Spirit of Tec 2017

Over the summer at our annual TEC picnic, the Spirit of Tec 2017 winners were announced. After much deliberation and voting, the board decided on 3 winners. Three incredible women. One adult, one young adult, and one teen. Board members were given the opportunity to write about why these faithful women of our community truly exemplified what it means to be the "Spirit of Tec". Below, please find our 2017 Spirit of Tec winners, and the words about them that are on each of their plaques. 

North Coast Tec's, "Spirit of Tec" 2017 winners:

Deb Werner

“For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” — Saint Therese of Lisieux     DebWerner has always found ways to consistently be available in love, prayer and service during both trial and joy. Despite the many hurdles, Deb has faced, she has always managed to take a phone call and be that listening ear. She has always found time to help with the latest TEC project or event, especially if it requires a craft. She is compassionate and honest. She continues to serve weekends, now even as a lay director.  Above all of this she has even taken on the demands as the Fundraising Coordinator of the NCS TEC board, which includes the facilitating of the annual TEC t-shirt. Deb is certainly dedicated. She has been mother, sister and friend to all of us. Shelives out her Catholic faith in tradition and spirit.  With a servant-heart she has embraced each of us with great love.  We have thankful hearts for the gift of Deb.  It is truly an honor to present the 2017 Spirit of TEC award to Deb Werner. 

Katie Fraser 

"Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them." St. Therese of Lisieux once said this, and it rings true to the kind of person Katie Fraser is.  Although Katie has only been involved with the NCS TEC Community for a couple years, she has already made a loving impact. As someone who has overcome many versions of spiritual warfare in her life, Katie always comes out stronger and credits Christ and her Faith with her ability to overcome. Katie is a wonderful witness of her Faith and was made to have a servants heart. She is always willing to help, no matter how busy her life as a full time Youth Minister is. As a young adult who knows the struggles of growing up as a Catholic in today's world, Katie gives hope and promise to the teens, and even adults, who join the NCS TEC Community. Being one of her favorite saints, Katie deserves to be showered with roses from Our Lord through the intercession of St. Therese for all the good work she continues to do in the Church and in her life. Our 2017 Spirit of TEC award is Katie Fraser.

Gabby Yatson 

“Jesus is living next to you, in the brothers and sisters with whom you share your daily existence.” This quote from St. John Paul II perfectly describes Gabby Yatson. She is a young woman of faith who serves the NCS TEC community, her parish, and the pro-life movement with great devotion. The presence of Christ within Gabby is evident to anyone who meets her. She selflessly serves the NCS TEC community in many ways including working weekends and as a teen representative of the NCS TEC board. Gabby lives out the powerful message from St. Thérèse of Lisieux that taught us to “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, thereby a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” Gabby is well respected by all and lives out her faith each day.  It is an honor for the NSC TEC Community to recognize Gabby Yatson as our 2017 Spirit of TEC Award winner.

This, That, and the Other...

Weddings/Engagements/Ordinations

Chris and Alexandra Kelley(TECs 111 and 67) got married on October 1, 2016.

Josh and Kayla Lavery got married on April 21, 2017. Both made TEC 106.

PJ and Kristina Martin got married on June 10, 2017.

Carly Sidol(TEC 85) got engaged to her fiancé, Cameron on December 10, 2016.

Rev. Jim Cosgrove was Ordained to the Priesthood on May 19, 2017. His first assigment is at St. Christopher Parish in Rocky River.

Babies

Steven Bacher(TEC 73) and Mary Bacher(TEC 81) are delighted to announce the birth of their son! Kolbe Ignatius Bacher was born on Saturday, October 29th, at 2:36am. He weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long.

Patrick and Stephanie McCarthy welcomed the birth of their first child on November 19, 2016. John Patrick McCarthy was born at 6:04am weighing 6 pounds 11 oz and 18 inches long.

Jurell and Bridget Sison are expecting their first child this coming November 2017

Graduations/Jobs

Taylor Long(TEC 101) graduated this past May with a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Kent State University. She will be continuing her education to receive a Master's degree in School Counseling. 

Brittany Cermak passed her boards to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in August 2016 and graduated with a Master's of science in nutrition from Case Western Reserve University in December 2016. She is now a Registered Dietitian at the Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Centers.

Lea Wilson(TEC 114) graduated from the Animal Care Program at the Medina County Career Center. She'll be applying to Tri-C to become a Veterinary Technician.

