February 2nd is the World Day for Consecrated Life. It will be celebrated in parish churches on the weekend of February 1-2, 2020 and is a great weekend to share our way of life and to invite all of the faithful to pray for vocations while encouraging those in discernment to consider a vocation to Consecrated Life with our Order. Through our ministries and vocation events, we friars will attempt to focus in on this topic at weekend Liturgies, in the classroom and at our other ministry sites. We share Vocation Stories, encourage visits our province YouTube channel and Facebook Page, as well as the North American Province’s collaborative Vocation Website, Novitiate Website, and Postulancy Facebook page.
Thank you all for helping to foster vocations to our way of life. We ask for your prayers for men who have begun application and those considering application, to the Order in July 2020. We pray that Our Lady of the Angels and St. Francis of Assisi will intercede for us, so that more men will be drawn to serve Jesus with us.
Heads Up!
In a few months, our province will be hosting another “Come and See Weekend” for those in discernmment, as well as other single, healthy Catholic men aged 18-40, who are looking to experience a weekend living and serving with our friars. Participants will meet at our Shrine of St. Anthony (Ellicott City, MD) to visit with several friaries and ministries in the Maryland/DC area. This is a great opportunity to gain a better understanding of the day to day life of a friar; to see what it means to be a as Franciscan Friars Conventual. You must be registered to participate, so email our Vocations Office soon. We do have a page on this site devoted entirely to Vocations. Take a moment to check it out and prayerfully consider adding our province to your discernment journey.
In addition to serving as Pastor and Campus Minister at the Newman Catholic Student Center Parish – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Friar Timothy Kulbicki, OFM Conv. continues to serve our Order:
Father John Burkhard, OFM Conv. Spiritual Testimony
My name is John Jude Burkhard, a 79-year old friar of Our Lady of Angels Province. My middle name was given to me in honor of a Conventual Franciscan priest in the then Immaculate Conception Province who was a close friend of our family. My father was very formative of my faith life and accompanied me to Mass every Sunday. Later in life, my mother, too, challenged me to be more well-rounded and less rigidly demanding of others. I cannot claim that I have always measured up to her advice, but I keep trying. Since we worshipped at Our Lady of Angels Church in Albany, New York, ably and lovingly staffed by the Conventual Franciscans, and since we four children attended the parochial school of the same parish selflessly staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, I suppose my joining the Conventual Franciscans was somewhat providentially “predestined.” Be that as it may, I have never regretted this “destiny.”
I entered the seminary in my sophomore year of high school at the ripe age of 15. As strange as it might seem nowadays, in the Church of my youth before Vatican II it was not so unusual. My pastor, Fr. Denis Gallagher had encouraged my vocation by the novel tactic of teaching me Latin beginning in the seventh grade. Every week I would report to the rectory for a lesson. In this way, too, I got to know the other friars who also encouraged my fledgling vocation. The excellent education I received in the Order’s high school, junior college, and college imparted a life-long love of learning I have never regretted and has set me on my path to higher studies and a teaching career as a friar-priest. The Order permitted me to study theology abroad in Innsbruck, Austria, and Strasbourg, France. These two universities, my fellow students there, and the opportunity to meet Conventual friars and members of other religious communities on an international level were seminal experiences in my life.
Equipped with the appropriate degrees and formed by temperament to teach, research, and write, I have spent the last 53 years pursuing the passion of my life. I have never doubted or regretted my ministry as a teacher, but have rejoiced in God’s gifts to me and in the Order’s generosity and confidence in me by fostering my academic talents and propensities. I have taught at our Conventual Seminary of St. Anthony-on-Hudson, Rensselaer, New York, at St. Peter’s Regional Seminary, Cape Coast, Ghana, West Africa, and at the Washington Theological Union, Washington, D.C. I have always wanted nothing more than to teach my confreres, so anything beyond that goal has simply been a serendipitous blessing. I have had the joy and honor of knowing so many dedicated and outstanding men in the Order, not to mention the many fine lay men and women I have been blessed to have as students as well. An added joy of my life has been my activity as a translator, making theology originally in German and French available in English to others. Somewhere along my life’s journey I discovered that I actually love languages, classical and modern. Now in my final years as a retired professor, I continue to have the privilege of living with our young friars in formation in Silver Spring, Maryland. I often think of the fine example of so many of my Conventual teachers, directors of formation, staff, residents, and my fellow students in our seminary system, and I am profoundly grateful.
I have no particular spiritual wisdom to impart to our friars in formation or to prospective applicants to the Order except for the admonition to identify and accept your talents, thank God daily for them, develop them humanly with the help of the Order, and generously put them at the service of the Church’s universal mission. If you do this, your dreams and your life will be richly rewarded. I know mine have been!
