Kimberly Marks, OFS, of Cheektowaga has been elected regional minister of the Secular Franciscan Order's St. Kateri Tekakwitha Region, covering most of upstate New Yor
k and northwestern Pennsylvania. She will serve a three-year term, along with other new officers elected at the annual chapter of ministers and delegates held Sept. 13-15 at Stella Maris Retreat Center in Skaneateles, NY.
Marks was serving out the unexpired term of the previous regional minister, Mary Frances Charsky, OFS, who had been elected to the national council last October. Marks previously served as regional vice minister and as western area councilor for the region. She was a founding member of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Fraternity in Buffalo. She retired recently from working as a client services representative for Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation. Marks has been a youth minister in two local parishes, and has assisted at soup kitchens.
OTHER NEWLY ELECTED OFFICERS ARE:
-- Vice Minister Alfred Picogna, OFS, of Sanborn, NY. A retired secondary school teacher, Picogna is minister of St. Anthony Fraternity in Lockport, where he also served as formation director. Prior to joining that fraternity, he had served as minister of Our Lady of the Angels Fraternity in Lewiston. He is president of St. Vincent de Paul Society at Divine Mercy Parish, where the society operates a large food pantry. Picogna has been an active lector and Eucharistic minister as well as coordinator of RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). A member of the Knights of Columbus, he is a third degree knight at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Lewiston.
-- Secretary Joanne Lockwood, OFS, of Barneveld, NY. This is her second term as regional secretary. She is minister of St. Joseph Fraternity in Utica, where she had been involved in the founding and initial running of Mother Marianne's West Side Kitchen (a soup kitchen at St. Joseph-St. Patrick Parish). Lockwood has been primarily a homemaker and, for two years, she worked in the kitchen at Poland Central School. In her parish, she had served as a catechist. She volunteers at St. John Bosco House, a shelter for homeless boys and young men in Utica.
-- Treasurer James Fagan, OFS, of Corning, NY. An engineer and project manager at Corning Inc., he is active in All Saints Parish in Corning. He co-headed an effort to show the Catholicism Series in a theater and later in the parish school, and has volunteered for the annual Christmas breakfast for children. He is treasurer of St. Pius X Fraternity in Corning, and has been active in the fraternity's support of The Salvation Army's Shepherd Table dinner for those in need.
-- Formation Director Layna Maher, OFS, of Fonda, NY. She is a trainer for the New York State Justice Center in Delmar. Confirmation director for both St. Cecilia and Sacred Heart Parishes, Maher is on the Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine council, and leads youth retreat programs there. She is a Eucharistic minister at St. Cecilia and belongs to the Christian Service Committee there. In her St. Thomas More Fraternity in Fonda, Maher has served a minister, vice minister and formation director. On the regional level, she has served on the formation team.
-- Eastern Area Councilor Linda Quaranto, OFS, of Binghamton. A retired school principal, Quaranto is a newly professed member of St. Francis Fraternity in Binghamton. During her formation, she participated in Franciscan workshops and conferences around the country. Quaranto is active in St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Binghamton. She has held the following positions: Special Olympics coordinator and volunteer; Broome County ARC Board Member; United Way Coordinator for Broome-Tioga BOCES; director of the Early Childhood Coalition of Broome County; Headstart Board Member of Broome County; Coordinator of Committee on Pre-School Education for Broome and Tioga Counties, and board member of Holy Family
Vocational Orphanage Foundation (Orphanage is in Uganda, Africa).
-- Central Area Councilor Katie Koscinski, OFS, of Utica, NY. She is former minister of St. Joseph Fraternity in Utica. A retired mental health worker, she is involved in her parish as a commissioned catechist, Eucharistic minister, lector and RCIA facilitator. In the community, she was involved in the founding of Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen, has served on the RPEA Steering Committee, and has been a Bill Payer Program volunteer for Family Services of the Mohawk Valley, Inc.
-- Western Area Councilors Eleanor Cox, OFS, of Angola, NY, and Don Montero, OFS, of Cheektowaga, NY. A retiree, Cox is active in St. Francis Fraternity in Athol Springs as treasurer and in St. Anthony Parish as a Eucharistic minister. She is a board member and treasurer of Lake Shore Association of Christian Churches, which operates a food pantry. Montero is minister of St. Thomas More Fraternity in Kenmore-Cheektowaga, where his wife, Mary, is also a professed member. Montero is a lector in Infant of Prague Parish, and is state chairperson of KAIROS prison ministry. He works for Neville Lumber as a woodshop worker making specialty crates and pallets for companies' shipping needs.
Eleanor Cox, OFS
western area councilor |
Don Montero, OFS
western area councilor |
