NEW YORK – Below are news items about some of the many activities of Holy Name friars, including their presentations, publications, and ministry work. More information can be obtained by visiting links to the parishes and organizations mentioned, by contacting the friars by phone or e-mail, and by contacting the Communications Office.
To provide news briefs for future issues of HNP Today, e-mail Jocelyn Thomas at communications@hnp.org
- Michael Blastic, OFM, of St. Bonaventure University, led a Lenten Day of Prayer on Feb. 1 for the friars of St. Anthony Shrine in Boston. The theme of the day was the Rule of St Francis, according to John Maganzini, OFM, who reports that the day included Mass celebrated by Michael, as well as lunch, quiet reflection and a conference. The friars were grateful to begin Lent with this day of prayer because “it was truly a day of renewal,” John said.
- David Haack, OFM, and Xavier Seubert, OFM, were among a group of St. Bonaventure instructors and administrators that compiled a proposal resulting in development of an art history program and enhancement of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts into a leading teaching museum. A $600,000 grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation in Buffalo, N.Y., will allow the university to accomplish this.
- Brian Jordan, OFM, successfully defended his thesis for a Master’s degree at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the only school in the United States to offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the interdisciplinary field of work place studies. His thesis was on “The Roman Catholic Church as a mediating structure between labor unions and undocumented immigrants in New York.” Brian, who directs the immigration center at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan, is the first Catholic priest ever to enroll in this field at Cornell. He is continuing in today’s context the work of such figures as Fr. John Corridan, SJ, who was active in this field in New York in the 1940s, and according to Dominic Monti, OFM, the province’s secretary of formation and studies, is “advancing our Franciscan goal to be bridge-builders and advocates for the marginalized in today’s society.”
- Barry Langley, OFM, and Dwayne Fernandes, OFM, prepared New Orleans cuisine as part of a Super Bowl gathering on Feb. 3 at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston.
- Paintings by Miguel Loredo, OFM, will be shown at an exhibition at St. Bonaventure University’s Quick Center for the Arts later this month. The show, titled “New Works,” will run from Feb. 25 until April 10. More information on the exhibit will be available in a future issue of this e-letter.
- Siena College president Kevin Mullen, OFM, spoke Feb. 2 on News & Views, with civil rights educator Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, on the college’s radio station, WVCR 88.3 FM. It was simulcast on the Internet. Reagon founded the a cappella group Sweet Honey in The Rock, which performed during the broadcast.