The Provincial Chapter met from Thursday, August 26-Monday, August 30. The Provincial Chapter addressed the propositions and other regular Chapter business. I will be sending the Minutes and Acts of the Chapter to the Superior General. As soon as the General Council ratifies the Acts, we will publish them for the Province.  

Yesterday, September 1, the St. Louis communities gathered for Mass and supper to celebrate Bro. Francis Heyer's 100th birthday. Click here to see pictures. The highlight of the day was a special phone call from the Holy Father.

Pope Francis thanked Bro. Francis for being a faithful religious. Pope Francis promised to pray for him and asked for prayers in return. Let us all join Bro. Francis in praying for the Holy Father. Thank you to the General Administration and Bro. Mike McAward for arranging this momentous phone call.

The Province Personnel book 2021-2022 is in the mail. Please note: We intentionally limit the distribution of the Marianist personnel because we are increasingly conscious of both printing costs and the privacy of Province members. Please respect these serious concerns; do not give a copy to someone outside the Province. Please destroy copies of last year’s personnel; do not simply recycle them. You can also find a regularly updated copy on the portal. Please contact Ann Mueller if you have any questions.

Please join me in thanking Ann Mueller for all her work in getting the personnel book to the printer to have August 15 as our publication date.

We received word earlier this week that the World Day of Prayer will be on October 10, 2021, at Our Lady of Subukia, Nakuru-Kenya (Eastern Africa).

The document describing the Shrine is available here in English and Spanish. Please remember that our practice in the Province has been to celebrate on the date when possible, yet some groups have had to move the date of the celebration.

Last week, I shared my plan to begin sharing the bulletins of our Marianist parishes over the next few weeks. Today, I invite you to look at the many wonderful ministries associated with Our Lady of the Pillar Parish in St. Louis. Click here to read.

Click here for the St. Louis Jubilee invitation that will be held on September 25.

Click here for the JPIC Roma newsletter.

The Season of Creation starts September 1. This year, thousands of Christians from the six continents are invited to unite for a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee for our Earth and discover radically new ways of living with creation. For Season of Creation events, view here.

Please remember September 14 is the anniversary of the death of Venerable Marie Thérèse de Lamourous. She was the great collaborator with both Blessed William Joseph Chaminade and Blessed Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon. Marie Thérèse is a wonderful example of why there are three branches of our Marianist Family.

This coalition is promoting vaccine equity in the U.S. and around the world, drawing on Catholic social teaching for people who are underserved or marginalized. This includes communities of color, rural areas and others with limited vaccine availability in the U.S., as well as access for developing countries and among refugees and other displaced people who may not be citizens in their current home. We are so proud that our Association of Marianist Universities is one of over fifty Catholic organizations working together to locally and globally end this pandemic. Please watch this short video to learn more. Our very own Bro. Tom Giardino, executive director of AMU, is featured.

Last year at the March Provincial Chapter, I was encouraged to hire someone to work with marketing and communications for our vocation ministry. This past weekend at the Provincial Chapter meeting, I was happy to announce that we have hired Conor McEntee. Conor is a St. John Vianney High School alumnus who just graduated from Bradley University with a degree in journalism. He brings a variety of marketing and communications experience to the job. Conor will also share his talents with the Office of Communications and work out of the West Pine office. I am in St. Louis this week and have enjoyed working with him. I am excited to see how we can work together in the future to promote and share information about Marianist vocations. You can learn more about what Conor will be doing in my Chapter presentation.

This past year has been turned upside down, so I also turned my Chapter presentation upside down and began by asking the Chapter how they have promoted vocations in the last year. Fr. Chaminade has said we are all missionaries, and I would like to change that to say we are all vocation directors! Please click here to watch a video of the Chapter presentation or click here to view a PDF of the presentation. The responses in the PDF were from the Chapter members.

In the Chapter presentation, you heard that I would like to host another Roundtable Discussion about the recent edition of Horizon magazine. Please join by using this Zoom information on September 15, at 7:00 p.m. (CST). Meeting ID: 914 5982 7171; Passcode: 366347

You also may have seen the QR code to join the Social Media Group Chat in the Chapter presentation. You may also click this link to join the WhatsApp Group.

Finally, in the Chapter presentation, I mentioned Vocation Plans. Here is the information about Vocation Plans, but please remember I am willing to Zoom in to your community to help facilitate a conversation about Vocation Plans if you need it.

September 2: A. Paul Jablinski, James Leahy

September 7: William Bolts

September 6: Labor Day, West Pine offices closed

September 8: The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary