Everest Academy Lemont Blog

Welcome to Fr Jon Budke!

Dear Friends and Families in Christ, 

Please see below a letter from Fr. André LaSana announcing his move onto a new assignment with the Legionaries of Christ. Fr. André has been a main cofounder of White Pines/ Everest Academy. We will miss his direct leadership at Everest; however, we will continue to reap the benefits as he assists Fr. John Connor in guiding all the Legion of Christ’s apostolates in the region. Please join us in a special celebration of thanks to Fr. André on June 12th. This is not to say goodbye, as we will be seeing and still consulting with Fr. André on an ongoing basis.   We will keep him and all his new responsibilities in prayer. 

Although change brings with it some challenge in seeing those we care for move in new directions, there is also the comforting side of knowing God has a plan and trusting in this.  We   will be  receiving another Legionary priest here at Everest Academy to lead us in our new phase of development. We are very pleased to welcome Fr. Jon Budke who will be here for us as president of the Board of Directors for Everest Academy and our Formation Director at the school.  It is a blessing to have Fr. Budke join us as he has extensive experience in working in schools. We look forward to his presence and leadership on campus. We will be having our first all school Mass with Fr.

Budke soon and will notify you of the date. We look forward to seeing you there. 

Thy Kingdom Come!

Dear Everest Academy Families and Staff,

My warmest greetings! Hope all is well with you as the weather warms and spring blossoms. Some of you are aware that I have been in Chicago for nine years, which is quite a while for a member of a religious congregation – our assignments are usually for three years, renewable for another three. Just a short while ago, Fr Alvaro Corcuera, the Legion’s general director, notified me that I had received the mission of helping to develop our ministries in ten cities in the USA. 

It takes a little time to digest such news… and happy as I am to help the Church from a new angle, so to speak, I am also saddened that I will not be as connected to Chicago and Everest as I was for all these years. Your friendship, work, support, joy, fidelity, love – so many virtues you have lived and shared with me, so many ways in which you have shaped my priesthood and my heart! So you have my sincerest gratitude, and an everliving place in my daily prayers. 

The GOOD NEWS of course is that you will be receiving a NEW Legionary priest in Chicago to replace me at Everest Academy, and to fill the role of community superior. That wonderful new priest is Fr Jon Budke, who entered the Legion with me in the summer of 1989 in Connecticut, and who was ordained in Rome on January 2, 2001 – as was I. So we go back a ways! Fr Jon hails from Minnesota, so he will enjoy being back in the Midwest, having served a number of years in California, Washington, and Denver.  I’m very happy for him to come to this great city!

I’m also very pleased that Fr Jon has had solid experience with schools, foremost with Clearwater Academy in Calgary – where our own Ms Gamache cut her teeth as founding principal. Clearwater, with 400 students, has consistently won top school honors in its province. Fr Jon is relaxed, cool, very practical, and a gifted handy-man too – you will be so pleased to have him serving you.

He arrived in Chicago this weekend and attended Everest Academy’s Monday morning assembly so that he
could begin to get to know students, parents, faculty, and staff.

I will eventually work out of Atlanta, but will continue to be based in Chicago all the way until December or
January. So I’ll keep a watchful eye on Everest and all of you, whom I truly love!

May the Lord richly bless you all; keep your Legionaries in your prayers too!

Yours in Christ, 
 Fr. Andre LaSana LC

“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person,
which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction."   (Pope Benedict, God is Love, 2006)