World Leaders at Montfort
The Montfort Academy is blessed with a distinguished faculty of accomplished, caring, and generous teachers. We are also blessed to have guest speakers who are truly distinguished in their respective professional fields. These Distinguished Speakers are "successful" not so much for the material success they have achieved such as professional status, earthly wealth, and admiration from their fellow man, but more for their strength of character and virtue. At Montfort, we believe that by exposing our students early on to leaders who exhibit such strength of character and who live both virtuously and prosperously, the more such values will be instilled in them.
Our Distinguished Speakers come and spend an intimate hour or two with our students speaking about their lives and their subject matter expertise, followed by a question and answer session. Often, we also invite members of the wider Montfort community to attend, but only after each speaker has had time exclusively with our students. They have included, among others:
The Honorable Justin Muzinich
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 2018-2021
During their bi-weekly Convivium this past Thursday, Montfort Knights had the privilege of speaking with The Honorable Justin G. Muzinich, who served as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from December 2018 through January 2021. Secretary Muzinich spoke about many topics from his own education at Harvard University and Yale Law School to the economic and financial policies he helped write and implement during the peak of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other topics, he spoke about the Payroll Protection Plan, tax reform, the metaverse, cryptocurrencies, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and the threats that face the United States today. The roundtable discussion was moderated by Senior Montfort Knight Evan Iervolino and The Honorable Richard Greco, Jr., President of Montfort who also served in government as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Service to country and service to community were important themes of the discussion.
Students had the chance to ask questions of Secretary Muzinich.
JOANNE VON ZWEHL
JoAnne Von Zwehl is a successful business executive, philanthropist, and world-renowned artist. She is also a woman of deep Catholic faith. Ms. Von Zwehl spoke with Montfort Knights about her faith and the impact it has on her art. Her message was a message of love and service to God and neighbor. We recorded her entire presentation at Montfort and are proud to present her inspiring story here. Ms. Von Zwehl is also the President of Rosa Mystica, a beautiful place of Catholic pilgrimage and prayer in upstate New York. The story of Rosa Mystica is also incredible and one of miracles. JoAnne, and her parents before her, have supported Rosa Mystica for many years.
FRANCECSO MAMMOLA AND ALFONSO BRANDI
Two days before Thanksgiving 2022, The Montfort Academy was treated to a magnificent recital by two distinguished musicians from Italy, Francesco Mammola and Alfonso Brandi. They played the mandolin and guitar for nearly 90 minutes to our great delight. They played Italian classic songs, American popular pieces, and Christmas carols as Montfort Knights sang along. Mr. Mammola and Mr. Brandi responded to 30 minutes of questions from the students and spoke about their music, the differences between the two instruments, the time they practice daily (ten hours!) and more. The musicians are in America thanks to the Teatro Grattacielo. Montfort’s dear friend Enzo Pizzimenti is the Chairman of Teatro Grattacielo. Mr. Pizzimenti has brought other musical performances to Montfort including the opera L’Amico Fritz and concert pianist Cristiana Pergoraro (below). Mr. Pizzimenti has also led instruction in the art of Bel Canto at Montfort. PRESS HERE FOR VIDEO AND MUSIC
Dr. Tom Catena, MD
Dr. Tom Catena is described by many as a living Saint. He is the only medical doctor available for the million and a half individuals who live in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. Unfortunately, they are under constant persecution and siege by the Sudanese government. Dr. Catena's extraordinary life, mission, and faith is highlighted in the documentary The Heart of Nuba; here is a link to the trailer. Dr. Catena met with Montfort Knights on April 29, 2022 on one of his rare visits to the United States. A one-hour question and answer followed Dr. Catena’s initial remarks. It was an inspiring two hours together.
Civilians in the Nuba Mountains say they are extremely thankful for Dr. Catena’s commitment to save lives and pray daily for his safety. Due to the way he heals the sick, he has often been called “Jesus Christ.”
Since 2007, Dr. Tom Catena, a Catholic missionary from Amsterdam, NY, has been the only doctor permanently based in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, which has a population of more than half a million people.
Dr. Catena attended Brown University where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but felt called to missionary work. Realizing there were limited opportunities given his background, he decided to pursue a medical career and attended Duke University School of Medicine on a U.S. Navy scholarship. After graduating, he completed his Navy commitment and later began missionary work in Africa.
Cristiana Pegoraro
World-renowned Pianist
Acclaimed as one of the most gifted musicians of her generation, Italian-born pianist Cristiana Pegoraro has consistently entertained and enlightened audiences with her inspired performances and original programming. Her skills display great technical and interpretative abilities. She began her career in music as a piano prodigy receiving countless national and international awards, including the 1989 Prague Best of the Year for Classical Music Award “for her great personality, strong musical temperament, mastery of phrasing and expressive artistry.” The New York Times called her “an artist of the highest caliber” following her stunning 1996 debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. A gold medal winner at the 2016 Global Music Awards, Ms. Pegoraro has performed in some of the major venues in Europe, United States, South America, Asia and Australia, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, the Guggenheim Museum (New York); the Sydney Opera House; Festspielhaus (Salzburg); Musikverein (Vienna); Royal College of Music (London); Auditorium Parco della Musica, Casa del Jazz (Rome); Amici del Loggione del Teatro alla Scala, Serate Musicali (Milan); Centro Cultural de Belem (Lisbon); Theatro Municipal (São Paulo); Theatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro), the Opera House (Manaus), and such music festivals as: Budapest Spring Festival, Umbria Jazz, Umbria Jazz Winter, Sorrento Jazz Festival, S. Petersburg Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr (Germany), Shabyt Festival Astana (Kazakhstan), Aichi World Expo (Japan) and Saragoza World Expo (Spain), among others.
Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B.
Founding Prior of Monks of Norcia
Fr. Cassian is the founding prior of the Order of St. Benedict, also known as the Monks of Norcia, a group of Benedictine monks who live in Norcia, the birthplace of the great Saint Benedict. The monks of Norcia have a special devotion to Gregorian Chant and have just released an album. See the link below for details. The monks also have a special zeal for beer, and they run their own brewery in Norcia. The beer that they produce was served to the College of Cardinals as they elected His Holiness Pope Francis. And Pope Benedict before him visited Norcia as a commemoration of St. Benedict's feast day. Montfort founder and President Richard Greco visited Norcia in April of this year and was struck by the beauty and simplicity of the monks, also noting the great impact the the monks are having on the town of Norcia and wider Italy.
Rick Santorum
United States Senator from pennsylvania
Rick Santorum served in the United States Senate from January of 1995 to . He has been elected to a second term as Republican Conference Chairman, the party's third-ranking leadership position in the Senate. As Conference Chairman, Senator Santorum directs the communications operations of Senate Republicans and is a frequent party spokesman. He is the youngest member of the leadership and the first Pennsylvanian of such a prominent position since Senator Hugh Scott was Republican Leader in the 1970's.
Brent Scowcroft
national security adviser to presidents george h.w. bush and gerald ford
Leading Expert on american foreign policy
As President of The Scowcroft Group and one of the country's leading experts on international policy, Brent Scowcroft provides clients with unparalleled strategic advice and assistance in dealing in the international arena.
Brent Scowcroft served as the National Security Advisor to both Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, the only individual in U.S. history appointed to the position under two different Presidents. From 1982 to 1989, he was Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm. In this capacity, he advised and assisted a wide range of U.S. and foreign corporate leaders on global joint venture opportunities, strategic planning, and risk assessment.
