Coronavirus/covid-19 Updates
Prayer Requests
During this time the Family of Holy Apostles is praying for you and your loved ones. We want to offer you the opportunity to send us your specific prayer intentions. If you have any specific prayer requests please send them to us using this email address [email protected]. All prayer requests will be prayed for by the Holy Apostles Family during our daily Masses and Eucharistic Adoration. God bless you and Mary, Queen of Apostles, watch over and protect us.
HACS Community Updates
Holy Apostles Gala 2025
Please join us during the Jubilee Year of Hope for an unforgettable evening to support Holy Apostles College & Seminary and celebrate our community. On Friday, April 25, 2025, the eve of our Sixty-Seventh Commencement Exercises, we invite you to gather at the stunning St. Clements Castle & Marina in Portland, CT, for a night of elegance, connection, and inspiration.
James Wahlberg to receive Honorary Doctorate at Holy Apostles College and Seminary 2025 Commencement
Cromwell, Connecticut — Holy Apostles College and Seminary is proud to announce that Mr. James Wahlberg, writer, speaker, and filmmaker, will deliver the commencement address at the Holy Apostles 67th Commencement Ceremony. Holy Apostles will bestow an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (L.H.D.), honoris causa, upon Mr. Wahlberg in recognition of his notable contributions to society.
The commencement exercises will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Chapel on the Holy Apostles campus. Festivities will begin on Friday evening with the Holy Apostles Gala held at St. Clements Castle & Marina featuring special guest The Most Reverend Christoper J. Coyne, 6th Archbishop of Hartford, and a keynote address from Mr. Wahlberg.
Jim Wahlberg is the Executive Director of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which partners with other youth organizations to improve the lives of inner-city youth. He is also the founder and CEO of Wahl St. Productions, a full-service production company that independently produces films, television, and web content. He has worked in the field of addiction recovery for more than 25 years and Wahl St. Productions is credited with the films Circle of Addiction: A Different Kind of Tears (2018), If Only (2015), and What About the Kids (2020) designed to show the harsh realities and remove the stigma of addiction.
Jim Wahlberg is also the Executive Producer of Fathom Event’s #1 documentary of the year Mother Teresa: No Greater Love which was released in the U.S. in 2022 and internationally in 2023. Most recently he produced Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist, a documentary that takes viewers on a global journey to uncover the transformative power of the Eucharist. Jesus Thirsts won #1 Documentary of 2024.
Currently, he is producing Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality, exploring the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a film that is scheduled for a limited release between April 27-29, 2025, coinciding with his April 27 canonization date.
Mr. Wahlberg is also an author, having written the autobiography titled The Big Hustle, the story of his personal journey of recovery, with Jim Caviezel writing the forward. He is a gifted speaker and truthful storyteller who impactfully recounts the challenges and triumphs in his life to bring hope to others facing difficult situations.
Holy Apostles College and Seminary www.holyapostles.edu is a NECHE and ATS accredited college with a mission of preparing and educating seminarians, consecrated, and lay students for the New Evangelization through undergraduate and graduate programs. Students have access to faithfully Catholic, truly affordable, and fully online programs as well as residential religious programs in historic Cromwell, Connecticut. As a pioneer in online learning, Holy Apostles is one of the first theological schools to offer 100% online graduate programs. Alumni and faculty of the institution include internationally recognized leaders and experts in apologetics, philosophy, and theology.
Media Contact:
Ms. Beverly Tryon
Associate Vice President of Institutional Advancement
Holy Apostles College & Seminary
[email protected]
New Book Additions for October
C.S. Lewis on Grief invites readers into the unguarded, luminous honesty of a mind and heart walking through loss. Drawing deeply from A Grief Observed and related writings, this collection showcases Lewis at his most personal: wrestling with God, naming sorrow without varnish, and tracing the bewildering currents of anger, fear, numbness, and aching love that bereavement brings. Here is not a clinician’s distance but a companion’s nearness—an eloquent witness who refuses easy answers and instead offers language for what so often feels unspeakable.
Ave Maria: See Learn and Meditate on the Mysteries of the Rosary is a beautiful companion for anyone seeking to enter more deeply into this timeless prayer. With a gentle, accessible approach, it reveals the Rosary as a path of love through the life of Christ and Our Lady—seen, learned, and lived in the heart.
A guide to praying the rosary that lends itself to personal prayer and meditation as well as in communal prayer. Embellished with beautiful, full-color art.
