Jon’s sister, Kim, posted the following funeral arrangements on her FB page tonight:
“Thank you for all the prayers and condolences. We are going to need them through this time. For any who are interested, Jon’s wake and funeral will be held in our hometown, Warwick NY. The wake is on Friday the 21st at 2-4 PM and 7-9 PM at Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home. The funeral is on Saturday the 22nd at 10:30 AM at the parish of St. Stephen the First Martyr.”
We are still taking a collection for Jon’s funeral expenses. The cost associated with flying the remains of a beloved one home are quite substantial, on top of the normally substantial expense of a funeral. The community responded so generously with Kortney and Sophy’s funeral expenses, covering them all. Please rally to Jon’s family and do the same. Donations (all of which are tax-deductible, and 100% of which will be given to the family) may be made by clicking here.
A few thoughts as we get ready for this weekend.
Jon wasn’t typical of most men his age. For one thing, he was a man. A real man. Not in some pseudo-masculine macho sense of the term, but in the truest sense of masculinity.
He was principled, and all in the pursuit of virtue. He had unusual strength of conviction, all aligned along the axis of moral clarity. Such clarity only comes in self-giving and not in self-assertion. It comes through self-discipline, of subordinating one’s appetites to a vision of the other as worthy of our best and not as an object for our consumption. It’s the stuff of which the more cynical among us who have only ever known being used cannot believe exists in reality.
But it does, and in a world of virtual reality, Jon was the real deal. Jon proved that a virtue-driven life was not only possible, but also attainable.
It takes guts to stand up to the Culture of Death at so young an age, to be defiant in the face of hell’s angels. It takes a real man to stand for the most defenseless among us in the midst of his peers in a hook-up culture, and not count the personal cost of going against the grain, all without being loud and abrasive.
Where do such people come from, many ask? They aren’t born. They’re made.
They’re made by mothers and fathers who empty themselves, pouring out their lives for the sake of their children’s growth in mind, body and soul. That’s where the selflessness and principle are learned. That’s where the love of God and neighbor are modeled.
I’ve never met Jon’s parents. I’ve never spoken to them, but I know them well. They raised me and my siblings, my cousins and friends. They’re the backbone of the Church.
Never on this blog have I asked for money, for me or for any organization with whom I am affiliated, until this tragedy. Again, people’s generosity paid for the Christian burial of Kortney and Sophy, and again, I ask that we all honor the Scharfenberger family who gave to the Church and the pro-life movement so precious a gift as their son, Jon. As we offer whatever money we are able, let us be lavish in our prayers for this beautiful family in their deepest sorrow.
Again, the link here.
God Bless.
Reprinted with permission from GerardNadal.com