Dear Brothers,

Summer Notes Schedule

Our next regularly scheduled Notes from the Provincial Council will be on July 30. We will continue to publish every other week.

Personnel

Assignment(s) are effective with the publishing of the new personnel year.

Provincial Council Planning Days

The Provincial Council will be meeting from July 29-31 at the Marianist Retreat & Conference Center, Eureka, MO.  Please keep us in prayer during these days.  

Closing Ceremony at St. Joseph Catholic Community, Eldersburg

The last Sunday of June was the final Sunday for the Marianist presence at the St. Joseph Catholic Community Eldersburg, Md. As a Province, we give thanks to Fr. Neville O’Donohue and the many Marianists that staffed the parish over the years. Thank you to Bro. Justin Quiroz for compiling a video link to the closing Sunday homilies and final remarks.  Click here to view.

A Podcast from NACMS: Once a Missionary, Always a Missionary

Sr. Gabby Bibeau, from the NACMS staff, interviews Sr. Columba, a Marianist Sister from South Korea, who has spent the last 13 years of her life as a missionary in India. She was among the original four Marianist Sisters who went to India in 2006 to begin a community of Marianist Sisters. View here.

Surviving in the COVID-19 Era

Please click here for helpful resources on surviving in this time of COVID.

This Coming Week

Dear Brothers,

Continuing Prayers for Bro. Allen Pacquing

Let us continue to keep Bro. Allen in prayer as he reaches the halfway mark in his 30 day retreat and for Bro. Steve Glodek who is his retreat director.

JPIC Province Survey

We are in a transition time with the JPIC Office. It is a wonderful opportunity for us, as Province members, to pause and see how we may want to reimagine this office as we look to the next few years.

Pope Francis has called us as religious to “wake up the world” by prayer, by doing, by acting and by living in new ways. I invite you to complete a brief survey (only 7 questions) that will give our JPIC committee members some feedback on what structures make the most sense to support our members and how best to respond to Pope Francis' call.

I would appreciate your response within one week. Please complete this survey by next Thursday morning, July 23. Thank you so much. Click here for the survey.

Interesting Resource

The Center for the Study of Conscreated Life, with whom the Religious Formation Conference partners and collaborates, has made available videos from their recent conference, " Engaging Our Diversity: Interculturality & Consecrated Life."

Upcoming Calendar

Dear Brothers,

Summer Stories of God in Our Midst

This week’s reflection is submitted by Kelli Kinnear , director of Ministry and Service at Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School in Dayton, Ohio. Kelli was asked to respond to the question, “When have you seen God in your midst as you have worked with your students during this pandemic?”

As I reflect on the past couple of months at CJ of “distance learning” and “sheltering in place” (who had ever heard of those terms a few short months ago?), there is really no one stand-out story that comes to mind. Rather, the past few months have been made up of many small stories of support, frustrations, hope, discouragement and grace.

It was the moments of hope and grace that helped sustain me. Some included the many acts of service our students continued to do from home. One student wrote and sent notes of support to patients at a local hospice. One student helped to build a sandbox at a park. Another student painted rocks with positive messages and left them for others to see. And on my own walks in my neighborhood I happened to come across a couple of painted rocks. Although these weren’t from our students, it made me realize how connected we all are and how many others are also doing such simple, yet loving acts of service.

Hope and grace were evident when 40+ members of our faculty and staff delivered a pie to every member of our CJ community one Saturday morning (over 800 pies were delivered, with protective masks & gloves of course!). They were evident in the many online meetings with coworkers, department members and campus ministers from around the country. I was reminded that we are all truly in this together. God’s grace and hope also came to me in the spontaneous and surprise emails I received from students who just reached out to let me know that they were thankful that I had an impact in their lives. Their simple messages of love reminded me that I too, need to reach out to more people to offer that same hope and grace.

I don’t know what the fall will bring - can’t imagine how we are going to run retreats and required service and so many other parts of what was once a “normal” Catholic school experience. But I do know that I am not alone, and that my faith will continue to sustain me through the moments of grace and hope that God will provide.

"Faith is the realization of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen."

(Hebrews 11:1)

Dear Brothers,

During the month of July, I took a step back from email, news, social media and the administrative side of my role as vocation director. I focused on my favorite part, direct ministry with people discerning and people we would like to encourage to discern Marianist religious life.

This summer, Boys Camp at Tecaboca looked very different for a couple of reasons. Yes, the intentional social distancing, masks and limited exposure looked very different. However, I focused on something else. There were lay Marianists, counselors from Marianist schools, four Marianist contacts, three counselors who expressed interest in discerning religious life, two staff who are actively discerning religious life as an aspirant or pre-novice ( Peter Evans and Jesús Alvarez), one discerning perpetual vows ( Bro. Justin Quiroz) and two perpetually professed Marianists ( Fr. Jim Mueller and me) working together for a common mission.

We didn't have any planned vocation talks or holy hour for vocations, but we did have something very precious. This is what I think of when I talk about a culture of vocations. For the few weeks we were at Tecaboca, it felt very normal for the boys to ask about the life of a vowed religious. We shared our stories, the boys asked questions and a few even shared that they are open to discerning religious life. As one of the returning counselors said, "It just feels right having all these Marianists around." That is my hope for vocation ministry.

As you take time in your planning meetings and talk about how your community will help create and promote a culture of vocations, please consider some common mission for your community. This could be serving at a soup kitchen on a regular basis, regularly attending a prayer service where you are guests not hosts, or even the whole community coming out to support our student athletes, musicians, thespians or scholars. This sense of community is noticed and is a precious gift. I hope we can all promote, create and maintain a culture of vocations where young people can freely ask questions and we can freely tell stories and together help discern God's call.

Top right, Fr. Jim Mueller and Bro. Justin Quiroz with campers.

Bottom left, Jesús Alvarez and Peter Evans.

Please pray for our Brothers who are celebrating their birthdays

July 17: David Herbold

July 18: John Campbell

July 20: Philip Aaron

July 21: Robert Donovan

July 23: Michael Reaume

July 24: Peter Kiama

July 25: James Jaeckle

July 27: Brandon Alana-Maugaotega

July 29-31: Provincial Council Planning Days, MRCC, Eureka, MO.

This publication is for members of the Society of Mary. Please do not forward it. Also, please provide a printed copy for brothers who do not use email.

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