This edition of the 14 epistles of St. Paul presents the complete text from the King James Version of the Bible and illustrates it with a rich variety of illuminated manuscripts and other paintings. 200 full-color illustrations.
The Loeb Classical Library is a long-running series of books that presents the texts of ancient Greek and Latin authors with authoritative English translations on facing pages. Founded by James Loeb in 1911 and published by Harvard University Press, the series aims to make classical literature accessible to both scholars and general readers.
The Virgin Mary and the Rosary – October Library Display
The Virgin Mary and The Rosary
In 1569, the papal bull Consueverunt Romani Pontifices established the devotion to the rosary in the Catholic Church. The Christian victory at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 was attributed to the praying of the rosary by masses of Europeans based on the request of Pope Pius V and eventually resulted in a feast day for Our Lady of the Rosary (originally Our Lady of Victory). In 2002, Pope John Paul II introduced the Luminous Mysteries – based on a compilation by George Preca, the first Maltese saint – as an option in an apostolic letter on the rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae.
The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), “the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn”.
The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sit at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty of the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary, the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carney, James L. Mystery Stories: A Journey Through the Rosary. Madison, WI: Crown of Mary Publishing 2000.
Groeschel, Fr. Benedict. The Rosary: Chain of Hope. San Francisco: CA Ignatius Press 2003.
Harty, Gabriel. The Riches of the Rosary. Dublin, Ireland: Veritas Publications 1997.
Harty, Gabriel. Rediscovering the Rosay. Dublin, Ireland: Veritas Publications 1983.
Johnson, Kevin Orland. Rosary Mysteries, Meditations, and the Telling of the Bead. Dallas, TX: Pangaevs Press 2007.
Llewelyn, Robert. The Doorway to Silence: The Contemplative use of the Rosary. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press 1986.
Pope Paul VI, Pope John XXIII, Pope Leo XIII. 17 Papal Documents on the Rosary. Boston, MA: Daughters of St. Paul 1980.
Rees, Ruth. Rosary in Space and Time. Chicago, IL: Liturgy Training Publications 2004.
Vereb, Jerome M. Pope John Paul II and the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. Totowa, NJ: Catholic Book Publishing Co. 2003.
From Chemistry Lab to Theology Classroom: Alumna Dr. Stacy Trasancos’ Journey
At Holy Apostles, one of our greatest strengths is our faculty — both full-time and adjunct. Many are nationally recognized speakers, authors, and experts in their field. Graduates have shared how exciting it was to learn directly from instructors they have long admired outside the classroom.
Dr. Stacy Trasancos, MA ‘14, MA ‘24, is one of our distinguished adjunct faculty members. For her, the road to Holy Apostles did not follow a straight line, but like many winding paths, the trip proved worthwhile. Her impressive background has been a tremendous asset to the college and seminary.
Her professional journey began in 1991 as a chemistry teacher in Texas. Eager to understand more about the subject, she applied and was accepted into the graduate program at Penn State, where she earned her PhD in chemistry. After completing her studies, she went on to work as a senior research chemist at DuPont.
Though raised a Baptist in Texas, Stacy lost her belief in God during high school. In 2003, she began to rethink her decision and initiated a journey to the Catholic faith. The teacher-turned-chemist became a stay-at-home mother, homeschooling her children — who she humorously describes as highly complex composite systems with rational souls — while teaching online high school classes.
In 2014, after receiving an M.A. in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles, she began teaching online classes in a range of subjects, including chemistry, physics, mathematics, and theology (Reading Science in the Light of Faith and Evolution and Catholic Thought). As a professor at Holy Apostles, she was able to incorporate her scientific brain with her Catholic faith and enlighten students on how science and religion are not enemies. In fact, science was born out of religion.
Never one to stop learning, she earned an M.A. in systematic philosophy from Holy Apostles in 2024. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in philosophy at St. Patrick’s Pontifical University in Ireland.
Dr. Timothy Smith, Dr. Matthew Ramage, Dr. Kristina Olsen, and Dr. Stacy Trasancos
Recently, Dr. Trasancos was appointed to the position of Undergraduate and Dual Enrollment Program Director at Holy Apostles. In this leadership position, her key responsibilities include curriculum development, course scheduling, academic advisement, enrollment and retention oversight, and program assessment. With experience as both a student and a professor, Dr. Trasancos brings a unique dual perspective to the position, allowing her to understand and serve the needs of both students and faculty.
