A great vocation moment happened on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, as friar Raad Eshoo, OFM Conv. a Post-Novitiate student friar of our province who is in studies at The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) was chosen by CatholicU Theology and Religious Studies as their #STRS student feature spotlight. It was not only the Feast Day of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, on November 9th, but it is also National Vocation Awareness Week.
Please continue to keep in prayer – new vocations for the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province, friar Raad, all of our friars in formation, and their formation directors. Also please remember to pray for all of the Solemnly Professed friars of our province and our Order around the world, that they may seek to live their baptismal promises more intensely and have the grace to persevere in their commitment to the Lord and serve with open hearts and willing spirit.
For more information on vocations and #nationalvocationawarenessweek,
email our Province Vocation Director, Br. Nick Romeo, OFM Conv. at vocations@olaprovince.org.
More on Vocations:
Kicking off National Vocations Awareness Week, Fr. Michael Martin, OFM Conv. – Director of Campus Ministry for Duke Catholic Center welcomed Sister Mary Elizabeth Endee – Vocations Director of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and our own Province Vocation Director – Br. Nick Romeo, OFM Conv. to speak at Mass on Sunday, November 7, 2021.
60th Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood Anniversary Mass
Sunday, November 7, 2021
St. Paul Church, Kensington, CT
12:00pm Informal Reception
Saint Paul School Gym
A large group of Franciscan Friars Conventual, Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, St. Paul Church Parishioners, family and friends gathered on Sunday, November 7, 2021 for a special Mass in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Ordination to the Priesthood of Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Raymond Borkowski, OFM Conv.
Friar Raymond has served in pastoral ministry at St. Paul Church since 2010, but his 67 years as a Franciscan Friar Conventual included years of study in the USA and Italy, followed by service in varied ministries including education, vocation, formation, pastoral and missionary sites. In the November 7th parish bulletin, Fr. Joseph Benicewicz, OFM Conv. (Pastor) stated: “Fr. Raymond has served the Franciscans and the Church in so many ways over the years. He often has a smile on his face and is ready to share a story or a memory that is often accompanied by one of his hearty laughs!! His Franciscan spirit is alive and well 67 years after his profession of vows.” This was a great way to begin National Vocation Awareness Week. Friar Raymond was the main celebrant for his Anniversary Mass, with several of his confreres on hand to concelebrate, including our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. who delivered the homily.
Friars in attendance: Fr. Joseph Benicewicz, OFM Conv. (Pastor of St. Paul Church), Fr. Michael Englert, OFM Conv. (Parochial vicar of St. Paul Church), Fr. Mark Curseky, OFM Conv. (Pastor of St. John Catholic Church), Fr. Piotr Tymko, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar of St. Paul Church), Fr. Richard-Jacob Forcier, OFM Conv. (Province Secretary, Director of The Shrine of St. Anthony, Spiritual Director of the Companions of St. Anthony), Br. Vincent Vivian, OFM Conv., Fr. Mitchell Sawicki, OFM Conv. (Chaplain for Our Lady of the Angels Care Center), Fr. Charles Jagodzinski, OFM Conv. and Fr. Mieczyslaw Wilk, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar at the Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr).
Friar Joe reminisced about his entrance in the Order during Friar Raymond’s tenure as Vocations Director. Read More
Several members of Friar Raymond’s family were able to join in the celebration.
Friar Raymond with present Mother General of the Sisters – Mother Miriam Seiferman and Co-Founder & Former Mother General – Mother Shaun Vergauwen (seated) – and with Sister Raffaella Petrini, whom Pope Francis has recently appointed Secretary-General of Vatican City, the highest-level post ever held by a Religious Sister
Three former Vocation Directors: Fr. Vincent Gluck, OFM Conv., Friar Raymond, and Fr. Martin Kobos, OFM Conv.
November 8: Bl. John Duns Scotus anticipates a Culture of Encounter 32nd Wk B; Wis 1:1-7; Lk 17:1-6;
Theme: Love justice, you who judge the earth;
seek the Lord in integrity of heart”
(Wis 1: 1);
Subtheme: “Be on your guard. If your brother sins, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive him.
If he wrongs you seven times and returns saying I am sorry, forgive him”
(Lk 17).
