By TAMI QUIGLEY Staff Writer
Celebrate friendships and be a good friend – that’s the message of “Conversations with Joe: Practical Wisdom for Every Day,” the new book edited by Ron Shegda.
Shegda, parishioner of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, Hellertown, focuses the book on conversations with Joe Gossé, a dear friend of Shegda’s and parishioner in the Diocese of Allentown who died Sept. 26, 2000.
The chapters in “Conversations with Joe” are organized by days of the week. Gossé possessed Gospel-rich ways of living each part of the day.
This book journeys with Gossé through moments of his “ordinary” days, with opportunity for learning and emulation. It’s actually written by all sorts of people who knew Gossé.
“Joe Gossé … was a committed Catholic in every way. He had a depth of spirit and a strong desire to be the presence of Christ,” said Bishop Alfred Schlert in the book.
“A simple phrase by Joe once changed my life for the better and forever. There may very well be something in this book that will change yours,” Rita Pursel, retired spiritual director at St. Francis Friary, Easton, said in the book.
“I was most struck by his understanding of suffering. Joe’s Job-like reflections on human suffering during our many conversations were replete with inspiration for untold souls,” Gerald Stover, lay ecumenist from Bethlehem, said in the book.
Shegda shared of Gossé in the book, “When I would take him to dialysis or visit him during his numerous times in the hospital, he filled my mind and heart with the most wonderful thoughts. Like Mary, the mother of God, he pondered so many mysteries of Christ and humanity in his brilliant soul. Even in passing, Joe remains a light to many.”
Gossé’s parents, Joe Sr. and Peggy Gossé, were parishioners of St. Joseph, Limeport when Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, now of Louisville, Kentucky, arrived there in summer 1971 as a newly ordained deacon.
The couple had four children: Joe Jr., Jim, Peggy and Tom.
Recalling that summer, Archbishop Kurtz wrote in the foreword, “Possibly the first parishioner I met was Joe Gossé Sr. He was serving the parish as a catechist, and his warm, soft voice was just the welcome I needed to begin public ministry in the Church.” The prelate’s life was entwined with the Gossé family for the next 30 years.
As Archbishop Kurtz was later director of the former Diocesan Social Action Bureau, Joe Gossé Jr. was there to help in its mission of reaching out to the poor and vulnerable.
“Joe was there and brought enthusiasm, a love of Jesus and his Church, a natural knack for supporting others, and – yes – wisdom,” Archbishop Kurtz wrote.
“When the Jesuits asked Joe to leave the community short of ordination after 10-plus years of formation because of his debilitating health, he met Mary Clare Benckini, a divorced mother of three young children – Tim, Todd and Roxine – at The Children of Joy, a Charismatic prayer community at DeSales University, Center Valley,” Shegda said.
They married on the Memorial of St. Clare and were parishioners of St. Paul, Allentown when Shegda met them in 1990.
Shegda first met Gossé when Shegda asked him to become involved with the Diocesan Social and Economic Justice Speaker’s Bureau. Their friendship thrived until Gossé died “at 57 years young,” as Shegda wrote. “Joe knew how to make friend, be a friend and lead that friend more intimately to Christ.”
“When Joe spoke, he did so with a real simplicity. His words came from deep within himself, from his heart. His conversations were like that deep well bubbling up from the desert. He had things to say that resulted from his intimate union with God, with Christ,” said the late Monsignor Alfred Ott, who was pastor of the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena, Allentown when Gossé was a parishioner.
“Listening is the greatest display of love,” said Bishop Ronald Gainer of Harrisburg, another former priest of the Allentown Diocese, in the book. “Joe taught this. First we must listen to God.”
Gossé’s daughter Roxine Susan Simms wrote of how her father loved to sing, especially songs of Elvis Presley. She recalled when she was very young she heard Gossé singing Elvis’ “Hound Dog.”
“Joe sang his heart out to that song. He just loved singing Elvis songs. I would be sitting and smile and giggle every time he sang,” wrote Simms.
“During Joe’s final moments on earth, I cried and sang gently in his hear ‘Return to Sender’ by Elvis Presley. I hoped that hearing this song would bring some comfort to him as God took him to heaven.”
Among others who contributed to the book are: Monsignor John Grabish, pastor of St. Joseph and St. Paul, Reading; Father John Gibbons, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Conception BVM, Allentown; the late Father Larry Hess of the Allentown Diocese; Jesuit Father Joe Lacey, who attended St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Philadelphia with Gossé in the 1960s; Monsignor Thomas Orsulak, pastor of St. Peter the Apostle, Reading; Deacon William Urbine of Notre Dame of Bethlehem; and Diane Vara, parishioner of St. Paul, who coordinates the Lehigh County Prison Ministry.
Shegda’s master thesis, “The Regenerative Economy,” was published by the former Rodale Press, Emmaus. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Tufts University, Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. Shegda’s articles and editorials have appeared in numerous religious and secular publications over the years.
“Conversations with Joe” is available from Leonine Publishers, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other bookstores.
