February 29, 2016:
At evening prayer at St. Anthony of Padua Friary, in Durham (NC), friar Emanuel Vasconcelos, OFM Conv. was installed as Lector with all of the friars who live and work from the friary present. He is pictured here receiving The Word from the Guardian of the friary, Fr. Brad Heckathorne, OFM Conv. Friar Manny had previously received the ministry of Acolyte, while in study at the St. Bonaventure Friary Post-Novitiate, in Silver Spring, MD. Read more about friar Manny who is currently serving through the Duke University Catholic Campus Ministry Office.

Note on Minor Ministries: Prior to 1963 and the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), during the formation process on the road to the priesthood, men were affirmed to four Minor and three Major Ministries. Now there are two; Acolyte and Lector (Can. 230 §1 and §2) in preparation for the transitional diaconate step prior to the priesthood.  These are two stable “Ordinary” ministries, as opposed to  “Extraordinary” ministries of temporary designation afforded to those not in preparation for the priesthood. 

Our Lady of the Angels Province Vicar Provincial, Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv., blessed friar Luis while Fr. John Burkhard, OFM Conv., Br. Jim Moore, OFM Conv., (Deacon) Friar Nick Rokitka, OFM Conv., and his confreres in formation stand in witness, in the St. Bonaventure Friary Chapel.

Tuesday – March 1, 2016:
During the Morning Liturgy, fr. Luis Palacios Rodrigues, OFM Conv. received the minor ministry of Lector. The ceremony took place with the friars of St. Bonaventure Friary (Silver Spring, MD) present. We send blessings upon friar Luis.

Note on Minor Ministries: Prior to 1963 and the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), during the formation process on the road to the priesthood, men were affirmed to four Minor and three Major Ministries. Now there are two; Acolyte and Lector (Can. 230 §1 and §2) in preparation for the transitional diaconate step prior to the priesthood.  These are two stable “Ordinary” ministries, as opposed to  “Extraordinary” ministries of temporary designation afforded to those not in preparation for the priesthood. 

Monday – February 15, 2016:
fr. Maximilian Avila, OFM Conv. received the minor ministry of Lector. The ceremony took place in the context of Mass with the friars of Immaculate Heart of Mary Friary (Baltimore, MD) present. Friar Max had previously received the ministry of Acolyte, while in study at the St. Bonaventure Friary Post-Novitiate, in Silver Spring, MD.

We send blessings upon Friar Max as he moves forward on his path to priesthood.

Note on Minor Ministries: Prior to 1963 and the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), during the formation process on the road to the priesthood, men were affirmed to four Minor and three Major Ministries. Now there are two; Acolyte and Lector (Can. 230 §1 and §2) in preparation for the transitional diaconate step prior to the priesthood.  These are two stable “Ordinary” ministries, as opposed to  “Extraordinary” ministries of temporary designation afforded to those not in preparation for the priesthood. 

Adapted from a January 31, 2016 letter from our Minister Provincial to the Friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, regarding the January 17-23, 2016 Minister General’s “Convocation of Federations of the Order” for a meeting with the General Curia.

A plethora of languages echoed through the passages of the Sacro Convento in Assisi as sixty-two Friars gathered representing thirty-two countries. As we arrived in Assisi, nothing bespoke the tragic irony of our times more poignantly than the cohort of armed Italian soldiers blockading all ingresses to the precincts of the upper and lower Basilica of St. Francis; Man of Peace. In response to ISIL’s recent threat against the Vatican, the Holy See has had to ban all motor vehicles from the Piazza Inferiore and the road leading up to the Via San Francesco from the portals of the Sacro Convento. After passing through the security barriers, I immediately noticed the “Lampedusa Refugee Boat-Crib” beneath the Christmas tree, which is left dominating the Piazza Inferiore until Candlemas, the 2nd of February. More than ever we must pray for the kingdom of the Prince of Peace to overtake the caliphates of hate in our imperiled world!
The purpose of the Assisi Assembly was a review of the Order’s six-year plan at the midway point between the last General Chapter and the next. The Minister General noted that this meeting of the Order’s leaders in Assisi was intended to be a type of “community pilgrimage” bringing us together in relation to St. Francis of Assisi, so that we could be fortified by one another in the task of stimulating the local friars to evaluate our life and renew the charism. He also pointed out that the Church’s “Year of Mercy” is punctuated by the Order’s commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the “Pardon of Assisi” [Portiuncula Indulgence]. He charged us to undertake creative initiatives in 2016 promoting inter-Franciscan collaboration on the themes of forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, and mercy.
Our daily Eucharistic celebrations took place in the Lower Basilica beneath the vaulted frescos by Giotto depicting the Allegory of the Vows. As we mounted the stairs daily to kiss the Altar, one could look down through the grating over the Tomb of St. Francis directly below. Friar Jude Winkler, OFM Conv. (Assistant General and friar of Our Lady of the Angels Province) eloquently preached the homily, in Italian and English, at each of the liturgies.  Our province’s Friar Tim Kulbicki, OFM Conv. is the secretary of the International Commission for the Revision of the Constitutions of which the finished product will be his lasting legacy to future generations of the Order. During the convocation, Friar Tim led us through an overview of the project. All seven of the Assistants General for the various federations made presentations, as well as the Vicar General, the Secretary General, Procurator General, and the Custos of Assisi, along with the superiors of the other Franciscan families in Assisi. We also broke into small group sessions to discuss the various lights, shadows, and challenges faced by Provincials, Custodes, and Delegates. Everyone’s words ultimately bespoke THE WORD and our fraternal communion with Francis in embracing THE WORD.
Midweek, we took a small pilgrimage to La Verna (the site where Saint Francis of Assisi received the stigmata). The theme of the day was “Mercy.” Just outside the entry to the grounds of La Verna, we processed into the holy precincts behind the Minister General, who carried a six-foot cross. La Verna was bitter cold that day and one of the African friars saw snow and icicles for the first time, asking the name we give to those large formations of ice dripping from the rocky cliffs. The official photo of our whole group (below) was taken in the courtyard of the La Verna Friary, where our Observant brothers hosted us to a sumptuous meal after Mass. We ended our “Pilgrimage of Mercy” in Gubbio, at our Conventual friary marking the site of St. Francis’ first way-station outside Assisi. St. Francis had journeyed to Gubbio in 1206 immediately after stripping himself before Bishop Guido and Pietro Bernadone in the Vescovado, thereby embarking on the path of a “stranger and exile in this world.” It was in Gubbio that St. Francis tamed the threatening wolf.
On our final night in Assisi we all enjoyed a medieval banquet in the deepest bowels of the Sacro Convento – the original convent built by Brother Elias [and later used by Zefferelli as the set for the cloth-dying scene in Brother Sun, Sister Moon]. A student friar entertained us as the jester on 10-foot stilts.
Know that each and all of you accompanied me in prayer and heart throughout these days in the Franciscan heartland. How grand it is for us to share a common call as sons of Francis!
Your brother James

Part of those assembled who took the mini-pilgrimage to La Verna

Friar Arturo Scotus-Maria Felix, OFM Conv. (Deacon) flanked by student friars from Marytown, IL

Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Chicago closed the Year of Consecrated Life on Sunday, January 24, 2016, at a 2:15 p.m. Mass at Holy Name Cathedral, in Chicago. Together with consecrated men and women from religious communities, lay ecclesial movements and consecrated virgins, the Archbishop gave thanks for the graces and opportunities throughout the Year at the public Mass, marking a year that began on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2014, and officially ended on February 2, 2016. The Year also marked the 50th anniversary of Perfectae Caritatis, a decree on religious life, and Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the Church. The purpose of the Year, as stated by the Vatican, was to “make a grateful remembrance of the recent past,” while embracing “the future with hope.”

Our Lady of the Angels Postulants: Jason DeMartini and Jason Byrum serving as ushers. (Not pictured: Ky Bui who served as Crosier Bearer.)

Our Postulants currently in formation at the St. Bonaventure Friary Postulancy in Chicago participated in the closing Mass. Mr. Jonathan Byrum and Mr. Jason DeMartini served as ushers, Mr. Ky Bui was the Crosier Bearer and other student friars from Marytown were altar servers. Friar Giles Michael Gilbert, OFM Conv. and Friar Arturo Scotus-Maria Felix, OFM Conv., of the St. Bonaventure Province, served as deacons. Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Br. Paschal Kolodziej, OFM Conv. (Guardian of the friary and Postulancy Director) represented our Order in the procession of the various Religious serving in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Please continue to pray for those called to Consecrated Life; “the many branches which sink roots into the Gospel and bring forth abundant fruit in every season of the Church’s life,” (Vita Consecrata, 1996 Saint John Paul II) including Monastic Life, the Orders of Virgins, Hermits, Institutes Devoted to Contemplation, Apostolic Religious Life, Secular Institutes, Societies of Apostolic Life, and New or Renewed Forms of the Consecrated Life.

Prayer for the Year of Consecrated Life

O God, throughout the ages you have called women and men
to pursue lives of perfect charity through the evangelical counsels
of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

During this Year of Consecrated Life, we give you thanks
for these courageous witnesses of Faith and models of inspiration.
Their pursuit of holy lives teaches us to make a more perfect offering of ourselves to you.

Continue to enrich your Church by calling forth sons and daughters who,
having found the pearl of great price,
treasure the Kingdom of Heaven above all things.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Donald, Kos, OFM Conv. began his studies in his hometown of Holyoke, Massachusetts, at one of our province’s parochial schools; Mater Dolorosa School. He is a graduate of Holyoke’s St. Jerome High School and began his Franciscan life at the Conventual Franciscan Mount Saint Lawrence Novitiate, in Becket, MA. He professed First Vows in 1954 and Solemn Vows in 1957.
After earning his B.A. in Philosophy at St. Bonaventure University, in NY (1958) he moved to Rome where he earned his S.T.D (Theology at the Pontificia Facoltà Teologica San Bonaventura Seraphicum– 1962), J.C.D. (Canon Law at the Pontificia Università Lateranense – 1966) and his Diploma (Canon Law at the Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae – 1970) in Rome, Italy. He has spent his years in ministry since his Ordination to the Priesthood (at our Order’s Basilica of the Twelve Apostles, in Rome – December 23, 1961) in service to our Order, in Rome. His assignments include Assistant General of the Anglo-American Coetus, Postulator General of the Order, Vicar General of the Order, Guardian of the Convento S. Antonio Alle Terme, Referendouro of the Signatura Apostolica, Judge of the First Instance of the Vatican Tribunal, Correspondent on Congregation of the Apostolic Penitenzeria, Procurator General and most recently Judicial Vicar of the Ecclesiastic Tribunal of Vatican City State.
On Thursday, January 28, 2016, Friar Donald received the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” Cross of Honor Award from Pope Francis, in recognition of his 18 years of distinguished service to the Church, specifically his work at the Apostolic Penitenzeria. For more, please visit our Order’s Website. He joins an illustrious list of recipients that include Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation aka “Mother Angelica,” Princess Benedikte of Denmark, George Weigel and Queen Sofía of Spain.