Consistent with our Franciscan charism and tradition of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, our province has been progressing in our efforts to more fully tap into this devotion from our Kolbean heritage, through the example of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv., and the continued efforts of his Militia of the Immaculata’s (M.I.) unconditional consecration to the Immaculate. With a view to promoting consecration to the Immaculate among the faithful served through the ministries of our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province, Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., who serves as our Province MI Assistant, has completed the 20th successful and rewarding stop on our Province M.I Initiative Tour of our pastoral ministries. Friar Jobe’s scheduled stops on this tour will continue through October of 2020. Keep him and all those he greets in your prayers, as he continues to preach at the Masses to encourage the faithful to consecrate themselves to the Immaculate, and to enroll in the M.I.
On the weekend of March 14-15, 2020 the M.I. Initiative promoting consecration to the Immaculate and enrollment in the Militia of the Immaculate made its 20th stop atSt. Anne Catholic Church, in Columbus, GA. Due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic, attendance at the four Masses was limited but over 1400 of the faithful followed the celebrations on live stream. The friars of Franciscan Martyrs Friary (Columbus, GA): Fr. Robert Schlageter, OFM Conv. (Guardian and Pastor of St. Anne’s), Fr. Noel Danielewicz, OFM Conv. (Pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Parish where the MI Tour plans to visit on March 19th as Tour Stop #21), Fr. Bob Benko, OFM Conv. (Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church where the MI Tour plans to visit on the weekend of March 21-22nd as Tour Stop #22), Fr. Manny Vasconcelos, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar of St. Anne’s & Campus Ministry Chaplain at Columbus State University), and Fr. Paul Pantiru, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar of St. Anne’s) are joyfully hosting their confrere, Fr. Jobe, as he visits their Columbus pastoral ministries. The parishioners pf St. Anne’s were very appreciative in welcoming our M.I. Initiative as well. Some are seen below in the photo taken just before they worked on disinfecting the pews and doors before the next Mass.
Friar Jobe (top center) & Friar Robert (front center), who also headed up the work crew, is pictured along with the parish volunteers who volunteered to keep the church disinfected and clean for the next Mass.
March 4, 2020: Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv. and Little Portion Farm manager Matt Jones organized a ceremony for blessing the season’s “First Planting” at our Little Portion Farm in Ellicott City – the produce of which will all be donated to the Franciscan food center in Baltimore.
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Donald Grzymski, OFM Conv. is a member of the Archbishop Curley High School Class of ’70. The Baltimore, MD school is also a ministry of our province, where Friar Donald currently serves as President. For the first eight years after his 1980 Ordination, Friar Donald also served the school as an Instructor, Guidance Counselor (1983-85), and Assistant Principal (1985-88). After other administrative and chaplaincy roles in province ministries, he returned to Curley in 1994, where he served as Principal until 2001. He has ministered at Curley, as President for the past six school years.
During a March 10, 2020 School Board Meeting, Friar Donald was presented with the National Eagle Scout Association‘s Outstanding Eagle Scout Award (NOESA) by the Baltimore Area Council, Boy Scout of America. This prestigious recognition is granted by the local council’s committee to Eagle Scouts who have demonstrated outstanding achievement at the local, state, or regional level; recognizing Eagle Scouts whose efforts have made a positive impact in the community. Boy Scouts of America’s Baltimore Area Council Cabinet Member, Mr. Jeff Lewis (at right) presented the award, assisted by School Board Member – Mr. Mark Potter ’80 (at left), President and CEO of the Maryland Science Center.
March 5, 2020: Publicly official at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (12:00 Noon Vatican Time), His Holiness Pope Francis has appointed our brother, Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, and current Bishop of Savannah ~ The Most Reverend Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv. as the new Archbishop of Atlanta. Even though Friar Gregory would have loved to spend the rest of his episcopal ministry in the Diocese of Savannah, he has humbly acquiesced to the Holy Father’s desire that he become chief “shepherd” to the Church of Atlanta.
Archbishop-designate Gregory will be installed as Archbishop of Atlanta on May 6, 2020, at 2:00 p.m., in St. Peter Chanel Church, in Roswell, Georgia. Our friars have been graciously invited to his installation and to the Solemn Vespers which will precede it on the evening of the 5th of May in Atlanta’s Christ the King Cathedral.
On June, 29, 2020, Pope Francis will give the pallium to the new Archbishop in ceremonies at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. A press conference took place in Atlanta.
We join in a fraternal solidarity of prayer for our confrere as he enters this new phase of his episcopal ministry in the Church.
During the Post-Novitiate stage of formation, our student friars not only engage in furthering their education, but also participate in active ministry. We currently have six student friars in study in Washington, DC and two in study in San Antonio, TX.
Both friar Antonio Moualeu, OFM Conv. (below far right) and friar Fabian Adderley, OFM Conv. (2nd from right) are living in a large community of student friars from several provinces, in the Post-Novitiate San Damiano Friary (San Antonio, TX), under the direction of Our Lady of the Angels Province Friar Gary Johnson, OFM Conv. and Our Lady of Consolation Province Friar Andy Martinez, OFM Conv.
While friar Antonio’s doctoral studies do limit his time available to serve in ministry, friar Fabian has been serving very actively at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, the only African American parish in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. The pastor, the Very Rev. Kevin Fausz, CM, VU (at center above) was inducted into the Black Worship XI – Clergy Hall of Fame, on February 24, 2020. Our friars Antonio and Fabian were able to join in the celebration.
The Extraordinary Chapter of our Province’s Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody was held February 17-21, 2020 at our Franciscan Church of St. Anthony, in Liverpool. The Minister General of our Order, Most Reverend Fr. Carlos Trovarelli, OFM Conv. (pictured at left) opened and closed the Chapter, asking our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. to preside. Twenty-two friars participated, including the Minister General. The friars made time to pray in the nearby Allerton Cemetery at the graves in which many friars of the Custody and former Province are buried.
Video featuring Friar John of the Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody published by EWTN as a Day 1 aid the people of England to prayerfully prepare for the historic rededication of England as the Dowry of Mary, for 33 days.
St. John Henry Newman was born on February 21, 1801. Our Lady of the Angels Province friar ~ Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conv. prepared this brief Witness to be shared today:
Who knew? In 1969, +Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv. asked us Franciscan seminarians if we wanted to study the Anglican and Catholic Sermons of Fr. John Henry Newman. In 1973, he brought Fr. Adrian J. Boekraad, MHM, one of the first generation of a small but intensive group of careful scholars of Newman’s thought to teach us. In 1994, my research centering on Newman’s “Letter to Norfolk” (1874) in relation to Vatican II earned the doctorate from the Humanities Department at Syracuse University. In 2009, I met Notre Dame’s Cyril O’Regan and learned quickly what a devoted Newman scholar he is. In 2017, under Cyril’s recommendation and guidance, Notre Dame’s Theology Department awarded the doctorate for my research about Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner’s life and Franciscan thought which included an extensive Newmanian part. Fr. Peter confirmed that I represented the development of his life’s thought correctly. 50 years after Fr. Peter led us to love Newman, on October 13, 2019, in St. Peter’s Square, I joined a massive crowd of witnesses to Pope Francis as he canonized St. John Henry Newman (pictured at left). I was in tears of joy, gratitude, and prayer and this remains by the grace of God. With Cyril O’Regan I continue to research St. Newman’s life at Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life and the Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure, Rome. Who knew?
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
Easter Sunday, 2019
The annual fundraising “Deimel Legacy Ball” in Columbus, Georgia, is the social event of the year for the Catholics in the Columbus Deanery of the Diocese of Savannah. Hosted by the Bishop of Savannah, The Most Reverend Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv, this year’s celebration was held on February 1, 2020, and supported by the parishes of Columbus Deanery including: Christ the King, Holy Family, and three parishes served by our friars ~ Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Anne Church, and St. Benedict the Moor. Proceeds from the Deimel Legacy Ball support tuition assistance at St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School, the only Catholic PreK-12th Grade, college prep school serving the Southwestern portion of Georgia. Bishop Hartmayer, who is also a friar of our province. joined his confreres serving in Columbus, along with our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., for an evening of fun and fellowship. (more photos)
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Robert Schlageter, OFM Conv. serves as the friary Guardian and as Pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church, and in turn of St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School. He is joined in pastoral ministry there by Fr. Paul Pantiru, OFM Conv. (a Romanian friar serving in our province) and Fr. Manny Vascocelos, OFM Conv. (who is also Campus Ministry Chaplain for Columbus State University, often featured in a reflection video series via our Companions of St. Anthony ministry). The school’s mascot is the “Vikings!” They gifted our friars with appropriate headgear! (pictured above: Friar James, Friar Manny, Friar Robert, Fr. Pablo Migone (Docese of Savannah Chancellor, Vocations Director & Assistant to Bishop Hartmayer), Friar Noel Danielewicz, OFM Conv. (Pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Parish), and Bishop Hartmayer. Not pictured in the group shot, but also serving in the Columbus area is Fr. Bob Benko, OFM Conv., who is the Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church and Vicar Forane of the Columbus Deanery (insert at right).
During his February visit to Savannah, our Minister Provincial also took the opportunity to tour diocesan center and the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Bishop Hartmayer has been working with the Holy Name Province (OFM’s) to promote the Cause of the Georgia Martyrs. The OFM’s have been working toward this goal since the 1950s, and Bishop Hartmayer has been trying to expedite the process. He recently visited with Father Giovangiuseppe Califano, OFM, the Postulator of the Cause, who is overseeing the redaction of the final historical document which will be presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints next year. Though greater awareness of and devotion to the five martyrs is needed in Georgia where they ministered to the indigenous population. When our friars moved to serve the faithful of the Columbus, GA area, they chose to name the new friary “Franciscan Martyrs Friary” in honor of Friar Pedro de Corpa and Companions, also known as the Georgia Martyrs.
While friar Antonio’s doctoral studies do limit his time available to serve in ministry, 
The Extraordinary Chapter of our Province’s Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody was held February 17-21, 2020 at our 
