Br. Ed Staszak

Br. Ed Staszak's path to religious life didn't begin with a moment of quiet clarity — it began with trouble. He attended a co-ed grade and high school and got into serious difficulty his sophomore year; circumstances that might well have led to expulsion. Instead, that difficult period became a turning point. Forced to reflect, he found himself thinking about what it meant to help or influence people — young people especially.

He was careful about the words he chose, even then. He didn't think people "changed" other people, not really. They help them. They influence them. That distinction mattered to a young man trying to understand his place in the world, and it has shaped how Br. Ed has lived his vocation ever since. Rather than telling people what to think or how to feel, he has tried throughout his life to listen — genuinely, attentively — to what the person in front of him actually thinks and feels.

That spirit followed him out of the classroom and into his retirement. Br. Ed remains a deeply active person, involved in physical projects at the Benilde and Westmont communities, handling grocery shopping and maintenance oversight, staying in touch with a wide network of people by phone and email. He works out at LA Fitness five or six times a week. He belongs to a Polka Club and owns a motorcycle, which means he has communities of people who share his enthusiasms — and before whom he can simply be himself. At polka events, he finds himself doing what he has always done: listening, asking a few good questions, helping people talk through what's happening in their lives. It is ministry, even if it doesn't look like a classroom.