One of our 2022 Jubilarians, Friar Robert Amrhein, OFM Conv. has been working on a very special project over the past two years at our Syracuse, NY pastoral ministry – Assumption Church. In March 2020, he began a podcast to serve those unable to physically get to church, and he has now created over 700 episodes; not missing a single day.
Ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1962, along with Fr. Ed Debono, OFM Conv. and Fr. Adam Keltos, OFM Conv., he will be celebrating 60 years as a friar priests, in just a few months. All three of these friars 1st professed their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, on the Feast of the Assumption – August 15, 1956. Friar Robert was also born on the Feast of the Assumption, in 1935. His younger brother, Friar James, is a friar brother of our province, who celebrated his 60th Profession Anniversary last year, the same year Friar Robert celebrated his 65th Profession Anniversary.
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Our Lady of the Assumption) ~ Pray for Us!
THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE (1941 – August 14 – 2021)
Following in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi over the last eight centuries, the Franciscans have promoted a constant devotion and veneration of Our Lady, especially under Her title of the Immaculate Conception. Indeed, that constant and filial promotion of Our Lady as the Immaculate Mother of God represents a golden thread that holds together and highlights our Franciscan tradition and charism.
In the line of great Franciscan saints, St. Maximilian Kolbe M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. would state that the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX in 1854 represented only a first victory for Our Lady. When St. Maximilian would form the Militia of the Immaculate (M.I.) in 1917, he would call upon Mary, the Immaculate Conception, to gain a lasting victory over evil in the world and to draw all souls, even those fallen away from the Church, to Christ and the source of all love, His Sacred Heart. When Pope St. John Paul II canonized St. Maximilian in 1982, he declared St. Maximilian to be a “saint for a difficult century.” In the twenty-first century, more than ever, St. Maximilian’s entrustment to the Immaculate for the conversion of all serves as a key to a better world for all of us.
That is why, over the last three years, Our Lady of the Angels Province has sponsored an M.I. Initiative to promote consecration to the Immaculate Conception and membership in the Militia of the Immaculate. In the next few months, this Initiative will make its final and 36th stop at our Franciscan parish sites and we are very happy to report that the response of the faithful has been most gratifying as we will have enrolled close to 5,000 new M.I. members.
However, we can’t stop there and we believe that Our Lady and St. Maximilian are now asking us to do something else as a community of Franciscan Friars Conventual along with those with and for whom we minister. As a result, Our Lady of the Angels Province is sponsoring the 1st Annual Franciscan Pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 30, 2022. The Program for the day is below and we invite all friars, M.I. members, and all the faithful to join us in celebrating our devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God. If you are already enrolled, you will be receiving a letter with more instruction on registration. If you are not, but are a member of one of our pastoral ministries, check with your parish office to see if how your parish is participating.
Friar Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv.
Our Lady of the Angels Province Delegate for the Marian Apostolate
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Be sure to mark your calendars for the First Annual Franciscan Pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington D.C., on Saturday, April 30, 2022.
FIRST ANNUAL FRANCISCAN PILGRIMAGE TO THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION SPONSORED BY THE FRANCISCANS OF OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS PROVINCE, USA
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2022 PROGRAM
11.00 a.m. – WORDS OF WELCOME from the Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province, ORIENTATION from Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., Provincial Assistant of the Militia of the Immaculate
11.30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – LUNCH TIME
1:00 p.m. – 1.30 p.m. – Seated Overview TOUR of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Upper Basilica)
1.30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – COMMUNAL PRAYER
2:00 p.m. – 3.00 p.m. – EUCHARISTIC LITURGY and CLOSING
3.00 p.m. – 4.00 p.m. – FREE TIME (There is a scheduled Vigil Mass at 4.30 p.m. The Basilica closes at 6.00 p.m.)
Throughout our province ministries, there are several location sites which include Outdoor Stations of the Cross. Be sure to check out our ministry nearest to you, to take advantage of an opportunity for personal or group prayer.
One such location is our Shamokin, PA pastoral ministry, Mother Cabrini Church‘s “Stations of the Cross Garden” behind the parish office building. Described by the pastor, Fr. Martin Kobos, OFM Conv., as an “oasis for prayer and of beauty,” this location is accessible to not only the friars, but to parishioners, staff, and the greater Shamokin Community.
At our Kensington, CT pastoral ministry, St. Paul Catholic Church, the Outdoor Stations of the Cross are a part of a greater area known as the Parish Green. Many of the parish events, including special prayer services and community gatherings take place in the Parish Green, flanked by Outdoor Stations of the Cross.
Although the opportunity for you to pray the Stations of the Cross is not limited to any one season, it is especially dear to us all during the Season of Lent, when parishes and ministry sites throughout our province have special services and events each Friday. This Good Friday, all are invited to join the friars serving at The Shrine of St. Anthony, in Ellicott City, MD for a special Outdoor Stations Service at Noon.
March 25, 2022: On the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, at the hands of their Provincial Custos ~ Very Reverend Fr. Ciprian Budău, OFM Conv., friar John Paul Banks, OFM Conv. and friar Peter George Flynn, OFM Conv., two student friars of our Province’s Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody (Great Britain/Ireland) received the Ministry of Lector.
Taken from the Oxford Greyfriars – Conventual Franciscan Facebook page: “This means that they are asked to assist in the Church’s mission to preach the Gospel to the whole world, proclaiming the word in the liturgical assembly. The Virgin Mary’s “yes” to receive the divine Word is a model for these new lectors to allow the word that they preach to take flesh in their lives through prayer and action. Please keep these brothers and their vocation to Franciscan life and ministry in your prayers.“
March 23 – April 1, 2022: Volunteers on the NJ Shore gather to assist in the Ukraine relief efforts in a unique way. Over the first two nights, 380 dozen Ukrainian Pierogis have been made by the owners and staff of Joe Leone’s Italian Specialties, along with the efforts of a large group of volunteers (30 volunteers on Wednesday and 35 on Thursday nights). The pierogis will be made available in all three of their NJ store locations, to raise funds to help provide financial relief for those in need in Ukraine. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Franciscan Friars Conventual of the Provincial Custody of the Holy Cross (Ukraine), which is a Custody of the Polish Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar, via our own province’s special Ukraine Fund Effort.
More photos of this event and updates from the efforts put forth by our Province Ministries throughout the East Coast of the USA, and of our confreres from other provinces around the world, can be found on our Province Facebook Page.
A message from the Franciscan Friars Conventual of the Sacro Convento (Assisi), who will unite with the Holy Father in prayer for peace and in the consecration and entrustment of all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on March 25th, Solemnity of the Annunciation, at 6:30 p.m
The Archangel invited Mary to conceive the Son of God[1] by the power of the Holy Spirit. Her reply motivates us: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Love for Mary at home and in Catholic grade school prompted me to ask; why did it take so long, until 431 at the Council at Ephesus to declare that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God? Little did I know that I was raising the question of development of doctrine, a question which, a decade later, would be at the heart of the Second Vatican Council. Development of the reform within the Church came when I assumed the duties of the Catholic priesthood. In life, stormy seas follow, but happily with many stops at safe harbors. Interpretation of the idea of development and the future is one reason why Vatican II is called Newman’s Council. After he was canonized on 13 October 2019, the seal of Vatican II confirms his work as a saint.
John Henry Newman grew up in England with the Bible. He records that, at the age of 15, a great change of thought took place in him. “I fell under the influence of a definite Creed, and received into my intellect impressions of dogma, which through God’s mercy, have never been effaced or obscured.” In 1845, Newman wrote himself into the Catholic Church by resolving how doctrines develop. No one before or after him has demonstrated as precise an understanding of the character of the development of doctrine as he did when he laid out seven marks, notes, or tests, as he calls them. They are unique to the enigmas in his life. Many read and misinterpret them, but when read within lines of proper interpretation, his seven marks are readily persuasive. A lifetime of study of Newman convinces me that there is room for a lot more work about development vis-à-vis corruption. His seven marks are far more flexible, experimental, and have the potential to add marks, notes, and tests than imagined. They serve for reform and renewal within the Church.
Mark seven is “its chronic vigor.” Vigor is associated with the adjective “acute,” as in acute youthful vigor which declines with aging. Newman wrote: “A corruption, if vigorous, is of brief duration, runs itself out quickly, and ends in death; on the other hand, if it lasts, it fails in vigor and passes into a decay. This general law gives us additional assistance in determining the character of the developments of Christianity commonly called Catholic.” Mark six is “conservative action on its past.” Newman was responding to the general pretext of critics of every age who claim they are serving and protecting Christianity by their innovations. They charge the Catholic Church and her successive definitions of doctrine as overlaying and obscuring Christianity. The heretics[2] (as he calls them) assume, and Newman does not deny, “that a true development is that which is conservative of its original and a corruption is that which tends to its destruction.”
