Below are updates about some of the many activities of Holy Name friars, including their celebrations, presentations and ministry events. More information can be obtained by visiting links to the parishes and organizations mentioned, by contacting the friars by phone or email and by connecting with the Communications Office.
To provide news briefs for future issues of HNP Today, email information to communications director Jocelyn Thomas.
Michael Calabria, OFM, returned on July 17 from Egypt, where he had spent roughly six weeks directing and teaching a summer English as a Second Language program at the Coptic Catholic Seminary in Cairo. An essay about his summer experience appeared in the last issue of HNP Today.
Anthony Carrozzo, OFM, will be facilitating a new book club at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City. Members will meet on the first Thursday of each month from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. beginning in October. The group will discuss novels “that sting — that is, contemporary novels that leave us feeling we have been spiritually stung by a variety of views and perspectives,” according to the July 24 parish bulletin.
A farewell party was held at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Camden, N.J., on July 16 in honor of John C. Coughlin, OFM, and John Quinn, OFM, as well as three Franciscan Volunteer Ministers concluding service in the community. Each of the honored guests received a personalized yearbook from St. Anthony pastor Jud Weiksnar, OFM. John Coughlin, who had served as a friar mentor to the Camden FVM team, is joining the ministry team at Mt. Irenaeus in Western New York. John Quinn moved to St. Anthony Friary in Butler, N.J., earlier in 2011. Pictures of the celebration can be viewed on the St. Anthony of Padua Church & School, Camden, NJ Facebook page in the “July, 2011” photo album.
Stephen DeWitt, OFM, and Daniel Horan, OFM, concluded their month-long solemn vows retreat on July 15. The traditional retreat, held this year at Old Mission Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, Calif., is part of the preparation for profession of final vows, which Stephen and Dan will make on Aug. 27 in New York City.
Kevin Downey, OFM, pastor for nine years of St. Mary’s Parish in Pompton Lakes, N.J., wrote in his last Pastor’s Desk about the value of communication. He said the column is a way to talk to parishioners and “to share challenges as well as victories; to keep you informed.”
“‘Major’ Changes Toward Philosophy and Theology: Interpreting a Recent Trend for Millennials in Catholic Higher Education,” an article by Daniel Horan, was published in the Winter 2011 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Catholic Higher Education. The article was co-authored with sociologist Melissa Cidade of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Information about Dan’s recent work can be found on his website.
Provincial Secretary Michael Harlan, OFM, welcomed participants of Siena College’s Franciscan Summer Experience to lunch at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York on July 21. The visitors — administrators and students from Franciscan colleges in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico — were nearing the end of their three-week stay at the Loudonville, N.Y., college where they learned about American culture and about sharing teaching philosophies, said Brian Belanger, OFM, Siena’s director of international programs. Michael is pictured here with the group in San Damiano Hall. (Details about the program will be provided in an upcoming issue of HNP Today.)
Joseph Kotula, OFM, Kevin Kriso, OFM, Louis McCormick, OFM, and Robert Struzynski, OFM, of Mt. Irenaeus are leading conversation groups of roughly six participants who share with each other their reflections on Gospel readings through monthly phone discussions. Daniel Riley, OFM, director of the Franciscan mountain retreat, and a task force for formation created these “circles of conversation” to allow participants — friends of Mt. Irenaeus — to learn more about its mission and “Gospel manner of life and ministry. We each have different ways of learning and different times in our busy lives when we might set some time aside to learn more about ourselves and the Mountain,” Dan said. “Hopefully, this process will support each of us as we tailor our own time, deepening our own understandings and enriching our commitment to Mt. Irenaeus.”
Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., where Kevin Mackin, OFM, is president, purchased a 13.1 acre property on Powell Avenue from the Dominican Sisters of Hope, whose administrative offices are in Ossining, N.Y. Sr. Lorelle Elcock, OP, prioress of the sisters, and Kevin were authorized to sign a purchase and sale agreement for the property. Following college discussions with financiers, contractors and the local planning board, the property transfer was closed on July 13. The Dominican Sisters, who retain an easement to access a private cemetery on the property near Gidney Avenue, spent 128 years on this site. “Our purchase of the Dominican property is a unique opportunity to help fulfill our strategic plan, design a better living-learning environment, and add some parking and green space,” Kevin said.
John Maganzini, OFM, of St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, has been invited to be presenter and facilitator for the opening of the school year faculty day for Sacred Heart Academy in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 16. His topic will be “Keeping The ‘LIGHT’ Alive … A Spirituality for the Catholic School Educator.” The faculty day will be held at the Franciscan Center in Tampa.
After presiding at the Mass of Christian Burial for Edward Metzger, OFM, on July 29 in St. Petersburg, Fla., Provincial Vicar Dominic Monti, OFM, is traveling to California and Arizona for the week leading up to the Aug. 7 Provincial Council meeting in Denver, Colo. While in California, Dominic will visit six Province friars in initial formation studying in the Franciscan philosophy program at Old Mission San Luis Rey, Oceanside.
Alexis Morris, OFM, of St. Petersburg turned 85 years old on July 25. Acknowledgements of other friars commemorating milestone birthdays can be found on the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province Facebook page.
Provincial Minister John O’Connor, OFM, is in Pittsburgh, Pa., today at a meeting for the Province’s capital campaign. On July 29, he will be participating in a meeting of the Franciscan Mission Service board of trustees in Washington.
Vocation Director Brian Smail, OFM, has announced dates of the 2011-2012 vocation weekends. Details about the upcoming weekends, being held in three locations — Boston, New York City, and Silver Spring, Md. — can be found on the “Join Us” page of the Province’s website under events.
Some of the friars and topics being featured in upcoming issues of HNP Today include:
· Franciscan Leadership Academy at St. Bonaventure University (July 27 to 30)
· Commemorations of the feast of St. Clare (Aug. 11)
· World Youth Day (Aug. 16 to 21)
· Music ministry of Holy Name Parish, New York City, where Daniel Kenna, OFM, is pastor
— Compiled by Jocelyn Thomas