tvc.dsj.org | June 25, 2019
COMMUNITY
9
Marianists Celebrate Jubilees
The Society of Mary (Marianists)
announced the 75th jubilee celebration
of profession of Ohio native Father Ste-
phen Tutas, SM. Also, The Marianists
announce the 70th jubilee celebration of
profession of California native Brother
John Samaha, SM.
Father Tutas was
born and raised in
Hamilton, Ohio, at-
tending St. Joseph
elementary school
and one year of high
school at Hamilton
High School before
leaving to complete high school at
Mount St. John in Dayton, Ohio. He
professed first vows on Aug. 20, 1944,
in Beacon, New York.
Father Tutas attended University
of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, where he
earned a bachelor’s degree in education
in 1947. He began seminary studies in
1949 at University of Fribourg’s Regina
Mundi Marianist Seminary in Fri-
bourg, Switzerland, and was ordained
there on July 12, 1953. He earned his
licentiate of sacred theology at Univer-
sity of Fribourg in 1954.
As a Marianist brother, Father Tutas’
first assignment was as a high school
teacher in Cincinnati. After serving one
year, he was assigned to teach at Saint
Louis School in Honolulu. He taught in
Hawaii for two years before entering
the seminary in 1949. After completing
his studies, he returned to Honolulu to
teach at Saint Louis School for one year.
In 1955, he began serving as teacher and
administrator at Chaminade Univer-
sity, also in Honolulu, and remained
in that role until 1962.
Father Tutas returned to the Fribourg
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seminary to serve as rector from 1962
to 1969, when he left Switzerland and
returned to the States. He began serving
the Marianists as provincial assistant for
religious life in Cupertino in 1969 and
remained in that position for two years.
In 1971, he began a decade-long ministry
as Superior General for the order’s Gen-
eral Administration in Rome.
Father Tutas returned to Cupertino
in 1982 as the director at the Marianist
Formation Center. He served in that
role and as president of the Conference
of Major Superiors of Men until 1989.
After a one-year sabbatical, Father
Tutas was appointed the Diocese of
San Jose’s Vicar for Clergy, a role that
he filled from 1990 until 1997. In his
next ministry, he served for six years
as administrator for Villa St. Joseph
until 2003.
Father Tutas returned to Hawaii —
this time to Maui — where he served
for one year as associate pastor at St.
Anthony Parish. In 2004, he returned to
Cupertino where he retired and resides
at the Marianist Community there.
“In my years as a Marianist I am
grateful for all I have learned from my
mentors as well as from those I served,”
said Father Tutus. “I have become more
and more aware that God touches my
life through others, just as I realize
that God touches the lives of others
through me.
At this point in my life, as I continue
on the journey, my hope and prayer is
that I may begin each day with fresh
enthusiasm. I am grateful for the gift
of Marianist spirituality. Inspired by
Mary’s example and supported by
her intercession, I continue to strive to
make God the center of my life. ”
Brother John was
born and raised in
San Francisco, Cali-
fornia, attending St.
James Boys School
(elementary school)
and St. Ignatius High
School. He professed
first vows on Aug. 23, 1949, in Beacon,
New York.
He attended University of Dayton
in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a
bachelor’s degree in education in 1952.
He later returned to college and earned
a master’s in religious education at
Catholic University in Washington,
D.C., in 1963.
Brother John’s first assignment was
as a high school teacher in Los Angeles,
where he taught from 1952-1955. He
next served as assistant novice master
at the Marianist Novitiate in Santa
Cruz for one year. After a year in a
second novitiate, Brother John served
from 1960-1963 as assistant to the Dio-
cese of San Francisco’s superintendent
of schools. His next ministry called him
to Cornet Chahwan, Lebanon, where he
taught high school at St. Joseph School
for two years. He returned to the U.S.
to serve again as assistant novice mas-
ter at the Marianist Novitiate in Santa
Cruz for one year.
In 1966, he began serving at the
San Francisco Bay Area Catholic Edu-
cational Television Center until 1970,
when he came to Cupertino to serve
as Catholic schools representative for
the Foreign Study League. He began
a new ministry in 1975, serving for
one year in San Francisco providing
admissions and public relations for
Chaminade University. In 1976, Brother
Samaha began a two-year ministry in
Washington where he served as a high
school teacher and then spent one year
as a student at the School of Applied
Theology in Berkeley. He returned to
ministry and served one year at the
Catechetical Ministries Office for the
Diocese of Oakland.
Brother Samaha then served one
year (1980-1981) on the staff of Our
Sunday Visitor in San Francisco before
leaving the U.S. to serve as the U.S.
representative for Holy Spirit Uni-
versity of Kaslik in Lebanon. In 1984,
he returned to Cupertino to serve for
one year in Marianist Formation as
assistance novice master. In his next
ministry, Brother Samaha served from
1985 to 1988 on the staff at the Shrine of
our Lady of Peace in Santa Clara. From
1988-1990, he provided public relations
services for the Cupertino Provincialate
and Affiliates and in 1990 began a 17-
year ministry at Villa St. Joseph where
he assistance with public relations and
geriatric issues.
In 2007, Brother Samaha retired
and moved to the Cupertino Marianist
Community where he resides currently.
“Thrust into such a variety of as-
signments, I was a jack of many trades
and a master of none, and generally
ill-prepared for the challenges,” said
Brother John. “But God’s grace was
sufficient for survival. A redeeming
feature in all these instances was
working with many truly wonderful
people, some of whom became lifelong
friends. For all these opportunities
to serve and for all of the exemplary
persons I encountered – Marianists
and others – am very grateful to God
and to our Blessed Mother.”