In addition to her academic work, she is also an author of several books, her latest of which is IVF is Not the Way: The False Promises of Artificial Procreation, which looks at this topic through scientific, philosophical, and theological lenses. Dr. Trasancos has also contributed to Relevant Radio, Catholic Answers, and EWTN, to name a few.
Beyond her professional achievements, Stacy is a devoted mother of seven and grandmother of seven. She considers this her proudest and most important role.
St. Carlo Acutis – September Library Display
SAINT CARLO ACUTIS BACKGROUND
Carlo Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London, England, and died on October 12, 2006, in Monza, Italy, succumbing to leukemia at the age of 15.
On September 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV canonized Saint Carlo Acutis in St. Peter’s Square with an estimated 80,000 pilgrims present, including his parents and twin siblings who were born after he died.
Carlo Acutis built multilingual websites to spread Catholic teaching, later earning him the nickname “God’s influencer”.
An hour before the mass, St Peter’s Square had filled with tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world, many of them millennial Italians and Americans, as Acutis’s family looked on. The witnesses described the atmosphere as joyous and party-like.
Pope Francis beatified Carlo Acutis after two miracles: Carlo healed a 3-year-old boy in Brazil in 2013 who had been diagnosed with a malformation of his pancreas since birth and Carlo’s intercession involving a 21-year old girl from Costa Rica named Valeria Valverde, who was near death after seriously injuring her head in a bicycle accident while studying in Florence in 2022.
BIBLIOGRAPHY – HOLY APOSTLES STUDENTS & ALUMNI PUBLICATIONS AND ST. CARLO ACUTIS
Cameron, Fr. Ben J. Healing the Deepest Wounds. St. Louis, MO: Mater Media 2024.
DuBay, Jenny. Don’t Plant Your Seeds Among Thorns: A Catholic’s Guide to Reorganizing and Healing from Domestic Abuse. St Louis, MO: En Route Books & Media 2024.
DuBay, Jenny. World Between Worlds. St. Louis, MO: En Route Books & Media 2025.
Kubick, Andrew S. Transplanting the Womb: A Catholic Bioethical Analysis. Boomall, PA: National Catholic Bioethics Center 2025.
Menzes, Fr. Wade L.J. The Four Last Things: A Catechetical Guide to Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. Irondale, AL: EWTN Publishing 2017.
Mercier, Bryan. Counterfeit Spirituality: Exposing False Gods. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing 2020.
Mercier, Bryan. Why Do You Believe in God? Milford, CT: Bryan Mercier self-published 2016.
Newsome, Deacon Matthew. The Devout Life: A Modern Guide to Practical Holiness with St. Francis de Sales. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press 2023.
Plante, Jeff. O Blessed Host: Gospel Reflections. Bloomington, IN: West Bow Press 2024.
Ramirez, Allison. The Divided Kingdom. Seattle, WA: Trinity Tree Publishing 2023
Reilly, Christopher M. AI and Sin: How Today’s Technology Motivates Evil. St. Louis, MO: En Route Books & Media 2025.
Stokes, Ann. Going Solo: Encouraging Single Catholics. St. Louis, MO: Enroute Books & Media 2025.
Stokes, Ann. Will the Real Church Please Stand! A Conversion Journey from Fundamental Baptist to Roman Catholic. St Louis, MO: En Route Books & Media 2023.
BIBLIOGRAPHY – ST. CARLO ACUTIS
Conquer, Fr. Will. Carlo Acutis: A Millennial Saint. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press 2021
Gori, Nicola. Carlo Acutis: The First Millennial Saint. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing 2021.
Leahy, Brendan. In Conversation with Carlo Acutis. New York City, NY: New City Press 2025.
ARCHIVAL BOOK SELECTED
Title: The Life of our Most Holy Father St. Benedict Being the Second Book of the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great with the Rule of the Sem Holy Patriarch
Language: English
Publisher: “One of the Benedictine Fathers of St. Michael near Hereford
Date/Place Published: Rome 1895
Alumnus Establishes Faith Communities for Young Adults
Alex Soucy, a 2023 graduate, is an example of someone living the missionary charism of evangelization that is the vision of Holy Apostles College & Seminary. Alex is the co-founder of Crossroads 4 Christ (C4C), an organization that brings young adults together to form communities of missionary disciples. Crossroads 4 Christ enables young adults to gather and discuss Christ in an environment that seeks to better their relationship with the Lord.
Alex was born into the Catholic faith but considered it simply one of the many facets of his life. Then, in his senior year of high school, he attended an impactful retreat that changed him. For one thing, prayer became part of his daily routine.
