The focus of a recent Catholic New World article by Dolores Madlener is Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Brother Paschal Kolodziej, OFM Conv. The Chicago Archdiocesan Newspaper features “Conversations with the Consecrated.”
Although Br. Paschal has worked in many capacities, including nursing, and began serving his Call with a different Religious Order, he currently works in Formation, with those in our Postulancy in Chicago. As he states in the article, “I never felt called to priesthood … I wanted to be a religious who swept the floor.”
Br. Paschal knows and understands the importance of all of the ministries of our Order. “We don’t do any one thing in our [O]rder. Our charism is to profess the Gospel, and we practice that in community life and prayer life, and from that flows ministry. Franciscans in the USA [North America] have parishes, shrines, retreat houses, outreaches for the poor, a home for runaway kids, two high schools. There’s also a myriad of other things our friars do with peace and justice works, and missions. We used to be called the Black Franciscans because of our habit. But since Vatican II, our American provinces have gone back to our original color, which is grey. We’re known as the Grey Franciscans now. (We have to wear out our black habits before we get a grey one, of course.)”
Please follow the link to read his whole story.
First Profession Anniversaries is a profoundly important and milestone years are celebrated by all of the friars of the province, as they remember & pray for their brother friars. The 60th Anniversary is a great cause for celebration and joy and in 2015 we celebrate Friar Vincent Lachendro, OFM Conv., Friar George Maslar, OFM Conv., Friar Edward Costello, OFM Conv., Friar Richard Rossell, OFM Conv. and Friar Canice Connors, OFM Conv.
Sunday – August 16, 2015, on the 60th Anniversary date of the Profession of First Vows (Simple – Temporary), Our Lady of the Angels friar, Fr. Edward Costello, OFM Conv. ceremoniously renewed those vows during a concelebrated Mass with Our Lady of the Angels friar, pastor of Mother Cabrini Catholic Church (Shamokin, PA), guardian of the friary, and principal celebrant – Fr. Martin Kobos, OFM Conv.
The Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree Honor Guard led the friars into Mass and even more Knights were on hand for the celebration, as both Friar Ed and Friar Martin are 4th degree members. Honored guests also included Friar Ed’s four sisters who were there, 60 years ago, to witness his First Profession in Middleburg, NY.
Friar Ed professed his Solemn Vows (Permanent – Perpetual) on September 27, 1958 and was Ordained to the Priesthood on May 27, 1961. At age 80, he is the oldest friar serving the people of Mother Cabrini Catholic Church and sometimes cannot say Mass as much as he would like, but he still takes a very active role in parish ministry. In a front page and online THENEWS-ITEM article: Divine renewal: Shamokin friar renews vows at 60th anniversary (from which the attached photos were taken), Friar Ed is quoted: “The 60 years have been filled with service to God and His people as a student, teacher, hospital chaplain and parish priest,” … “It has been an active and satisfying life.” Friar Ed was also a pilgrim guide in Assisi, at the Basilica of St. Francis, where two of his brother friars currently serve.
{Please note that Friar Ed’s habit is not brown as the article states but is a shade of grey, as are all Conventual habits}
Following the Mass, which also included the renewal of vows marking the 25th Wedding Anniversary of one of the couples from the parish, the Mother Cabrini community gathered with family and friends for a buffet luncheon, in the parish hall.
Please keep Friar Ed, and the people of Shamokin, in your continued prayers.
Our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., a Kolbean Scholar and Mariolgist was the recipient of the 2015 Kolbe Award, given on the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe – August 14th, presented at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe – Marytown.
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Br. Paschal Kolodziej, OFM Conv (Guardian and St. Bonaventure Postulancy Director), St. Bonaventure Province friar, Fr. John Grigus, OFM Conv. (Presenter), the Very Reverend Fr. Michael Zielk, OFM Conv. (St. Bonaventure Provincial Minister) and Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Jobe, Abbass, OFM Conv. pictured with Fr. James and the 2015 citation.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, MC (Mother Teresa) was one of the four first recipients of the Kolbe Award, presented to her by Fr. James.
