Notable events for the month of May include:
One Year Ago
May 10, 2014 — St. Francis Springs Prayer Center blessed its new Marian garden and labyrinth in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all women. (The center is celebrating its 10th anniversary this spring.)
Five Years Ago
May 13, 2010 — Friars and laypeople at St. Paul’s Parish in Wilmington, Del., sponsored a march against drugs and violence in the neighborhood surrounding the church. The event was organized in response to an increase in violence in the area.
Ten Years Ago
May 6, 2005 — Holy Name School in New York City observed its 100th anniversary. (The Archdiocese of New York closed the school in 2013.)
May 15, 2005 — The care of Holy Name Parish in Lima, Peru, was returned to the archdiocese. (Joseph Nangle, OFM, offered the first Sunday Mass at Holy Name Parish in February 1964 at a temporary altar on a concrete slab. The new church was finished later that year.)
May 22, 2005 — The Poverello Center attached to St. Francis Urban Ministry Center was formally dedicated in Providence, R.I. (The Province withdrew from the last of its ministries in Providence in 2012.)
15 Years Ago
May 21, 2000 — A new chapel and kitchen were dedicated at St. Francis Inn, Philadelphia. (The Inn is planning to bless and move several ministries into a new building across the street later this month.)
20 Years Ago
May 25, 1995 – A new headquarters for Create Inc. at 73 Lenox Ave. was opened and dedicated. Among the participants were Ralph Perez, current director of the social services agency and Benedict Taylor, OFM, founder of Create, along with Patrick Fitzgerald, OFM, Hugh Hines, OFM, Mychal Judge, OFM, and Cassian Miles, OFM.
40 Years Ago
May 1, 1975 — The 75th anniversary of the founding of St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary was celebrated at Callicoon, N.Y. (The seminary was closed in 1972; parishioners continued to worship in the seminary church until the building was sold in 1977.)
— Compiled by Maria Hayes