Volume 3 ~ Issue 17; October 1-15, 2018
IN THIS ISSUE:
  • Installation for Temporary Professed

  • R + R Update
  • Juntos Como Hermanos

  • ESC Communicators Meet
Our Holy Father Francis of Assisi, Founder of the Three Orders
October 3 (Transitus) October 4 (Feast).

Artwork from St. Joseph Monastery (Poor Clares), Aptos, California which closed in September, 2017.
6 TEMPORARY PROFESSED FRIARS
INSTALLED AS READERS & ACOLYTES
Old Mission San Luis Rey,
Oceanside, California
September 26, 2018

As part of a Eucharistic celebration with Provincial Minister David Gaa presiding, six temporary professed friars of the Province were installed in the ministries of reader (lector) and acolyte in the St. Clare Chapel, Old Mission San Luis Rey, on September 26. The six friars who were installed are:  Henrí Djojo, James Seiffert, Juan-José Jauregui, Bradley Tuel, Michael Lomas, and Antonio Luevano.

In his remarks, David told a story about a person who told him about how she once needed some assistance and approached the friars for help. “The friars will do anything for people,” she said in admiration. David reminded the friars that we are men for others and that all of our ministry is one of service to the People of God.  

In his capacity as ordinary, David then presented a copy of the Scriptures to each friar, he said: “Take this book of holy Scripture and be faithful in handing on the word of God, so that it may grow strong in the hearts of his people.” As he presented the chalice and wine to be consecrated to each man he said: Take this vessel with wine for the celebration of the eucharist. Make your life worthy of your service at the table of the Lord and of his Church.”

Along with their Director/Guardian Friar Anthony Garibaldi and FST President Friar Michael J. Higgins TOR, the temporary professed friars are presently moving into their new homes. Friar Juan José Jauregui is Vicar, but because of lack of space his room remains at the Mission:
  • Casa Lasuen, 4023 Via Serra, Oceanside, CA 92057 (Anthony, Henrí, Antonio)
  • Casa Serra, 4027 Via Serra, Oceanside, CA 92057 (Michael H., James, Bradley, Michael L.)

Photos: All photos by Charles Talley OFM
Friar Bradley Tuel
Friar Henrí Djojo
Casa Lasuen
Casa Serra
HIGHLIGHTS
R + R Phone Conference Call
September 24, 2018

The six US/OFM provincial ministers convened their regularly schedule teleconference on September 24, 2018 and have released a summary highlighting their process and decisions. Some major points include:

  • Final details for the release of a letter from the Provincial Ministers for the Feast of Francis, entitled “A Plea for the Soul of America” were discussed and settled. It will be sent out in both English and Spanish in time for the Feast.
  • The question of how the Poor Clares and the Secular Franciscans will be affected by the R + R process will be discussed at the Provincial Ministers’ face-to-face meeting in St. Louis in October, 2018.
  • A firm has been engaged to explore possible venues for a Chapter of Mats next year.
  • A proposal regarding interprovincial R + R pilgrimages was discussed. A suggestion is being explored that some of the pilgrimages be to domestic sites such as the California or San Antonio missions.
  • a national directory of US-6 OFM friars is being prepared. This will be a common, electronic directory available to friars only via the provincial websites and managed by the provincial Secretaries.

6th Annual Juntos Como Hermanos Gathering
Washington, DC
September 17-20, 2018
By Friar Ed Shea (SH)

From September 17-20 friars from 6 of the 7 US Provinces gathered together in Washington DC for the 6th Annual Juntos Como Hermanos gathering.  With special thanks to Friar Edgardo (“Lalo”) Jara and the other friars from the Holy Name province and the Interprovincial Postulancy House, we had another fruitful and inspiring fraternal experience.

Part 1:  Lay Collaboration in the Ministry of the Church  
The theme for this year was the importance of working with the laity. To that end we had some input from Carmen Nanko Fernandez who has had years of experience working and teaching in the Church, most recently at the Catholic Theological Union (CTU) in Chicago. Carmen challenged us, especially in light of the renewed clergy abuse scandal, to be rigorously honest about naming the reality in which we find ourselves and to not be afraid to move forward together latinamente.  

She spoke to us about the history and development of the 2005 document Co-Workers in the Vineyard which tries to address the question of cooperation and collaboration of laity in the Church, dealing especially with issues of the hierarchy and power struggles which still exist. Carmen suggests three “movements” that have happened in this regard:
  • Laity as “object” of ministry — when laity were encouraged to basically “pray, pay and obey” and there was really no sense of accompaniment on the part of the clerics who served them. At the same time, there was a sense of the “Priesthood of the Faithful” that was already taking shape as people found ways to pray that didn’t require clergy to be leaders: e.g., rosary devotions
  • Laity “in” Ministry — the idea that laypeople have a key role to play in their own world, whether that of the law office, hospital, bakery, or factory. The focus here is on the secular world. With Vatican II came the development of the ideal of the laity as “full, active participants” in the ministry of the Church. This eventually led to the notion of LEM (Lay Ecclesial Ministers) working alongside the clergy. Especially among Hispanics however, there has been (and still is) a deep sense of people being underrepresented, “under-studied” and not really welcomed as co-workers. At the same time, there were various local grassroots movements that started and have continued under the direction of lay people, e.g., Cursillo, Jornadas, Encuentro, and so on.
  • With Laity in Mission — a developing sense of shared stewardship along with an appreciation of the lessons that we can and are still learning: being intentional, understanding particular contexts, participating in acompañamiento, Franciscan itinerancy, popular piety, conjunto (not speaking for them), etc.
 
Carmen concluded her reflections by suggesting that perhaps we could use a new metaphor when we speak of our co-ministry-- that of fiesta, which includes the need for various padrinos to take care of different aspects of our work together.  CLICK HERE FOR FULL TEXT
III Congreso Franciscano Misionero de América Latina y el Caribe
Monte San Francisco, Guatemala City, Guatemala
October 22-27, 2018

With the theme Nuevos escenarios – nuevos desafíos: El cuidado de la creación – La movilidad humana – La cultura de paz/ New Scenarios, New Challenges: The Care of Creation, The Mobility of Humanity, The Culture of Peace, this Third Franciscan Missionary Congress of Latin American and the Caribbea is hosted by our sister province in Central America, La Provincia Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en Centroamérica, Panamá / Fundación La Santa Cruz, Haití. The following link will provide general information and registration materials: https://www.3er-congresofranciscanomisionero.org 

Monte Maria retreat center, Guatemala City, Guatemala
FORMER INTERPROVINCIAL NOVITIATE:
ST. FRANCIS FRIARY CLOSES
Burlington, Wisconsin
 
St. Francis Friary in Burlington, Wisconsin, former site of the interprovincial novitiate, will close October 1, according to ABVM Provincial Minister Jim Gannon. Eventually, the building, which once housed the province’s theologate, will be demolished and the land—part of a 100 acre parcel—may be sold. The Burlington site served as the OFM novitiate until moving to Santa Barbara in 2017.

 Along with our own and the other provinces involved in the R& R process, the Assumption Province is in the process of evaluating its ministerial commitments and property holdings. In addition to the St. Francis Friary, ABVM have also been in the process of evaluating and/or relinquishing commitments and holdings in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Sybertsville, Pennsylvania as well as the former Franciscan Publishers Building in Pulaski, WI.

Photo:  St. Francis Friary, Burlington, Wisconsin by Charles Talley OFM
AUTUMN REFLECTION
By Provincial Minister Jim Gannon (ABVM)
 
The following reflection first appeared in The Province Pages newsletter of the Province of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Marry (ABVM). 

Dear Brothers ~

May the Lord give you peace! 

