Brother Joseph Ventura, FSC 1920-2010

Given by Brother
Anthony Scotto. FSC

August 27, 2010

On behalf of the De La Salle Christian Brothers and all of Brother Joseph’s family, I extend a sincere thank you to Father James Wood, Pastor, and to all of the staff here at St. John Nepomucene Church, and in a special way, to Deacon George Reich.

Brother Joseph loved a celebration! Whether it was a gathering of the entire family clan, an ordinary Sunday dinner of pasta and brigole at Lena’s house with Madeline, Elvira, John, and Pat, or a dinner at a restaurant, celebrating a Brothers birthday, Joe just loved to celebrate! Essentially he was a rather quiet man. He didn’t want attention drawn to himself, but he loved to be with people.

Some people think that life is a big celebration. God creates us so He can share His love with each and everyone of us in a celebration of life. Sometimes the celebration is cut short, and sometimes it seems to go on for a very long time. Like all celebrations, there are times when our celebration of life hits some rough spots or even gets rained on. But God has invited all of us to this celebration by creating us. He wants all of us to enjoy every moment of this celebration by asking us to share our love with everyone else. In this way we prepare ourselves for the final part of our earthly celebration, being with Him in Heaven.

It was probably a very cold day on December 8, 1920, when Louis Ventura got home to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, after a long day at work to find his young wife, Madeline, present him with a second son, whom they called William. Church bells didn’t ring that day, but you could well imagine the number of daquiri toasts that were made, and the big dinner that relatives and friends put together to celebrate the arrival of this new born son. This was young William’s initiation into the world of celebration of his new life in the tradition of the Ventura family. William celebrated life for almost ninety years. To the very end, he had been sharing in the celebration of all the aspects of the life of every member of his family, from Baptisms to First Communions, to birthdays, to weddings in Brooklyn, Valley Stream, Massapequa Park, Islip, and Pennsylvania.

In the course of time, young William decided to share the gift of love that God bestowed on him by becoming a De La Salle Christian Brother, devoting his life to teaching young people. Even though he now went by the name Brother Arator Joseph Ventura, he was still Willie to his family.

Whether it was teaching grade school, high school, social studies, or math, or coaching baseball or working in the school library, Brother Joseph continued to celebrate his life as a follower of St. John Baptist de La Salle for over seventy-one years. He worked hard in all that he did and never aspired to be in a position of authority. The one trait that a number of his former students always recall is his patience in explaining the intricacies of the simplest math problems, as well as the more complex, over and over again to students who may have had difficulties understanding them the first three or four times. Even though he had a Master’s Degree in Social Studies, he went on to get another Master’s Degree in Mathematics while still working full time because of a need for math teachers in our schools in the 1960’s. Like his patron saint, Saint Joseph, he was willing to go teach wherever there was a need and to help young people in their celebration of life in the classroom, on the baseball field, or in a bowling alley.

While he may have been Brother Joseph for over seventy-one years, he was Willie or Uncle Willie for almost ninety years. He never separated these two aspects of his life. Most people who send postcards home while they’re traveling usually say, “Wish you were here.” Not Brother Joseph! He never lost sight that he was sharing the love that God gave him with those he loved the most, and he wasn’t hesitant in telling them. In a postcard to his parents on June 28th, 1976, from Paris, he wrote: “We visited the famous Cathedral today. It is magnificent. I said a prayer for both of you there.” And three years later, from Rome, he wrote: “This evening at six pm we have our audience with the Pope. I will get a blessing for you.”

As Brother Joe got older, he not only enjoyed his family celebrations, but he wanted his family to know how important they were to him, and how important the event they were celebrating was to him in his celebration of life.

At 3:45 pm on Monday, August 23, 2010, the church bells did not ring. As a matter of fact, the beeping and the clanging of the machines around his bed went silent, but the celebration in heaven at that moment was extraordinary. Brother Joseph Ventura … Uncie Willie .. had now become part of the biggest celebration of his life. There were Madeline, Louis, Anthony, Mary, Catherine, and Ralph waiting to greet him, as well as St. John Baptist de La Salle and all the Christian Brothers who went before him. There are probably no spaghetti and brigole in heaven and maybe no wine or Blue Point Ale, but who needed that when God stretched out His arms and said, “Welcome home, William Ventura! Thank you for a job well done! Now enjoy the kingdom of heaven for all eternity!

The other day, Brother Joseph’s sister, Lena, said that one time her father told her that when we are born, God takes a handful of sand and tosses it into the air. When the last grain falls to the ground, God calls us back to Himself.

Joe, we don’t say goodbye today. We say thank you for letting us be a part of your special celebration for almost ninety years. And we thank God for letting us share you with Him.