Adapted from a new series, “Farm Focus” presented by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv., who serves as Chairman of JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission) for our province, in addition to serving as Vice President of the FAN (Franciscan Action Network) Board:
“It’s like walking on cement!” was the comment made to me by one of the farmers, as we walked our Ellicott City fields, by to our barn. For years we friars would look out of our car windows, while driving on Folly Quarter Road and see the corn or neatly lined rows of soy (adjacent to our province’s Ellicott City, MD complex ~ home of our Shrine of St. Anthony, Carrollton Hall Historic Site, Companions of St. Anthony and Provincial House ministries). We might have even thought to ourselves how nicely the rolling hills of farmland looked, all the while unaware that the type of farming and crops that were being grown were harmful to the environment. The additional use of pesticides has only complicated the dynamic.
Leaning down with a stone, I scratched as deep as possible into the dirt, about 6 inches, and the resulting smell was … nothing. The soil smelled like nothing. It was exhausted.
A similar thing happened on our land during the time of Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737 – 1832), one of four Marylanders to sign the Declaration of Independence and the only Roman Catholic. He owned vast agricultural estates and our property is a very small portion of one of his estates which he gifted to his favorite granddaughter, Emily.
In 1772, the Ellicotts – a Quaker family – settled in what is now downtown Ellicott City, building mills along the river. Having sampled the ground in the area and listening to local farmers, they realized that the soil was exhausted, and recommended a switch from farming tobacco to farming wheat. With the support of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the first to make the change, the land and local economy were saved.
History, in a manner of speaking, is repeating itself as we friars, the caretakers of this Folly Quarter parcel of the old Carrollton estate, are changing our farming ways by partnering with our nearby neighbors at Mary’s Land Farm. In the months ahead, our province JPIC Updates will switch from the usual “Friar Focus” articles to a “Farm Focus” series, chronicling this new farm-partnership and the ways we hope we will help to restore the land.
Mike Haigwood, Tom Cunningham & Christian Melendez
Just a little over a year ago Howard Magazine did a feature article about Mary’s Land Farm, located on another part of the old Carroll estate, running along Sheppard Lane (Ellicott City, MD).
It is owned by tech entrepreneur Tom Cunningham, his wife Rosy, and their children; Luis, Maria, Rosy, Lupe, Thomas and Rita. Different from many farmers, even from some others who farm organically, Cunningham has transformed his land into, “an orchestra of water, soils, plants, grasses, and animals to keep each in balance.” He, his family and his staff farmers, Mike & Barb Haigwood and Christian Melendez, have brought about an ecosystem that is a sustainable incarnation of farming, in the spirit of Laudato Si.
Farmer Mike Haigwood has already planted our first cover crop of wheat-rye, which is helping to take the harmful toxins out of the soil, while facilitating the return of the nutrients needed for the soil restoration process. These new farmer partners of our friars are helping us to sing St. Francis’ praises of the Lord for our sister, Mother Earth.
We look forward to eventually using our own “Little Portion” of the land to feed those served at the Franciscan Center in the northern area of Baltimore City (MD). The rest of our farm land will be used to extend the ecological footprint of Mary’s Land Farm.
In the Bull of Pope Honorius III, issued November 29, 1223, the Final Rule of our Order was ratified. The Rule was initially outlined and approved by Pope Innocent III, in 1209, but as the Order grew in those first years, revisions to the initial Rule were needed. After a version prepared in 1221 was seen as too strict, St. Francis of Assisi enlisted the aid of several legal scholars to compose the Final Rule that was approved in 1223. In commemoration of that day, all the saints of the Franciscan (Seraphic) Order are remembered each November 29th. In September of 1224, two years prior to his death, while praying on Mount La Verna, St. Francis received the marks of our Lord’s Passion in his hands, feet and side; a miracle known as the Stigmata, after composing and praying “The Praises of God” (see below). Written on a parchment which is signed and also contains a blessing from St. Francis to brother Leo, it is conserved as a relic in the Basilica of St. Francis, in Assisi. In the Life of St. Francis, Saint Bonaventure states, “while Francis was praying on the mountainside, he beheld a Seraph having six wings, flaming and resplendent, coming down from the heights of heaven. When in his flight most swift he had reached the space of air nigh the man of God, there appeared betwixt the wings the Figure of a Man crucified, having his hands and feet stretched forth in the shape of a Cross and fastened unto a Cross. Two wings were raised above His head, twain were spread forth to fly, while twain hid His whole body.” (pg 139 Vision of the Seraph) Later in the work, St. Bonaventure speaks of the Fulfillment of the Visions (pg 146-147), “Now finally that vision that was vouchsafed thee toward the end of they life, – to wit the exalted likeness of the Seraph, and the lowly Image of Christ shewn in one, – kindly thee inwardly and marking thee outwardly as another Angel ascending from the sunrising, having the seal of the Living God in thee, – giveth a confirmation of faith unto those visions aforesaid, and likewise receiveth from them a witness unto its own truth.”
