Father Charles Vavonese is a priest of the Diocese of Syracuse. He holds a B. S., from Loyola University, Chicago. While attending Loyola, he studied at the Loyola University Rome Center for Liberal Arts in Rome, Italy. Fr. holds an M. Div., from the former St. Bernard’s Seminary, an M. Ed., from Boston College and a C.A.S., from Fordham University. In addition, he studied Clinical Pastoral Education at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and studied Communications at the Institute for Religious Communication at Loyola University, New Orleans. He has been awarded permanent certification in Secondary Social Studies, Italian, School Guidance Counselor, School Building Administrator, and School District Administrator, by the University of the State of New York.
For over thirty years Fr Vavonese worked in administration for the Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Syracuse. During this time, he was responsible for the Personnel Administration, Legal Issues, Communications and Marketing for all the schools in the seven-county Diocese of Syracuse. While in diocesan administration, Father served as the Director of the Formation for Ministry Program, a program that prepares Lay Pastoral Ministers for service in the Diocese; Director of the Public Policy Office where he oversaw all the public policy activities for the Diocese on both the state and national levels; Director for the Office of Ministry to Persons with Disabilities where he worked to integrate persons with disabilities into the life of the Church and at the Marriage Tribunal where he assisted in preparing cases to be heard by the Tribunal.
Before assuming his duties as the Project Director for Project COMPASSION, he served patients receiving palliative care as the chaplain for the St. Joseph Health Mobile Integrated Services Team.
Father Vavonese has taught at the graduate level at Canisius College, Marist College, Syracuse University, and at Lemoyne College where he was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Education. Father has spoken at many educational conventions including the National Catholic Educational Convention. He has been a member of the United States Catholic Conference (USCCB) Federal Assistance Advisory Board; a group that assists the USCCB to maximize the use of federal funding in the Catholic Schools.
Father has been a member of the Trinity Health Integrated Care Board, a member of the Trinity Health Quality Initiatives Committee, and is currently a member of the Trinity Health Expert Panel on Palliative Care.
He is currently the associate Chaplain for the Syracuse Region of the Sovereign Order of Malta; and is weekend assistant at Holy Cross Church in DeWitt, NY.