Fr. James is pictured here at the October 10, 1982 canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe by Saint Pope John Paul II. Friar Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. (St. Maximilian Kolbe) was also a Conventual Franciscan, as are we friars of the Our Lady of the Angels Province.
This summer, as part of their first visit to the United States from Mexico, our friars had some special visitors who stopped into the Provincial House, in Ellicott City, MD. One of our friars in the post-novitiate stage of Formation studying at the Catholic University of America, friar Luis Palacios Rodriguez, OFM Conv. (center friar), brought his mother Carmel (in white) and his sister Ruth (plaid) to meet our Vicar Provincial – Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv., Provincial Secretary – Fr. Richard-Jacob Forcier, OFM Conv. and Minister Provincial – Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (left to right)
Please keep all families who sacrificially give their sons and brothers to the life of a Conventual Franciscan Friar, in your prayers, as you are all in ours.
On August 15, 2015, Frei Marcelo dos Santos Silva, OFM Conv. was Ordained to the Priesthood, in the city of São Gonçalo – RJ, by Dom Gregório Leozírio Paixão Neto, OSB, Bishop of Petrópolis – RJ. Frei Marcelo shared the day with many friars of our Custody of Immaculate Conception (Brazil), Secular Franciscans, family and friends. His was the last of five ordinations within the Custody this year. In Brazil, August, marks the vocational month and the friars of our Custody raise a thanksgiving prayer for the religious and priestly vocations of all of these, our brothers! Please keep them and all of the friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, Immaculate Conception Custody, Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody and our Costa Rican Delegation, in your continued prayers.
Our friars have been serving the people of St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church, in Jonesboro (GA) since 1991. The parish’s first Mass was celebrated on September 12, 1965 and has grown from 35 to 2100 registered families over these 50 years. This vibrant faith community has over 65 structured organizations, groups and ministries, as well as countless more clubs and activities, producing a strong base for the spread of Franciscan Charism.
One such group is simply known as the “Craft Group.” The Craft Group was formed to not only promote fellowship among parishioners and non-parishioners, but to provide a forum through which members create handmade items such as clothes, blankets and crafts to parish ministries, organizations, and local hospitals. This year, St. Philip Benizi Craft Group partnered with a local chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC), known as the Morrow Civic Woman’s Club, to support a special need of the international medical charity, Operation Smile. When a GFWC member was volunteering with Operation Smile, she witnessed children coming to the hospital for surgery in their best clothes; which would still be worn during surgery and recovery. In 1998 the GFWC began making children’s sized hospital gowns for Operation Smile and this year, the St. Philip Benizi Craft Group was able to sew and contribute 100 colorful and cheerfully designed gowns. These clean gowns brought as many smiles to the faces of the faithful at St. Philip Benizi, as they will to the children who will receive them and will be a reminder to each child that someone out there is thinking of and praying for them. Fr. John Koziol, OFM Conv., pastor of St. Philip Benizi, blessed the gowns and prayed for all those served by and involved with Operation Smile. (photo and information taken form the August 2015 Be-NEWS-Zi article by Mary Harmon & Lois Wolfe)
As the parish gathers for a September 12, 2015 Golden Jubilee celebration, that will include ~ 5:00 p.m. Mass with principal celebrant Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, the Our Lady of the Angels Province friars who serve the parish, Deacons, and former Pastors ~ a re-dedication of the parish hall to be named Founder’s Hall ~ and a large parish meal, please keep them all, and all who are serve by and through them, in your prayers.
During the October 10, 1982 canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe by Saint Pope John Paul II, many items were on hand to be blessed by the Holy Father, including a statue of St. Maximilian Kolbe that can be found in a small shrine on the property of the Shrine of St. Anthony, in Ellicott City.
On each side of the statue are prayers asking for the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe:
For Families and Friends of Someone Addicted to Drugs
St. Maximilian Kolbe, your life of love and labor of souls was sacrificed amid the horrors of a concentration camp and hastened to its end by injection of a deadly drug.