In 1991, General Scowcroft was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President George H.W. Bush, and in 1993 was awarded an honorary knighthood - a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) - by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2009, he was presented the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Fr. Stanley L. Jaki
Physicist, Philosopher, and Theologian
Father Jaki, a Hungarian-born Catholic priest of the Benedictine Order, is Distinguished University Professor at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. With doctorates in theology and physics, he has for the past forty years specialized in the history and philosophy of science. He is the author of almost forty books and over a hundred articles, and he served as Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and as Fremantle Lecturer at Balliol College, Oxford (England). He has lectured at major universities in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He is honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Rome), membre correspondant of the Acadamie Nationale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts (Bordeaux), and the recipient of the Lecomte du Nouy Prize for 1970 and of the Templeton Prize for 1987.
Robert Hormats
Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs (International),
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs
Mr. Hormats served as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs from 1981 to 1982, Ambassador and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative from 1979 to 1981, and as Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs at the Department of State from 1977 to 1979. He served as a Senior Staff Member for International Economic Affairs on the National Security Council from 1969 to 1977 during which time he was Senior Economic Advisor to Dr. Henry Kissinger, General Brent Scowcroft and Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski. Mr. Hormats was a recipient of the French Legion of Honor in 1982 and Arthur Fleming Award in 1974.
Mr. Hormats publications include: Abraham Lincoln and the Global Economy; American Albatross: The Foreign Debt Dilemma; and Reforming the International Monetary System. Other publications include articles in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, American Banker, and The Financial Times.
Tony Lo Bianco
Actor
The career of actor Tony Lo Bianco is distinguished as much by its depth and variety, as by the skills and gifts Mr. Lo Bianco has brought to his work. He has appeared in numerous films, television programs, and stage performances, both on-screen and off as a writer, director, and producer. Throughout his career, Mr. Lo Bianco has collaborated with many of the brightest creative minds in the performing arts, both past and present.
Mr. Lo Bianco served as the National Spokesperson for the Order Sons of Italy. His many humanitarian efforts have earned multiple awards, including the Eleanora Duse Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Performing Arts; Man of the Year for Outstanding Contributions to the Italian-American Community from the Police Society of New Jersey; a Man of the Year Award from the State of New Jersey Senate; a Lifetime Entertainment Award from the Columbus Day Parade Committee; the 1997 Golden Lion Award; and the Humanitarian Award of the Boys' Town of Italy, the Ellis Island Medal of honor and is a member of the Italian American National Hall of Fame.
Professor Joseph Tusiani
Internationally Renowned Latin Poet, Author, and Scholar
Professor Tusiani's most representative English poems were collected in volumes. He has also published two novels, one in Italian and one in English (later translated into Italian). In his poetic activity Tusiani has also employed the Latin language, starting from 1955. His Latin lyrics, published in several volumes and translated into several languages, establish Tusiani as the greatest living neo-Latin poet. He has authored 7 volumes of poetry in his Gargano dialect. After his retirement from teaching, he has written and published a three-volume autobiography, commonly referred to as his autobiographical trilogy.
Another fundamental activity of Tusiani is that of translator. The list of his translations is, indeed, enormous. The Tusiani family has lived, after the first residence on 188th Street, on Tomlinson Avenue (also in the Bronx) where his father died, Oct. 1977. At the beginning of 1997, after fifty years in the Bronx, Joseph Tusiani moved to Manhattan, at East 72nd Street, only a few blocks away from the residence of his brother Michael, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of one of the most prestigious international companies of oil mediation. His mother, so large a part of Joseph Tusiani's singular life, died on September 16, 1998.
Joseph Tusiani is still active in all the languages that he has used. His literary production has been the subject of many doctoral dissertations at several Italian Universities.
