Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

A funeral Mass for Conventual Franciscan Father Herman Benedict Czaster was offered July 10 at St. Adalbert in Elmhurst, N.Y. Father Czaster died July 6. He was 86.

Born Sept. 7, 1938, in Buffalo, N.Y., Friar Czaster attended Corpus Christi Parish and was a 1956 graduate of St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, N.Y.  He joined the Conventual Franciscan Friars in Becket, Mass., where he professed his simple vows Aug. 15, 1957. He studied at St. Hyacinth College Seminary in Granby, Mass., and made his solemn profession Aug. 15, 1960. He graduated in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, and was ordained to priesthood June 17, 1965.

Friar Czaster’s first assignment as a priest was at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, where he taught for nine years. 

“He really wanted to make sure you were learning,” said Conventual Franciscan Father Donald Grzymski, Curley’s president, alumni chaplain and member of the Class of 1970. Father Czaster taught Father Grzymski for three years as his Latin and German teacher.

“He would walk around when giving a test and if he saw something wrong, would say ‘You might want to look at that one again,” Father Grymski remembered. “Tests are not meant to get you, but to help you. He took a really good approach.  I remembered him later as a teacher, that our whole goal here is to help people learn.”

Elsewhere, Father Czaster served in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. He was also his religious community’s provincial secretary and vicar provincial in Baltimore. 

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