Our Lady of the Angels Province Postulants: Edgar, Michael and Jonathan during the first week of their Province Tour, pictured at our pastoral ministry of St. Paul Catholic Church, in Kensington, CT
Our Order’s Postulancy location for the four provinces serving North America is in Chicago, IL, in the St. Bonaventure Friary of the St. Bonaventure Province. The current Director of the Postulancy, Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv., is a friar of our province and the Assistant Director is Fr. Paul Schneider, OFM Conv. of the St. Bonaventure Province. Two of our Postulants of Our Lady of the Angels Province, Mr. Michael Boes and Mr. Edgar Varela live in community in the Chicago Postulancy, along with three more Postulants from other provinces. In addition, our third Postulant, Mr. Jonathan Zenteno, is in studies at The Catholic University of America while living in community in our Post Novitiate (Silver Spring, MD) in the St. Bonaventure Friary of our Province, under the Co-Directors – Fr. Paul Schloemer, OFM Conv. of the Province of Our Lady of Consolation and Fr. Nicholas Rokitka, OFM Conv. of our province.
It is important for each of the Postulants of every North American Province to take time away from the Postulancy, visiting his own individual Province ministries, friaries and friars. Each year, after Christmas break, the friars in formation for our province spend several weeks enjoying the fraternity of visits with our friars and our varied ministries. Our three Postulants have been documenting this year’s partial tour on the Postulancy’s Facebook Page, where they will share photos and verbiage about their visit to the Chicopee, Syracuse, Ottawa and Toronto areas of our Province. Here are a few shots from the first stop of the tour with Michael, Edgar and Jonathan:
Our Postulants spent a few days in the Chicopee/Holyoke, MA & Kensington, CT area. Durein that time, they were given a tour of the Elms College caRe vaN 2.0 (pictured above). Developed by Friar Michael Duffy, OFM Conv., DNP, APRN-BC, as the Capstone of his DNP, the caRe vaN a mobile health care unit serving the area’s homeless and underserved, while allowing clinical experience for pre-licensure students of the Elms College School of Nursing. (For more information or to make a donation to this effort, please email Brother Duffy, at bro_duffy@hotmail.com.) Friar Frank Grimaldi, OFM Conv. took our Postulants to Our Lady of the Angels Care Center where the Felician Sisters care for our five of our elderly friars, and to two of our pastoral ministries in the area ~ St. Anthony of Padua Parish, in Chicopee and Our Lady of the Cross Parish, in Holyoke (at left) . Friar Joe Bayne, OFM Conv. even took them to see the Bright Nights Christmas Lights. Friar Vincent Vivian, OFM Conv. welcomed them to our St. Hyacinth Friary (Chicopee), where they met several of our nine senior friars in residence. They enjoyed the Vigil Mass at our pastoral ministry at the Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr, celebrated by Friar Paul Miskiewicz, OFM Conv. The Basilica’s Deacon Joseph Peters invited Michael, Edgar and Jonathan to join one of the “Take and Eat Sandwich Ministry” to help make sandwiches and distribute them to our less fortunate brothers and sisters in Chicopee, MA. Our friars of St. Paul Friary in Kensingtons, CT (serving the St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, in Kensington & St. John Catholic Church, in Cromwell) invited our friars from the local areas for the Epiphany party where we had a great time of fraternity (below).
After celebrated Mass for Chicopee’s new Mayor, John Vieau (sworn in that day), they mayor’s family & council members, first responders and an array of area faithful, Friar Joe Bayne, OFM Conv. gave our Postulants a ride to Syracuse, NY where began the next part of our tour. They were joyfully received by Friar Edward Falsey, OFM Conv., guardian of our St. Francis Friary (Syracuse, NY), and Friar Richard Riccioli, OFM Conv., pastor of Assumption Parish.
Be sure to follow the rest of their adventures, as they continue to visit our various ministries in Syracuse -NY, Ottawa-ON and Toronto-ON.
Note: Each of the formation stages for our friars are spent in community with other friars from all over North America. The Novitiate is located in California, in the St. Francis of Assisi Friary of the St. Joseph Cupertino Province. The current Formation Team there includes the Director, Br. Joseph Wood, OFM Conv., a member of the St. Bonaventure Province, and the Associate Director, Fr. Maurice Richárd, OFM Conv. Each province also has individual friars serving in ministries, as well as governance over friars of several Delegations and Custodies, in different parts of the world. In North America, each of the four provinces primarily minister to individual local jurisdictions. The friars of our province serve primarily along the East Coast, from Ottawa, Ontario to Boynton Beach, Florida. St. Joseph Cupertino Province primarily serves the Western Coast of the USA. St. Bonaventure Province primarily serves the Midwestern USA. The Province of Our Lady of Consolation primarily serves the rest of the USA.
