Printer Friendly - Immaculata University

ALUMNI PROFILEBaneyFamily TreeFamily members who attended or graduated from ImmaculataMarie Gable Flanagan ’28Agnes Gable Walsh ’30Sister Margaret Mary Baney ’33, IHM, Ph.D.Louise Stief ’46Sister Mary of Peace Slater ’47Joan Baney Cattie ’48Ruth Ann McCahon Baney ’59, ’93 M.A.Mary Anne Callan Trimber ’60Kathy McHale Flanagan ’61Kathleen Flanagan McIlvaine ’62Mary Catherine Slater ’63Mary Louise McCahon Noone ’65Catherine Hooten Bolger ’72Mary Hooten Green ’7662 IMMACULATAMary O’HoraMAGAZINEDeasey*’82SUMMER 2013Ann Baney Efstathion ’82Roseanne Hooten White ’83Mary Ellen Baney Carnuccio ’88Cecelia Trimber Gilliam ’91Domenic Carnuccio ’97 M.A.Danielle CattieSister Miriam Consilia DevineJoe FlanaganMimi FlanaganJudy SimsSister Agnes Francis SlaterSister Natalie SlaterDorothy TrimberMargaret Trimber

The Baney family tree is rooted in faith andknowledge, and many members of the family havebeen nourished intellectually and spiritually bytheir education at Immaculata. Their time at theschool stretches across seven decades, and theirstudies span multiple fields, but their stories includecommon themes of growth and productivework. For two of them, a romance sprinkled withmiracles grew out of their connection with Immaculata.For all of them, Immaculata cultivatedboth their character and their careers.SISTER MARGARET MARY BANEY, IHMSister Margaret Mary Baney ’33, IHM, Ph.D., laid downroots in faith and scholarship that have nourished both herfamily and the Immaculata family. At Immaculata, she earned abachelor’s in Latin and English and was awarded a doctoral fellowshipat Catholic University of America where she completedher Ph.D. in Latin and Greek.She returned to Immaculata in 1947 and served for 23 years,taking on roles such as professor of Latin, registrar, and dean.“During this time,” she wrote, “I knew every student in the collegefor whom I now pray daily for their spiritual, physical, andmaterial needs.” Her brother, too, was involved in the spiritualformation of the community. Father John Baney was an assistantchaplain at the Motherhouse, well-liked by the novices whoknew him.Sister “was very scholarly,” remembered one of her students,Sister Marie Hubert Kealy, IHM, Ph.D., now an IU professor ofEnglish. Other teachers would avoid discussing the vulgar passagesin classical texts, Sister Marie Hubert said, “but you knowthat every girl in the class read [them] anyway!” Instead, SisterMargaret Mary “would take the work as it was, in a scholarlymanner, and we would deal with whatever the topic was as itcame up.”Sister’s scholastic excellence was widely recognized, but shemaintained a humble attitude. “The honors I have received Iattribute to God and my education at Immaculata College,” shewrote. She was named an Outstanding Educator of Americaand was invited to join the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. Sheserved on the Executive Board of the National Catholic EducationalAssociation and on the Pennsylvania Department ofEducation’s Latin Curriculum Committee.She wrote numerous articles and frequently spoke at educationalassociation meetings. Her book Witness: One Response toVatican II, describes the IHM Congregation’s successes and challengesin the first 20 years following the Council.Despite these many academic achievements, Sister consideredher most memorable honor to be a religious one. At the Mass ofCanonization of St. John Neumann in 1977, she participated inthe offertory procession and presented the gifts to Pope Paul VI.Sister Margaret Mary died in 2006 in the 71st year of herreligious vocation. Her family and students remember her for herbrilliance and genuine interest in their lives. “Sometimes peoplewith great brilliance are off-putting in the classroom, becausethey talk to the clouds and not to the students,” Sister Marie Hubertsaid. “But she engaged the students, and in my view, she wasa real scholar, because she could make us love what she loved.”RUTH ANN MCCAHON BANEYRuth Ann McCahon Baney ’59, ’93 M.A. first knew SisterMargaret Mary as the registrar at Immaculata, who knew thather nephew Bill was Ruth Ann’s boyfriend.As a home economics and nutrition major, Ruth Ann and herclassmates lived in “Practice House,” now the Bruder Center, andtook on different responsibilities “to experience firsthand livingSister Margaret Mary Baney ’33, IHM, Ph.D., and her family:Back row, L to R: John Baney (nephew) and wife Joan; Kathy McHale Flanagan’61 (niece), Ruth Ann Baney ’59, ’93 M.A.; Joe Flanagan; Jules Cattie and wifeJoan Baney Cattie ’48 (niece). Front row, L to R: Mary Ellen Baney ’88 (grandniece),Sister Margaret Mary Baney, and Bill Baney (nephew).WWW.IMMACULATA.EDU 63

L to R: Mary Ellen Baney Carnuccio ’88 andDomenic Carnuccio ’97and participating in a family setting.” Some of what they learnedto do was a little idealistic—Ruth Ann smiled remembering howshe tied bows around stacks of clean towels, which wasn’t exactlya high priority after she had her own children. But, she said,“there were many things I recalled from that time that influencedmy future as a parent and homemaker.”After she graduated, Ruth Ann married Bill and had twodaughters, Ann and Mary Ellen. She began to serve at theirschool, first as a volunteer and then as a substitute teacher. “Irealized that that was my calling,” she said. She felt a particularconnection with children who had special needs, so she earneda special education degree from Glassboro State College, nowRowan University.During her 25-year teaching career, Ruth Ann focused on“teaching the whole child.” Many of her students were fromsingle-parent families and didn’t have as many adults to nurturethem. So Ruth Ann got their parents’ permission and took themto get library cards, to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, andother “little extras,” she said. “When you see them around later,you know you made a difference.”Wanting to improve her skills even further, Ruth Ann returnedto Immaculata for a master’s in counseling and took thattraining back to the classroom. “Obtaining a counseling degreestrengthened my ability to assist those children in finding successin a school setting,” she said.Another of Ruth Ann’s abilities is music. She sang in thechoir at Immaculata, and she has been involved with the JubilateDeo Chorale and Orchestra since it was founded 20 years agoin Camden, NJ by Monsignor Louis Marucci and his brotherMonsignor Carl Marucci. Ruth Ann started out singing sopranoand later helped with production and administration. The grouphas had the honor of performing in venues such as Carnegie Halland the Sistine Chapel.“It’s a true marriage of music and spirituality,” Ruth Ann said.“The musical selections of the Jubilate Deo Chorale & Orchestraare both classical and popular and always presented with aspiritual approach. Our mission is to combine both as a means ofministering to our varied audiences.”ANN BANEY EFSTATHIONAt first, Ann Baney Efstathion ’82 resisted the prospect ofgoing to Immaculata, since her mother and great-aunt had gonethere. But the school’s small size and the athletic reputation ofthe Mighty Macs made her eventually come around to the idea.64 IMMACULATA MAGAZINE * SUMMER 2013

With her interest in sports and health, Ann majored in homeeconomics with a focus on dietetics. She found it fascinatingto see how nutrition therapy alleviated certain diseases, such asdiabetes and high blood pressure.In addition to taking classes about the science of nutrition,Ann took a cooking lab class. “I was terrible at that!” she said,remembering some muffins she made that somehow ended upwith tunnels inside.Fortunately, Immaculata “was a safe place to try some thingsout,” Ann said. “I felt like I could make a mistake and it wouldbe OK.” Encouragement from Immaculata’s small academiccommunity made her comfortable enough to take risks in othersettings.Ann also felt encouraged spiritually at Immaculata. “Thepriest’s sermons were very applicable to life for a college student,”she said. “It was reinforced how God can help you in your everydayliving as a young person.”Ann carried this reassurance with her when she got her master’sin nutrition at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Instituteof Health Professions in Boston. While she was still doing hergraduate internship, her adviser asked if she was interested inteaching an introductory nutrition course at a local university.“You just have to say yes before you’re too scared to say no,”Ann said. She wasn’t much older than her students, but she drewon her confidence-building experiences at Immaculata and herfaith in God’s help.Now, in her part-time job with an outpatient oncology unit atTufts Medical Center, Ann is encouraged by seeing her patientsconfront daunting medical situations. “It’s very inspiring to seepeople who are fighting the fight every day of their life,” she said.Sensitive to the pain her patients experience as a result of theirtreatments, Ann directs them to foods with healthy fats andother important nutrients.One of Ann’s patients is an 85-year-old woman with stomachcancer. “But she is the feistiest thing,” Ann said. “It doesn’t feelgood to have your stomach radiated,” Ann said. “But she madea big effort when she could,” and Ann’s nutritional suggestionshelped her. During appointments, the woman often stepped onthe scale and proudly called people over to show off her weightgain.Ann checks in with her and her family regularly to see howshe’s doing. She comes in periodically for surveillance scans tomake sure the cancer hasn’t returned, and Ann is pleased to seethat she is maintaining her spunk. “She’s just a fighter,” Ann said.MARY ELLEN BANEY CARNUCCIOMary Ellen Baney Carnuccio ’88, Ph.D., Ann’s youngersister, says Sister Margaret Mary helped expose her to Immaculataand influenced her to enroll there. At the time, students whowished to obtain elementary education certification needed tohave a major in a specific discipline, so Mary Ellen chose psychologyin order to gain a better understanding of children. Sheis now in her 25th year of teaching fifth grade.She went on to get her Ph.D. in Temple University’s psychoeducationalprocesses program, which had “a nice overlap of education,human development, and cognitive psychology,” she said.After Sister Margaret Mary, Mary Ellen is the second doctorin the family. Sister was one of the people to whom Mary Ellendedicated her dissertation, thanking her “for setting an excellentexample of high academic standards and for her constant prayers.”Mary Ellen’s dissertation explores the multiple intelligencesinvolved in the learning process. “Kids learn differently,” she said,“and there’s so much emphasis on verbal intelligence, so you wantto reach them in other ways.”She uses discovery games to appeal to different types oflearners. In one game, teams of students pretend to be colonistsand make decisions about where to settle and how to get food.They draw cards with descriptions of circumstances, such as badweather or sickness, and they learn to handle these challengesand to assign tasks to each other based on their diverse skills.Mary Ellen makes her own discoveries during these games,working to find out her students’ unique interests and personalities,connect with them, and help them learn. “But it’s so muchmore than the curriculum,” she said, so she also works to set agood example. “Kids feed off of your behavior,” she said, so she iscareful to make them all feel valuable. She intentionally takes asmany opportunities as possible to praise them.Mary Ellen didn’t feel called to a religious vocation, althoughpeople used to ask her if she did. But, like her mother, she does seeteaching as her calling. “I felt like I didn’t have to have a habit onto still be a witness,” she said. “I teach in a public school, but I canstill be a good witness in terms of a role model to kids.”In addition to using her gifts at school, Mary Ellen uses themin the church. Her bishop wrote a letter to the diocese aboutthe importance of the laity in the Catholic Church. WantingWWW.IMMACULATA.EDU 65

to become a better lay leader, Mary Ellen earned a master’s intheology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, recommended byMonsignor Lou Marucci. Studying there filled in some gaps inher religious education, she said, and enabled her to later teach atheology course in Immaculata’s College of LifeLong Learning.“The church is learning to use the talents of the laity inconjunction with the priests,” Mary Ellen said. “We all have abaptismal call to holiness.”L to R: Mary Ellen Baney Carnuccio ’88, Ruth Ann McCahon Baney ’59,’93 M.A., and Ann Baney Efstathion ’82DOMENIC CARNUCCIOWhen Domenic Carnuccio, ’97 M.A., announced that hewould be resigning from his successful aerospace engineeringcareer in order to pursue counseling, his boss tried to get him toreconsider. But Domenic told him, “You know that I’m called tocounseling. I need to move in that direction.” After pursuing hisundergraduate degree in sociology with concentrations in psychologyand theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville,he started working with cancer patients at Chester CountyHospital and soon afterward began a master’s in counselingpsychology at Immaculata.“There’s nothing like going to a classroom with a crucifixon the wall,” Domenic said. He found a unique combination ofspiritual formation and good academics at Immaculata, which influencedboth his personal and professional life. “You’re around thegreatest people who care about you, especially the IHMs,” he said.He saw the Sisters not just in the classroom, but also in thehospital. He remembers visiting and praying with Sister EileenTurner, IHM, a relatively young patient on his cancer unit.“Her attitude was exceptional,” he said, feeling that she alwaysbrought more encouragement to him than he brought her. In additionto bringing encouragement, Domenic—along with SisterEmelda Travis, IHM—brought the Eucharist to cancer patients.Domenic still visits the IHM cemetery where these two Sistersand Sister Margaret Mary are buried, all of whom prayed faithfullyfor him. “My relationships with the IHMs still continue,”he said.Drawing on what he learned from his spiritual and professionalmentors, Domenic helped connect his patients withprograms that offered expensive drugs at a lower cost, extendingtheir quality of life as long as possible. If they had no family, hemade sure they didn’t die alone, and he even researched wheretheir parents were buried and raised money to have them buriednearby. But, as he frequently acknowledges, “all of it was God’swork.”Now, Domenic is counseling “influencers”—politicians, attorneys,CEOs, physicians, educators, “people in leadership positions.If they have a healthy perspective on life, they can affectso many other people,” he said. “They realize, because I integratespirituality with psychology, that God has them in those leadershippositions, and they know the responsibility and the accountabilitywith them.”Domenic is grateful for the rewards he has enjoyed in hisown leadership position, recognizing that his parents sowed thefirst seeds by being advocates for the Catholic Church and forCatholic education. “They sent me and all of my siblings in theright direction,” he said.“Mary Ellen had the same thing—her whole family went toImmaculata,” Domenic said, calling that religious and academicheritage a “cornerstone” they shared when they first met.A MATCH MADE IN HEAVENAs for how they met, Domenic said, “We could never haveput that together.”Years ago, Domenic’s brother took him to see the JubilateDeo Chorale and Orchestra’s Easter program, with music accompanyinga re-enactment of the Passion. Mary Ellen wasplaying the Blessed Mother, as she had done for many years,portraying the tender, heart-rending scene of the Pietà.Although he couldn’t see her face, Domenic sensed that shewas genuinely connecting with the Blessed Mother. “I’d like tomarry a woman like her,” he said to his brother.66 IMMACULATA MAGAZINE * SUMMER 2013

In 2002, IU Vice President for Academic Affairs Sister AnnHeath, IHM, Ph.D. (then the dean of the College of GraduateStudies), asked Domenic to carry an American flag at the inaugurationof IU’s new president, Sister R. Patricia Fadden, IHM,Ed.D. Before the ceremony, Domenic ran into Tom O’Brien,now associate dean of the College of Graduate Studies, whomDomenic, then 46, had known for many years as a deacon in hishome parish. Domenic mentioned that he had been praying fora wife, and O’Brien said he would pray for God to help him findthe right woman.At the reception, Domenic saw someone he thought he recognized,a former nun to whom some Sisters had introduced hima few years ago, hoping that the two would be a good match.“Don’t I know you?” he asked Mary Ellen. She wasn’t in factthe former nun; they had never met before. But a friend’s advicefor single women crossed Mary Ellen’s mind: “Pray for yourSt. Joseph.” She wasn’t looking for a husband at that point, butsomething about this man got her attention.They went on to mingle with other people, but they kept runninginto each other without trying to. “I could see,” Domenicsaid, “just in that short conversation in that room, God had alsodone a great work in her.”Ruth Ann had been another flag bearer in the ceremony, andshe and Domenic struck up a conversation. He learned that theyhad both been in the same counseling program, though at differenttimes, and that she was the president of the Jubilate DeoChorale and Orchestra, as well as Mary Ellen’s mother.The reception ended, and they parted ways. But Domenickept thinking about Mary Ellen. Finally, he got her email addressthrough Ruth Ann and wrote to her, “Are you the angelGod sent to protect me?” She still has the email.Members of the Jubilate Choir sang at their wedding 14months later. Monsignor Lou Marucci married them, lifting upboth their hands during the Eucharist as Domenic held the Hostand Mary Ellen held the chalice.“The Lord made me wait, but the wait was well worth it,”Domenic said. “He has his way of grooming us in the meantime.”Domenic later thanked Sister Ann for helping him meethis wife. “The providence of God has a way of working thingsout beyond our capabilities,” he said.In addition to his call to counseling and to marriage, Domenichas discerned a call to the permanent diaconate, and heis in the second year of the program at St. Charles. That’s whyMary Ellen is the angel sent to watch over him, Domenic says.She’s been a good support to him with her academic talents,helping him with the work and attending some of the sameclasses with him that she took in her master’s program there. Asthe wife of a future deacon, she will share in the ministry of supportingpriests so they can focus on their pastoral duties.“The Lord is setting us on a path that has already blessed alot of people,” Domenic said. He spoke of the “positive extensions”he has seen in his family as a result of his and Mary Ellen’sdevelopment at Immaculata. Every night they read to their twosons, Domenic Jr., 7, and William, 3.Domenic and Mary Ellen are proud to see their sons growingintellectually, but they also realize that it’s about more thanacademic development. Their time at Immaculata was also aboutspiritual development, building their talents and preparing themto fulfill their callings. Mary Ellen understands that she andContinued on page 71Sister Margaret Mary Baney ’33, IHM, Ph.D.WWW.IMMACULATA.EDU 67