On Sunday, May 6, 2018, our friars celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Ordination of our confrere, Fr. Mark Szany, OFM Conv., at our pastoral ministry of St. Lucie Catholic Church, in Port St. Lucie, FL, where he has served as pastor, since 2007.
Friar Mark hails from Buffalo, NY and spent his time in Novitiate at St. Joseph Cupertino Friary, in Ellicott City, MD. He first professed his Simple Vows on August 15, 1969 and his Solemn Vows exactly three years later. He was Ordained to the Priesthood May 6, 1978 in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Albany, NY, by Most Rev. Howard J. Hubbard, DD, the ninth and longest serving bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
After his ordination, Friar Mark began his ministry in Baltimore City as a teacher at our ministry at Archbishop Curley High School, later serving there as Assistant Principal. In 1985, he moved to our ministry at St. Francis High School, in Athol Springs to serve as Assistant Principal and then down to Ft. Pierce, FL to serve as President of John Carroll High School. Starting in 1997, Friar Mark began his pastoral ministry, in one of our Florida parishes, St. Mark Catholic Church, in Boynton Beach. After a break to serve in Provincial Leadership, Friar Mark returned to Florida to serve in our parish in Port St. Lucie. Over his years as a Franciscan Friar Conventual, he has served on the Education Ministries and the Parochial Concerns Commisions, as well.
We congratulate Friar Mark on his 40th Ordination Anniversary!
Friar Mark’s 98-year-old Mother, Mrs. Alice Szanyi, flew from Buffalo to participate.
Mrs. Alice Szanyi carried the same chalice in the offertory procession that she presented to Friar Mark at his Ordination 40 years ago.
Procession during the 2016 Corpus Christi Celebrations at St. Lucie Catholic Church
St. Lucie Council of Catholic Women 2013 Christmas Craft Fair
On Sunday, May 6, 2018, our friars celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Ordination of our confrere, Fr. Dennis Mason, OFM Conv., at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, MD.
Friar Dennis hails from Bridgeport, CT and spent his time in Novitiate at St. Joseph Cupertino Friary. These 50 years later, he is living back in that same friary while in ministry at our Shrine of St. Anthony. He first professed his Simple Vows on August 15, 1969 and his Solemn Vows exactly three years later. He was Ordained to the Priesthood May 6, 1978 in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Albany, NY, by Most Rev. Howard J. Hubbard, DD, the ninth and longest serving bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
Friar Dennis began his years in pastoral and formation ministry, serving as Associate Pastor, at St. Adalbert Parish, Elmhurst, NY and served as Parochial Vicar, and as Pastor, in several parishes before coming back to Ellicott City, MD to serve our shrine’s pilgrims; including spiritual direction & sacramental needs, as well as preaching and facilitating off site retreats, missions & speaking engagements. Over his years as a Franciscan Friar Conventual, Friar Dennis has served in Provincial Leadership roles as well as on an abundance of commissions and boards. Prayer Series with Friar Dennis
We congratulate Friar Dennis on his 40th Ordination Anniversary!
Friar Dennis, Friar James and Friar Gerry at a recent celebration at our former pastoral ministry of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish where Friar Dennis served as pastor.
Friar Dennis presided as the main celebrant for one of the Outdoor Masses of the 2017 St. Anthony Festival celebrations at the Shrine. Celebrate the Feast Day of St. Anthony of Padua with our friars, this year, during the June 9, 2018 Festival, with Featured speaker, Dr Scott Hahn.
Friar Dennis celebrating the 2017 Passion Sunday with the pilgrims of the Shrine of St. Anthony
Friar Dennis sharing one of the many texts from the fine Franciscan literary collection housed in the Shrine’s Library, with some of the pilgrims at the 2015 Fall Festival.
Hail, O Lady,
Holy Queen, Mary, holy Mother of God, who are the Virgin made Church, chosen by the most Holy Father in heaven whom He consecrated with His most holy beloved Son and with the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, in whom there was and is
all fullness of grace and every good.
