The Syracuse University Catholic Center’s St. Thomas More Chapel was the venue for Our Lady of the Angels Province Minister Provincial ~ Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv., Vicar Provincial ~ Fr. Gary Johnson, OFM Conv. & Province Secretary ~ Br. Nick Romeo, OFM Conv., along with the rest of the Province Definitory [Br. Tom Purcell, OFM Conv., Fr. Jude DeAngelo, OFM Conv., Fr. John Koziol, OFM Conv., Fr. Christopher Dudek, OFM Conv., and Fr. Emanuel Vasconcelos, OFM Conv.] to celebrate this year’s Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, with Fr. Gerry Waterman, OFM Conv. (Catholic Chaplain for SU) and a large group of the students he serves. As the Solemnity fell on the Campus Ministry’s usual “Thursday Night Dinner” night, following the well-attended student Mass, the friars joined in the festive Italian dinner of Chicken and Eggplant Parmesan, pasta marinara, Caesar salad and blue-iced cupcakes. Many students commented later how good it was to have so many friars present and celebrating with them. It was a great way to kick off the fast-approaching festive season!

Two years after launching FranciscanVoice.org, the friars of the CFF & JPIC launch VozFranciscana.org, a Spanish website, geared towards youth but appealing to people of all ages, offers a journey through the life and mission of the Franciscan Friars Conventual. Here the viewer will discover more about who we are, what we do, and how to join our brotherhood.

It is with great joy that our friars gathered for the
Diaconate Ordination of our confrere,
Friar Emmanuel Wenke, OFM Conv.
on Saturday, December 10, 2022,
at the Franciscan Church of the Assumption (Syracuse, NY),
at the hands of Most Rev. Douglas J. Lucia, Bishop of Syracuse.

Family, friends and parishioners joined our friars in celebration of Friar Manny’s continued journey as a Franciscan Friar Conventual, of Our Lady of the Angels Province. Br. Manny Solemnly Professed his vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, in September of 2018. From 2017 – 2020, he served as a Theology Instructor at our Archbishop Curley High School (Baltimore, MD). Since then, Br. Manny has been living in and serving from our St. Bonaventure Friary (Toronto, ON), while in study for the priesthood. During our 2022 Province Chapter, Br. Manny was newly assigned as a Provincial Delegate to the Order of Franciscan Seculars (OFS). After his Deaconate Ordination, Friar Manny will serve as a Deacon, through the ministries of our friars of our St. Francis Friary, in Syracuse, NY.

Friar Manny’s father, Deacon Matt Wenke (at center of photo above), was able to serve at his son’s Diaconate Mass, including professing the Gospel and vesting his son as a Deacon. The pastor of the Franciscan Church of the Assumption ~ Fr. Jude DeAngelo, OFM Conv. (to his left) and our Province Secretary ~ Br. Nicholas Romeo, OFM Conv. (at far right) served as MCs. Our Minister Provincial ~ Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv. offered the greeting and closing remarks. He was joined in the sanctuary space by our Vicar Provincial ~ Fr. Gary Johnson, OFM Conv. and our Province Prefect of Formation ~ Fr. John Koziol, OFM Conv. There were many friar priests on hand to concelebrate the Mass and serve in special capacities, including Br. Tim Blanchard, OFM Conv. (1st Reading) and several of our province student friars: friar Cristofer M. Fernández, OFM Conv. (2nd Reading). In addition to friar Cristofer, several more of the student friars of our Province, also served at the Mass, including friar Joseph Krondon, OFM Conv. and (Apostolic Year – St. Francis Friary, Syracuse, NY), friar Antonio Moualeu, OFM Conv. (Apostolic Year – St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Hamburg, NY), friar Raad Eshoo, OFM Conv., Friar Franck Sokpolie, OFM Conv., and friar Edgar Varela, OFM Conv.

Bishop Lucia’s Homily

Photo Cred: FrancisCorps

Keep him and all of our friars in the varied stages of formation, in your continued prayers.
[Read more about Friar Manny]

For more information on Vocations,
visit FranciscanVoice.org or
email our Province Vocation Directors –
Br. Nick Romeo, OFM Conv. and Fr. Manny Vasconcelos, OFM Conv.,
at vocations@olaprovince.org.