Look with compassion upon ________________ who is now entrapped in addiction to drugs or alcohol and whom we now recommend to your powerful intercession. Having offered your own life to preserve that of a family man, we turn to you with trust, confident that you will understand and help.
Obtain for us the grace never to withhold our love and understanding, nor to fail in persevering prayer that the enslaving bond of addiction may be broken and that full health and freedom may be restored to him/her whom we love.
We will never cease to be grateful to God who has helped us and heard your prayer for us.
Amen
Prayer for Prisoners
O Prisoner – Saint of Auschwitz,
help all prisoners in their plight, especially __________________
Introduce them to Mary,
the Immaculata, Mother of God.
She Prayed for Jesus in a Jerusalem jail.
She prayed for you in a Nazi prison camp.
Ask her to comfort all those in confinement.
May she teach them always to be good.
If they are lonely, may she say,
“God is here.”
If they feel hate, may she say,
“God is love.”
If they are tempted, may she say,
“God is pure.”
If they sin, may she say,
“God is mercy.”
If they are in darkness, may she say,
“God is light.”
If they are unjustly condemned, may she say,
“God is truth.”
If they have pain in soul or body, may she say,
“God is peace.”
If they lose hope, may she say,
“God is with you all days, and so am I.”
Amen
“When I think of St. Maximilian Kolbe, I hear Jesus saying to me again, ‘Love, to be true, to be real must cost, must hurt.’ St. Maximilian Kolbe knew what that meant, he knew how to love like Jesus. His life of giving until it hurt began long before he went to the concentration camp. That is why he could keep the joy of loving Jesus in his heart until the very end and share that joy with all with whom he came in contact. Who was his help in this? Who taught him the joy of giving until it hurt? Our Lady – to whom St. Maximilian had entrusted everything. The same will be true of us. If we entrust ourselves to Our Lady, the Cause of Our Joy. She will teach us the joy of loving like Jesus.”
(A quote from a letter from Blessed Mother Teresa to Fr. James McCurry, 20.I.95) McCurry, James. Maximilian Kolbe – Martyr of Charity. London: The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 2013.
On the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14th), the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province) will be the recipient of the 2015 Kolbe Award, given on the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe – August 14th, presented at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe – Marytown.
As one of the few remaining parish carnivals in the area, St. Clement Carnival is really a Rosedale community event that included a parade and awards for the best Fire Truck, the best float, etc. Friar Vincent is seated at the judges table, ready to award the table full of trophies.
A Franciscan brotherhood presence is not limited to the witness of those who are members of a Roman Catholic congregation, school or other ministry. As St. Francis stated in a letter to the friars (The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi, tr. by Paschal Robinson [1905], at sacred-texts.com, p. 112.4), ” He has sent you through all the world that by word and deed you may bear witness to His voice, and you may make known to all that there is no other Almighty besides Him.” The friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province strive to share a Franciscan presence throughout the greater communities surrounding each ministry site. Friars working in the high schools and universities take students on mission and service trips. Friars ministering through our shrine ministries open up the facilities for use by local organizations and groups, and have events promoting fellowship and community life. Friars serving in healthcare and social outreach ministries care for all those who need their aide, regardless of religious affiliation. This community presence is not only witnessed through service. It is important for our friars to walk WITH God’s people, living as an example of God’s love for all, as a daily reflection of the Gospel.
One of our Baltimore parish ministries, which also includes its own elementary school and whose friary is home to two friar pastors of area churches, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer Church, joins each year with the local fire department for a community Carnival and Parade, supporting the school and the Rosedale Volunteer Fire Department. This year was the first for new pastor, Fr. Vincent Gluc, OFM Conv., who felt that the event provided “the chance to meet the wider Rosedale community. We will have tons of folks walking our property and supporting St. Clement School and the Rosedale Volunteer Fire Department. It’s a great opportunity to evangelize and to promote St. Clement School.” He invited his parishioners to “come and spend some time ‘meeting and greeting’ those who will be visiting us.” The event was supported by local organizations and churches from several denominations, who provided their own strong clergy presence. This annual event does not rely on a financial boom to be considered a success each year. It is always a successful endeavor for the mutual support and collective benefits for the entire Rosedale Community at large.
