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Archives Stephen Tartaglia settles into his new position in the diocese
Family Life director welcomed to Family Guggenheim

Sept. 17, 2014

By Stephen Tartaglia
Diocesan director, Family Life Office

Now that we have found a house in Canton, I am excited to engage in my new ministry as Family Life Director for the Diocese of Ogdensburg and I am honored to follow in the footsteps of two very extraordinary people, Deacon Gary and Gayle Frank. 

As you may know, moving a family of seven with children ranging from nine years old to six months is challenging.  I am very grateful for the help that we received once arriving in Canton.  Dayna Leader of Gouverneur had arranged a small army of help to unload the moving truck and bring food for our family.  As we were working, she invited us to attend the first session of Family Guggenheim and with no hesitation I accepted the invitation.

I wondered what it would be like.  Christina and I have been married for 12 years and have never taken our family on vacation.  We have moved several times and have often joked that we were at our new ‘vacation home’, but somehow it just wasn’t the same!

Like most parents with small children, we believed that vacations can be more like work and less like relaxation as normal routines tend to be disturbed.

The day arrived and we loaded up the van and departed.  Even though Camp Guggenheim is easy to get to, (it’s centrally located in the Diocese of Ogdensburg, on the north shore of lower Saranac Lake) we found a way to arrive late and had missed dinner. 

Fortunately, when we arrived at Camp Guggenheim we were greeted by Deacon Henry Leader.    Reminiscent of his wife Dayna, Deacon Henry immediately arranged for my family to be fed and our van to be unloaded!  Then we gathered with the other families and for the next four days were loved and cared for; we had the time of our lives.

To get our children excited we had looked at the webpage for Camp Guggenheim, www.dioogdensburg.org/youth/guggy.html, and saw people engaged in lots of different fun activities: fishing, swimming, boating, hiking, dancing, singing, arts and crafts, volleyball, etc. 

We began to worry about how we were going to supervise our five young children while we were at Guggenheim.  Our fears were relieved soon after we arrived. 

No matter what size family you have, when you get to Guggenheim you immediately become a part of a very large extended family.  Suddenly there was an abundance of watching eyes and helping hands.  Our children very quickly connected with children of other families.  Teen staff were like older brothers and sisters.  Adult staff were like aunts and uncles. 

Even though there were so many fun activities, there was also time built in for families to pray together, with liturgy and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as well.  Bishop LaValley celebrated Mass with us.  In fact, several of our diocesan priests came and spent time with us, celebrating Mass and Reconciliation.

The entire experience was like a four-day retreat.  By the end of the weekend we had made connections with other families like ours, we had fun and meaningful times together as a family, and we had built many positive memories. 

We left feeling that our family ‘batteries’ were recharged, and that when the hard times come, we would have a reserve of positive memories to help us through.

On the drive home we decided that we wanted to continue the conversations and activities we did together as a family at camp throughout the rest of the year.  We are looking forward to coming back again and to staying connected with the wonderful families we met there.

(For more information about Family Guggenheim or to register for upcoming sessions (Session 3 begins  Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. and ends Oct. 12 at 4pm), contact me at (315) 393-2920 Ext. 1420, or startaglia@rcdony.org.)

Tartaglia

Stephen Tartaglia succeeded Deacon Gary and Gayle Frank as head of the diocesan Office of Family Life in August. He is pictured above with his wife Christina and their five children at their daughter’s baptism in June. In front are Sophia and Veronica. In back are Mrs. Tartaglia holding Johnna; Maria and Mr. Tartaglia holding Nicholas.

 

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