Re-established this past year,Franciscan Soy Candles is a unique ministry producing artisan candles. Created originally by Br. Andre Picotte, OFM Conv. during the Christmas Season 2012, this hobby turned ministry served to be a great source of income benefiting our Franciscan Charity Fund, all while making great gifts and filling your home with lovely fragrances. This past year, Br. Andre had to step down from the ministry, but he still serves as a consultant and advisor. The day to day work and creation of Franciscan Soy Candles was taken over by Br. Brian Newbigging, OFM Conv. serving as Director and Fr. Francis Lombardo, OFM Conv. serving as Assistant Director. Now based in Hamburg, NY, you can call to place an order with them at 518-496-4805 or email them at FranciscanCandles@gmail.com.
December 6 – 12, 2019: The Prowincjał (Minister Provincial) of our Order’s largest Province – Kraków, Poland’s St. Anthony of Padua and B. James of Strepa Province (Prowincja św. Antoniego i bł. Jakuba Strzemię w Polsce), the Very Reverend Fr. Marian Gołąb, OFM Conv. visited Our Lady of Angels Province, accompanied by his Ekonom Prowincji (Provincial Economist) Fr. Bronisław Staworowski, OFM Conv. and the Kraków delegate for the USA (Coordinator of Kraków Friars in USA ) Fr. Piotr Sarnicki, OFM Conv. While staying at the Provincialate in Ellicott City, they were taken by Fr. James to a meeting in Washington DC with the Polish Ambassador, His Excellency Piotr Wilczek. They also celebrated Mass in for the Polish Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate of the American Province, at the Provincial House for the Congregation, in Catonsville, MD (pictured above with Friar Marian, Friar James and Friar Piotr). Afterwards they traveled to our pastoral ministry of St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church (Elmhurst, NY), where they met with all the Kraków Province friars presently working in ministries of our province: Fr. Tomasz Ryba, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar – RCC of Most Holy Trinity / St. Mary, Brooklyn, NY), Fr. Mieczysław Wilk, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar – Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr), Fr. Stanisław Czerwonka, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar – St. Adalbert RCC, Elmhurst, NY), Fr. Jacek Leszczyński, OFM Conv. (Pastor – St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Chicopee, MA & Mass Assistance at Our Lady of the Cross Parish, Holyoke, MA), Fr. Piotr Tymko, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar – St. Paul Catholic Church, Kensington, CT) and Fr. Andrzej Brzeziński, OFM Conv. (Associate Chaplain for Faith Development in The Catholic University of America Campus Ministry Office, Washington DC).
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Edward Ondrako, OFM Conv. attended the canonization of St. John Henry Newman in Rome on October 13, 2019. Friar Ed, a lifetime devotee to our new saint, most enthusiastically endorses a close reading of the December 19, 2019 online article, in the Catholic Herald – “Melissa Villalobos: My encounter with ‘the world we do not see‘” – a reflection on what actually happened and prayers of gratitude. It is a narrative of the miracle that Melissa Villalobos reported to the Vatican that led to his canonization.
On the evening of December 18, 2019, our friars participated in the Homeless Memorial Service at Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen and Pantry (170 Pendexter Avenue, Chicopee, MA 01013), as part of the National Homeless Persons Memorial Day. This ANNUAL event is held on, or near, the longest night of the year (This year on December 21st). It affords a moment for all to remember those who have died in the past year – on the streets, as a result of life on the streets – secondary to homelessness. The event is usually scheduled to take place in the parking lot, but due to weather concerns (ice, temperature) this year’s event was held in the soup kitchen’s dining room. This year four deceased were specifically remembered at the memorial: Founder of the Soup Kitchen – +Lorraine Houle (1927-2018), as well as some of the visitors/patients of the caRe vaN – +Ricky, +Chris and +Sandy. The losses of +Ricky and +Chris were the results of the heroine epidemic, and loss of +Sandy was from respiratory arrest.
caRe vaN is a ministry founded by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Br. Michael Duffy, OFM Conv., who serves the on the kitchen’s Board of Directors as Vice President, while also serving as Associate Dean, Director of Undergrad Program, for the Elms College School of Nursing, in addition to his assignment for our province as a Friary Guardian & Regent of Studies. Nursing Students from Elms College of Nursing were among the volunteers there to help serve a home-cooked meal (at right, with Br. Duffy).
The Nursing Students also serve the caRe vaN alongside Br. Duffy.
Another Our Lady of the Angels Province friar serves the Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen and Pantry ministry, in the day to day operations. Fr. Nicholas Spano, OFM Conv. serves as Operations Manager (visible working in the kitchen in the news video link).