Hail His Palace! Hail His Tabernacle! Hail His Dwelling! Hail His Robe! Hail His Servant! Hail His Mother!
And hail, all You holy virtues which are poured into the hearts of the faithful through the grace and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, that from being unbelievers, You may make them faithful to God.
As we begin the month of May, a month especially dedicated to Our Lady, the faithful offer up fervent, loving prayer and veneration to the Blessed Mother. This observance of a “Marian Month” is set within the 50 Days of Easter, the longest Liturgical Season in the Roman Catholic Church. We are reminded of Our Lady’s participation in the Paschal mystery and in our Church beginning at Pentecost. Mary is the glorified Queen of Heaven; Our Lady of the Angels.
With praise and gratitude to the Most High God,
the Franciscan Friars Conventual of the Our Lady of the Angels Province
and the Custody of Our Lady of Coromoto
joyfully announce that their brothers
Friar Moises Maximilian Avila, OFM Conv. Friar Emanuel Ventura Vasconcelos, OFM Conv. Friar Milton Torres Albarran, OFM Conv. and Friar Luis Palacios Rodriguez, OFM Conv.
will be ordained to the Sacred Order of the Priesthood
through the imposition of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit.
Friday, June 22, 2018 ~ 2:00 p.m.
Saint Louis Roman Catholic Church
780 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14202
Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish – Danbury, CT honored the Conventual Franciscan Friars for 70 years of service, by dedicating the new Sacristy in our name, at a celebration on Sunday the 29th of April. Former pastors Fr. Gerry Waterman, OFM Conv. and Fr. Dennis Mason, OFM Conv., along with our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. joined Rev. Peter Towsley, the current diocesan pastor, for a spirited Liturgy before a full Church, followed by a parish reception.
Friar Dennis, Friar James and Friar Gerry
Friar James with Vickey Hickey and Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Mark Curesky’s sister – Nancy.
Friday ~ April 20, 2018: The Minister General of our Order, the Most Reverend Fr. Marco Tasca, OFM Conv. {left} was welcomed to the Conservation and Technical Research Laboratory of the Walter’s Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland (USA) for a special viewing of the famed Assisi Missal (dubbed the St. Francis Missal by the Walter’s) which St. Francis opened three times in the Church of San Nicolò, finding the essential Gospel passages for the Rule of the Friars Minor. Just as St. Francis was accompanied by two Friar-companions at San Nicolò, so too his 119th successor (Friar Marco) was accompanied at the Walter’s by two friars, Fr. Ciprian Budău, OFM Conv., Custos of our Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody – Great Britain & Ireland {right}, and our Minister Provincial, Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. {2nd from right}.
Even though the 12th-century manuscript is undergoing an extensive two-year restoration, Friar James was able to arrange a private examination of the text and a meeting with the curators.
Friar Marco closely examining the third passage which St. Francis opened, Mt. 16:24.
Our friars of Great Britain & Ireland, the Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody, are known as the “Greyfriars.” At Walsingham, England’s National Marian Shrine, on March 19, 2018 (The Feast of St. Joseph), the Minster General of our Order and the 119th Successor to St. Francis of Assisi, the Most Reverend Fr. Marco Tasca, OFM Conv., and our Assistant General, Friar Jude Winkler, OFM Conv., while on pilgrimage, took part in this EWTN Great Britain report.
A bit of history:
In September of 1224, St. Francis sent the first friars to establish a Franciscan presence in England. They were drawn to the Medieval Christian Shrine devoted to Mary, the Mother of God, known as Mary’s Dowry, Walsingham. They established friaries in Canterbury, London and Oxford. After already having established a Franciscan presence in Paris, Blessed Agnellus of Pisa was chosen by St. Francis to lead the effort, along with a group of his confreres. He became the first Minister Provincial of the newly established province. Blessed Agnellus died in the 1236 and his grave and the church in which he was buried were destroyed during the persecution of the Catholics in the reign of Henry VIII.
