NEW YORK — Below are news items about some of the many activities of Holy Name friars, including their presentations, outreach and celebrations. 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 connecting with the Communications Office.
To provide news briefs for future issues of HNP Today, e-mail Jocelyn Thomas at communications@hnp.org.
David Bossman, OFM, was recently elected to the board of the Charleston, S.C., Christian-Jewish Council in Charleston, where he is teaching a summer course, religion and society, at the College of Charleston. David is professor in the Graduate Department of Jewish-Christian Studies, the College of Arts & Sciences at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.
During June and July, Michael Calabria, OFM, lecturer of modern languages at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., is directing an English-language program for Egyptian seminarians at the St. Leo the Great Coptic-Catholic Seminary in Cairo, Egypt.
The friars of the Long Beach Island, N.J., parish of St. Francis of Assisi, including Thomas Conway, OFM, and pastor Stephen Kluge, OFM, participated in the second annual blessing of lifeguards on May 23. More than 150 people attended. On June 22, the community will honor the executive director of St. Francis Community Center, Robert Hazlett, who is leaving his position after 25 years.
Provincial Secretary Michael Harlan, OFM, represented the Franciscans of St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York at a June 10 memorial service. At the “Interfaith Service of Remembrance in Honor of the Citizens Who Have Died on Our City Streets Over the Last Year” at the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church, he read Matthew 5:1-12.
Michael Harlan joined Glenn Humphrey, OFM, All Saints Church, New York City, and Anthony LoGalbo, OFM, of St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City, to represent the Province at a June 15 barbecue for the New York Archdiocese Religious held by the Archdiocese of New York Office of the Vicars for Religious. It was held at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., according to Michael, to give the archbishop an opportunity to meet as many members of religious communities in the New York area as possible.
Daniel Horan, OFM, delivered a paper titled “Striving Toward Authenticity: Merton’s True Self and the Millennial Generation’s Search for Identity,” during the opening session of the Eleventh General Meeting of the International Thomas Merton Society on the campus of Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y., on June 11. The biannual conference, which draws several hundred worldwide scholars and participants, will be held in Chicago in June 2011.
Kevin Mackin, OFM, president of Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., was interviewed on radio station WVOX in New Rochelle about the Franciscans, challenges in higher education, and programs at the college. Kevin was interviewed by radio host William O’Shaughnessy, who received an honorary doctorate at graduation for his efforts to defend freedom of speech and broadcasters’ rights. The interview, which aired June 15, can be heard on www.WVOX.com. O’Shaughnessy called Mackin a “great educator, a magnificent priest, a Franciscan, which says it all.”
Louis McCormick, OFM, of Mt. Irenaeus Franciscan Mountain Retreat, was one of several Bonafest raffle winners last month at St. Bonaventure Parish in Allegany, N.Y.
Information about the personal background and the first Mass of Harry Monaco, OFM, who ministers at St. Bonaventure University, was featured in the May 24 issue of The Saratogian. Harry, who was ordained May 16, celebrated Mass on May 24 at St. Mary’s Church in Ballston Spa, N.Y., where he was baptized 45 years ago.
Neil O’Connell, OFM, is seeking copies of two liturgical books. Friars who have an extra copy of either of the following are asked to contact Neil: Roman Franciscan Sacramentary and Franciscan Lectionary, at 212-678-0940.
Jacek Orzechowski, OFM, St. Camillus Church, Silver Spring, Md., co-chair of the Province’s Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Directorate, and Russell Testa, JPIC director, attended last week’s annual conference of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP). The theme of the conference was “Hope for Things Unseen,” and it reflected the spirit that peace can be established in the Holy Land. The United States must take a strong bipartisan leadership role that will bring the Israelis and Palestinians into negotiation, according to Testa. “The experience was uplifting,” said Testa, who is on the CMEP board. “I have a renewed sense of possibility for peace in the Holy Land.” On June 15, the Franciscan Action Network, directed by Testa, hosted a Webinar focusing on peacemaking in the Middle East.
An article about the late John Piccione, OFM, former director of St. Anthony’s Guild, appears in the Summer 2009 issue of The Anthonian, the Guild’s quarterly magazine. It includes comments by parishioners of St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson, N.J., where he served as pastor for six years.
On May 22, Xavier Seubert, OFM, director of the visual arts program at St. Bonaventure University, gave a talk at the Third International Conference of Iconographic Studies at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. His talk was titled, “The Uses of Images of St. Francis of Assisi in the Protestant Reformation.”
Francis Soucy, OFM, guardian of Holy Name Friary in Ringwood, N.J., participated in the World Environment Day on June 5 at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York. It was hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme Interfaith Partnership for the Environment and the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations.
Daniel Sulmasy, OFM, spoke June 7 at the annual Catholic Health Association assembly in New Orleans about the importance of faith-based healthcare and problems in the U.S. health system. Daniel, a physician and ethics scholar, attributed the problems to money, bureaucracy, indifference and burnout. Details about Dan’s talk were featured in a June 10 National Catholic Reporter story, “Catholic Health Providers Meet in Uncertain Climate: Washington Legislation Could Reshape U.S. Healthcare.”
Paul Williams, OFM, dean of the Midlands Deanery of the Diocese of Charleston, S.C, was commencement speaker on May 29 for St. Francis Xavier High School in Sumter, S.C. Paul is pastor of St. Martin De Porres Church in Columbia, S.C.
The friars of the St. Bonaventure University community hosted a picnic during SBU’s alumni weekend, June 5 to 7.
News for the next issue of HNP Today is requested by June 24. Among the friars who will be featured in future issues of the newsletter are Todd Carpenter, OFM, Claude Lenehan, OFM, Andrew Reitz, OFM, and Michael Tyson, OFM.
— Compiled by Jocelyn Thomas