Also visible in the news video link is Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv., our province JPIC (Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation) Chairman, presented a reflection on the great reversals, including these thoughts:
“At Christmas the reversal is that God becomes a human, one like us. At Easter the great reversal is that Jesus rises from the dead with the promise that we will become one like God in the Resurrection. Therefore Christmas points to Easter. As we gather tonight for a Christmas meal, we also gather to remember +Lorraine, +Chris, +Sandy, and +Ricky, and all of the homeless who died this past year, who have now experienced the great reversal of Easter resurrection. In our gathering for to celebrate these great reversals of God’s love for us, we also experience small reversals: -We’ve come out of the cold into the warmth of a soup kitchen dining room -With the meal our empty stomachs become full -With our conversation our loneliness is transformed into friendship As Christmas approaches, let us all consider a small change, a small reversal that we can make in our own personal lives. Just a little something that points to the love of God found in the great reversals of Christmas and Easter.”
Pictured at above is Fr. Joseph Bayne, OFM Conv. (Pastor/Rector of the Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr, & Assistant Fire Chaplain for the Chicopee Fire Department). The Basilica’s Sandwich Ministry sponsored to the event, along with Elms College School of Nursing (Elms College President Harry Dumey pictured at center above).
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 17th successful and rewarding stop on our Province M.I Initiative Tour of our pastoral ministries. Friar Jobe is almost halfway through the scheduled stops, spanning over a few years, where he will continue to preach at the Masses to encourage the faithful to consecrate themselves to the Immaculate, and to enroll in the M.I.
On the third Sunday of Advent, the M.I. Initiative was welcomed at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish (Vanier/Ottawa, Ontario). The parish is adjacent to Friar Jobe’s home, where he serves as Guardian, as well as the Provincial Delegate for our Canadian Delegation of St. Francis of Assisi. In St. André Bessette Friary, Friar Jobe resides with several confreres from other countries who serve in the Ottawa, ON area: Fr. Dominic Lim, OFM Conv. (a friar from the Philippines who serves as Pastor of Assumption), Fr. Saviour Karamvelil, OFM Conv. (a friar from India who serves as Pastor of St. Ignatius Martyr Church, Ottawa), and Fr. Varghese (Lijo) Puthenpurackal, OFM Conv. (a friar from India who serves as Catholic Chaplain at Queensway Careton Hospital, in Napean, ON).
On Gaudete Sunday, Isaiah foretells that even the desert shall rejoice and blossom, that the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it as well as the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. In the context of the coming of the Lord, could these titles not be attributed also to the Immaculate Mother of God? At the four Masses (3 English and 1 Tagalog), the parishioners joyfully received the message of consecration to Mary. Friar Dominic greatly assisted with his own personal witness of Mary’s place in his life.
Friar Jobe (back left of center) and Friar Dominic (back far left) with a sampling of the Filipino parishioners who attended the Sunday noon Mass, in Tagalog
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 sixteenth successful and rewarding stop on our Province M.I Initiative Tour of our pastoral ministries. Over the next few years, Friar Jobe will preach at the Masses to encourage the faithful to consecrate themselves to the Immaculate and to enroll in the M.I.
Celebrating the second Sunday of Advent (December 7-8, 2019), the M.I. Initiative made its 16th stop, in Atlanta, GA, at our pastoral ministry of Holy Cross Catholic Church.
Friar Jobe was welcomed by our friars of Holy Cross Friary – Fr. Jude Michael Krill, OFM Conv. (Friary Guardian and Pastor of Holy Cross), Fr. Tom Reist, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar of Holy Cross), Fr. Calixto Salvatierra Morena, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar of Holy Cross), and Fr. John Voytek, OFM Conv. (Parochial Vicar at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Atlanta). Given the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (moved this year to Monday December 9th, as it fell on a Sunday in Advent for 2019), it was fitting to speak of the Immaculate, who was the herald of the Messiah even before John the Baptist. She hurried to visit her cousin, and John’s own mother – Elizabeth – with the Good News. In Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, one also senses the special privilege granted to Mary “for His dwelling shall be glorious.” At the eight Masses (5 English, 2 Spanish, 1 Zo/Burma), the response of the faithful to the invitation to consecrate themselves to the Blessed Mother was overwhelming.
A sampling of the many of the Holy Cross parishioners who enrolled in the M.I. during the December 7-8, 2019 stop on our Province M.I Initiative Tour of our pastoral ministries, with Friar Jobe (pictured at center front)
After celebrated Mass for Chicopee’s new Mayor, John Vieau (sworn in that day), they mayor’s family & council members, first responders and an array of area faithful, 
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Edward Ondrako, OFM Conv. attended the canonization of St. John Henry Newman in Rome on October 13, 2019. 
caRe vaN is a ministry founded by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, 
