the “street kids” he assisted in those years was a very
young Kyrie Irving, who went on to play basketball in high school, at Duke University,
and in the NBA; he was the NBA rookie of the year in 2012. Another was Jason
Alford, who went on to play football at Penn State
and for three NFL teams, including the New York Giants Super Bowl champs of
2007.
Bro. Mike makes perpetual vows before Fr. Tom Dunne. The witnesses are Fr. John Nazzaro (back to camera) and Fr. Jim Berning (2d from left). |
After his
1st profession in 2006, Bro. Mike continued his formation with two more years
in Orange, including the completion of a B.A. at
Seton Hall University.
For two
years (2008-2010) Bro. Mike taught world history and theology to freshmen at Salesian High School. He did a third year of
practical training at Don
Bosco Retreat
Center in Haverstraw-Stony
Point, assisting with both youth and adult retreats. He says that the program
cared for 20,000 people that year. He also helped initiate a regular program of
Eucharistic adoration for young adults at the Marian Shrine (to which the Retreat Center is attached). Bro. Mike’s musical
talent—he sings and plays guitar—facilitate his apostolic work.
Bro. Mike
credits the development of his vocation to the “witness” of Fr. John Nazzaro,
who was director of Salesian
High School while Michael
was a student there. Fr. Nazzaro, he says, created “a welcoming space” for the
students in his office, was always around the students, and at times joined in
their games. He fostered friendship with the students and supported their
families in times of illness and loss, as the Eguinos experienced.
So when Fr.
Nazzaro asked Mike whether he’d thought about becoming a Salesian, the youth
was open to the suggestion. The “maybe” became a “yes” after Mass one day with
the prayer group he belonged to, the Children of Light at Providence Rest
Nursing Home, and he sensed the Lord’s commitment to be with him.
Bro. Mike
has felt that presence during various times of difficulty, he says. His prayer
life as a Salesian leaves him knowing that he’s not alone.
Bro. Mike
also notes that he’s been privileged to live with some holy SDBs, to live
among many men striving to become holy, and to work with some young people who
want to be holy.
In 2011 Bro.
Mike began theological studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange, aiming at priestly ordination in 2015. He
is, once again, a member of the SDB formation community in Orange.
Deacon Miguel Suarez, Fr. Tom Dunne, Bro. Rob Malusa, Bp. Luc Van Looy, Bro. Mike Eguino, Fr. Steve Leake |
Bishop
Van Looy based his homily on the Scripture readings (Jer 1:4-9; Luke 10:1-9),
reminding the two men that their commitment this day is a response to the love
that God gave first to them. He charged them to be messengers of hope,
especially for the young, and to keep the young in their hearts. The mission of
the Salesian, he said, is to make people feel loved by the Lord. He reminded
them that God would never leave them without support, and he told them to be
supportive of their confreres in community. He said that making profession
within the context of the Eucharist is fitting because, as the Lord poured out
his life for us, the professed religious gives himself constantly to people. Thus
both Eucharist and the religious are signs of God’s will being done, of God’s
kingdom that is to come. The Eucharist fills us with God’s life and his love.
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