Adapted from a November 30, 2015 letter to the friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, by our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv.: The Minister Provincial of Krakow and the Provincial Delegate for the Peruvian mission sent our Minister Provincial a special invitation to participate in the Beatification of our brothers Friar Michał Tomaszek, OFM Conv. and Friar Zbigniew Strzałkowski, OFM Conv. |
You may or may not know the history of Our Lady of the Angels Province. It is made up of the union of two former North American Provinces: Immaculate Conception Province and St. Anthony of Padua Province. The former St. Anthony of Padua Province began working with the Minister General of the Order in the 1980s for the establishment of a mission in Peru. When personnel circumstances necessitated that St. Anthony of Padua Province withdraw from the venture, the Minister Provincial of the time, the Very Reverend Fr. Daniel Pietrzak, OFM Conv., worked with the Minister Provincial of Krakow to assure that Polish Friars would serve there in our place, thus establishing their own mission of Peru and assuming full pastoral responsibilities.
On August 9, 1991, two of the first Krakow Friars, Michał and Zbigniew, would die in Pariacoto, Peru, as martyrs at the hands of the Marxist “Sendero Luminoso” (terrorists known as the Shining Path). The third missionary, Friar Jarek Wysoczański, OFM Conv.(their Guardian at the time and currently the Secretary General for Missionary Animation for our Order), was spared because he was on a home visit to Poland. Even before the deaths of Friars Michał and Zbigniew, our Province of St. Anthony of Padua was preparing to send one of its own American friars as a new member of the Polish Mission in the Peru. That friar, Fr. Vincent Imhof, OFM Conv. had been ordained at St. Casimir’s in Baltimore (MD), in 1990. Shortly after the deaths of Friars Michał and Zbigniew, the Minister Provincial of St. Anthony Province at the time, the Very Reverend Fr. Mark Curesky, OFM Conv., allowed Friar Vincent to go on mission to Peru, joining up with Friar Jarek and thus assuring that the Order’s Peruvian mission would be sustained without interruption. This courageous decision on behalf of Friar Mark and Friar Vincent was reached after considerable prayer and anguish. When Friar Vincent arrived, the “Sendero Luminoso” was still spreading its reign of terror. Undaunted, the friars persevered indefatigably, and the Order’s implantation continues to reap a holy harvest, even now. As Tertullian wrote in the second century: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Eventually Friar Vincent transfiliated (cease to be a filius of the province where he had been received, professed, and educated to become a friar of another province) into the Krakow jurisdiction. He remains an active Missionary there, today. During all of these decades the former St. Anthony of Padua Province, and now as Our Lady of the Angels Province, our friars have continued to send economic support to the Order in Peru and have remained in fraternal solidarity with our confreres there. High in the Andes, our confreres have lived, worked, suffered, and died in a mission of heroic charity. In fact, when the “Sendero Luminoso” raided the village and forced the two friar-missionaries (Michał and Zbigniew) into a van, one of the local Religious, a Handmaid of the Sacred Heart, insisted on going with them until she was forced out of the van. She later testified that the guerillas excoriated our Friars for their apostolate of “caridad” (charity).
Through all of these years since 1991, I have never forgotten the words written by our Minister General, the Most Reverend Fr. Lanfranco Serrini, OFM Conv., on the day after the killing of Friars Michał and Zbigniew: “In the first moment of shock at this unimaginable news, I automatically thought of the words of Saint Francis when he received news of the death of the Protomartyrs of Morocco: ‘Now I can say with certainty that I have two friars minor’!” Truly to be a “Friar Minor” is to be a “Friary Martyr.” The martyr witnesses – testifies to the faith that underlies a life of selfless charity. One wonders what went through the minds of Friars Michał and Zbigniew when they suddenly realized that they would be killed. They stared eternity in the face. Indeed St. Francis’ optic on life was filtered through the lens of Eternity. Francis consciously adopted a “Perspective of Eternity” when before Bishop Guido in the Vescovado of Assisi he proclaimed, “From now on I will say freely, not ‘My Father Pietro di Bernadone’ but ‘Our Father Who art in heaven.’” (2 Celano 12). Now every one of his friar-sons is challenged to this same shift of optic – to see the world from the vantage point of Eternity – ultimately through the eyes of the “Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Lk. 21:27). From such an optic, the threat of violent death holds no power to shake one’s deep interior equilibrium. A Friar Minor [Friar Martyr] lives as a man whose bond to the Son of Man grounds him on earth to a Kingdom that is Eternal. As we celebrate our brothers’ beatification, may their intercession keep us grounded in the Kingdom for which they poured out their lifeblood.