Bethany Clark(TEC 116) graduated from Walsh University a Bachelor's in Nursing and is employed at Summa Hospital.

Haley Wargo(TEC 110) graduated with a Bachelor's in Family Studies from Kent State in May of 2016. She plans to continue her education in social work or education.

Meet Your New Spiritual Director: Fr. Tim Roth

This past January, Fr. Tim Roth graciously accepted the position of being TEC's new Spiritual Director. We are so happy to welcome him in this role. Want to know more about Fr. Tim? Read on! Fr. Tim has also written a letter to the community about his enthusiasm for his new role, and how TEC truly shaped his Faith and his life.


My dear friends in the wonderful community known as TEC,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ — AKA, what’s up!(Not sure if St. Paul would actually approve of that translation). By now, you probably haveheard that I was discerned and subsequently asked to serve as the new spiritual director for our TEC community, succeeding Fr. Tim Kalista who served as the visible image of Christ, the ‘captain’ of this ‘ship’ we call TEC, who helped ‘keep our boat afloat’ for 6 years as spiritual director. (Okay, okay, easy with the TEC imagery). As a stubborn, skeptical 17-year-old teen on TEC 61, I remember sitting at a table listening to witnesses while scanning the room for potential female companions, wondering what was for lunch, and desperately hiding from Mr. Sneaky. (I’m just being honest!) Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that, 13 years later, I would be sitting in the rectory of St. Angela Merici Parish in Fairview Park as a priest ordained 3 years, writing a letter as the new (humbled and thrilled) spiritual director of the TEC community—the very community that provided me with the foundations for my vocation!

It leaves me breathless to ponder how the Holy Spirit worked in my life and through the lives of others during those 13 years. My experience of TEC helped to jumpstart my personal relationship with Christ and prompted me to establish a habitual prayer life. It motivated me to become more involved in my home parish and led me to seek many other opportunities to grow in my faith. It fueled my faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and enflamed my desire to spend time in adoration of our Lord. It allowed me to experience in a very real way God’s ‘agape’ love embodied and made visible through the unseen, unheard, unrecognized, self- giving, self-emptying, self-sacrificing example of Wheat. It opened my eyes to see God’s constant presence and activity in my daily life. It inspired me to unabashedly live out my faith in the midst of a secular world and the chaos that was high school, striving (to the best of my broken ability) to be an authentic Christian disciple despite the judgment, ridicule, hostile stares, and harsh words of others.

As a result, for the first time in my life, everything began to make sense because it was driven with a renewed purpose. Confident that God was for me, Christ was with me, and the Holy Spirit was advocating for me, I felt that I was seeing clearly for once, and the small things that I used to worry about seemed to fade in comparison to the bigger picture of God’s plan for my life, his great love for me, and my newfound life in Christ. It is abundantly clear to me now how my experience on TEC served as the seedbed for my vocation as a priest by laying significant foundations, providing me with the space to consider God’s call, and allowing me to hear the voice of Christ speak to me more clearly: “Will you follow me?” “Will you feed my sheep?” “Will you serve the Church as my priest?” In other words, TEC lived up to its mission—it helped me to encounter the living Christ.

For all this (and probably for infinitely more reasons than I am aware of), I am eternally grateful for my experiences on TEC, for all of the friends I have made who have positively impacted my life and discernment to the priestly vocation, for the TEC community, its lay leadership, and all of the priests who have served from its inception and throughout its history. (I genuinely feel as if I am standing on the shoulders of giants). I am truly, truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to give back to this community who has given me so much by serving as its spiritual director.

Please pray for me that, by the grace of God, I do not allow this boat to sink! (Just kidding!) I am very much aware that it is by your support, effort, and prayer that keeps this community alive and well, but most of all, that this entire community is inspired, guided, and led by something greater than ourselves—God the Father, through his Son, Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit— without which none of the great work of TEC could be accomplished. I hope that reality brings you as much peace and comfort as it brings me. Once again, I am humbled and thrilled to be discerned as the spiritual director of our community to help lead it and guide it, by the grace of God, and with the help of so many others. Please be assured of my continued prayers for all of you, for all future TECites, and for the future of this community as a whole. May God bless you now and always.

In Christ,

Fr. Tim Roth


  Fun fact about Fr. Tim, anyone? He likes sloths. Never forget, Jesus loves you more than this sloth loves that tree.