Alumni Couples Reminisce About Finding Love at St. John’s

Each year, St. John’s invites alumni couples whose love stories began while they were students to return to alma mater for the Blessing of the Couples Mass to celebrate their enduring love for each other and the University. 

Held on February 8 and celebrated by University President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., at St. Thomas More Church on the Queens, NY, campus, the Mass allowed nearly 200 couples an opportunity to renew their vows while rekindling old friendships and reminiscing about a bygone era in their lives. 

Sara Hunt Munoz, Ed.D., Senior Director, Alumni Engagement, Office of Alumni Relations, explained what makes Blessing of the Couples so special. “It brings together couples of all ages in different phases of their relationships and want to celebrate their love. Some are commemorating milestone anniversaries, and some are just starting their journey. It’s wonderful to hear how they met and grew together, and how St. John’s played a significant role in their stories.”

During his homily, Fr. Shanley drew comparisons between the Gospel reading in which Jesus performs a miracle to catch fish after his future disciples have been unsuccessful. “This is the initial encounter of Jesus with those who would become the inner circle of his disciples. He catches them at a bad moment. They fished all night long and caught nothing.” 

Fr. Shanley added, “They were probably not in a great mood.”

Jesus proceeded to use their boats to preach to the crowd. Afterward, he took them back on the water, enabling them to catch more fish than they could handle. Fr. Shanley suggested to the assembly that we all have encountered a similar moment of despair in our lives, whether in our careers, friendships, or marriages, “where the thing we’re doing doesn’t seem to be working.”

There are moments in every marriage, Fr. Shanley explained, “where you feel like it’s not working. ‘I'm not catching any fish.’ And it’s precisely in those moments when “we feel like we’re catching nothing, wondering should we stick with what we’re doing,” when “Jesus comes on the scene and encourages us to go back, to go deeper.”

Fr. Shanley told the couples that no matter where they find themselves in their relationships, if it isn’t as abundant as it once was, “We need always to hear the voice of Jesus saying, ‘Go back and go deeper.’”

Clarissa Joan Middleton ’09TCB and her husband Theodore ’08TCB were visiting from California with their four children, and attending their first Blessing of the Couples Mass in person after attending virtually in 2021. “He was a junior. I was a freshman. We met the first week of school and worked in the Department of Public Safety,” Ms. Middleton explained.

She added, “I used to come here (to St. Thomas More) and pray for us. I would come to student Mass on Sunday nights and pray that we would be together forever.” 

They have been together for 20 years, and married for 14. Mr. Middleton added, “It’s a blessing to be here and I’m honored to be blessed in this house (of God).” Today the pair runs a faith-based technology company known as The Being Academy.

Irene Bozzi Caccavallo ’75CBA met her husband Steven Caccavallo ’75CBA at Freshman Orientation in 1971. She recalled they were part of a group of College of Business Administration students who attended many events  at St. John’s, joined clubs, and attended basketball games. 

“I thought we were just friends, but Steven had other ideas. We started seriously dating after graduation and were married in 1977,” she noted. 

Mrs. Caccavallo is a former employee of St. John’s, having worked as an Administrative Assistant in St. John’s Speech and Hearing Center and in the Office of the Provost.

“Because St. John’s is such an important part of our family and instrumental in the success we have attained, we recently joined The McCallen Society,” she said. Members demonstrate their commitment to the spirit and values of St. Vincent de Paul by including St. John’s University in their estate plans.

Gary T. Fernando ’72Ed and his wife Patricia ’74Ed were active in Greek life at St. John’s. During the summer of 1971, fraternity and sorority members often met at Cunningham Bar on Union Turnpike, Mrs. Fernando explained. 

“That’s where we met,” she said, adding with a laugh that they did not initially hit it off. They found their way to each other shortly after the fall semester began.

Mrs. Fernando noted they try not to miss the annual Blessing of the Couples or the University’s St. Joseph Day celebration, which she described as a “beautiful event.”

Combined, the Fernandos have 87 years of teaching between them. In gratitude for all their professional success, they established the Patricia A. (Ambroseo) Fernando and Gary T. Fernando Partners for Student Success Scholarship. Founded in 2017, it provides one or more partial annual scholarships to academically qualified and/or deserving undergraduate students in The School of Education. 

Robert Guida ’85CBA, ’90MBA and his wife, Mary Ann ’86CBA, ’07MBA met playing co-ed bowling at St. John’s. “We were part of a large group that often gathered at the Rathskellar in between classes and at the end of the day,” Mr. Guida recalled. “At the end of the spring semester, I asked her out. We were a couple by the time we returned to classes that September.”

He added, “We’d often meet at St. Albert Hall or Marillac Hall and communicate during the day by leaving notes on our car windshields. We even had the opportunity to take a class together that, fittingly, was about marriage. The Blessing of the Couples is an annual event to which we look forward and try not to miss. St. John’s represents not only our education, but the springboard for our life together.”