Howard Safir
Former New York City Police Commissioner, Chairman and CEO of SafirRosetti
Howard Safir was appointed 39th Police Commissioner of the City of New York by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on April 15, 1996. In his four years as Police Commissioner, he achieved a 38% reduction in major crime and reduced homicides by 44%, bringing the total number of murders in New York to 667, the lowest level in three decades. To obtain these results, Commissioner Safir implemented a comprehensive Fugitive Strategy and established thirty-nine major anti-drug initiatives throughout the city including the Northern Manhattan Initiative. He created model blocks in each borough to prevent eradicated drug dealing from returning and he introduced closed circuit television to ensure the safety of housing development residents, park visitors and subway riders. Concerned for officer and public safety, he expanded firearms training and introduced Firearms Training Simulators. Under his leadership, firearms discharge incidents have decreased from 344 in 1995 to 155 in 1999. He has also been the country's leading voice in calling for the expansion of DNA use in policing. He developed and implemented Operation Condor, a creative use of personnel resources, that continues to be a centerpiece of current NYPD crime reduction strategy.
George Sim Johnston
George Sim Johnston is a native of New York City. He graduated from Harvard with a B. A. in English literature. He was an investment banker with Salomon Brothers in the seventies and early eighties. Since then he has been a free-lance writer, publishing with The Wall Street Journal, Harper's, Commentary, Harvard Business Review, National Catholic Register, World Catholic Report, and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Journalism Award from the Catholic Press Association. His book Did Darwin Get It Right? is published by Our Sunday Visitor. He teaches marriage preparation for the Archdiocese of New York and teaches CCD. He is currently working on a book covering "hot button" issues in Church history, such as the Inquisition and the Galileo affair.
Sr. Margherita Marchione
Author and scholar
Sister Margherita Marchione is Professor Emerita of Italian Language and Literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and an internationally known author of more than fifty books on Clemente Rebora, Giuseppe Prezzolini, Philip Mazzei, Peter and Sally Sammartino, Pope Pius XII and others. She participates in radio and television programs in Europe and in the United States. Besides honorary citizenship in Poggio a Caiano (Prato) and Pontecagnano (Salerno), among her numerous honors, she is a Knight of the Star of Solidarity of the Republic of Italy and a member of the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. Sister Margherita received the papal award, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross, for her work in promoting the truth about Pope Pius XII. Among the first to answer the modern critics of Pius XII, Sister Margherita declares her unambiguous support for Pius XII at the outset of all her books. In her judgment, not only has the wartime Pontiff been defamed, but there is more than enough evidence to prove that he was a genuine saint.
Member of the Religious Teachers Filippini, Sister Margherita is Treasurer at Villa Walsh in Morristown, New Jersey, where she resides. She is among the best-known—and passionate—supporters of Pope Pius XII. Sister Margherita has published several books in defense of Pius XII: Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy (1997), Pius XII: Architect for Peace (2000), Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pius XII (2002), and Crusade of Charity: Pius XII and POWs (1939-1945) (2006), all published by Paulist Press (New York/Mahwah, NJ), as well as Shepherd of Souls: A Pictorial Life of Pius XII (2002) containing over 260 photographs and sketches of the wartime Pontiff. The stated purpose of these books is to provide “definitive, conclusive and inspirational proof of Pius XII’s efforts to protect the victims of Nazism.” In The Fighting Nun: My Story, Chapter Eleven, “Defending Pius XII” (Cornwall Press, London/ Cranbury, NJ, 2000), Sister Margherita refutes John Cornwell and defends the honor of the Pontiff. Her books collect first-hand eyewitness accounts of Pius XII’s contemporaries, English translations of primary material (from diplomatic and Vatican sources) available nowhere else, and reveal the utter hatred the Nazis had for Pius XII because of his defense of persecuted Jews and uncompromising stand on behalf of Christian principles. These books have drawn considerable attention from historians and religious leaders of many faiths.