At the time of the English Reformation (1534), there were around 60 Conventual Franciscan (OFM Conv.) friaries and six Observant (O.F.M.) friaries, in England. Henry VIII suppressed Religious and all of the the Observant friaries were closed and the King ordered a general survey of all church revenues in the realm. In the next two years, 376 religious houses had been suppressed but the Conventual Franciscans assets were of little worth to the King. The friaries were poor, property was in disrepair and that had little possessions. However, by 1538, the King had suppress the Conventual Franciscans as well. Be that as it may, all Conventual Franciscan friaries were suppressed by 1538. Conventual Franciscans returned to England in 1906 and through tough missionary work reestablished their presence in by 1910, when invited by the bishop of the Southwark diocese to Rye, East Sussex, then Liverpool (1926) and Manchester (1929).
April 17-19, 2018: During a visit from three Polish Friars from the Krakow Province; The Very Reverend Fr. Marian Gołąb, OFM Conv. (Minister Provincial of the St. Anthony of Padua and B. James of Strepa Province, in Kraków), Fr. Piotr Sarnicki, OFM Conv. (Coordinator of Kraków Friars in USA) and Fr. Bronisław Staworowski, OFM Conv. (Ekonom Prowincji – Provincial Economist), our own Minister Provincial, The Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. renewed the contracts for the six Kraków Friars who live and minister in Our Lady of the Angels Province, as well as the two Kraków Friars who live and minister in our Provincial Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody, in Great Britain and Ireland.
On the 18th, Friar James accompanied the three Polish Friars to the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, DC, where they met at length with the Honorable Piotr Wilczek (center bottom), the Polish Ambassador to the United States and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
April 15, 2018: Our friars of Holy Cross Friary (Atlanta, GA) held an informal ‘open friary’ evening which began with Mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church, followed by Evening Prayer in the friary, pizza and time to talk. There were eight young men present from the two ministries served by the friars of Holy Cross Friary: the parish and Blessed Trinity Catholic High School. One of the students returned for his third evening with the friars. It was a blessing to share this time with them. Our friars residing in the Holy Cross Friary are Fr. Jude Michael Krill, OFM Conv. (at left) who serves as Guardian of the Friary and Pastor of the Parish and Fr. Gary Johnson, OFM Conv. (third from right) who serves as Parochial Vicar of the Parish along with Fr. Abelardo Huanca Martinez, OFM Conv. (not pictured) and Fr. Reto Davatz, OFM Conv. (not pictured) who serves as Campus Minister at the High School.
A “Thank You” to the friars of our province, from the Assistant Campus Minister for Mission Trips and Community Service, at The Catholic University of America:
“I wanted to write you again to say thank you so much for the donation that the Friars made to the Catholic University of America Mission Trip program this year. It was really a gift to our students to be able to make these experiences more accessible to those who don’t have the luxury of having a lot of available money. We were able to provide scholarships to several students who needed them, as well as subsidize the costs of all of the trips, which really impacted the amount of interest we had across campus. … Thank you for all of the help and your investment in our students. It’s truly appreciated.”
Taken after a Mass attended at Stella Maris Parish in Kingston, Jamaica. The parishioners dressed in pink put on a wonderful dramatic interpretation of the gospel story of the Samaritan Woman at the well, with Jesus.
In March 2018, throughout our Campus Ministry at The Catholic University of America, students visited communities in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, West Virginia, and the USA/Mexico Border. In May 2018 a few more groups of students will be going to Belize, as well as southern Philadelphia. You too can “Accompany a Missioner” by praying for the Missioner, attending the Commissioning Mass, sending a Letter of Encouragement or donating to Mission Teams.
On Sunday, May 6, 2018, our friars celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Ordination of our confrere, Fr. Mark Szany, OFM Conv., at our pastoral ministry of St. Lucie Catholic Church, in Port St. Lucie, FL, where he has served as pastor, since 2007.
On Sunday, May 6, 2018, our friars celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Ordination of our confrere, Fr. Dennis Mason, OFM Conv., at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, MD.
