Pictured are the Friars who attended the event from Our Lady of the Angels Province friars in attendance: Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv., Fr. David Suckling, OFM Conv., Fr. Peter Knaapen, OFM Conv., Fr. Rick Riccioli, OFM Conv., Br. Tom Purcell, OFM Conv., Fr. Boniface Reinhart, OFM Conv. and Fr. David Stachurski, OFM Conv.
On April 16, 2016, St. Clare Inn hosted An Evening in Paris fundraiser. The event featured music including an accordion player and student performers, a magician and a handwriting analysis expert. More than 200 people attended. Our ministry at St. Clare Inn (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) helps homeless women between the ages of 30-60, who are struggling with diagnosed mental health issues, rebuild their lives by providing them with transitional housing, support, assistance, guidance and training to relearn life skills. Every year, St. Clare Inn hosts two major fundraisers to assist with operational costs. Since St. Clare Inn is entirely funded privately and receives no government support, these fundraisers are vital to keeping the doors open and their proceeds cover almost 40% of their operating costs. Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Bro. Tom Purcell, OFM Conv. is the Director of St. Clare Inn and our province is one of the ministry supporters.
Linda’s Walk 2016: Save the date of Saturday, August 13, 2016. Walk 5K through the neighborhood of Don Mills, in support of the work of St. Clare Inn. Join the friars, the community, annual participants and other supporters in this, the 7th year, to help change lives in ways you cannot begin to imagine. If you are not from the Toronto area but still wish to support this great ministry or for more information, please contact St. Clare Inn or visit “How You Can Help” on their website.
Saturday, May 16th, 2016, was graduation day at The Catholic University of America. In addition to several Our Lady of the Angels Province friars serving the students there through Campus Ministry, the university is where our friars in the Post-Novitiate stage of Formation study and prepare for their work in active ministry for the province. Our brother, Friar Nicholas Rokitka, OFM Conv. (whose Ordination to the Priesthood is scheduled for 11:00 a.m., on June 25, 2016, at our pastoral ministry of St. Casimir, in Baltimore, MD) received his Bachelor in Sacred Theology (S.T.B.)and Master in Divinity (M.Div.) degrees. All the student friars in the area were present to accompany Friar Nick in such a joyful occasion. We send blessings to Friar Nick as he moves on to full time ministry at our high school ministry at, Archbishop Curley High School, in Baltimore, MD!
The Pilgrimage of the Relic of Maximilian Kolbe arrived at SFHS May 24-25, 2016. On May 25th, students participated in a special prayer service during their Religion class period. Students from different grade levels gathered together in the School Chapel for a modified version of the Divine Office. The prayer service included a reading from the writings of Kolbe, psalms, Scripture, a video on Kolbe’s martyrdom, and a short reflection from Our Lady of the Angels Province Friar, Br. Nick Romeo, OFM Conv. After each service concluded, the students had the opportunity to make a closer examination of the relics. Several visitors from outside of the school—including two local seminarians—participated along with the students.
Pilgrimage Relics of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv., our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province have scheduled a pilgrimage of a 1st Degree Relic of strands of his beard, traveling throughout our province territory in the U.S.A. and Canadian. The tour will end at The Shrine of St. Anthony, in Ellicott City, MD, with the August 14, 2016 Closing Ceremonies, in celebration of his Feast Day.
Photo of the relics as displayed during the February 27-29, 2016 Relic Tour Stop at our pastoral ministry of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Community, in Graham (Burlington, NC).
May 24-26, 2016: The relic tour will visit our high school ministry of St. Francis High School, in Athol Springs, NY. During this time, all of the students will gather, in union with their Religion classes, for Prayer Services with Veneration, in the school Chapel.
This will be private time for the students and be incorporated into their lessons. These Prayer Services are only for students and are not open to the public. However, the relics will also remain on the school Chapel altar,
from 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., on Wednesday, May 25, 2016. If members of the public would like to venerate the relic during this time, please use front entrance of school located on Lake Shore Road.