Mark five is “anticipation of its future.” If the doctrine has, in any early stage of its history, given indications of those opinions and practices in which it has ended, Newman argues in favor of the fidelity of developments. Together with mark six, “conservative action upon its past,” is where we find Newman summarizing the prerogative of the Virgin Mary as intimately involved in the Incarnation itself. Justin, Irenaeus, and other Church Fathers taught the parallel between the Mother of the Redeemer and the Mother of all the living. Devotion to Mary in Newman’s life, which he did not have as a youth, developed as he grew and went beyond the formative Evangelical influences. During his twenties, a battle with the rationalist influences at Oxford developed within. At age 24, he chose Anglican orders; and by 27, he almost succumbed to letting rationalism overtake him. A growing devotional life included devotion to the Virgin Mary and the saints. One can trace his sermons and other writings to conclude how that devotion prevented disaster. By 1845, he was well on the way to developing a high Mariology. By the end of his life, he had arguably become the greatest Mariologist in England in the 19th century.
Newman’s Mariology was sound because he built upon and developed a proper Christology. E.g., if we compare the first chapters of Scripture with the last, we notice the serpent in Genesis directly identified with the evil spirit, just as we read in the twelfth chapter of Revelation. The woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, would endure the enmity of the serpent and the war with her Seed.[3] The mystery at the close of Scripture answers the mystery at the beginning of Scripture. There is a correspondence between the apocalyptic vision and what unfolded at the dawn of human history. Newman’s marks, notes, and tests diagnose deficient and insufficient forms of Christianity and Christian simulacra.
Newman’s fourth mark is “its logical sequence,” a mis-term in the sense that Newman is not giving a syllogistic argument, but one from history. He demonstrates historically how doctrines such as forgiveness of sins, penance, merit, salvation, and purgatory, are related to each other. The intelligible structure includes their praxis.
The third mark, “its power of assimilation,” proves doctrine’s staying power, as the doctrine of the Mother of God, Theotokos. The second mark is “the continuity of its principles.”[4] A principle is a simple or complex presupposition—not an argument, but ground zero for an argument. The first mark is: “the preservation of its type,” i.e. fidelity to its type from first to last. In the Christian Church of the 19th century what corresponds to the early Church? Newman’s collision course was with the Rationalists and Evangelicals who proscribed the Roman Church. His argument was a battery, a guerilla war which rests on the cumulation of arguments against their presumptions. The Church grows slowly. When studying Newman’s life and development, all seven marks are equally valuable. In 1845, his discovery of seven marks, notes, or tests helped him to resolve the definition of papal authority. Its resolution became the reason for his transfer from the Anglo-Catholic part of the Church of England to the Roman Catholic Church.
Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conv, Univ. Of Notre Dame, Remembering Forward, #5 Annunciation
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[1] The sacred Council at Ephesus (431) declared, Theotokos, Mother of God, to be binding on the Church, accepted and embraced by all of Christ’s faithful. [2] At the Second Vatican Council, “heretic” fell into disuse for its perceived counterproductivity to dialogue. [3] As the world witnesses the absolute horror and evil in the unjust war on Ukraine, compare the war of the serpent with the Virgin Mary to the current annihilation of Mariupol (Mary’s city). [4] Pope Benedict XVI refers to “continuity” in his first Christmas Address to the Roman Curia in 2005.
Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conventual
Research Fellow Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure, Rome
Visiting Scholar, McGrath Institute for Church Life
University of Notre Dame
March 25, 2022
The M.I. International Center therefore asks all members of the Militia around the world, in union with the whole Church, to prepare for, and participate in, the act of consecrating humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On March 25, Pope Francis will carry out the consecration during the Celebration of Penance at which he will preside at 5:00 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica. To prepare for this, the International Center will be offering a moment of prayer from Casa Kolbe in Rome the same day at 3:00 p.m. The event can be followed on the website https://www.facebook.com/miinternational.mi.
May our adherence to this very important act be accompanied by our penance and sincere conversion.
March 23 – April 1, 2022: Volunteers on the NJ Shore gather to assist in the Ukraine relief efforts in a unique way. Over the first two nights, 380 dozen Ukrainian Pierogis have been made by the owners and staff of 
