Category Archives: Men’s communities

Men's communities, News

St. Romuald Intercedes For Soccer Team?

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We are used to sports figures thanking mothers, coaches, wives and sometimes even God after big wins. However, this appears to be somewhat unique in the current annals of sport – an Italian coach who makes a pilgrimage to a Camaldolese Monastery to thank a group of monks after unexpectedly reaching the Euro 2012 (soccer) quarter-finals in Poland.

The Italian team met with the monks whose historical origins are Italian but have a foundation outside Krakow, Poland, before the tournament.  Their coach, Cesare Prandelli, promised to make a pilgrimage to the monastery if the team got out of “Group C.”  After their big win, the coach and his staff, at 3:00 AM in the morning, left their team HQ and walked 13 miles to the monastery which took 3 1/2 hours.

The Camaldolese were founded by  Saint Romuald (11th C.) and trace their heritage to the 6th century monastic traditions of Saint Benedict and the reforms of Saint Romuald.

The Holy Hermitage of Camaldoli commemorated the 1,000th anniversary of its foundation by St. Romuald on June 19, the saint’s feast day. Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, Pope Benedict’s special envoy for the commemoration, was the principal celebrant at the hermitage’s June 19th Mass.

Drawing upon the Desert Fathers, St. Romuald encouraged some monks to live in solitude as hermits. “Saint Romuald, the father of the Camaldolese monks, striving for eremetic life and discipline, wandered through Italy for many years, building monasteries and tirelessly promoting the evangelical life among monks,” Pope Benedict recalled in his letter for the anniversary.

Men's communities

Franciscan Family Photo

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I have a soft spot in my heart for the friars at the St. Francis of Assisi Novitiate in Mishawaka, Indiana, so I am happy to post this photo of the novices and friars and Friar Thomas’ parents who came for a visit.  I am also happy to report that the number of novices in their new “class” will be almost double that of the prior class. The Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of young men!

The Conventual Franciscans of the St. Bonaventure Province are an IRL Affiliate Community. We are fortunate that the IRL’s HQ (modest though it is) is located on the grounds of Marytown, a beautiful perpetual adoration  shrine and retreat house run by the Conventuals in Libertyville, Illinois. It is also the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Come for a quiet holy hour or come for a stay at this most beautiful oasis of serenity and prayer!

Men's communities, Women's Communities

Work of Angels

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This year commemorates the 850th anniversary of the death of St. Theotonius (1082-1162), co-founder of the Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, a new IRL Affiliate Community. The Order was founded in 1131 and violently suppressed in 1934 by the government of Portugal. The restoration of the Order was undertaken in 1977 by members of the spiritual movement called Opus Sanctorum Angelorum (Work of the Holy Angels). They were granted the privilege to introduce into the Order a “special devotion to the holy angels according to the tradition of the Church.”

In 1958, Pope Pius XII said that our lives are surrounded by the holy angels: “Each one of us, even the poorest of the poor, has angels watching over him. The angels are glorious, pure and splendid, but they have been given to us as companions along the way of life. They have the task of watching over you all, so that you do not stray away from Christ, your Lord.”

Archbishop Allen Vigneron has appointed the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption (Grotto) and the Adoration chapel of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, both in Detroit, as places where a plenary indulgence may be gained to mark this special year honoring the saint (February 18, 2012 to February 18, 2013).  The church of Mary, Mother of Mercy in Carrollton, Ohio, will be an additional location where the indulgence may be gained. The relics of the Saint from the original monastery of Coimbra, Portugal, will be on a tour of all the houses of the Order throughout the world. They will be in Detroit from September 10 to 22, 2012.

 

Men's communities, Saints, Women's Communities

Feast of St. Norbert

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June 6th is the Feast Day of St. Norbert. May the Norbertines around the world be blessed by their most saintly founder, St. Norbert.

The five ends of the Norbertines are:

1) Laus Dei in choro (the singing of the Divine Office)

2) Zelus animarum (zeal for the salvation of souls)

3) Spiritus jugis pœnitentiæ (the spirit of habitual penance)

4) Cultus Eucharisticus (a special devotion to the Holy Eucharist)

5) Cultus Marianus (a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin)

Check out the Norbertine website of St. Michael’s Abbey (a thriving IRL Affiliate Community) in Silverado, CA, and the Norbertine Canonesses website as well which is a new community of nuns.

Men's communities

The Boston HUB

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Last year, Sean Cardinal O’Malley asked the Brotherhood of Hope to minister to students in 12 institutes of higher education within a 5 mile radius in Boston’s Back Bay. With a total of 60,000 students, the brothers have their hands full. The name of the program is Hub – Hope for Undergraduates in Boston.

The Brotherhood of Hope, an IRL Affiliate founded in 1980, began serving Rutgers University in 1985. As evangelists, their consecration of God First, God Alone,  fuels their passion for the New Evangelization, primarily to college students at secular universities. Reaching out to inactive and uncommitted Catholics, they encourage conversion to Christ and His Church. Their hope is that their students will transmit this conversion-and-outreach passion into their vocation, family life, parish, and work environments. One student said after attending a retreat that “my faith became the priority over everything else.”

The Brothers describe themselves as spiritual marines, taking their “place at the frontlines of the Church. We seek to hold a place in the wall where it is weakest.” God bless them and all the students who seek to find their true vocation in life.

