October 2005: Friar Santo Cricchio, OFM Conv. celebrates his first mass in French, at a Catholic mission in Arta, Djibouti, at the request of the Catholic Bishop of Somalia, due to a shortage of priests in the area.
Having already studied Psychology, Philosphy and Theology (earning his Masters from Washington Theological Union in 2000, as well as a certificate as Interpreter for the Hearing Impaired), Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Santo Cricchio, OFM Conv. is currently in advanced studies through the GI Bill Education Benefit.
It has been over 30 years since Friar Santo first professed his vows as a Franciscan Friar Conventual and in that time he has served as a member of the province Justice, Peace and Ecology Commission, and served as chairman of the Justice, Peace and Safeguarding of Creation Committee. He has also served in province ministry as parochial vicar, at Most Holy Trinity – St. Mary Parish (Brooklyn, NY), St. Clement Mary Hofbauer Parish (Baltimore, MD) and St. Philip Benizi Parish (Jonesboro, GA). Before his time in Jonesboro, he served as pastor in our Brooklyn, NY parish and as guardian of the friary there. Prior to his military service, he was was a campus minster, at the Catholic University of America (Washington DC). He has served as an Active Duty – United States Navy and Marine Corp Chaplain, since 2005. Friar Santo is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom. He serves the military by bringing the presence of God to those in peace and in combat. Originating in 2002, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, of which Friar Santo was a part, contributed advisers, supplies, and other forms of non-combat support, as well as anti-piracy operations. These acts included building and restoring hospitals, clinics, schools, bridges and wells, while providing medical and veterinary care, and helping to distribute large quantities of supplied, food and clothing. American military forces in the Horn of Africa region worked in 2005 to bring aid to the local population and prevent the spread of terrorism. At the time, when asked about his time in service on the Horn of Africa, Friar Santo stated, “Our mission in Djibouti is winning hearts and minds. That is what we are doing. We are waging a war of peace.”
In September 2005, Friar Santo (pictured at right) and members of the Camp Lemonier Catholic community gathered and distributed school supplies, much gifted by students from America, to the students of Aecole Boules Catholic Primary School, in Djibouti, Africa.
During this Veteran’s Day Weekend, we would like to honor our confrere, Navy Chaplain Lt Santo P Cricchio, a Navy Reserve Chaplain Corps Officer, who provides spiritual leadership, pastoral counseling, religious education and religious services for members of the Navy and Marines, and their families.
The Companions of St. Anthony is the Evangelization and Development ministry of our province. Originating in the early 1990’s through the efforts of *Fr. Martin Kobos, OFM Conv. (1988-2005 Province Development Director) and *Fr. Jude Winkler, OFM Conv. (1988-2010 Province Evangelization), this ministry has grown into a large operation focused on giving “glory to God through living the values which were so dear to St. Anthony: Love for the Eucharist; knowledge of Scripture; reconciliation and penance as part of the Christian journey; prayer; devotion to Mary, the Mother of God; and opportunities for Christian giving.” With offices housed in the lower level of another one of our ministries, The Shrine of St. Anthony (Ellicott City, MD), and under the leadership of Lay Development Director ~ Mr. Joseph Hamilton and Spiritual Director ~ Fr. Richard-Jacob Forcier, OFM Conv., this ministry continues to strive to spread the Gospel through the disbursement of Religious Information, Materials and Goods, while facilitating the collection of financial support from our friars’ benefactors. One of the first publications created by Fr. Martin and distributed through The Companions of St. Anthony was the “Companion Prayers” guide to prayer. Although it continues to be one of the most sought after items, it is now just one of hundreds of items available through our online Friar Shop.
Several times a year The Companions of St. Anthony publishes “The St. Anthony Companion” Newsletter. The Fall 2017 (Volume 6, Number 2) edition features a cover story highlighting a young friar’s path to priesthood, as well as a reflection by Friar Richard-Jacob.
*Fr. Martin Kobos, OFM Conv. now serves as Guardian of Mother Cabrini Friary & Pastor of Mother Cabrini Catholic Church (Shamokin, PA), as well as Dean of the Northumberland Deanery – Diocese of Harrisburg. Fr. Jude Winkler, OFM Conv. has served as CFF (Conventual Franciscan Federation) Assistant General of our Order for North America, Australia, Great Britain and Ireland since September of 2010.
Excerpts from a November 2, 2017 letter to our friars
by our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv.:
Peace and Good!
The 2nd of November in Latin American culture evokes a very different tone than the American Northeast. “All Souls Day” is commemorated … (as) … El Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) and honors loved ones who have died, with carnivalesque festivals and lively celebrations. On El Día de los Muertos, instead of being morbid, all of the dancing calacas and calaveras (skeletons and skulls) celebrate the lives of the deceased, through merrymaking with food and drink, and by limning the human activities in which their departed loved ones found pleasure. …
During his Fraternal-Apostolic Placement (2015-2016) at Archbishop Curley High School (Baltimore, MD), our own Friar Max Avila Pacheco, OFM Conv. (Honduran Roots) taught all of his classes about the exhuberant “El Día de los Muertos.” He showed the Curley lads that the “Day of the Dead” combines Aztec ritual with Catholicism. Thoughtfully, he taught his students to understand the celebration as catechesis about life – an honest recognition that death is a normal and natural part of the human experience – on a continuum with birth – an Omega bookend balancing life’s Alpha.
2017 Photo from Friar Max: A simple but very significant altar was prepared in one corner of the chapel in our Saint Bonaventure Friary – Silver Spring. MD). The whole community is praying for the eternal repose of our loved ones who have gone to the Father & in special way, for our friars who have died in the last year.
Indeed, the cultural experience of the “Day of the Dead” has profoundly meaningful religious undertones. According to the El Día de los Muertos tradition, the Christian dead would nearly feel insulted by a spectacle of mourning and sadness. Better a joyful shout unto the Lord! The joyous aspect of the dancing skeletons bespeaks how happy are the disembodied souls in heaven of all those faithful departed who await the final Resurrection of their bodies and fullness of life in the world to come.
The great period of the “Franciscan Fast” begins each year during the celebration of the “Day of the Dead.” How appropriate this is! Our Seraphic Father in the Rule exhorted his Friars to fast from the Feast of All Saints to the Nativity of the Lord. Fasting friars are not to be glum like hypocrites, but buoyant like the iconic images of El Día de los Muertos. Sister Death, for Francis, is gentle and joyful – not a martinet called “Sergeant Death.” A seraphic perspective on our human condition breeds joyful hope. I pray that, throughout the next few weeks of mortification, our common observance of the Franciscan Fast will actually foster a tone of pious merriment in our friaries and among our brethren. Life in general may have its briars and thorns, but Franciscan life re-focuses the heart on the roses which surmount those briars.
May we support one another during this Franciscan Advent, and collectively raise a joyful sound unto the Lord.
This week marks the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation; a movement resulting in not only reform but in persecution, torture, execution, pillaging and razing of monasteries & churches, as well as the removal and often damage of religious art.
Carlo Dolci, “Virgin and Child” Collection of The Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery, Greenville, S.C. (Credit: Graphic by Chris Mathews. Photo courtesy the Nasher Museum.)
The Church faithful responded with the Counter (akaCatholic)-Reformation, including artists like Carlo Dolci (1616-1687) of Florence, Italy, who proudly painted Christian themes using iconic Roman Catholic symbolism. These techniques had become taboo with iconoclast reformers and the devotional artwork, including images of saints, were thought to be distasteful among the Protestant reformers. These Catholic-Reformation artists used their craft to support Church teachings, as well as to educate the masses. The imagery within each work told the stories. For some, like Dolci, their art was also a form of personal prayer.
Photo and Article Credit: Yonat Shimron/RNS.
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar and Director of Campus Ministry at the Duke Catholic Center, Fr. Michael Martin, OFM Conv. spiritually led a group of Catholic students on a tour of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University exhibit, “The Medici’s Painter Carlo Dolci and 17th-Century Florence.” The group reverently enjoyed each painting or drawing, while stopping to recite short prayers. One of those on the tour with the students was Emma Miller, Director of Communication for the Duke Catholic Center, who stated, “It felt like I was walking through different points in the Catholic tradition; a little mini-pilgrimage …”
October 23-27, 2017: The Ministers Provincial and Custodial of the CFF (Conventual Franciscan Federation) convened in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a city with historic ties to the Franciscan Order, the friars having arrived here in 1610. Fr. Jude Winkler, OFM Conv., (top left) a friar of our province who has served as Assistant General of our Order for North America, Australia, Great Britain and Ireland since September 2010, presented preparatory protocols and solicited enquirers regarding the upcoming 2018 Ordinary Provincial Chapters of the four U.S. provinces. The meeting was also devoted to the tentative slate of potential formation directors for our Order’s five consolidated formation houses of CFF. This lengthy process of selection began several months ago with the Provincial and Custodial formation Commissions, adding further input from the CFF Initial Formation Commission.