friar Luis (in habit) Dr. Argyros, former friar Thomas J. Chirdo ~ Director of the MedStar CPE program and Rev. Anthony Akinlolu ~ Assistant Director, Department of Spiritual Care
Friar Luis Palacios Rodriguez, OFM Conv., one of the friars in formation for our province, is currently enrolled in a CPE program at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. On November 19, 2015, he was recognized by Gregory J. Argyros, MD, Senior Vice President at MedStar for outstanding service and was awarded the MedStar, Patients First Medallion.
“Friar Luis Palacios deserves to be commended. He stayed with a patient who sustained a non-survivable gunshot wound to the head and prayed for the patient and with his family when they arrived to MedStar. His compassion could be felt throughout the unit as he brought an air of warmth to the otherwise horrible situation of a young man who was victimized by gun violence. He remained in MedStar for most of the night comforting the family and praying with them in their time of grief until the Washington Regional Transplant Community referral team arrived to discuss organ donation, and stayed to be present with them during that tough conversation. Friar Luis embodies MedStar’s SPIRIT values and should be recognized as a bright, inspiring, and deeply spiritual member of our pastoral care staff.”
St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bessemer, Alabama celebrated their 75th Anniversary this year. The parish was founded by Conventual Franciscan Friars, Fr. Francis Pikor, OFM Conv. and Fr. Oderic Palys, OFM Conv., in 1940. Fr. Noel Danielewicz, OFM Conv., the last of our friars to serve as Pastor at that parish, was welcomed back as celebrant and homilist for the Jubilee celebration held October 9-11, 2015. The weekend festivities included a gathering of seminarians from Mundelein, IL at the Assisi–South Retreat Center on October 9th; a Prayer Vigil in the context of Eucharistic Adoration on October 10th; and the 75th Jubilee Liturgy and Outdoor Sunday Dinner, which took place on the Church lawns on October 11th.
Friar Noel served as Parochial Vicar (1977-1982) and Pastor (1990-2003). Check out the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church Bessemer Facebook Page for more pictures from the weekend’s events, as well as many pictures from the history of the parish, including our friars through the years.
The National Religious Retirement Office provides a grant to help fund the needs of our Our Lady of the Angels Province Aged and Infirmed friars. Those tax-deductible donations provide vital support for necessities, such as prescription medications, nursing care, and to develop long-range retirement strategies for our friars as well as members of other religious communities. Please give during the annual collection at your local parish. For 2015, the national collection dates are December 12-13, although some (arch)dioceses choose to hold the collection on different dates. If you donate by check, please write RFR on the memo line. Or mail your donation to:
Retirement Fund for Religious
National Religious Retirement Office
P.O. Box 96988
Washington DC 20090-6988 Please print this Donation form to accompany your gift
Our friars also have a Franciscan Candle Ministry, from which the proceeds on every candle helps to benefit the Aged and Infirmed Fund for our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province. Thank you for your generosity.
Fr. Ed Costello, OFM Conv., who lives in Mother Cabrini Friary and serves the people of our pastoral ministry at Mother Cabrini Catholic Church of Shamokin (PA), shares: “The annual Forty Hours Solemn Eucharistic Devotions are maintained throughout the Diocese of Harrrisburg, PA. Our parish of Mother Cabrini in Shamokin conducts the devotions yearly, during the month of November. Fr. Martin Kobos, OFM Conv., our pastor, arranged an unusually beautiful seasonal floral setting for the devotions this year (November 8-10, 2015). Fr. Dennis Mason, OFM Conv. traveled from St. Joseph Cupertino Friary, where he works at the Shrine of St. Anthony (Ellicott City-MD), to deliver the homilies and serve as confessor during this time of grace. Inspiring and timely, his homilies proved to be a well executed introduction to Pope Francis’ upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. According to custom, before the final Benediction and Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, the hosting parish serves a festive meal to the local clergy. For our parish, Friar Martin had engaged a quartette of parish volunteers to prepare & serve a sumptuous dinner, preceded by preprandials in a seasonal setting arranged by Fr. Adam Ziolkoski, OFM Conv.
Both ‘banquets,’ sacral and fraternal, were memorable events.”
A portion of the friars of the Immaculate Conception Custody pictured with Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (standing in patterned stole) and Most Reverend Elias James Manning, OFM Conv., Bishop Emeritus of Valença, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (just under and to the left of the statue of Our Lady)
On Tuesday, November 17, 2015, our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. visited our friars of the Immaculate Conception Custody in Rio de Janeiro. On the first day, after lunch, Fr. James met with Frei Antonio Molisani, OFM Conv. ~ Custódio Provincial Emérito (Custos Emeritis), Frei Ronaldo Gomes da Silva Pároco, OFM Conv. ~ CustódioVicar (New Custodial Vicar), Frei Ariel Ribeiro da Costa, OFM Conv. ~ Pároco e Ecônomo Custódio(Custodial Treasurer) and the Custodial Definitory. In the evening the friars, including those in formation enjoyed some time together. On the second day, they celebrated a Morning Mass of Thanksgiving for the time of Custodial Ministry of Frei Antonio, and for this new phase in the life of the Custody. After Mass, the friars enjoyed a goodbye lunch together with Fr. James.
Provincial Blessing of Frei Ronaldo Gomes da Silva Pároco, OFM Conv., Custódio Vigário of Immaculate Conception Custody, Brazil
In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Our Lady of the Angels Province has scheduled a pilgrimage of a relic throughout our province U.S. and Canadian territory. The relic is a portion of his beard that was shaved (1938). After he received permission from his Minister Provincial, St Maximilian decided to shave his beard, first grown to enhance his missionary work in Japan where the beard helped to earn the respect of the people he served. Upon his return to Poland, under the National Socialism, the beard would provoke persecution of his fellow friars. When asked why he shaved his beard, St. Maximilian responded, “Beards provoke the enemy who rapidly is approaching our friary. Our Franciscan habits also will provoke him. I can part with my beard. I can’t sacrifice my habit.” After having shaved Maximilian’s beard, one of the friars placed it in a pouch. Strands of the beard still are preserved in the Niepokalanow archives. (Claude R. Foster, Mary’s Knight, Marytown Press 2013, p. 586) From some of those strands, four identical reliquaries were created, one of which will be venerated during this pilgrimage. Please keep checking back on our website for more details, as our preparations continue. As for now, allow us to share the schedule so that those who wish to attend events at local ministries can “Save the Date.”
PILGRIMAGE OF THE RELIC OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
2016 Itinerary (Updates Will Occur Upon Change)
WASHINGTON DC AREA The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC ~ February 17-21
Post Novitiate (St. Bonaventure Friary), Silver Spring, MD ~ February 22-24
O God, who gave the Church and the world the priest and martyr Saint Maximilian Kolbe, burning with love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary and with apostolic zeal for souls and heroic love of neighbor, graciously grant, through his intercession, that striving for Your glory by eagerly serving others, we may be conformed, even until death, to Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen
As our friars live in communities called friaries, Fr. Timothy Dore, OFM Conv. is currently residing in the community of friars living in St. Casimir Friary, in Baltimore, MD, while serving as the pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church and St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church. Friar Tim was born in Baltimore and studied at Mount St. Mary’s College (now University) before entering the Conventual Franciscan Order and from 2001-2003, he returned to Baltimore to serve as a teacher at our high school, Archbishop Curley. So, Friar Tim has really come back home to Baltimore.
On November 10th, he found this image of St. Francis of Assisi in a closet on the 3rd floor of St. Ann’s Rectory (now known as the Anchorage – the parish motto is “Parish Anchored in Faith”). Thirty-two years ago, he spent a summer living and working at St. Ann’s as an Archdiocese of Baltimore Seminarian with the College Candidate Program. This very framed image hung on a wall just outside of his bedroom back then. At the time, he was contemplating the possibility of becoming a Franciscan instead of a priest for the Archdiocese. One evening, during a time when he was prayerfully doing some serious contemplation on the 58th Chapter of Isaiah, he found himself standing in the hallway. Gazing upon this image of St. Francis receiving the Stigmata (by El Greco), he became nearly entranced by it. It was at that moment that he made the definitive decision to become a Conventual Franciscan Friar! He felt that it was as if St. Francis himself had told him what to do! That was very definitely a “God Moment” in his life that he will never forget. Rediscovering this beautiful reproduction, in a closet of his newest assignment’s rectory, was a cause of great excitement for Friar Tim. Little did he ever imagine back then that someday he would return to St. Ann as the Pastor. God certainly works in mysterious ways! Interesting side note: the original of this painting is on permanent display right in Baltimore at the Walters Art Museum.
Friar Tim would also like to share with you a video of Isaiah 58 set to music. Please keep Friar Tim, all those he serves in his ministries and all of our friars and their ministries, in your prayers.
FaithAction International House is an organization that coordinates dialogues and forums between the Greensboro Police Department (NC) and immigrant & minority communities, to build greater understanding, trust, and cooperation. It is supported by faith and immigrant leaders, law enforcement officers, city officials, and community supporters. FaithAction ID is for residents who may have limited access to government issued forms of identification. Although it is not a government issued form of identification, it is a verifiable form of identification that says you are a part of the FaithAction community. It has limits but is used by law enforcement for identification, and is accepted by some city agencies, schools, health centers, and businesses. Participants must attend a mandatory orientation, provide a photo ID (passport, national ID card, expired driver’s license, etc..) and proof of current address in order to receive an ID. Fr. Paul Lininger, OFM Conv., pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Community (Burlington – NC), supports this movement calling it an, “ecumenical inter-religious endeavor supported by the kindness and energies of a host of volunteers who want to make a difference and wishing to help ‘strangers becoming neighbors’. Since initiating the program in May 2015, over 800 individuals have obtained a FaithAction ID Card.” He thanks all for praying on behalf of the efforts and ask for continued prayerful support.
An article entitled, “In wake of new immigration law, ID card program gets large turnout,” by Natalie Allison Janicello, appeared in the online edition of the Times-News on November 2, 2015. To read the full article, click on the following link: ID Card Program
An excerpt from “Who We Are” www.ofmconv.net: “Our friars are united in a conventual fraternity, in the proper sense of that term, so as to foster greater dedication, a more regular life, a more fervent divine office, a better formation of candidates, the study of theology, and the other works of the apostolate in the service of the Church of God so that, especially under the guidance of Mary Immaculate, the Kingdom of Christ may be extended throughout the world. In the Order, contemplative life is intimately linked to apostolic activity. The apostolate of sacred orders is exercised through the ministry of clerical friars with the cooperation of the others. For the common good of the Lord’s flock the entire Order and each friar is immediately subject to the Supreme Pontiff.”
If you would like to learn more about our Order or about life as a friar of Our Lady of the Angels Province, visit our Vocations page.
For more information on Friar Michał Tomaszek, OFM Conv. and Friar Zbigniew Strzałkowski, OFM Conv., look back on our prior posts about the December 5, 2015 Beatification and the events connected to it.