Love justice (Wis 1:1)! “Create processes of encounter, processes that build a people that can accept differences,” exhorts Pope Francis. “Even people who can be considered questionable on account of their errors have something to offer which must not be overlooked”. “Let us arm our children with the weapons of dialogue! Let us teach them to fight the good fight of the culture of encounter!”[1]
Hardly known is the Franciscan Bl. John Duns Scotus,[2] born in 1265, who anticipated the culture of encounter with his political thought centering on the importance of the community. The origin of government and obligation of members made an implicit agreement to cooperate together for social benefits. Protecting collective freedom and each other from harm requires a social agreement. Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau in the 16th 17th and 18th centuries offered theories of the social contract. Duns Scotus anticipated their versions in the early 14th century by centering on Christ.
Americans understand the Declaration of Independence in 1776 in perfect continuity. Recently, the Honorable Judge Clarence Thomas reminded students at the University of Notre Dame[3] that the word slave was never used in the Declaration. He believed the founders were ashamed of owning slaves. Rather, the Declaration said the equality of all men (and women) has always been present. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Who knew Duns Scotus would anticipate our founders? In 1803 the slave trade was outlawed in England and slavery in America in 1863. The echo of Duns Scotus is in the Declaration of Independence. Pope Francis’ call for the formation of a culture of encounter echoes Duns Scotus.
Pope Francis recognizes the need for regeneration by a culture of encounter that builds social peace. No turbulent seas, or truth appearing in freefall, or lies claiming headlines, dash Pope Francis’ aspiration for a world to be passionate about meeting others, building bridges and inclusive of everyone in a culture of encounter. He challenges the faithful to learn about, teach, and live by the principle of encounter, to let it become deeply imbedded by creating processes of encounter. His constant hope is that social peace come from a culture of encounter. Social peace is possible, fitting, and by the gift of grace, realizable. A rich resource is the thought of Bl. Duns Scotus who is true to the theological activity of love, forgiveness and solidarity generated by St. Bonaventure and rooted in St. Francis.
To build a culture of encounter cannot force the language of separate eras as pre-modern or modern or post-Christian which bear their own meaning. Reputable research makes the case for the claim to identify in truth what are unjust and narrow criticisms and accusations of error. Distinction of terms from an early age cannot be imposed upon a later age. Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, O.F.M.Conv. is diagnostic and prophetic in balancing differences in language used in separate eras. He distinguishes terms[4] without loss that Christ is the measure and Spirit the power in every age.
One Scotistic term, for example, perplexes many teachers who dare to engage. Duns Scotus devised the concept, “univocity of being,” (as contrasted with “analogy of being”) to give a more exact teaching than Bonaventure on the theory of divine illumination.[5] All other concepts reflect this first concept but univocity itself does not reflect them. Univocity has a logical form but its content transcends the logical and provides a point of unity for all other concepts. Duns Scotus demonstrates that analogy cannot explain the differences of beings. Being is what is, not what is coming to be or experienced.
Univocity of being is more exact than divine illumination, natural and supernatural, which is divine enlightenment making possible a created intellect as a created nature. According to Bonaventure, this divine illumination is provided to every rational creature. The making possible of the knowledge of the supernatural or divine realities is a special supernatural gift of divine grace known as faith. Faith is given to those who desire it and not given to those who refuse or deny that faith.
Bonaventure[6] is concise. “To be perfect, all intellectual activities have to be relinquished and the most profound affection inflamed and transported into God. No one knows this mystical secret, except the one who receives it and the one who desires it. No one desires it except the one who is penetrated to the marrow by the fire of the Holy Spirit, Whom Christ sent into the world. That is why the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom (or secret)[7] is revealed by the Holy Spirit (I Cor 2:10). God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
Peter Damian Fehlner’s contemporary theological method aligns with the culture of encounter which Pope Francis dreams. I find Fehlner’s studies of the Mariology of Duns Scotus and its implications for Catholic theology, thought, and forms of practice today, aligns with Pope Francis’ culture of encounter. Fehlner narrates the saving message of Christ and the Apostles with absolute fidelity to the mind of the One Teacher of all, Christ Jesus as it has been communicated to us in the living, uninterrupted Tradition of the Church. His genius is to explain how the Church’s Tradition was cultivated in the theology and philosophy which Franciscans identify as the Scotistic tradition.
To Pope St. Paul VI: “the intellectual treasury of (Bl.)[8] John Duns Scotus can be a source of effective instruments with which to combat the darkness of the pervading era. Paul VI saw the theoretical and practical denial of God are nothing but the fruit of idolatrous illusions arising out of arrogant boasting about merely human ways of thinking (n. 11). Sacred theology in Paul VI’s writings relies on the written Word of God, taken together with sacred Tradition, as on a permanent foundation (DV 24). He fostered the study of the sacred page as “the very soul of sacred theology” (DV 24).
Paul VI knew that from antiquity, Gnostics’ terminology is rooted in pride to make oneself naturally like God and obscures the love of God. Gnostics pit Tradition against Scripture. Irenaeus became a bishop in 178 C.E and hammered the Gnostics by defending Scripture as the instrument of Tradition, the ground and pillar of faith. The Second Vatican Council aligns with Irenaeus’ reply to the Gnostics of old and to the Gnostic return in modernity, a model of Gnosticism that is vastly more sophisticated theoretically. Duns Scotus aligns with Irenaeus and Vatican II. There is much to be studied.
Let us love justice, seek the Lord in integrity of heart and build social peace with a culture of encounter. May we learn solidarity with John Duns Scotus, pray he be counted among the Saints, and imitated. Join Franciscans who believe that Bl. Duns Scotus is a saint and will be a Doctor of the Church.
__________________________________________
In Celebration of My Golden Jubilee Year of Priesthood, Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, O.F.M.Conv. eondrako@alumni.nd.edu
[1] Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, (Assisi, October 3, 2020), 217.
[2] A political science professor at Columbia University fully agreed with my reference to Duns Scotus.
[3] Hon. Judge Clarence Thomas, Toqueville Lecture, University of Notre Dame (16 September 2021).
[4] P. D. Fehlner, Theologian of Auschwitz (Hobe Sound, FL: Lectio Publishing, LLC, 2020), Glossary, 320 and 326.
[5] Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on the Knowledge of Christ, volume 4. Fehlner employs analogy and univocity.
[6] Bonaventure, The Journey of the Mind to God, chapter 7, 4. Bonaventure wrote this mystical work at the place where St. Francis of Assisi had received the gift of the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ in September 1224.
[7] There is not a hint of Gnosticism in this Bonaventurian mystical secret.
[8] Paul VI, Alma Parens (14 July 1966), before Duns Scotus was beatified in 1993, is a Scotistic ecumenical vision.
Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conventual
Research Fellow Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure, Rome
Visiting Scholar, McGrath Institute for Church Life
University of Notre Dame
November 8, 2021
”These young people are really steadfast in their pursuit for justice,” said Franciscan Br. Cristofer Fernández, a conservation ecologist and volunteer climate justice coordinator for Catholic Climate Covenant, who visited the hunger strikers.
On October 28, 2021, the Minister General and his Definitory nominated Friar Michael LASKY as the new Delegate General for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (GPIC). He will take over for Friar Joseph BLAY who has been appointed the Co-Secretary for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation for the International Union of Men’s and Women’s Superiors General (UISG and USG) in Rome.
Consistent with our Franciscan charism and tradition of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, our province is promoting opportunities to more fully tap into a devotion from our Kolbean heritage, through the example of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv., and the continued efforts of his Militia of the Immaculata’s (M.I.) unconditional Consecration to the Immaculate. In order to better promote M.I. among the faithful served through the ministries of our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., our Province MI Assistant, has completed the 30th successful and rewarding stop on our Province M.I Initiative Tour of our pastoral ministries. Friar Jobe’s revised scheduled stops on this tour will continue through February of 2022. Keep him and all those he greets in your prayers, as he continues to preach at the Masses to encourage the faithful to consecrate themselves to the Immaculate, and to enroll in the M.I.
Now in the home stretch, on the weekend of October 30-31, 2021, the 30th Tour Stop of the M.I. Initiative came to the Archdiocese of Baltimore Pastorate of St. Casimir at Canton and Patterson Park, in Baltimore, MD. One of the most glorious churches of the Our Lady of the Angels Province, St. Casimir Church (sanctuary space pictured above) has not yet seen the return of the pre-pandemic crowds. Still, the faithful present at both St. Casimir and St. Elizabeth of Hungary churches welcomed the initiative promoting entrustment to the Immaculate Conception and membership in the M.I. In the photo are some of the parishioners with the pastor – Fr. Dennis Grumsey, OFM Conv. (center), associate pastor – Fr. Andy Santamauro, OFM Conv. (center right), friar in residence – Br. Ed Handy, OFM Conv. (top row center left), and Friar Jobe (center left). Also residing in the St. Casimir Friary, with Friars Dennis, Andy and Ed is Br. Dan Lutolf, OFM Conv., who serves in education ministry in a Washington Diocese High School.
The long, hot summer days spent planting, weeding, and harvesting (so many tomatoes!) feel like a distant memory as the air chills and leaves fall. We are so grateful to our dozens of volunteers and all those who support the mission of Little Portion Farm from afar. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us.
In an October 21, 2021 letter from Rome, Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Provincial Delegate of our Province Delegation of St. Francis of Assisi (Canada), and Provincial Delegate to the M.I., the Very Reverend Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv. has been appointed National Assistant of the Militia of the Immaculata M.I. Canada, by the Minister General of our Order, the Most Reverend Fr. Carlos Trovarelli, OFM Conv.
Since May of 2019, Friar Jobe has been traveling throughout our province, promoting Personal Consecration to the Immaculate via our province’s M.I. Initiative Tour. On Saturday, April 30, 2022, he will lead our 1st Annual Franciscan Pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
October 12-17, 2021: The Conventual Franciscan Federation (CFF) gathered at the Mexican American Catholic College Center (MACC) in San Antonio, TX. Included at the meeting were several Our Lady of the Angels Province friars: our Minister Provincial – the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., our Province Delegation of St. Francis of Assisi (Canada) Provincial Delegate & Delegate to the M.I. – Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., Assistant General CFF – Fr. Jude Winkler, OFM Conv., and our Province JPIC Province Commission Chairman & pastor in two of our PA pastoral ministries – Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv. Curia’s Newspost
October 16-18, 2021: Friar James, joined several of our friars in celebrating the 50th Jubilee of Ordination for Fr. Conrad Salach, OFM Conv., at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, New Bedford, MA, where Friar Conrad serves as pastor.
October 21, 2021: Mass and Reception in Chancellor’s Residence at Syracuse University, where Our Lady of the Angels province friar – Fr. Gerry Waterman, OFM Conv. serves as Campus Minister. Each year, Chancellor/President Kent Syverud and his wife Dr. Ruth Chen host this university community event.
October 24, 2021: Many friars, parishioners, Oblate Sisters of Providence, and family members gathered at our pastoral ministry of St. Casimir Church, in Baltimore, MD to celebrate Brother Ed Handy, OFM Conv., and his 2021 60th Jubilee of Profession of Vows.
Fr. James has a few more friar visits in the Carolina’s to close out the month before he heads over to visit with our Province Custody in Great Britain/Ireland – The Greyfriars of Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody.
Consistent with our Franciscan charism and tradition of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, our province is promoting opportunities to more fully tap into a devotion from our Kolbean heritage, through the example of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv., and the continued efforts of his Militia of the Immaculata’s (M.I.) unconditional Consecration to the Immaculate. In order to better promote M.I. among the faithful served through the ministries of our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., our Province MI Assistant, has completed the 29th successful and rewarding stop on our Province M.I Initiative Tour of our pastoral ministries. Friar Jobe’s revised scheduled stops on this tour will continue through February of 2022. Keep him and all those he greets in your prayers, as he continues to preach at the Masses to encourage the faithful to consecrate themselves to the Immaculate, and to enroll in the M.I.
On the weekend of October 23-24, 2021, the M.I. Initiative made its 29th stop at our province pastoral ministry of St. John Catholic Church, in Cromwell, CT. Friar Jobe was warmly received by the pastor, his Our Lady of the Angels province confrère, Fr. Mark Curesky, OFM Conv., and the parishioners joyfully responded to the invitation to consecrate themselves to the Immaculate and to become members of the M.I. In the photo above are Friars Jobe and Mark surrounded by the biggest group we have seen since resuming the M.I. Initiative despite the ongoing pandemic.