REAR ADMIRAL ROBERT LUNNEY, USN (RET)
NAVAL OFFICER AND ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, FIRST-HAND WITNESS IN THE CANONIZATION PROCEEDINGS OF CAPTAIN LEONARD LARUE, ALSO KNOWN AS BROTHER MARINUS
Rear-Admiral James Robert Lunney was born on December 15, 1927 in New York City, New York (more specifically the Bronx) to Thomas and Jessie Lunney. His father was in the real estate and insurance business, and his mother was a homemaker. J. Robert Lunney was the middle child of three boys. Lunney’s father Thomas and two of his father’s cousins served in the Navy during WW1. At the age of 17 J. Robert Lunney asked his father for permission to join the Navy, which was granted. Lunney serverd in the U.S. Navy during WW2 in the Pacific aboard a landing craft as a part of Macarthur’s leap-frog strategy. After WW2 Lunney attended Alfred University and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in June 1950. Before starting law school Lunney sailed on a merchant ship the SS Meredith Victory as a Staff Officer to Korea in September of 1950. The merchant ship was working for the US Navy when it participated in the Hungnam evacuation recusing more than 14,000 Korean refugees from North Korea.
From Richard Greco’s introduction of Admiral Lunney to The Montfort Academy:
TO INTRODUCE PROPERLY ADMIRAL J. ROBERT LUNNEY—THE MAN WHO WILL TELL US THIS AMAZING STORY WOULD ITSELF REQUIRE A LOT OF TIME. BUT SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT BEFORE TODAY YOU STANDS A VERY GREAT AND HONORABLE MAN—A RETIRED UNITED STATES NAVY ADMIRAL A VETERAL OF TWO WARS—WORLD WAR II AND THE KOREAN WAR. IMAGINE THAT—MOST SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN, AND MARINES NEVER SEE COMBAT—YET OUR GUEST TODAY SERVED ACTIVELY IN TWO MAJOR WARS FIRST AS A 17-YEAR OLD ENLISTED SAILOR, AND THEN AS A NAVY OFFICER, ACHIEVING THE HIGHEST RANK OF REAR-ADMIRAL. OVER HIS 92 YEARS OF LIFE, ADMIRAL LUNNEY SERVED GOD, HIS FAMILY, AND HIS COUNTRY—AND TO THIS DAY, CONTINUES TO SERVE IN MANY WAYS.
ADMIRAL LUNNEY—WHO IS HERE WITH WIFE DR. JOAN LUNNEY—WHO HAS HAD A DISTINGUISHED CAREER IN EDUCATION AND WILL HELP ADMIRAL LUNNEY WITH THE PRESENTATION—HAS GIVEN ME PERMISSION TO TELL YOU HIS AGE—HE IS 92 YEARS OLD. AND IN THOSE 92 YEARS, THE QUESTION IS NOT WHAT HAS HE DONE—BUT WHAT HAS HE NOT DONE?
A DEEP AND DEVOUT CATHOLIC, ADMIRAL LUNNEY IS A HIGHLY DECORATED NAVY OFFICER—WITH DISTINGUIED MEDALS FOR HIS SERVICE IN BOTH WARS. THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY AWARDED ADMIRAL LUNNEY WITH THE DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD, THE HIGHEST AWARD GIVEN BY THE NAVY TO THOSE WHO HAVE RETIRED OR TO CIVILIANS. AND AT ONE POINT, ADMIRAL LUNNEY, MOVED BY JUSTICE, ENSURED THAT THE FAMILY OF SOMEONE RECEIVED HIS MEDAL OF HONOR.
IN ADDITION TO SERVING OUR COUNTRY AS A SAILOR, NAVY OFFICER, AND ADMIRAL, ADMIRAL LUNNEY WENT TO CORNELL LAW SCHOOL AND SERVED HIS COUNTRY FOR FIVE YEARS AS AN ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY. HE CONTINUES TO SERVE HIS ACOUNTRY AS PRESIDENT OF THE SONS OF THE REVOLUTION AND ON THE BOARD OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY LEAGUE. AND OF COURSE HE IS A DEVOTED HUSBAND TO HIS WIFE JOAN AND A DEVOTED FATHER TO HIS SON ALEXANDER.