Please keep these and all of the friars of our province in your prayers, as well as all of those with whom they come in contact through their ministries and daily encounters.
Some of our friars of the Immaculate Conception Custody – Brazil
Included under the authority of the Our Lady of the Angels Province, is the Delegation in Costa Rica and two Custodies: Blessed Agnellus of Pisa (Great Britain / Ireland) and Immaculate Conception Custody (Brazil). During the week of July 27-31, 2015, at Casa Abel, in Araruama, RJ (Brazil), the friars of our Immaculate Conception Custody gathered for a time of study. In accordance with the 2015 Custodial Project for the quadriennium, the main focus was parish pastoral ministry. The presenter from the Arquidiocese de (Archdiocese of) Niterói (in Brazil) talked about the issues related to recent documents of the Church, especially the 2013 apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel). It was an enjoyable time of fraternity, prayer and study.
Frei Luiz Fernando Lima Rangel, OFM Conv. (a friar from the Immaculate Conception Custody) has been in the United States this summer to further improve his English skills. While here, Our Lady of the Angels Province Friar Maximilian Avila, OFM Conv. (Post-Novitiate student) took Frei Luiz and Fr. Edward Mulwa, OFM Conv. (a Conventual Franciscan Missionary from Uganda, here to preach Summer Mission Appeals) on a tourism day in Washington, DC.
Our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. is also a Kolbean Scholar and Mariolgist. He is pictured here at the October 10, 1982 canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe by Saint Pope John Paul II. Friar Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. (St. Maximilian Kolbe) was also a Conventual Franciscan, as are we friars of the Our Lady of the Angels Province. He is the patron saint of addicts, prisoners, families, journalists and the pro-life movement. Fr. James will be the recipient of the 2015 Kolbe Award, given on the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe – August 14th, presented at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe – Marytown.
One of Our Lady of the Angels Province’s pastoral ministries is at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, (Point Pleasant Beach, NJ). Aware that the levels of addiction and chemical dependency continue to increase in the county in which they live and serve the people of God, their parish is holding an Evening of Prayer for Consolation and Hope for all people who live with an addiction as well as for those who love them, on Thursday, August 13th at 7:00 p.m., on the Eve of the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Two more pastoral ministries of our friars, The Church of St. Catharine of Siena (Seaside Park) and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish (Seaside Heights) are located nearby. The friars of these three parishes and their parishioners are encouraging attendance so as to promote healing in their community at large.
Please join in praying for all those suffering from addiction and for all those who love them, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 13th, from wherever you are at that time, in union with the parish communities of St. Peter, St. Catharine and Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
NOVENA PRAYER
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who said, “greater love than this no man has that a man lay down his life for his friends,” through the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe whose life illustrated such love, we beseech You to grant us our petitions . . . (here mention the requests you have). Through the Militia Immaculata movement, which Maximilian founded, he spread a fervent devotion to Our Lady throughout the world. He gave up his life for a total stranger and loved his persecutors, giving us an example of unselfish love for all men – a love that was inspired by true devotion to Mary. Grant, O Lord Jesus, that we too may give ourselves entirely without reserve to the love and service of our Heavenly Queen in order to better love and serve our fellowman in imitation of Your humble servant, Maximilian. Amen.
(Say 3 Hail Marys and a Glory Be)
“And I wish to repeat to all of you who struggle against addiction, and to those family members who share in your difficulties: the Church is not distant from your troubles, but accompanies you with affection. The Lord is near you and He takes you by the hand. Look to Him in your most difficult moments and He will give you consolation and hope. And trust in the maternal love of His Mother Mary.” ~Pope Francis’ address to youth living with addiction
at St. Francis of Assisi of the Providence of God Hospital, on July 24, 2013
The focus of a recent Catholic New World article by Dolores Madlener is Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Brother Paschal Kolodziej, OFM Conv. The Chicago Archdiocesan Newspaper features “Conversations with the Consecrated.”