+Fr. Jeffrey (Francis) Keefe, OFM Conv. was born to the late +Francis M. and +Maria (Kulas) Keefe, in Syracuse, NY, on June 11, 1926. Friar Jeffrey passed away on May 11, 2016 after a long illness and is survived by his Franciscan family and his nephews.
Entering the Novitiate of the Franciscan Friars Conventual in August of 1945, he professed his vows on March 17, 1946 and was ordained to the priesthood in Albany, NY, on June 7, 1952. Friar Jeffrey received an S.T.L in 1952 and an M.A (Ed) in 1955, from The Catholic University of America, in Washington DC and pursued an M.A in Psychology from Fordham University, receiving an A.A., in 1962 and his PhD in clinical psychology, in 1965. Fr. Jeffrey served for four years (1952-1956) as a teacher at Trenton Catholic Boys High School and in 1956, was assigned to St. Francis Preparatory Academy on Staten Island, NY, as Teacher and Spiritual Director. His work in Clinical Psychology greatly enhanced his experience. He taught at St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary for many years and was greatly sought after for his reviews and vocation evaluations and vocation assessment, for not only our Order, but for a dozen or more other religious communities and dioceses. Fr. Jeffrey was published as a contributor on several works and in several Catholic periodicals; The Priest, Catechist, for example. He was part of the training staff for the Onondaga Pastoral Counseling Center from 1974-1984, while working in the Tribunal of the Diocese of Syracuse from 1971-1984. He became the Director of the Personal Resource Center under Catholic Charities in Syracuse, in 1989. Fr. Jeffrey became well-known for his work in the group, COURAGE, founded by Rev. John Harvey. COURAGE is a spiritual support group for Catholic men and women who are striving to live chaste lives in accordance with the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality. Fr. Jeffrey was also a contributor to some of their conferences.
Visitation will take place on Sunday, May 15, 2016 from 5-7:00 p.m., followed by a Franciscan Wake Service, at 7:00 p.m. On Monday, May 16, 2016, a Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m., preceded by 9-10:45 a.m. visitation, at The Franciscan Church of the Assumption, 812 N Salina St., Syracuse, NY 13208. Interment will be in the Friars’ Plot, of the Assumption Cemetery, immediately following the Memorial Mass. Memorial Donations may be made to the Franciscan Education Burse, 12300 Folly Quarter Rd., Ellicott City, MD 21042.
Funeral arrangements are by Keegan-Osbelt-Knight Funeral Home in Syracuse and Kozikowski Funeral Home in Chicopee, MA.
The tour includes the opportunity to see a unique reliquary that holds the rare first class relics of beard fragments from St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. made available for veneration. (Note that the reliquary was created in Poland, to commemorate his beatification in 1971, as noted by the “B. Max. Kolbe” in the casing that houses the relic strands. St. Maximilian was a Polish Conventual Franciscan Friar who was canonized on October 10, 1982, by Saint Pope John Paul II – also from Poland.)
The relic, along with information about St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv., will be on display beginning with the 8:00 a.m. Saturday May 21, 2016 Morning Mass and continuing throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. The 6:00 p.m. Evening Mass on Sunday, May 22, 2016, will highlight this special event. For those who will be attending Mass there this weekend, special prayer cards with a third class relic will be handed out. There will also be medals and holy cards available. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join the friars and parishioners during this special weekend. If you can not make it to these event and are in the Upstate New York or Ontario, Canada areas during these next weeks, please take the opportunity to visit one of our other ministry locations as this tour is in the area:
The Friars and people of Sri Lanka are grateful to our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, for making the new Formation House in Kandy possible. Because of the presence of a Pontifical Faculty in Kandy, the new house will serve as the Post-Novitiate site for the friars’ Philosophy and Theology studies.