CAN I KNOW TRUTH?
(Ch 2, 1: Ukraine as a Martyred People; Pope Francis is Accused of Russophobia) 

  The Church in the World
“Do not be afraid, Mary” (Lk 1:30).
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38)

Mary’s free decision to be the Mother of the Savior of the world turned fear to joy. She would hear her Son say many times to his disciples: Do not be afraid! She would witness the growing power of hostility and rejection built around her Son until the hour of the Cross when he was dying like a failure. “Woman, behold your Son!” (Jn 19:26). She would receive a new mission to become a mother in a new way: the mother of all who believe in her Son Jesus and wish to follow him. The joy of the Resurrection touched her heart and united her in a new way to the disciples. The Immaculate became the way to her Son’s Kingdom, the Star of the Sea.

Fear underlies the darkness of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. With the Mother of hope, we remember that during Vatican II the Church in the world finally became the real central problem! In a letter^[1] dated 7 October 2022, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gives an opportunity to redress Vatican II. His three encyclicals: God is Love (2005), Saved in Hope (2007) and Charity in Justice (2009) offer a summation of his hope for the Church in the world as the real central problem. The Immaculate’s new mission and realization of this change at Vatican II is visible in an interview of Pope Francis on 28 November. “When I speak of Ukraine, I speak of martyred people. …There is someone who martyrs them. …I have much information on the cruelty of the troops that come… Chechens, Buryats, etc. …It is well known who I’m condemning. It’s not necessary that I state the name and surname.”^[2]

The hostility and rejection around Jesus until the hour of the Cross is not over. Maria Zajarova, spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Russian Federation, said that Pope Francis’ statement is beyond Russophobic. The Russian Ambassador to the Holy See, Alexander Avdeev, presented a formal complaint on behalf of his country that the Pope insinuates that Russian military men committed alleged atrocities in the course of the special military operations in Ukraine. The leader of the Chechen Parliament, Majomed Daudov, said: “I don’t know how the Pontiff justified his statements, but there is not a single fact that indicates that the representatives of our nations have committed a war crime.”^[3] Americans are attentive to the news media since the fabricated motive and unjust invasion. They think critically.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and attempts to justify it shout out. What do Americans think about the trauma of communism today? On 24 February I thought Communist inspired injustices in Europe were over. My naivete evaporated in a flash. I remembered what I had been studying.^[4] Many Ukrainians said: “We were shocked, but not surprised.”^[5] A dehumanized past as the Holodomor in 1932-33^[6] has not healed deep wounds but has become weaponized.

While thinking about the Mother of the Savior at the foot of the Cross, think of the concept of the attack on Christendom in the mid nineteenth century. Christendom in the works of Kierkegaard, a Danish Lutheran, reflected the modern form of Christianity now infected with secularity. That meant forgetting Christ (and for us Catholics, his Mother) as constitutive of Christianity. Christ was being edited out and replaced by worldly wisdom. Christ was no longer a challenge to the comfortable nineteenth century situation. With Christ out of the picture, the culture was returning to being like the pagans of old. They sought wisdom wherever they might find it, possibly in the New Testament. Kierkegaard described the attack upon Christendom in the mode of a prophetic critique, one that was able to discern what is genuine and counterfeit.

Kierkegaard’s criticism of the Danish appropriation of European culture was to embarrass would-be pretenders in high culture. He despised the Danish epigones of Hegel ^[7] who did not believe in Christian afterlife. Marxism’s roots are here. Lenin, Stalin and others built their interpretation of Marxism into a totalitarian Soviet bloc, and no country could leave it. The reversal in 1989 never brought the perpetrators of atrocities to justice. The secret police established by Lenin were never disbanded. Stalin’s reestablishment of the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1943 gave him control. As de facto dictator, Putin has made Russia a terror state again starting with the annexation of Crimea and the Ukraine conflict. He changed the name, but the underlying terror is renewed in plain sight. The invasion of Ukraine and attempts to validate it now target Pope Francis who has offered to mediate the conflict.

The attack against Pope Francis who constantly speaks to peace is wrong. Lies awaken trauma too difficult for older victims to express. After the end of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, the destruction of moral judgment remained. The rules of the game means to outwit the enemy by breaking any and all rules. Moral atrophy was spawned and has not left.