Men's communities, News

Where Would We be Without EWTN?

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I once told a priest from Germany that I thought that EWTN had saved Catholicism in America. He looked surprised and startled at my pronouncement.  But where on the TV waves was (and is)  authentic Catholicism being taught? How many Catholic and non-Catholic lives have been transformed through the network?

Congratulations to EWTN which celebrated its 25th anniversary on May 2, 2012.

“There is significance that Mother Angelica started EWTN to defend Jesus Christ, and we were founded on the feast of St. Athanasius, a doctor of the Church, defender of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the ‘Father of Orthodoxy,’” said Father Joseph Wolfe, MFVA, the first priest ordained for the new Public Clerical Association of the Faithful in 1993. “Mother Angelica wanted us to be a spiritual support for the television network.”  He uses the analogy that their cloistered nuns are to be the heart of the mission and the friars and EWTN are to be the voice of the mission.

Today, there are 17 Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word (MFVA) friars who are priests or brothers. Twelve are in perpetual profession. On June 2, two men will be ordained to the transitional deaconate and two to the priesthood, increasing MFVA priests’ numbers to seven.

May the friars continue to be true to the their motto: The lost I will seek out; the strays I will bring back  (Ezekiel 34:16).

Men's communities

How to Tell a Humble Priest

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On Saturday, April 14th, the Very Rev.  Cassian Folsom, OSB, received the IRL’s Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award.  This video contains his acceptance speech entitled: “The Inseparable Link Between Holiness and Worship”.  I encourage everyone to listen to it in its entirety but we include a brief, written sample here. As one who witnessed his reverent celebration of the Holy Eucharist, I can definitely say that it felt like a small glimpse of Heaven on earth!

“The humble priest has a certain ars celebrandi, a certain way of carrying himself, a certain respect for the holy things, a fitting decorum in the presence of God. The arrogant priest has a different ars celebrandi, and the faithful can tell the difference immediately. The humble celebrant is transparent, so that the Lord can shine through. The priest knows that the liturgy is not primarily his work, but the work of the Holy Trinity, and his job is to be a good instrument and to get out of the way as much as possible so that the Lord is free to accomplish his work of grace within the hearts of those present.”

Fr. Cassian started his religious life at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, but in 1998 founded a new Benedictine community in Rome, moving in 2000 to the Monastery of San Benedetto in Norcia, Italy , the birthplace of Saint Benedict and his twin sister Saint Scholastica. The monastery follows a full observance of the Benedictine Rule and uses both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite.

To support the monastery and become a Friend of Norcia, visit their website. Also, Father’s talks from the conference can be ordered from the IRL by calling (847)573-8975.

 

 

Men's communities, Resources

Searching for Someone

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Often, educational debt is a stumbling block to a religious vocation. Take the case of Friar Anthony Serviam Maria, a simply professed Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate. In a story in Our Sunday Visitor (4/22/12), Friar Anthony tells how as a layman he went on a retreat with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal where Fr. Stan Fortuna challenged him to name his passion. What he realized was that what he loved (wilderness survival and primitive skills) did little for God. Feeling called to religious life but needing to pay down his debt, he applied for a grant from the Mater Eccelsiae Fund for Vocations, an organization that helps  to eliminate the obstacle an aspirant’s student loans present to answering his vocation.

Today Mater Eccelsiae is making payments on his remaining debt.  The man who lived a “pagan life” searching for something found Someone.

 

Men's communities, Saints

Agent 007 OFM Conv.

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In the James Bond movies, good always triumphed over evil. The Conventual Franciscans have their own version of agent 007, the English-born Friar Matthew Bond who seeks to conquer the forces of darkness by spreading the truth, beauty and goodness of our faith by the “writing” of icons. An iconographer and novice at St. Francis of Assisi Novitiate in Mishawaka, Indiana, Friar Matthew has done many icons and has given workshops on the “writing” and spirituality of icons.

Two of his most recent icons are of two soon-to-be canonized American Saints: Mother Marianne Cope and Kateri Tekawitha. Both Blesseds lived in New York State and have close connections with the Conventual Franciscans (that’s another interesting story).

Friar Matthew’s icon of Mother Marianne depicts her bandaging the wounds of a leper. Her medical supplies are at her feet. A hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii, is depicted in the foreground. The Franciscan Church of the Assumption is to the left of the saint, and the Motherhouse that she left to go to Hawaii in 1883, is to the right in the picture.

To see more of Friar Matthew’s icons, visit the Conventual Franciscan website.

Men's communities, News

Vietnam Musings – Vocations and a Cardinal

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Vietnam might be the last place where you would expect vocations to be flourishing but that is just what the Conventual Franciscans are experiencing at the Orders’ mission in that country.

May God bless these young men on their journey of faith, especially in light of the sacrifices of the many Catholics who defended their Faith in that country and even gave up their lives rather than renounce the Truth. I am reminded of one of my heroes, Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, who was imprisoned in Vietnam for thirteen years, nine of them in solitary confinement. His books are spiritual classics.

Also, read the story of Joseph Nguyen, a young seminarian who was in a coma and pronounced dead and has the death certificate marked VOID to prove it. While Joseph was in his coma, the Cardinal appeared to him while his parents were praying for the Cardinal’s intercession.  The Diocesan inquiry into the life of Servant of God Francis Xavier Nguyen Cardinal Van Thuan opened in 2010.