Bro. David Betz has been assigned to the Siena Woods community to be part of the support staff. This assignment begins on November 2. Thank you to Bro. David for his willingness to serve the province and our brothers. Thank you also to the West Hills community for their willingness to adjust early in the ministerial year.

Please join in praying for Fr. Tim Kenney, who is continuing the tradition of leading the Marianist Mission pilgrimage to Greece this year. There are over 20 pilgrims on the trip. The pilgrimage goes from October 19-29.

Once again, we gather with the Marianist Family around the world. Thank you to those who have sent in photos. Click here to view. If you forgot to send your photos, please email them to me as soon as possible.

The Marianist Family Council of North America (MFC-NA) met virtually for its annual meeting on Friday, October 15. Click here for the list of MFC-NA members and the group Zoom photo.  

The main issues on the agenda were:

As you may know, the province continues to invite others to assist us in supporting our mission. We continue to count on the Marianist Mission for their efforts in the area of fundraising. We also continue to expand our efforts in social media and presence on the web.

Please feel free to share the videos below with family and friends that may be interested.

Laudato Sí Action Platform: Prayers

The Marianist Sisters General Council has made available the prayers that can be used as part of community Mass. Communities are invited to use them when possible. These are the 40 days leading up to November 14. Click here.

Because of local traditions, several communities in the province have the tradition of celebrating “Día de los Muertos.” This is a time of remembering the deceased in families, parishes, etc. Several communities create “altarcitos” or displays of brothers and family members who died during the previous year. Bro. Brian Zampier has prepared a list of Marianists who died from November 2020-October 2021 to display on the Day the Dead altar at his community. Thank you to Bro. Brian, for sharing this document with us. Please join me in thanking our God for the many holy Marianists who have gone before us. Click here to download.

Please click here for helpful information on living in a time of Covid.

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is celebrating 50 years of pioneering the use of shareholder advocacy to press companies on environmental, social and governance issues.

To view the timeline of ICCR's advocacy on human rights, click here.

Submitted by George Lisjak, director of the North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS)

Some two years ago, Fr. Oscar Vasquez suggested that NACMS engage in a video project to preserve the memories of Marianists who attended the SM General Chapter of 1981. We at NACMS were happy to take on this project.

True to our high standards, we wanted the product to be worthy of the significant event that was the revision of the "SM Rule of Life." We recorded many hours of audio and video footage, much of it, out of necessity, via Zoom. We spent many more hours researching the story, writing a script, poring through archival photos, learning production skills, and editing all of it together into a cohesive, informative and entertaining video.

I am delighted to announce that Renewal, Fidelity, and Community: The Society of Mary General Chapter of 1981 is complete! We are pleased to share the video with you now via this link. We hope you enjoy it. We at NACMS are very grateful for those of you who shared your memories with us. This is your story. We are pleased to be able to help tell it.

In addition, Gascon's "History of the SM, Volume 1" has arrived! We are starting the process for distribution with an email to SM-USA, SM-Meribah and FMI-USA community directors asking for the number of complimentary copies desired as per our policy. We will also be sending two copies each to the other Zonal Conferences and to the archives in Rome and San Antonio. Picking up your copies in Dayton, if possible, would help tremendously with shipping costs.

We are also grateful to the Provincial Council for your unwavering support of NACMS, your high expectations of us, and, yes, your calling us to stretch ourselves into new and challenging ways of telling the Marianist story.

Submitted by Deacon Dan Donnelly, Director of Sponsorship

The 2021 Marianist Administrators Conference (MAC) begins tomorrow and includes several workshops geared toward administrators and board chairs of Marianist-sponsored ministries. This year we will be blessed to have the three presidents of our Marianist Universities. They will engage in a dialogue as to how to strengthen the bridge between our Marianist-sponsored high schools and universities. Please click here for a description of the workshops being offered this year.

“Nearly half (48%) of those in initial formation were born in 1990 or later. They are under the age of 30. Think of the people you know under 30 and pray for them today.” [National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC)]

October 21: Albert Kuntemeier

October 23: Charles Miller

October 24: Earl Leistikow

October 25: Thomas Trager

October 26: Robert Bouffier

October 27: José Jesús Ruiz Santillán

October 22-24: Marianist Administrators' Conference, St. Louis

October 25: Sponsorship Commission meeting, St. Louis