In 2018, the name of the Director and Guardian of each of the four consolidated formation houses in the U.S. will be presented for approval and election by the respective Provincial Chapter in whose Province the House of Formation is located. In September 2017, the Custodial Chapter of our Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody in Great Britain and Ireland already elected Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Giles Zakowicz, OFM Conv. as Director of Formation and Guardian at CFF’s fifth House of Formation, in Oxford.
In North America, our province friars in formation begin as Postulants at the St. Bonaventure Friary Postulancy in Chicago (IL), under the direction of Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Br. Paschal Kolodziej, OFM Conv. (Postulancy Director) The next phase of formation takes place at the St. Francis of Assisi Friary Novitate in Arroyo Grande (CA), under the direction of St. Bonaventure Province friar, Br. Joseph Wood, OFM Conv. (Guardian and Director of Novices) and Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Maurice Richárd, OFM Conv. (Associate Director of Novices). In the last stage of formation, our friars are mostly in studies at The Catholic University of America, living in the St. Bonaventure Friary Post-Novitiate in Silver Spring (MD), under the direction of Our Lady of the Angels Province friars, Br. Jim Moore, OFM Conv. (Guardian and Director) and Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv. (Province Vicar).
The Minister Provincial for our province is the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (pictured third from right). Friar Ciprian Budău, OFM Conv. (pictured top right) is the Provincial Custos of our Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody (Great Britain/Ireland).
The Vocation Director for Our Lady of the Angels Province is Fr. Russell Governale, OFM Conv. who welcomes all inquiries from men in discernment. He can be reached at vocations@olaprovince.org or by calling 718-510-5822. Read more on the Vocations Page of this website.
During the week of October 16th, as the Church marked the centenary of the founding of the Militia of the Immaculate, our Order sponsored an International Conference at the Seraphicum in Rome, Italy, with the theme: “St. Maximilian Kolbe in the Light of the New Evangelization.” On Thursday, October 19th, Our Lady of the Angels Province Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. was a keynote speaker. The title of his one-hour conference was “St. Maximilian: Minoritas for the Sake of the Kingdom.” During his conference, with the help of personal anecdotes, Friar James explained St. Maximilian’s exercise of minoritas (i.e. “the stance of humility before God and others”) in his apostolic service and his fraternal role as guardian among the friars – all for the sake of the kingdom. By way of three sources (biblical, Franciscan testimonials from Kolbe’s contemporaries, and Auschwitz survivors), Friar James examined generally how minoritas impacts a friar’s work of evangelization. In particular, Friar James explained how St. Maximilian exercised minoritas from four perspectives:
His vocation of itinerancy over 31 years
His theology of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception
His spirituality of total consecration to Mary
His mission of evangelization as a member of the Order of Penance
Citing texts of the saint, Friar James explained St. Maximilian’s plan for upbuilding the Church and fostering a civilization of love. He showed how Kolbe represented the icon of minoritas, imaged in Mary’s Immaculate Conception, as a type of “blueprint” for what a converted and sanctified world could look like. The martyr of charity proposed the M.I. as a mode for that evangelization, and intended Niepokolanow (“City of the Immaculate”) as a model of “minoritas space, or archetype of the kingdom,” which is also realizable today.
Submitted by Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv.
Our Lady of the Angels Province M.I. Assistant
The friars in attendance from our province took the opportunity to visit with some of our friars serving in Rome.
St. Anthony’s Relics in Canada: Mass at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Ottawa, presided by the Archbishop of Ottawa, Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, SJ.
Endearingly referred to as our International Friary, St. AndréBessette Friary (320 Olmstead Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1L 7K3) is home to Our Lady of the Angels Province friar – Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., who serves as Guardian as well as a professor at St. Paul University Canon Law Program, from the Philippines – Fr. Dominic Lim, OFM Conv., who serves as pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, from India – Fr. Saviour Karamvelil, OFM Conv., who serves as a Catholic Hospital Chaplain for the Archdiocese of Ottawa, and from Romania, Fr. Jeremiah Budău, OFM Conv., who serves as pastor of St. Ignatius Martyr Church. Our confreres from Padua, Italy, will be traveling in Canada, with the relics of St. Anthony of Padua, this November, with a visit to Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, November 11-12, 2017
Within the Franciscan Family, St. Francis of Assisi founded three Orders.
We friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province are members of a First Order – the Friars Minor which is divided into three branches consisting of ordained and non-ordained friars: the Friars Minor (Brown Franciscans – OFM), the Friars Minor Capuchin (Capuchins – OFM Cap.) and the Friars Minor Conventual (Franciscan Friars Conventual – OFM Conv. – of which our province belongs). All First Order Friars take solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Conventual friar priests and friar brothers live in community as a single family, sharing in the life and work of the entire community, with equal rights and obligations. Read More
The Second Order – the Poor Clares, includes nuns professing the Rule of St. Clare (est. 1253) as well as those who observe dispensations granted (1263) or the constitutions drawn up by St. Colette (1458). Each Poor Clare Nun (O.S.C.) lives in the same monastery for her whole Religious life, taking the same solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Read More
Also established by St. Francis of Assisi is the Third Order – Secular. The Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) is a public association in the Church, divided into fraternities at various levels: local, regional, national, and international. Each fraternity has its own juridical personality within the Church and consists of laity (men and women) as well as secular clergy (deacons, priests and bishops). The rule and life of the Secular Franciscan is to observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life with God and people. Secular Franciscans make a public profession and are consecrated, but they are not bound by public vows as are the First and Second Order Franciscans. Read More
The Leadership of each regional and local fraternity, as well as formation, is provided by a Professed Secular Franciscans. Since the Holy See has entrusted their pastoral care and spiritual assistance to the Franciscan First Orders and the Third Order Regulars, we have our own Provincial Spiritual Assistant to the Secular Franciscan Order: Br. Lawrence LaFlame, OFM Conv.
Although not all fraternities within the perimeters of our province are served by our friars, there are several friars who also serve local fraternities near their own ministries. To find a fraternity near you, click here.
St. Anthony of Padua Fraternity in Boynton Beach, FL is served by our friars in pastoral ministry at St. Mark Catholic Church, where they meet each month, as a local fraternity of the Five Franciscan Martyrs Region (SE USA – Southern GA, Lower AL and FL).
This month, Fr. Richard Florek, OFM Conv., who serves as Parochial Vicar at St. Mark Parish, helped them celebrate their fraternity’s Rite of Admission for three new members.
On a quiet September morning, anticipating a trip to The Big E later in the day, I chanced upon FriarDavid having his breakfast. With a cup of coffee in hand, I sat myself down and asked him a simple question, “David, can you tell me about the goats?” His answer began with a Stopyra look and laugh.
Friar David as shepherd of those in formation: 1976-1979 when he served as Guardian and Director of Formation, St. Hyacinth College and Seminary (Granby, MA)
Here is his story… Imagine our senior friars at St. Hyacinth Friary anticipating that annual October Conventual discernment: “What will we ‘do’ for the Franciscan Fast?” The day of the friary’s House Chapter* arrived and Friar David announced that he would spare the community the early penance of such delicate deliberation and offer something new, which would be announced on the community bulletin board within the week. The notice went up and friar after friar rolled his eyes, while chuckling at the typo, Goats for the Poor, “Surely, he meant Coats for the Poor!”
No, he meant GOATS. It was something Friar David put into practice as pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish (Taunton, MA), where he served for 15 years. He has now brought to our friars in Chicopee through the Catholic Charities initiative ~ Goats and Hopes.
Friar David’s inspiration went back to when he was first made a “shepherd” of goats in the Novitiate. In the mountains of western Massachusetts, in a place simply called Becket, +Father Master Cornelian Dende, OFM Conv. acquired goats, which were put in Friar David’s care. They were Alpine, Toggenburg, Saanen, and Nubian. Each had a name. Friar David especially remembers Luella and Susie (remembered as Poor Susie but that is a story for another day).
Fr. David Stopyra, OFM Conv. celebrated 65 years as a Professed Franciscan Friar Conventual this year. Born in Lawrence, MA in 1934 (A son of The Queen City of the Merrimack Valley), he entered the Mt. St. Lawrence Novitiate in 1951, and made his First Profession of Vows on August 15, 1952. Three years later to the day, he celebrated his Solemn Profession of Vows and was Ordained to the Priesthood on May 28, 1960 in St. Michael’s Cathedral, in Springfield, MA by +The Most Rev. Christopher J. Weldon.
Friar David earned several advanced degrees in Philosophy, Theology and Education and has served in province pastoral ministries as well as an educator, counselor, formator and definitor. He currently resides in our St. Hyacinth Friary, in Chicoppee, MA where he lives in community with several other of our senior friars.:
1960: Assistant Pastor & Teacher, St. Francis Parish & St. Francis HS, Athol Springs, NY
1961: Teacher & Counselor, Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore, MD
1971: Guardian & Principal, Immaculate Heart of Mary Friary & Archbishop Curley HS
1976: Guardian & Director of Formation, St. Hyacinth College and Seminary, Granby, MA
1979: Guardian & Pastor, St. Stanislaus Friary and Parish, Trenton, NJ
1982: Guardian &Pastor, St. Hyacinth Friary and Parish, Auburn, NY
1991: Guardian & Pastor, St. Francis Friary and Parish, Athol Springs, NY
1997: Pastor, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish, Taunton, MA
*Rooted in the positive attitude and openness of each and every friar, the House Chapter is where we share the things most vital to our life so that our fraternity can be life-giving to us and attractive for young men to join us. Each friary commits itself to celebrate at least eight chapters per year and devote ample time to fraternal sharing, discernment, and planning. Each friar commits himself to this positive, participative, and prayerful moment in the life of a healthy friary.
+Lt Col Fr. Samuel Zebron, OFM Conv. ~ Military Chaplain (1969-1991)
+Fr. Samuel Joseph Zebron, OFM Conv. (1932-2017) Born in Baltimore, MD in 1932, at the age of 17, Friar Sam entered Mt. St. Lawrence Novitiate of the Franciscan Friars Conventual. A year later, he professed his vows and on May 24, 1958 was ordained to the priesthood at St. Michael’s Cathedral, in Springfield, MA, by +Most Rev. Christopher J. Weldon (who also served as a military chaplain during World War II). After his ordination, Friar Sam served the province as a teacher in New York and Maryland high schools, until in 1969 he requested permission to become a Military Chaplain. Granted permission, Friar Sam served in the US Air Force for 21 years, attaining the rank of Lt. Colonel. He received numerous medals and honors and retired from the military in 1991. His military experience helped form his life and he conducted himself with the high expectations of military bearing. In the years following his military chaplaincy, he continued to serve the province in pastoral ministry. His last assignment was as Parochial Vicar at St. Mark Parish, in Boynton Beach, FL. He remained there after his assignment retirement, and continued to be a presence in the parish community.
+Friar Sam met Sister Death on June 19, 2017, and on this year’s Commemoration of All Faithful Departed (All Souls Day – November 2, 2017) he was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, with full military honors. Friars, family and friends – with clearance – were on hand for the Catholic Rite of Committal ceremony, followed by military honors.
More photos from the November 2, 2017 Internment at Arlington National Cemetery can be found in the Province Facebook Page Album.
He serves the military by bringing the presence of God to those in peace and in combat. Originating in 2002, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, of which Friar Santo was a part, contributed advisers, supplies, and other forms of non-combat support, as well as anti-piracy operations. These acts included building and restoring hospitals, clinics, schools, bridges and wells, while providing medical and veterinary care, and helping to distribute large quantities of supplied, food and clothing. American military forces in the Horn of Africa region worked in 2005 to bring aid to the local population and prevent the spread of terrorism. At the time, when asked about his time in service on the Horn of Africa, Friar Santo stated, “Our mission in Djibouti is winning hearts and minds. That is what we are doing. We are waging a war of peace.”
October 23-27, 2017: The Ministers Provincial and Custodial of the 
During the week of October 16th, as the Church marked the centenary of the founding of the Militia of the Immaculate, our Order sponsored an International Conference at the Seraphicum in Rome, Italy, with the theme: “St. Maximilian Kolbe in the Light of the New Evangelization.” On Thursday, October 19th, Our Lady of the Angels Province Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. was a keynote speaker. The title of his one-hour conference was “St. Maximilian: Minoritas for the Sake of the Kingdom.” During his conference, with the help of personal anecdotes, Friar James explained St. Maximilian’s exercise of minoritas (i.e. “the stance of humility before God and others”) in his apostolic service and his fraternal role as guardian among the friars – all for the sake of the kingdom. By way of three sources (biblical, Franciscan testimonials from Kolbe’s contemporaries, and Auschwitz survivors), Friar James examined generally how minoritas impacts a friar’s work of evangelization. In particular, Friar James explained how St. Maximilian exercised minoritas from four perspectives:
In the years following his military chaplaincy, he continued to serve the province in pastoral ministry. His last assignment was as Parochial Vicar at St. Mark Parish, in Boynton Beach, FL. He remained there after his assignment retirement, and continued to be a presence in the parish community.