May the Mother of hope, the Star of the Sea shine upon us and guide us. Since Vatican II, a new situation has arisen for the Church, a process of the Church awakening in souls, not a preordained process. Crises in the Church and world as the Ukraine-Russian conflict, hide attempts to bleach out Christ, his Mother and her new mission from the Cross. Crises contribute to fear and doubt in a traumatized world. Quick interpretations often miss the mark. The victims of Communism shout warnings about totalitarianism! We listen to Christ: Do not be afraid!

Fr. Ed Ondrako, OFM Conv., Univ. of Notre Dame, eondrako@alumni.nd.edu

_______________________

^[1] Pope Benedict, XVI, Letter to the President of Franciscan University of Steubenville, 7 October 2022. The occasion was an International Symposium dealing with his ecclesiology.
^[2] Interview, America Magazine. 28 November 2022.
^[3] Zenit, 30 November 2022.
^[4] Between 1980 and 1994 I was privileged to do extensive study at Syracuse University. In 1989 and 1990, I visited and spoke with several people in what was then Czechoslovakia.
^[5] Clemens Sedmak, A. James McAdams, eds, The Trauma of Communism (Lviv: The Catholic University Press, 2022), 9. The Nanovic Institute at Notre Dame offers free copies. nanovic.nd.edu
^[6] Holodomor is the artificial starvation of Ukrainians by Stalin and massive loss of life.
^[7] Hegel is the early nineteenth century thinker who remains in the forefront today.

Our friars living and serving in Hamburg, NY hosted members of the Polish Arts Club of Buffalo, to remember Józef Sławiński, the Polish artist and sculptor whose works include the sgraffito decorating of the main entrance to the St. Francis of Assisi Friary (St. Francis Drive, Hamburg, NY) and the reredos in the Friary Chapel. Fr. Charles Jagodzinski, OFM Conv., who vividly remembers the artist working in the friary, presided at the Mass. Afterward, the art club attendees toured the chapel, shared stories with the friars, and even had the opportunity to see the signature of then-Archbishop Karol Józef Wojtyła of Kraków (Saint John Paul II), from his September 17, 1969, visit to the friary (below).

Friar Michael & some of the Board Members and the Center’s Executive Director – Mr. Jeffrey Griffin (at right)

On December 1, 2022, Our Lady of the Angels Minister Provincial, Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv. was awarded the Spirit of St Francis Award at the Voices from the Heart Gala: A Stary Night. This Annual Gala is the Franciscan Center of Baltimore’s signature event held each Fall, celebrating those who built and supported them, and of the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children they have served together for over 54 years. Funds raised from the event allow The Franciscan Center to continue to serve their clients, students and neighbors through the tough winter months.

This year, they honored Friar Michael with the Spirt of St. Francis of Assisi Award, highlighting the work our friars have done, alongside The Franciscan Center, through the efforts of our province’s local ministries, including Little Portion Farm, The Shrine of St. Anthony, Archbishop Curley High School, the Archdiocese of Baltimore Pastorate of St. Casimir and St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Churches, and our student friars of the St. Bonaventure Friary Post-Novitiate, in Silver Spring, MD.

Top Row: Matthew Jones (Outreach Coordinator & Farmer ~ Little Portion Farm), Kelly Neale (AmeriCorps Volunteer ~ Little Portion Farm), Friar Michael, Fr. Donald Grzymski, OFM Conv. (President ~ Archbishop Curley High School) Bottom Row: Fr. Dennis Grumsey, OFM Conv. (Pastor ~ AOB Pastorate including St. Casimir and St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Churches), Fr. Bart Karwacki, OFM Conv. (Guardian of St. Casimir Friary), Br. Ed Handy, OFM Conv. (St. Casimir Friary), and Fr. Jacob Carazo, OFM Conv. (a friar of the St. Joseph of Cupertino Province in California, who serves as Assistant Formation Director of our St. Bonaventure Friary Post-Novitiate)

See more photos on The Franciscan Center’s Facebook page.

Megan Knight of ABC2News is a board member. Here is her post about the Gala:

Side Note: Fr. Nick Spano, OFM Conv. now serves the province as Pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish (Coal Township, PA) and St. Patrick Parish (Trevorton, PA), two of three parishes in Pennsylvania’s Northumberland Coal Region, served by our province friars.