Mount Carmel Guild to recognize talents, commitments of six women at gala
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Following are biographies about the six women who will be honored by the Mount Carmel Guild.
Loretta Bercuk was born and raised in Brooklyn. She married her husband Hank there as well and raised her two daughters, Diane and Susan. In 1960, Loretta and her family relocated to Oradell where for a few years, Bishop John Smith was her pastor in St. Joseph Parish. In 1983, they weolcmed their grandson, Jonathan. Four years later, the Bercuks moved to Princeton Junction and this is when Loretta’s career of volunteering and a part-time job in insurance commenced. She became a member of the Princeton YWCA Newcomers Club and two years later, she joined the Grad Group and today remains active in what is now the Newcomers/Friends. Her tenure included being president of each club, working as a liaison between the club and the Princeton, YWCA, serving on the Y’s board of directors. She also participated in various committees to raise funds for scholarships. One year she organized the club’s Christmas Toy event, collecting and distributing toys for Home Front.
She has volunteered at Learning Ally (previously known as Recording for the Blind and Dyslexia) since 2000. Her work here entails being a director for recordings of various written materials, checking readers’ work to insure accuracy and training new volunteers. For the past two years, she helped to review applications for Learning Ally’s two national achievement awards.
Since 2003 she has been a tutor and mentor for Princeton University doctoral candidates at the International Davis Center. This past semester, she assisted a Professor of Anthropology from the University of Bogota and was assigned a new student at the end of September, 2015.
Bercuk became a member of St. David the King Parish social concerns committee in 2003. She has chaired Friends in Need, a ministry of the committee assisting parishioners with problems on a one-on-one basis. In 2007, she co-chaired the social concerns committee and most recently agreed to serve as the committee’s sole chair.
Cecilia Gallucci has been a member of St. Gregory the Great Parish, Hamilton Square, for 43 years, helping with many parish ministries and school activities during this time. She served as chairman of the children's booth for the parish carnival for over 15 years and is a former PTA president. Currently, she is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and a core member of G.R.A.C.E. (God Recognizes All Children Equally), which serves adults and children with disabilities to assure their inclusion in the parish community.
For 30 years, she has volunteered with the religious education program and has worked primarily with special needs students She feels that “the joy that these children have given me throughout the years far outweighs anything that I may have given them.”
She is blessed to be a 15 year breast cancer survivor and is active in breast cancer awareness and education.
Born in Philadelphia, Galluccio attended Catholic schools through college. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Dominican College in occupational therapy, she worked for 26 years with the Mercer County Special Services School District. She and her husband Michael have been married for 46 years and have three beautiful children and six even more beautiful grandchildren.
Milady Gonzalez, the eldest of four sisters, was born and raised in Trenton. She received her education from the Trenton Public School system, graduating from Trenton Central High School in 1986.
hile in high school, Gonzalez joined the Sembrando Esperanza (Seeds of Hope) choir and was named choir director three years later, a position she has filled for 28 years. As a leader in the music ministry in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenotn, she contributes her talents as a vocalist, flutist and guitarist.
For the past six years, Gonzalez has also served as president of the parish council, working with all parish organizations and parishioners to coordinate major events and oversee the calendar of activities.
Gonzlez also serves as a member of the parish finance council, the parish ad hoc committee for the Annual Scholarship Fund, and the Planning Board for the Charismatic Renewal on behalf of the Diocese of Trenton.
Professionally, she has held several administrative assistant positions requiring a high degree of integrity and discretion. Her experience with the Diocese of Trenton and as the executive secretary to the Mayor of Trenton, afforded her the opportunity to master her skills. Today, she is the executive assistant to the vice president of Public Affairs at Thomas Edison State College in Trenton.
Beyond her commitment to her the church and her career, Gonzalez is dedicated to her family and friends. She has been happily married for over 21 years, and is a devoted and proud mother of a son and daughter.
Mary Lombardo is a member of St. James Parish, Pennington, and has been the director of the parish youth group, CRASH (Christian Recreation and Spiritual Harmony) Club for the past five years. The CRASH Club is a place where teens can come together, make friends, and talk about issues that matter to them including family, friends, and faith. The teens complete a number of service projects over the course of the year and especially enjoy their service at Mount Carmel Guild, creating bagged meals for Thanksgiving.
Lombard was a member of CRASH Club youth group when she was in high school. CRASH Club made such a tremendous impact on her life as a youth, that once she graduated from college, she was given the opportunity to lead the club, a position she greatly appreciated.
Lombard has also co-led the Workcamp Mission trip for St. James youth for the last four years, along with her fiance, Michael Ranbom and long-time friend, Ray Alteri. Together the three attended the camp as teens and love taking the youth each summer to enjoy a new, profound, and faith-filled week repairing homes in less-privileged communities.
The parish of St. James has been a huge proponent of CRASH Club and Workcamp and continues to support our youth in all facets.
Lombardo is a graduate of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Princeton, and The Catholic University of America, Washington. She has been employed by Jackson Cross Partners and Playmobil USA.
Sister Maureen Maguire is a member of the Third Order of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, a religious order founded in Philadelphia in 1862 for the purpose of service to the poor both directly and indirectly wherever a need existed. For 32 years Sister Maureen has worked with the poor, marginalized and oppressed as well as the underserved in the city of Trenton, and has worked for 10 years with the Maguire Air Force Base on a project sending out food, clothing and medical supplies to the poor in Antigua.
She began her ministry as an elementary school teacher. She later received a degree in professional child care by Bristol Community College, Fall River, Mass., which included home visiting, and then served as a certified nurses’ aide in St. Francis Hospital. It was here, during this time, that she responded to the call to become a hospital chaplain and where, as she began to recognize the patients’ needs, she willingly responded with her listening heart. Sister Maureen became and remains today an active board certified chaplain under the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops.
For the past 40 years Sr. Maureen has worked and ministered on all nursing units at St. Francis Medical Center. She states that her passion is for the geriatric and hospice patients. She has worked in hospice and assisted in bereavement counseling beginning in 1989 with an APC/NACC board certified priest chaplain and has personally provided pastoral services in a nearby Trenton funeral home for the indigent community and immigrants. She recently spent a year assisting in bereavement counseling with families of hospice patients from the sixth floor hospice unit of the medical c enter.
Sister Maureen presently holds the position of Coordinator of Spirituality Ministry at St. Francis Medical Center. She lives in a nearby convent together with three other Third Order Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, one of whom is her own identical twin, Sister Denis.
Sr. Maureen’s motto is the motto of St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel, when necessary use words.”
Mary Meyer, a member of St. Paul Parish, serves as a reader and extraordinary minster of Holy Communion for Masses on Sunday and weekdays. She also assists at parish funerals as a reader and helps with the post-funeral hospitality; is a member of the parish hospitality team; assists with the seasonal interior decorating of the church, and is active with the Altar-Rosary society, with whom she is the secretary, and is a member of the maintenance team.
Meyer managed Thrift Drugs store for 20 years. She left in 2000 and became employed with Rock Brook School, an out-of-district educational placement for special-needs children. She worked full time as a teacher’s aide until 2013. She continues to work for the school part time.
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Following are biographies about the six women who will be honored by the Mount Carmel Guild.
Loretta Bercuk was born and raised in Brooklyn. She married her husband Hank there as well and raised her two daughters, Diane and Susan. In 1960, Loretta and her family relocated to Oradell where for a few years, Bishop John Smith was her pastor in St. Joseph Parish. In 1983, they weolcmed their grandson, Jonathan. Four years later, the Bercuks moved to Princeton Junction and this is when Loretta’s career of volunteering and a part-time job in insurance commenced. She became a member of the Princeton YWCA Newcomers Club and two years later, she joined the Grad Group and today remains active in what is now the Newcomers/Friends. Her tenure included being president of each club, working as a liaison between the club and the Princeton, YWCA, serving on the Y’s board of directors. She also participated in various committees to raise funds for scholarships. One year she organized the club’s Christmas Toy event, collecting and distributing toys for Home Front.
She has volunteered at Learning Ally (previously known as Recording for the Blind and Dyslexia) since 2000. Her work here entails being a director for recordings of various written materials, checking readers’ work to insure accuracy and training new volunteers. For the past two years, she helped to review applications for Learning Ally’s two national achievement awards.
Since 2003 she has been a tutor and mentor for Princeton University doctoral candidates at the International Davis Center. This past semester, she assisted a Professor of Anthropology from the University of Bogota and was assigned a new student at the end of September, 2015.
Bercuk became a member of St. David the King Parish social concerns committee in 2003. She has chaired Friends in Need, a ministry of the committee assisting parishioners with problems on a one-on-one basis. In 2007, she co-chaired the social concerns committee and most recently agreed to serve as the committee’s sole chair.
Cecilia Gallucci has been a member of St. Gregory the Great Parish, Hamilton Square, for 43 years, helping with many parish ministries and school activities during this time. She served as chairman of the children's booth for the parish carnival for over 15 years and is a former PTA president. Currently, she is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and a core member of G.R.A.C.E. (God Recognizes All Children Equally), which serves adults and children with disabilities to assure their inclusion in the parish community.
For 30 years, she has volunteered with the religious education program and has worked primarily with special needs students She feels that “the joy that these children have given me throughout the years far outweighs anything that I may have given them.”
She is blessed to be a 15 year breast cancer survivor and is active in breast cancer awareness and education.
Born in Philadelphia, Galluccio attended Catholic schools through college. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Dominican College in occupational therapy, she worked for 26 years with the Mercer County Special Services School District. She and her husband Michael have been married for 46 years and have three beautiful children and six even more beautiful grandchildren.
Milady Gonzalez, the eldest of four sisters, was born and raised in Trenton. She received her education from the Trenton Public School system, graduating from Trenton Central High School in 1986.
hile in high school, Gonzalez joined the Sembrando Esperanza (Seeds of Hope) choir and was named choir director three years later, a position she has filled for 28 years. As a leader in the music ministry in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenotn, she contributes her talents as a vocalist, flutist and guitarist.
For the past six years, Gonzalez has also served as president of the parish council, working with all parish organizations and parishioners to coordinate major events and oversee the calendar of activities.
Gonzlez also serves as a member of the parish finance council, the parish ad hoc committee for the Annual Scholarship Fund, and the Planning Board for the Charismatic Renewal on behalf of the Diocese of Trenton.
Professionally, she has held several administrative assistant positions requiring a high degree of integrity and discretion. Her experience with the Diocese of Trenton and as the executive secretary to the Mayor of Trenton, afforded her the opportunity to master her skills. Today, she is the executive assistant to the vice president of Public Affairs at Thomas Edison State College in Trenton.
Beyond her commitment to her the church and her career, Gonzalez is dedicated to her family and friends. She has been happily married for over 21 years, and is a devoted and proud mother of a son and daughter.
Mary Lombardo is a member of St. James Parish, Pennington, and has been the director of the parish youth group, CRASH (Christian Recreation and Spiritual Harmony) Club for the past five years. The CRASH Club is a place where teens can come together, make friends, and talk about issues that matter to them including family, friends, and faith. The teens complete a number of service projects over the course of the year and especially enjoy their service at Mount Carmel Guild, creating bagged meals for Thanksgiving.
Lombard was a member of CRASH Club youth group when she was in high school. CRASH Club made such a tremendous impact on her life as a youth, that once she graduated from college, she was given the opportunity to lead the club, a position she greatly appreciated.
Lombard has also co-led the Workcamp Mission trip for St. James youth for the last four years, along with her fiance, Michael Ranbom and long-time friend, Ray Alteri. Together the three attended the camp as teens and love taking the youth each summer to enjoy a new, profound, and faith-filled week repairing homes in less-privileged communities.
The parish of St. James has been a huge proponent of CRASH Club and Workcamp and continues to support our youth in all facets.
Lombardo is a graduate of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Princeton, and The Catholic University of America, Washington. She has been employed by Jackson Cross Partners and Playmobil USA.
Sister Maureen Maguire is a member of the Third Order of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, a religious order founded in Philadelphia in 1862 for the purpose of service to the poor both directly and indirectly wherever a need existed. For 32 years Sister Maureen has worked with the poor, marginalized and oppressed as well as the underserved in the city of Trenton, and has worked for 10 years with the Maguire Air Force Base on a project sending out food, clothing and medical supplies to the poor in Antigua.
She began her ministry as an elementary school teacher. She later received a degree in professional child care by Bristol Community College, Fall River, Mass., which included home visiting, and then served as a certified nurses’ aide in St. Francis Hospital. It was here, during this time, that she responded to the call to become a hospital chaplain and where, as she began to recognize the patients’ needs, she willingly responded with her listening heart. Sister Maureen became and remains today an active board certified chaplain under the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops.
For the past 40 years Sr. Maureen has worked and ministered on all nursing units at St. Francis Medical Center. She states that her passion is for the geriatric and hospice patients. She has worked in hospice and assisted in bereavement counseling beginning in 1989 with an APC/NACC board certified priest chaplain and has personally provided pastoral services in a nearby Trenton funeral home for the indigent community and immigrants. She recently spent a year assisting in bereavement counseling with families of hospice patients from the sixth floor hospice unit of the medical c enter.
Sister Maureen presently holds the position of Coordinator of Spirituality Ministry at St. Francis Medical Center. She lives in a nearby convent together with three other Third Order Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, one of whom is her own identical twin, Sister Denis.
Sr. Maureen’s motto is the motto of St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel, when necessary use words.”
Mary Meyer, a member of St. Paul Parish, serves as a reader and extraordinary minster of Holy Communion for Masses on Sunday and weekdays. She also assists at parish funerals as a reader and helps with the post-funeral hospitality; is a member of the parish hospitality team; assists with the seasonal interior decorating of the church, and is active with the Altar-Rosary society, with whom she is the secretary, and is a member of the maintenance team.
Meyer managed Thrift Drugs store for 20 years. She left in 2000 and became employed with Rock Brook School, an out-of-district educational placement for special-needs children. She worked full time as a teacher’s aide until 2013. She continues to work for the school part time.
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