By all these lovely tokens September days are here, with summers best of weather and autumn’s best of cheer.”  
- Helen Hunt Jackson 

Another summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye. When you look back on it all, you can look back on what you learned and can prepare yourself for what lies ahead as we journey into winter? Did you stop and reflect on September 11th, the seventeenth anniversary of what we have come to name “9/11”? Did you reflect on how the world has changed; for the good, for the bad? Did you read more? Did you write more? 
Did you take pictures of beautiful things? Did you grow in your skills and passions? Did you challenge yourself? Did you stay up late talking with a brother Franciscan or with a best friend from your youth? Did you meet a friar from another Franciscan Province? Did you keep up with communications on Revitalization and Restructuring of Franciscans in the United States? Did you meet a stranger? Did you make a new friend or friends? Did you travel? Even if it was just to somewhere else in your state? Did you cook or bake something really delicious? Did you try a new food? Did you go for walks? Did you tell someone you loved them? Did you visit someone in the hospital? Did you visit one of our senior friars in a nursing home, hospital? Did you cry while reading a good book or watching a movie? Did you go to any village, town, or city summer concerts? Did you take care of your physical health? What about your mental health? Did you hug someone you missed? Did you smile and laugh daily? Did you develop a new hobby? Did you spend some time alone with God? Did you make the most out of every opportunity? Maybe you did not do any of these things or even half of them and that is okay. Maybe you want to do them more often? Maybe you will do some of them this winter? “ One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” -- Henry David Thoreau 

Enjoy the colors of Autumn. Peace and good!
Jim 

Top Right: Jim Gannon OFM (Provincial Minister, ABVM), Courtesy, Andy Tretwo, Director of Communications ABVM
Top: St. Francis Retreat, San Juan Bautista, CA. Photo: Charles Talley OFM
DIACONATE ORDINATION UPDATE FOR
FRIAR SAM NASADA
October 20, 2018
From Provincial Secretary Tom West

Received from Friar Joe Schwab at the Casa:

Please tell the friars let us know who is coming for Sam's diaconate ordination on October 20, at 10 am. We have a very limited number of rooms available on October 19. We have a significant number of rooms available for October 20 and 21. We ask $75 for the first night, then $50 other nights. All meals included. If brothers want to come but have no money, come anyway. The friars, bishop and some guests that Sam has coming will be invited to lunch after the ordination. There will be a light reception immediately after the ceremony for all guests.   We need a count by October 12.

The Conventual Church of 
Our Lady of the Angels
at
The Franciscan Renewal Center
5802 E. Lincoln Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85253-4124

Saturday October 20, 2018
10 AM
Bishop Thomas Olmsted presiding

Photo: Sam Nasada OFM. Photo: c. Peter Jordan
NEWS FROM THE PHILIPPINES:
FRIAR SERGIO SANTOS
From Friar Max Hottle

Our brother Sergio Santos OFM is living/ministering at the Provincial House in the San Francisco del Monte district of Quezon City, Metro Manila -- where St. Peter Baptist OFM was living before he set off to Japan on a Spanish diplomatic mission. There he and his companions were martyred on February 5, 1597. The Filipino Province of San Pedro Bautista is named after him.

Sergio is one of the senior "house friars". He also works in formation as a spiritual director/confessor and recently in the mountain city of Baguio as the director of the friars preparing for final professions.

When I visited him, Sergio and I spent time talking about "the good old days" and also about the "good days now"! The friars there and at Our Lady of the Angels Seminary -- wherever I went -- were very hospitable. Many were my former students. . . e.g. the present Provincial and his 3 predecessors -- each of them "my very best student"! Sergio's Guardian is Generoso Pastidio OFM, one of the first friars from our former mission in Negro Oriental. He could give you the best information on how to contact Sergio. Gene's cell number is 001 63 927-535-5441.