The friar-students hand made a welcome arch out of coconut palm fronds. The new Formation House was formerly a hotel with four stories which will ensure that the Friars will get ample daily exercise.
The patron of the new Formation House is Sri Lanka’s first saint, the Indian missionary priest St. Joseph Vaz, who died in Kandy in 1711). Pope Francis canonized him in 2015 while on his papal visit to Sri Lanka.
The Minister Provincial of St. Maximilian Kolbe Province in India, the Very Reverend Fr. Leo Payappilly, OFM Conv. (right), hosted our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (left), throughout his visit. The Indian Province established its first mission in Sri Lanka seven years ago.
The local “Kandy Dancers” – famed for their acrobatics and whirling spirals – welcomed the local Bishop and the two Ministers Provincial to the celebration of the Inauguration and Blessing of the Formation House on Saturday, April 23, 2016. Bishop Joseph Vianney Fernando has been the Ordinary of Kandy for 33 years. He is well accustomed to being welcomed and escorted by the “Kandy Dancers.”
Garlands of orchids were placed around the necks of the three guests of honor. About 200 people filled the courtyard of the friary for the celebration – religious of several male and female congregations, including all three groups of First Order friars, the TORs, neighbors of all faiths, and civic officials. Eight friars made the journey from India to share in the celebration. For all of them it was their first trip to the Sri Lanka.
The elaborate “Inauguration” ceremony included lighting candles on a candelabra made by the friars out of the trunk, fronds, and flowers of the coconut tree. As the ceremony progressed, the big moment came for the cutting of the red ribbon – an honor accorded to our Minister Provincial. Bishop Fernando blessed each room of the new Friary, beginning with the Chapel.
The Minor Seminarians from the Mission’s formation house in Katana (Colombo) made the four-hour journey to Kandy to participate in the festivities (pictured in the Chapel). On the second day of the celebrations, Sunday the 24th, Fr. James celebrated the first Mass in the newly inaugurated and blessed Chapel, and afterwards processed outside to bless the Grotto of Our Lady, which the seminarians themselves had constructed. Fr. James left a donation for the friars to get a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, which will eventually the grace the new Grotto.
On his last day in Kandy, Fr. James received the renewal of vows of two simply professed friars doing theological studies there. Friar Senet Kanjiraparambil, OFM Conv. (pictured here) renewed his Simple Vows with Fr. James. He is the artist who masterminded all of the decorative arrangements with the fronds and stocks and branches of the coconut palm trees.
Our current Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. at the October 10, 1982 Canonization of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. with St. Pope John Paul II
The last Pennsylvania tour stop for the “Pilgrimage of the Relics of St. Maximilian Kolbe” is at our pastoral ministry of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, in Johnstown, PA. The relic will be present there from Friday, May 13th through Sunday, May 15th. A special Welcoming Service along with Veneration of the Relic and Benediction will take place on Friday, May 13, 2016, at 7:00p.m.
Veneration of the Relic will also take place at all the weekend Masses and all are welcome to visit Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Anthony Francis Spilka, OFMConv (pastor) and the parishioners of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, to take part in the weekend’s events.
After finishing up in PA, the tour moves onto our ministries in Up State NY and Ontario, Canada.
Inspired by the “Pilgrimage of the Relics of St. Maximilian Kolbe,” UNC students embodied the life of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. in five contemporary vignettes. TheNewman Catholic Student Center Parish, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillSpring Mission Trip participants (financially supported in part, and spiritually supported in full, by our province) were able to reflect on their experiences of service and justice through the life of our Martyr of Charity. The Campus Minister and Pastor of Newman Center Parish is Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv.
Good Works in Philadelphia, PA: Students from the UNC Newman Center had the opportunity to serve meals to the homeless, package food for those in the area suffering from food insecurity, serve in Philadelphia schools, and work with adults with disabilities in a nursing home. They look forward to using all they learned in Philadelphia back in Chapel Hill and wherever life may take them!