In college, Alex became part of a faith community. Upon graduating, however, he experienced the lack of a solid community of young adults at the parish level. After traveling to see Pope Francis in Philadelphia during the Holy Father’s 2015 U.S. visit, Alex and his friend, Travis Moran, formed Crossroads 4 Christ, taking to heart the pontiff’s call to be missionary disciples and servant leaders.
On October 1, 2015, they held the first C4C meeting at the Willimantic Brewing Company with two other people. After some time for discussion of faith, everyone traveled to St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel in Storrs for a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration, which served as the focal point of the evening. The group only grew from there.
Before they knew it, they had 25-30 young adults attending at the first chapter in Columbia, Connecticut. Then came a chapter in New Haven in January 2017. There are now seven chapters throughout Connecticut and all three dioceses are interested in increasing that number. There has also been extraordinary interest regionally. Launching each new chapter, however, takes training, work, and time.
The mission of C4C is to develop communities of young adult missionary disciples, and the payoff is that young adults are encountering the Lord. As Rev. Anthony Federico, the Vocations Director of the Archdiocese of Hartford, wrote in a letter about Crossroads 4 Christ, “It is not a stretch to say that C4C is the brightest and most promising initiative in the Archdiocese of Hartford today.” He went on to say that “a disproportionate number of young men from C4C are coming forward to discern a vocation to the priesthood.” That news is exciting.
After years of self-study about the Catholic faith, Alex felt the desire to further this spiritual formation in a formal setting. He was somewhat familiar with Holy Apostles through its hosting of Catholic Underground in years past. When examining further, Alex explained, “I started to hear about some of the fantastic alumni of Holy Apostles, like Matt Fradd, Trent Horn, and Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, and thought, ‘This college is 10 minutes away from me, and people who are really well-respected, well-known leaders in the Catholic world in the U.S. have received amazing formation from Holy Apostles.’” He also learned that it was very affordable, truly faithful to the Magisterium, and on the Newman Guide, which added to the selling points for him.
Finally, he felt that the online asynchronous format with its flexible schedule was a good fit, and he enrolled.
In 2023, Alex received his Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies with a concentration in Youth and Young Adult Ministry, which he feels strengthened him personally in his faith and equipped him to be the leader that the Lord is calling him to be at C4C.
Regarding Holy Apostles, Alex explained, “The Lord gave C4C an effective model of young adult ministry that so many parishes and dioceses are searching for. But at Holy Apostles I learned more at a macro scale that there was need throughout the nation for more of this, so that was helpful.”
When asked to reflect on his 10-year journey with C4C, Alex paused. “There is a mystery behind who the Lord calls for specific roles. Sometimes I think, ‘Wow, Lord, you called me to be one of the co-founders and executive director of now what is the largest parish-based Catholic, young adult ministry in New England…’ It’s humbling. But I think the saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called’ is spot on.” Alex went on to say, “Calling myself, calling Travis, calling over 100 servant leaders, at this point, over the past 10 years to step up and be a part of this revival in the state of Connecticut. That’s been a great honor and blessing.”
In Memoriam – September 2025
We commemorate our deceased members of the Holy Apostles family and request that you keep them in your prayers. Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Rev. Thomas F. Egan
Reverend Thomas F. Egan, 82, of Worcester, Massachusetts, died on Friday, July 18, 2025, after a brief illness. Fr. Egan was born and raised in Woonsocket, RI, where he graduated from Woonsocket High School. In 1967 he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Holy Apostles.
Fr. Egan knew from a young age that he wanted to be a priest. He was ordained in 1975 at Christ the King Church in Worcester, Rhode Island, by Bishop Timothy J. Harrington and celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination this past May.
Those who knew him explained that he had a warm, generous spirit and formed lasting friendships throughout his life. He is survived by his siblings Joanne Egan Shea, Kensington, Maryland, Jay A. Egan, Honolulu, Hawaii, and brother-in-law Albert J. Didden, Jr., Kensington, Maryland. He was also an uncle and great uncle to many
whom he cherished.
Rev. Joseph J. Cretella
Reverend Joseph J. Cretella, Jr., 87, of Madison, Alabama, formerly of Wallingford, Connecticut, died peacefully at home on August 9, 2025.
Ordained as a Deacon in June 1978, he served faithfully for many years. After the death of his wife Rose Ann in 2007, he began studies for the priesthood at Holy Apostles Seminary and was ordained on May 15, 2010, at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph by the Archbishop of Hartford, the Most Reverend Henry Mansell. Fr. Cretella retired from active ministry in 2015 at the age of 77.
He is survived by his children, Joseph J. Cretella III and his wife, Melissa Cretella, of Milford, Connecticut; Natalie Hoha and her husband, David Hoha, of Madison, Alabama; his siblings, Thomas Cretella of Clinton, Connecticut, and Joan Marotto of Wallingford, Connecticut; as well as his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Monsignor Charles P. Coen
Monsignor Charles P. Coen, 91, died on December 26, 2024, at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. Born on April 10, 1933, in Drimnamuckla, Woodford, Co. Galway, Ireland, he was the sixth child in a family of nine children.
He arrived in the U.S. in 1955 at the age of 21 and worked for 4 years in Upstate New York before entering Holy Apostles Seminary and becoming part of the Class of 1962. He completed seminary in Yonkers, New York, was ordained in 1968, and enjoyed many assignments in the New York Archdiocese, where he was assigned pastor and eventually monsignor.
Monsignor Coen retired in 2008 at the age of 75. After retirement, he resided in the Catskill Mountains region (Greenville, NY) and continued to celebrate Mass at churches as far as 50 miles away. In 2017 he moved to the Cardinal Egan residence for retired priests in the Bronx, New York, where he remained until his most recent illness.
He is survived by siblings Sr. Concepta (May), Sr. Patrice (Betty), and Anthony and his wife, Mary; his sister-in-law, Julia; and his brother-in-law, Martin O’Malley.
Holy Apostles gratefully acknowledges the generous gift from Monsignor Coen. We also extend our thanks to Mary Collins for facilitating the disposition of these funds. Their generosity is deeply appreciated and the funds will be used to continue the vision of Holy Apostles to cultivate Catholic leaders for the purpose of evangelization.
Gary Louis Morella
Gary Louis Morella, 78, of Lemont, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully on August 14, 2025. He was born on Sept 13, 1946, in Pittsburg, Kansas.
During the Vietnam War period between 1968 and 1972 he was a member of the Naval Security Group Command, doing fleet support for the Navy and Marines.
Gary received a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Physics from Pittsburg State University in Kansas and earned a Master of Engineering in Acoustics from Penn State. He worked various engineering positions with companies such as Texas Instruments, Gulf Oil, HRB Singer (Raytheon), and the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University, where he retired after 25 years.
His Catholic faith was of great importance to him, and he earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Holy Apostles in May 2005.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years Margaret, three sons, Craig, Kevin, and Colin, and his grandchildren.
A Hidden Gem with a Global Impact
We’re honored to share that Four County Catholic, produced by the Archdiocese of Hartford, recently spotlighted Holy Apostles College & Seminary as a “hidden gem in Cromwell,” celebrating our unique mission and ever-growing impact.
The article praises Holy Apostles for pioneering faithful, affordable, and fully online Catholic education, offering formation in theology, philosophy, sacred art, and more. With over 1,000 students and our largest enrollment in history last fall, we continue to be a beacon of truth, flexibility, and fidelity to the Church.
Read the Four County Catholic article by visiting A Hidden Gem with a Global Impact
Visit Four County Catholic to read the full August edition of the magazine.
COVID19 Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Campus Open to the Public?
Campus Access – The Campus is ONLY open to resident students. This includes but is not limited to the Dining Hall, Chapel, and Library.
Is the Commencement Ceremony/Graduation Postponed?
Updated Tuesday, March 31st
Dear Family of Holy Apostles College and Seminary:
After careful consideration and after hearing from you, our students, we have decided to postpone graduation to a later date not canceling it altogether or live-streaming it. We understand how important this time is for you, our graduates.
Unfortunately, we are not sure when this will be, as things are ever-changing due to the Coronavirus. As things become more clear we will communicate with our graduates the information we have. We thank those of you who wrote to us with your concerns about graduation. Your comments and concerns allowed us to better discern about graduation.
Please be assured of our prayers for you and your families.
United in the Lord Jesus,
Fr Peter S. Kucer, M.S.A. S.T.D.
President-Rector
Is the Gratitude Gala Postponed?
The Gratitude Gala – The HACS Gratitude Gala scheduled for April 24th has been postponed. Please watch for information on a future date.
Are Online Students' Schedules Affected?
Online Students – Your courses will take place as scheduled.
If you have a question that is not answered here, please contact Jennie Murphy at [email protected]