Photo: (l to r) Friars Max Hottle and Sergio Santos. Photo: Courtesy, Max Hottle
FROM FRIAR ERIC PILARCIK
VOCATIONS MEETING
Chicago, Illinois
September 10, 2018

Directors of Vocations representing each of the 6 US OFM provinces involved in the R + R process met at St. Joseph formation community in Chicago on September 10. They are shown here (l to r):  Friars Sebastian Sandoval (SB), Eric Pilarcik (SB), Thom Smith (SH), Richard Goodin (SJB), Erasmo Romero (OLG), Basil Valente (HNP), Greg Plata (ABVM).  
NEW!
KEN BURNS 
DOCUMENTARY ON MAYO CLINIC 
FEATURES FRANCISCAN SISTERS

On Tuesday, September 25, 2018 PBS (the Public Broadcasting System) aired the new, two-hour documentary by Ken Burns on the Mayo Clinic, which featured the role of the Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester, Minnesota in the founding of the world-famous medical facility.  Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science charts the birth of the hospital in 1883 and concludes with an overview of present-day Mayo Clinic operations on several campuses in the US which treat up to 14, 000 patients in any given 24-hour period. “The Mayo is just a quintessentially American story, just as baseball is a quintessentially American subject, as are the national parks, the Civil War,” Burns said. “And this was a story firing on all cylinders, at least as far as I felt. And it was a story that I don’t think had been fully understood.”
 
The role of the sisters was pivotal in the founding of the Clinic. In 1877, Sister Mary Alfred Moes and 23 other Franciscan Sisters from Joliet, Illinois, came to Rochester, Minnesota, to establish a new community ready to serve as teachers. In 1883, Rochester was hit by a devastating tornado. The Franciscan sisters provided care for the victims. Seeing the necessity for health care in the Rochester area, Mother Alfred persisted until Dr. William Worrall Mayo agreed to serve as director of a hospital to be built by the sisters. Established in 1889, Saint Mary’s Hospital was on the cutting edge of health care. Today, Saint Marys is part of the Mayo Clinic, serving people from all over the world.

BIRTHDAYS:
John Luat Nguyen - October 5          
Daniel Barica - October 5 
Gerard Saunders - October 8         
Rami Fodda - October 15         
John Hardin - October 17           
Eric Pilarcik - October 19
Javier Alvarez - October 25
David Buer - October 25
Javier Reyes - October 25
Jorge Hernandez - October 29
FEAST DAYS:
Francisco Alejo - October 4
Daniel Lackie - October 10
Edward Sarrazin - October 13
Gerard Saunders - October 16
Ignatius DeGroot - October 17
Eric Pilarcik - October 18
Ponchie Vasquez - October 31
2018 Calendar
~ From Lara Hansen ~
~ UPCOMING EVENTS ~

Investiture of Novices
October 16, 3pm ~ Old Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California

Diaconate Ordination
October 20 ~ Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, AZ

Fall 2018 Convocations (2 sessions)
October 22–25 ~ St. Francis Retreat, San Juan Bautista, CA
October 29–November 1 ~ Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, AZ

Chapter Agenda Assembly
January 7–10, 2019 ~ San Damiano Retreat, Danville, CA 

Inter-Provincial Retreat (2 sessions)
January 14-18, 2019, Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, AZ
February 4-8, 2019, San Pedro Retreat Center, Winter Park, FL

Spring Convocations (2 sessions)
March 11–14, 2019 ~ St. Francis Retreat, San Juan Bautista, CA
March 25–28, 2019 ~ Mission San Luis Rey, Oceanside, CA

Chapter 2019
June 23–28, 2019 ~ Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, AZ

OFM.FYI, the bi-weekly newsletter of the Franciscan Friars Province of Saint Barbara, is published on the 1st and 15th of each month. Editor: Charles Talley, ofm. 
Relevant submissions of texts, photos, etc., are welcome at any time 
and will be placed in the next appropriate issue. 
 Send submissions to: ofm.fyi@gmail.com