Franciscan Action Network (FAN) in Washington, DC: “This spring break mission trip exposed our group to outreach and the importance of advocating for structural change in order to combat cyclical issues such as hunger and food waste. First-hand experiences with policy-makers and policy-changers allowed us to garner attention around an important piece of legislation (HB 4184, the Food Recovery Act) and even gain a signature from Congressman Brad Ashford (Nebraska). As young Catholics, we learned how we can advocate and change policy on an institutional level.”
Medical Mission to San Juan Pueblo, Honduras: “We traveled to San Juan Pueblo Honduras and treated 530 patients and 200 for eyeglasses! The construction team built new shelving and did electrical wiring and lights for the Natural Health Clinic at Padre Marco’s (a former Conventual friar) church in Santa Ana. The school team taught English for 4 days to seniors at the local high school and we all got to visit the school of special needs. After the clinics were over, Franciscan sisters prepared homemade pupusas for us…what a treat!”
Work-fest in Martin, Kentucky: Undergrads traveled to Martin, KY (in the Diocese of Lexington and Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., a Conventual Franciscan from the Our Lady of Consolation Province) to work on home repair projects with Christian Appalachian Project. They joined students and adult leaders from four other universities around the country and helped six families improve or eliminate substandard housing conditions. They encountered God in each other and in the families served, improved their understanding of injustice and solidarity, and enjoyed great weather with beautiful spring mountain views.
Conventual Franciscan Custody/Novitiate in Medellin, Colombia: The friars in Colombia opened their doors to seventeen Spring Mission participants from Newman Catholic Student Center Parish. They lived with the friars in their friary and each day the friars and novices accompanied them to the work-sites. Two of the days were spent working with the elderly and disabled. Mid-week, they spent a day at our parish in a poor part of the city, walking with the novices and Eucharistic ministers to visit the sick and give communion to the home-bound. The other two days were spent working with the friars in a conflict-resolution program they created for a pueblo on the outskirts of the city, where the displaced have erected housing on an abandoned railroad.
Please keep all of our friars, those we serve & those served in unity, in your prayers.
Sampling of the Baltimore Religious Leaders – “From Hope to Wholeness” Interfaith Prayer Service
Twenty-seven of our friars from Our Lady of the Angels Province serve the people of the Archdiocese of Baltimore through over 20 ministries. On Monday, April 25, 2016, several of these friars were on hand, as a large group of faith leaders from multiple religious communities who serve specifically in the Baltimore City area, participated in an interfaith prayer service “From Hope to Wholeness,” on the one year anniversary of the nationally spotlighted Baltimore unrest, held at America’s First Cathedral – the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Baltimore, Maryland. The service brought together people of all faiths to pray for peace, healing and unity in Baltimore City, including (but not limited to) faith leaders and congregants from the United Church of Christ, the Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore, the Temple Oheb Shalom, the Union Baptist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church Delaware-Maryland Synod, and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The Rev. Dr. John Deckenback, United Church of Christ – Imam Earl El-Amin, Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore – Rabbi Dr. Steven Fink, Temple Oheb Shalom – Reverend Dr. Alvin C. Hathaway, Sr., Union Baptist Church – Reverend Wolf gang Herz-Lane, Evangelical Lutheran Church Delaware-Maryland Synod – Most Reverend William E. Lori, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore – Most Reverend Denis J. Madden, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore – Rev. Dr. Frank Reid, III, Bethel AME – and – Rev. Fr. Donald A. Sterling, D. Min., New All Saints Catholic Church ( first African American priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore) organized the event. Most of these leaders traveled to Rome together last month in a pilgrimage to meet with Pope Francis and to pray for peace in Baltimore. The group has been in regular dialogue over the past year to discuss ways to work together to promote peace and to address underlying problems on behalf of the City. Leaders, ministers and congregations of all faiths were invited to participate and the friars from our province were please to participate.
