Last week, Bro. Tom Giardino and I were immersed in four interesting and important events.

We began the week with a visit to St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. The all-school Eucharist was excellent, and we concluded the morning with a formal signing of our sponsorship agreement with the president, Tom Carone, and the chair of the board, Joe Weber. Bro. Tom will report more fully on this encouraging development within our Office of Sponsorship.

On Wednesday morning, Tom and I met with Bishop Nelson Perez, the new bishop of Cleveland. Bishop Perez has known the Society of Mary for a long time; his family hosted several Spanish Marianists when he was young. He was most recently the auxiliary bishop of the Rockville, New York, diocese, home to the schools of the Meribah province. We were happy for this meeting and the opportunity to share with the new bishop the Marianist sponsorship of both Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School and, now, St. Vincent-St. Mary.

Dan Donnelly, Bro. Tom Giardino, Tom Carone and STVM Principal Robert Brownfield with Fr. Marty Solma and STVM students.

On Thursday morning, the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar, Tom and I visited Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh. In addition to celebrating the Eucharist with a portion of the student body, we had an opportunity to tour the newly built facility and spend time with Principal Luke Crawford. It was an encouraging day for us.

We ended the week with the final province bicentennial celebration in Philadelphia. More than 250 guests represented many of the current and former Marianist ministries in this part of the province. Many thanks to Bros. Jack Ventura and Steve Glodek and Fr. Pat Tonry for an excellent celebration and superb Marianist hospitality.

Let me also thank the Province Bicentennial Committee and its co-chairs, Bros. Charlie Johnson and John Habjan, for a job very well done. The final Society-wide celebration will be in Singhpur, India, on Jan. 22. This will bring the commemoration to an official end.

As you might already know, a group of 14 Brothers of St. Gabriel from Thailand have joined the UD extension program -- the Deepahalli Education Centre -- in Bangalore, India.

The program, under the direction of Bro. Thomas Oldenski, provides an undergraduate education to our own scholastics and now to these Thai brothers. This is a wonderful service to these brothers. (Bro. Tom, by the way, had a successful hip replacement and is improving rapidly. He is eager to return to Deepahalli.)

In complement to Bro. Tom's leadership, Margaret Mize from the education department of Chaminade University in Honolulu and her husband, Eddie DaSilva, are assisting with the educational program this semester. Thank you, Margaret and Eddie, for this wonderful service.

Bro. Tom Oldenski with the Deepahalli Education Centre cohort.

Thanks, as well, to Bro. Mark Ormond from the Province of Meribah, who has now returned to his province. Mark has spent many years helping at our Deepahalli program in many areas of instruction, including education, theology and science. We are deeply indebted to him for his time, energy, expertise and commitment to this important program.

Bro. Balaswamy, who has been studying business at St. Mary's University, has returned to the District of India. The program he was pursuing required more preparation courses than he had. Bro. Bala will pursue some additional education within India. We wish him well and thank the Woodlawn Community for its fraternal hospitality for the last several months.

	The Marianist Family Council includes Fr. Marty Solma, Sr. Laura Leming, Matt Dunn (MLC-NA chair), and Bro. Joe Kamis. Not pictured: Sr. Gretchen Trautman.

Several of the members of the Provincial Council are attending the first board meeting of the academic year at the University of Dayton this week.

In addition, Bro. Joe Kamis and I met with other members of the Marianist Family Council of North America. The Provincial Council meets in Dayton tomorrow and Saturday.

Let's pray for all of our brothers who are ill, and for our brothers in Puerto Rico.

Please remember Diane Guerra as well; she's recovering from a broken hip. And, let's remember to pray for one another.

We're pleased to announce that Bro. Armando Añeses will be ordained to the priesthood at Colegio San José on Nov. 25.  

As you'll recall, Hurricane Maria forced the cancellation of the original date. And unfortunately, because of the widespread destruction, the number of guests coming from the mainland will be very limited. Hotels are not accepting guests as the rooms are being used for those assisting with recovery efforts.

We will celebrate this happy province event more appropriately next spring.

We offer Armando the promise of our prayers as he prepares for this important day.

Join the Catholic Climate Covenant on Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. Eastern time to gain perspective on the common question: "Is climate change to blame for the recent hurricanes and wildfires?"

Learn from a climate scientist how these disasters impact our sisters and brothers, and how you might explain this serious situation to others. Learn more.

You're invited to pray with Pope Francis in solidarity with the poor on Nov. 19. Please mark your calendar to be part of the prayer service with the Holy Father. Sign in on the Education for Justice website with the username: jvogt and password: justice.

And, as a reminder, you are welcome and encouraged to access this informative website at any time.

We intentionally limit the distribution of the personnel because of printing costs and to protect the privacy of the province members. Please respect these serious concerns. Be sure to destroy copies of last year's personnel; do not simply recycle them.

You can also find a regularly updated copy on the portal home page. Please contact Ann Mueller if you have questions.