St. Francis was in intense prayer when the Lord appeared as a Seraph, whose flaming, resplendent wings mimic God’s intense love as it was shared by Christ, as is portrayed in the sanctuary space of our Shrine of St. Anthony (Ellicott City, MD), in the mural by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Joseph Dorniak, OFM Conv. (see photo). The word seraphic is often used to describe St. Francis of Assisi and his passion for God. In turn it is affiliated with the Franciscan Order, whose members strive to live the charism of our Seraphic Father and founder. This is why it is also referred to as the Seraphic Order. We are comprised of the First Order – priests and brothers professing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as members of one of three independent branches (OFM, OFM Conv. and OFM Cap.) as well as the Second Order – cloistered nuns professing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience belonging to the Order of St. Clare (OSC) the Poor Clares (PC), and those members of the Third Order – religious and lay men and women performing works of teaching, charity, and social service known as the priests, brothers and sisters of the Third Order Regular (TOR) & the lay men and women of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS).
The Praises of God
You are holy Lord God Who does wonderful things.
You are strong. You are great. You are the most high.
You are the almighty king. You holy Father,
King of heaven and earth.
You are three and one, the Lord God of gods;
You are the good, all good, the highest good,
Lord God living and true.
You are love, charity; You are wisdom, You are humility,
You are patience, You are beauty, You are meekness,
You are security, You are rest,
You are gladness and joy, You are our hope, You are justice,
You are moderation, You are all our riches to sufficiency.
You are beauty, You are meekness,
You are the protector, You are our custodian and defender,
You are strength, You are refreshment. You are our hope,
You are our faith, You are our charity,
You are all our sweetness, You are our eternal life:
Great and wonderful Lord, Almighty God, Merciful Savior.
Monday, November 20, 2017: Jubilarians from the Archdiocese of Baltimore were honored for their years of service. Pictured on the left here are Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv. who has been ordained a friar priest for 60 years (July 14, 1957), at center is Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and on the right is Fr. John Burkhard, OFM Conv. who on March 11th celebrated 50 years as a friar priest.
Congratulations 2017 Jubilarians serving throughout our province!
The Sultan and the Saint Mark your Calendars and/or set your DVR! National Broadcast: December 26, 2017 at 8PM on PBS stations nationwide
Franciscan Action Network (FAN) collaborated with Unity Productions Foundation (UPF) a Muslim film company dedicated to interfaith dialogue and education through media, to produce a new documentary drama entitled The Sultan and the Saint. This film is the first to tell the story of Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt, using both Christian and Muslim sources.
-FAN has been asked to help set up over 500 viewing parties nationwide.
–Even if you DVR the broadcast, and view it at a later time, you will count as a viewing party. Viewing parties can be as few as two, and can be registered as open or closed.
–Sign up online to host a viewing party, and invite those in your parish or ministry to do the same. https://franciscanaction.org/article/host-viewing-party-sultan-and-saint
Some Conventual Franciscan Friar Involvement:
World Premier in Washington D.C. – Our Lady of the Angels Province friars, Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv. & Friar Dennis Mason, OFM Conv. attended and each gave it two thumbs-up!
September Screening in Lexington, Kentucky was hosted by Most Reverend John Eric Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., Bishop of the Diocese of Lexington in Kentucky and a friar of the Province of Our Lady of Consolation.
Roman Premier for the Franciscan Family and the Muslim community – Will be hosted by our friars at the Seraphicum on May 9th in collaboration with our province’s JPIC Ministry, FAN, and the Pontifical Institute for Islamic Studies.
FAN just honored UPF with its annual Cardinal McCarrick Award, given to a non-Franciscan embodies the spirit of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. Thank you to Our Lady of the Angels Province friars, Friar Julio Martinez, OFM Conv., Friar Matthew Foley, OFM COnv., Friar Max Avlia, OFM Conv., Friar Manny Vasconcelos, OFM Conv., friar Tim Blanchard, OFM Conv., friar Franck Lino, OFM Conv. and St. Joseph Cupertino friar, friar Chris Garcia, OFM Conv. who all joined Our Lady of the Angels Province Chairman of JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission) and member of FAN – Friar Michael Lasky, OFM Conv., in attending the event and showing a strong Conventual support for FAN and this inter-faith project!
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.
Adapted from a new series, “Farm Focus” presented by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv., who serves as Chairman of JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission) for our province, in addition to serving as Vice President of the FAN (Franciscan Action Network) Board:
“It’s like walking on cement!” was the comment made to me by one of the farmers, as we walked our Ellicott City fields, by to our barn. For years we friars would look out of our car windows, while driving on Folly Quarter Road and see the corn or neatly lined rows of soy (adjacent to our province’s Ellicott City, MD complex ~ home of our Shrine of St. Anthony, Carrollton Hall Historic Site, Companions of St. Anthony and Provincial House ministries). We might have even thought to ourselves how nicely the rolling hills of farmland looked, all the while unaware that the type of farming and crops that were being grown were harmful to the environment. The additional use of pesticides has only complicated the dynamic.
Monday, November 20, 2017: Jubilarians from the Archdiocese of Baltimore were honored for their years of service. Pictured on the left here are Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv. who has been ordained a friar priest for 60 years (July 14, 1957), at center is Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and on the right is Fr. John Burkhard, OFM Conv. who on March 11th celebrated 50 years as a friar priest.
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:
