NEW YORK — Below are highlights of notable July events that took place around Holy Name Province.
One Year Ago
July 28, 2009 — Holy Name Province began its foray into social media by sending its first tweet. (After one year, @HolyNameProv has more than 100 followers on Twitter. The Province’s Facebook page, created earlier this year, has more than 325 followers.)
Five Years Ago
July 7, 2005 — The Province assumed administration of Sacred Heart Parish in Tampa, Fla. (The parish, where Andrew Reitz, OFM, is pastor, is commemorating its 150th anniversary in 2010.)
10 Years Ago
July 6-9, 2000 — Several Holy Name friars participated in Encuentro 2000 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event, according to the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was “an opportunity to celebrate the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and to dialogue together as brothers and sisters among the many cultures which form the Body of Christ. It was an opportunity for the Church in the United States to gather, to engage in profound conversations about life and faith, to worship together, to learn from each other, to forgive one another and be reconciled, to acknowledge our unique histories, and to discover ways in which we, as Catholic communities, can be one Church yet come from diverse cultures and ethnicities.” (Last fall, the Province held Encuentro Franciscano at St. Camillus Parish in Silver Spring, Md., to celebrate Hispanic culture.)
35 Years Ago
July 3, 1975 — The Provincial Council voted to donate $200,000 to Catholic Relief Services for direct aid to the poor in Africa. CRS’s Operation Rice Bowl began during Lent 1975 in the Diocese of Allentown, Pa., in response to the drought in the African Sahel.
45 Years Ago
July 2, 1965 — General Minister Fr. Augustine Sepinski, OFM, arrived in New York City for a visit to St. Francis of Assisi Friary on West 31st Street. According to the summer 1965 Provincial Annals, Fr. Augustine’s visit included prepradium at 7 p.m. and “informal entertainment by Samuel Grega, OFM, and his violin.” The General Minister’s visit also included trips to Siena College, near Albany, N.Y., the novitiate of Immaculate Conception Province and the World’s Fair with Finian Kerwin, OFM.
— Compiled by Rebecca Doel