Alumni of the Catholic Alumni Club continue to gather decades later through thick and thin
When Linda Devereaux looks back on her time in the Catholic Alumni Club of Greater St. Louis, it reminds her of the parable of the sower in the Gospel of Matthew.
“For so many of us, it was like we ‘fell on rich soil and produced fruit,’” she said, “not only because we found individuals with similar backgrounds, interests and faith, but we created lasting friendships and relationships that have withstood the test of time.”
Catholic Alumni Clubs International is an association of single, Catholic, professional men and women who connect through social and faith-based activities. The Greater St. Louis chapter was started in the early 1960s, according to a history Devereaux compiled in advance of the group’s first reunion coming up this fall.
CAC members had to be single, Catholic, college graduates, aimed at fostering a community of young adults in similar phases of life. There was some flexibility, though; the St. Louis chapter allowed nonCatholics to participate, as long as they were able to get married in the Catholic Church, and non-college graduates could join as associates of the group.
The St. Louis chapter is no longer active, but the friendships — and many marriages — that came from the group have endured.
On a hot July Wednesday afternoon, several couples and friends gathered at Pat and Jim Tornatore’s home in south St. Louis County for lunch, followed by lively Mexican Train Dominoes and a card game called Swoop.
The Tornatores, parishioners at St. Simon the Apostle in Green Park, have been married for nearly 46 years after meeting in 1980 through the Catholic Alumni Club.
“I moved here from Chicago and didn’t know a soul, and I saw a little article in my church bulletin that said the Catholic Alumni Club plays volleyball at this location. So I drove up to St. Mary Magdalen in the city; they were playing in the gym at the time,” Pat Tornatore said. “…It was a wonderful place to meet people, and I met my husband there that first night.”
Sports nights were a popular part of the Catholic Alumni Club, offering members a low-pressure way to get to know each other while having fun. The club also hosted dances at the Mill Hill Fathers’ hall, service opportunities and even a pro-life committee, among other activities.
“This was activity and faith-based, and just really to have a good time. And naturally, relationships occurred out of that, and many people stayed single,” Pat said. “And even though many of us got married, the single people and married people all still did things together, went on vacations together. We used to go down to the Lake of the Ozarks every Labor Day weekend with like 50 people.”
Father David Walter, who served in the archdiocesan Vocations Office and as a Newman Center chaplain and college campus minister for many years, was the group’s chaplain. He frequently celebrated Mass for the group on vacations or in homes, members recalled.
While the CAC offered more in the way of social connections than direct faith formation, Catholicism was the foundational aspect that members shared in common. Faith “is something that’s deeply embedded in all of us, and we’re all comfortable talking about,” Pat said.
Today, game days are a mainstay of the St. Louis alumni, rotating among homes in groups of eight. Another group plays pinochle once a month, and several members get together for pickleball games, too.
“We’re the first people we each turn to when we have something fun and exciting happen in our family, and the first people we turn to when things are not going so good,” Pat said.
Donna and Greg Casalone met in the CAC in the late 1970s and have been married for 45 years. When Greg joined, he knew he wanted to find friends and a wife who shared his faith.
“Values — that’s what keeps you together,” he said.
It was simple: after volleyball or softball, everybody went out for pizza, sodas and beers at Happy Joe’s. That’s where the men asked for the women’s phone numbers to take them on dates.
As members got married and started families, they ended up all over the archdiocese but remained committed to gathering together. Their kids became friends over the years, calling each other their “CAC cousins,” said Mary Ann Boyce, a parishioner at Our Lady of Lourdes in Washington.
“There’s obviously all different personalities, yet we all get along,” she said. “And we all keep up our Catholic faith. Our faith is very important to all of us.”
Boyce’s husband, Dan, died on Christmas Day 2025. Her CAC friends have been a huge source of support for her through the grief, she said. “Just knowing they’re there — they’re my family, every one of them” she said.
Pat Zeiler, a parishioner at St. Monica in Creve Coeur, appreciates that she can rely on her CAC friends for prayers. When she had a hip replacement a couple months ago, several members told her they not only were praying for her themselves but had brought her name to the various parish prayer groups to make sure she was getting as many as possible.
“I just felt like — this is going to be so easy, because everyone is praying for me,” Zeiler said.
The group has been encouraged to hear about present-day young adult ministry in parishes and at the archdiocesan level, including the Salt + Light Young Adults. Some things haven’t changed in 50 years: many young adults throughout the archdiocese continue to enter into the community through friendships they make on the volleyball court, hiking trails or dance floor.
Those in-person connections are so important, said Don Johnson, a CAC alum and parishioner at St. Paul in Fenton who met his wife, Cindy, playing volleyball.
“These activities keep drawing people in,” he said. He needed a few nudges from his mother to attend his first CAC event, but he once he took the leap, he kept coming back. “You get there and it’s very welcoming, and all of a sudden, it’s: hey, this is pretty good, I like this.”
“You connect on a human level, and you get into it, and you find the faith aspect that connects you,” Cindy added. “And that keeps your faith growing.”