Please take a moment to view this video on the ongoing interfaith work of the Baltimore City religious leaders as presented by the Racial Justice Ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Delaware-Maryland Synod
Conventual Franciscan Friar, Fr. Thomas Grassmann, OFM Conv. founded the Fonda Memorial and Museum in 1938 and unearthed the post molds of a stockade line of the Indian Settlement in 1950, but passed away in 1970 before the 1980 official declaration of the site as a shrine, after Pope Saint John Paul II declared Kateri as Blessed, on June 22nd. (St. Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012.) However, he was on hand to see his beloved ministry developed greatly and now, after almost 8 decades, it continues to grow under the care of our Conventual Franciscan Friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, while also serving the pastoral needs of the area Catholics of the Mohawk Nation. The Shrine will celebrate the opening of the 2016 Season on May 1, 2016.
Friar Mark Steed, OFM Conv., the staff and the volunteers of the Shrine, hope you are able to find an opportunity to visit this beautiful and historical location that includes the fully excavated Caughnawaga Castle Site. Over 300 years ago, the site was inhabited by the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk (1666-1693). Although she died in 1680 in the Canadian Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, it was at this site that Saint Kateri was baptized and lived most of her life.
National Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine
“A Place of Peace and Healing”
PO Box 627, State Highway 5, Fonda NY 12068-0627
518-853-3646 office@katerishrine.com
Shrine Hours: 9am-6pm Every Day, May 1-October 31
Candle Chapel: Always Open
Gift Shop: 10am-4pm Every Day
Office: 9:30am – 12:30pm Mon-Fri
Spring 2016 Calendar of Events
Season Opening – “A New Encounter with Jesus”
April 30, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – Opening Vigil Mass
May 1, 2015 – 10:30 a.m. – Official Opening Day Mass
May 7, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – Mother’s Day Vigil Mass (Special Blessing for Mothers)
May 8, 2016 – 10:30 a.m. – Mother Day Mass (Special Blessing for Mothers)
Native American Weekends – Prayer and Healing Circle & Food Bank Collection May 14, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – Pentecost Sunday Vigil Mass
(Baptismal Promise Renewal & Kateri Spring Water Blessing)
May 15, 2016 – 10:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Pentecost Sunday Mass
(Baptismal Promise Renewal & Kateri Spring Water Blessing)
May 21, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – Vigil Mass
(Mohawk Akwesasne and Kahnawake Traditional Purification Rite)
May 21, 2016 – 7:00 p.m. – Prayer & Healing Circle with Algonquin elder, Theresa Steele
May 22, 2016 – 10:30 a.m. – Mass
(Mohawk Akwesasne and Kahnawake Traditional Purification Rite)
May 22, 2016 – Following Mass – Solemn Offering & Burning of Winter Season Prayer Petitions
May 28, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Vigil Mass
May 29, 2016 – 10:30 a.m. – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Mass
June 4, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – Vigil Mass, 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 5, 2016 – 10:30 a.m. – Mass, 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Pilgrimage of the Relic of St. Maximilian Kolbe Weekend
June 10, 2016 – Opening of the Pilgrimage
June 11, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – Vigil Mass
(Solemn Blessing with St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. Relic)
June 12, 2016 – 10:30 a.m. – Mass
(Solemn Blessing with St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. Relic)
June 18, 2016 – 4:30 p.m. – Father’s Day Vigil Mass (Special Blessing for Fathers)
June 19, 2016 – 10:30 a.m. – Father’s Day Mass (Special Blessing for Fathers)
Linda’s Walk 2016: Save the date of Saturday, August 13, 2016. Walk 5K through the neighborhood of Don Mills, in support of the work of St. Clare Inn. Join the friars, the community, annual participants and other supporters in this, the 7th year, to help change lives in ways you cannot begin to imagine. If you are not from the Toronto area but still wish to support this great ministry or for more information, please contact St. Clare Inn or visit “How You Can Help” on their website.
