Tomorrow, Bro. Francis Heyer celebrates his 96th birthday. Francis is the oldest member of the province and the second-oldest living Marianist. (A French priest is five months his senior.)

Francis is followed closely by the third-oldest living Marianist, Fr. Joe Stefanelli, who turns 96 on Nov. 23.

Bro. Francis

Fr. Joe

We are grateful for their longevity, their aging with grace, and their love for the Society of Mary. (In case you missed it, there was a short feature on Francis in the May issue of FamilyOnline; scroll down a little to find it.)

Bro. Juan Pablo Espinoza Chavez was approved for his religious worker visa last week and will travel to San Antonio to join his new community at Holy Rosary Parish. He will minister this year at Central Catholic High School. Welcome, Juan Pablo!

Last Thursday, the student body of St. Mary's University gathered at Holy Rosary Parish with Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller to celebrate the beginning of the academic year and the new initiative of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, the university, and the Marianists at Holy Rosary Parish as a "hub" for ministry to young adult Catholics in San Antonio.  

The archbishop gave a moving homily, and Fr. John Thompson rallied the hundreds of students and faculty at the end of the Eucharist. The initiative is off to a very promising start! Thanks to John and to Bros. Charlie Johnson, Mark Motz and Esteban Reyes Durán for their energy and commitment.

Let's pray for the many victims of the flooding in Texas, and for the families of our students at St. Mary's and Central Catholic who have been affected by this terrible storm.  

As the Holy Father has asked, let's do what we can to protect and reverence "our common home."

On Monday, Bro. Armando Añeses began a week-long retreat in preparation for his ordination to the priesthood; he is living at the novitiate during this time of prayer and preparation. Fr. Jim Schimelpfening is directing Armando's retreat. Please keep them both in your prayers during this important time.

Province members have received invitations to Armando's ordination, which will be Sept. 23 in Puerto Rico.

Later this fall, as a part of the directors meeting, Fr. Armando will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at Our Lady of the Pillar Church in St. Louis, on Oct. 7 at 5 p.m. Following Mass, there will be a dinner in the parish hall.

We cordially invite province members to the Mass and dinner. Please contact Gina Marty by Sept.15 if you plan to attend. (Community directors and area coordinators are already included.)

If you plan to attend, you will be responsible for your overnight accommodations.

We are now in the final five months of the bicentennial celebration, and just one short month from our own 200th anniversary! Here's what's ahead.

Time capsules have been sent to each area coordinator. We encourage a conversation in each area about what should be placed into the capsule. We ask that each capsule be buried on province-owned property sometime between Oct. 2 and the conclusion of the bicentennial celebration on January 22, 2018.

Later, we will share the list of contents and the locations of the buried capsules with the entire province.  

In celebration of our foundation day, we plan a special, simultaneous praying of this bicentennial prayer, which was written by Bro. Tom Wendorf. The Office of Sponsorship will send the prayer to all our schools and other sponsored ministries as well, so that all those voices can join in the prayer.

When you pray depends on your time zone:

Time zone Hawai'i Pacific Central and Mexico Eastern Ireland India

Begin prayer at 8 a.m. 11 a.m. 1 p.m. 2 p.m. 7 p.m. 11:30 p.m.

There are a few local celebrations that may conflict with this schedule. Please make any adjustments you can to join in this prayer.

This information is also available on the website under the Bicentennial tab.

Members of the Marianist Residence Community, along with other local Marianists and our lay collaborators will take part in praying (reading) the necrology. The prayer will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 29 and continue for 24 hours.   

During this period, we will name and remember each of the 4,488 members of the Society of Mary who have died over the last 200 years. These men are our history, our legacy and role models of how "to know, love and serve."

Bro. Tom Pieper has created a brief set of questions on the bicentennial theme to be used for community meetings and in conversations with Marianist Lay Communities.

We encourage you to use these questions for discussions between Oct. 2 and the end of the bicentennial celebration period.

Watch upcoming issues of Notes for more information on local area events, particularly for Oct. 2.

 

And finally, mark your calendar for the musical "Spectacle" based on the life of Father Chaminade. It will premier at the University of Dayton in April 2018.

 

"In solidarity ... I call on people of faith to pray for all of those who have been impacted by this hurricane, and I ask people of good will to stand with the victims and their families." This statement, from USCCB's president, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, appeals to all of us to respond as people of faith.

Read his full statement.

In the Aug. 14 issue of Notes, Fr. Marty mentioned how Pope Francis recently told a group of religious that they needed to be "more noisy." Two province members got noisy this past week by writing letters about environmental and racial justice to their local newspaper.

Read the letter from Fr. Marty Solma and the letter from Fr. Tim Kenney. Both appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.