Saint Julia Festival 2022: On Saturday, August 27, 2022, our province’s Siler City, NC pastoral ministry ~ St. Julia Catholic Community was able to again celebrate its Annual Parish Festival for the first time, in three years. It was wonderful to revive this tradition that brought parishioners and the people from the greater community together. There were games and activities for the kids, a car show for the youth, lots of music and dancing. The clown was a crowd pleaser, and the food was fantastic. Most of all, everyone had a great time and the Festival was a success, as is evident by the joy in these great photos.
Now that parish life is returning to a new normal, Friar Julio Martinez, OFM Conv. (pastor – at center left), Friar Luis Palacios, OFM Conv. (parochial vicar), the parish staff, volunteers and parishioners hope to have an even bigger Saint Julia Festival 2023, next year.
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The parish has started preparing for their Guadalupe celebration in December 2022. The new committee is being formed and plans are under way. For thirty-eight days prior to the great celebration, the parish enters a period of spiritual preparation, with the welcoming of the Torch from the Sanctuary of Guadalupe in Mexico. Three images of Our Lady of Guadalupe go into the community where three rosaries, and prayers, are offered every night, in the homes of the people of the parish. Presentations on Spiritual Life, and Days of Reflection take place, in the parish. Of course, whenever and wherever the people come together, there is plenty of good food to share. This year, the procession will begin seven miles from the parish with our men carrying the image of Our Lady. A great number of horses, mounted by their riders, will dance before the image of Our Lady, as well as dance groups, bands, and the prayers of the faithful. This year’s celebration will culminate with the crowing of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a double crown: Patroness of Mexico and Patroness of the Americas. (Read more and see photos from the 2021 Welcoming of the Torch)
Parishioners carrying the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe last year (December 12, 2021)
Our Lady of the Angles Province friar ~ Fr. Peter Tremblay, OFM Conv., serves as Associate Chaplain for Catholic Life & Catholic Campus Minister, at Elon University (Elon, NC). He is using his skills, as a craftsman, to enhance the collaboration between Catholic Life and Jewish Life on campus, by creating this incredible Ark to be used by Jewish Life to house their Torah scrolls.
August 21-23, 2022: Our Lady of the Angels Province, Minister Provincial ~ Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv. (at left) made a Fraternal Visit to our friars living and serving in Ludlow, MA, Enfield, CT and Johnstown, PA. He is pictured here with Fr. Pedro de Oliveira, OFM Conv. (at right), pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, in Ludlow.
More on Our Lady of Fatima Parish (Ludlow, MA): In July 2022, our province was blessed to add our newest pastoral ministry, under the leadership of Fr. Pedro de Oliveira, OFM Conv. Born in Azores, Portugal, Friar Pedro professed his Simple Vows as a friar of our province, on August 06, 1994, and his Solemn Vows on October 11, 1998. After he was Ordained to the Priesthood, on May 20, 2000, Friar Pedro served as parochial vicar in four of our parishes, in the USA and one in Brazil. For his last two assignments, he had served as pastor for RCC of Most Holy Trinity – St. Mary (Brooklyn, NY), and then St. Peter’s RCC (Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ). Masses at Our Lady of Fatima Parish are celebrated in both English and Portuguese, so Friar Pedro was a welcomed addition, working alongside a staff which is also fluent in both languages. There is hope that someday soon one of the bi-lingual friars of our Province’s Custódia Província Imaculada Conceição (Immaculate Conception Custody in Brazil) will also be able to join Friar Pedro in serving the people of Ludlow.
Some of the following information was extracted from the “History” page of the Our Lady of Fatima Parish website:
For 30 years prior to its establishment as a parish in 1948, the greatly devout Portuguese Catholics of the Ludlow area raised funds for a church of their very own. Over the years since the parish was first established, the campus has expanded to include an outdoor chapel & shrine, a Fátima museum. and an Annual Festa Celebration honoring the anniversary and dedication of the parish ~ Labor Day, September 5th 1949, the date Our Lady of Fatima Parish was inaugurated. Learn more about the events of the parish, on the parish’s Facebook page, where you can also virtually join in the parish’s weekend Masses. Festa 2022, has its own Facebook page.
Bem Vino ao Frei Pedro de Oliveira!
(The Sunday July 3rd welcome Mass of Friar Pedro de Oliveira, OFM Conv.)
Friar Pedro blesses the newly installed statue of Saint Joseph, on the parish grounds (08-30-2022).
From our Order’s Curia: Relics of three Conventual Franciscan martyrs, Blessed Michał, Blessed Zbigniew (Martyrs of Pariacoto, Peru), and Blessed Carlos (Martyr of Argentina), were enshrined at the San Antonio-Ysleta Mission Church in El Paso, Texas, USA.
The “Sense of the Faith” in History: Its Sources, Reception, and Theology ~ by Fr. John J. Burkhard, OFM Conv
“I enthusiastically nominate The Sense of the Faith for the Best Theological Book of 2022.”
~ Peter C. Phan, PhD, STD, DD
Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University
In his January 2020 “Spiritual Testimony” on this site, Friar John’s last paragraph reads as follows: “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!“
August 2, 2022: Our Provincial Custody in Brazil ~ Custódia Província Imaculada Conceição blessed and inaugurated the new Our Lady of the Angels Friary in the city of Belo Horizonte, the capital of the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais,.
Friar James McCurry, OFM Conv. (former Minister Provincial) and Friar Jude Winkler, OFM Conv., (Assistant General for the Conventual Franciscan Federation), were present at the inauguration, representing our province.
The 2022-2023 Class of the Novitiate of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual – CFF (Franciscan Friars Conventual – Conventual Franciscan Federation) includes seven men from three of our four of the North American Provinces; The Province of the Our Lady of Consolation, The Province of Saint Bonaventure, and our own province. These novices will live together for a year and day, under the guidance of their formation team, including Our Lady of the Angels Province friars – Friar Marek Stybor, OFM Conv. (Assistant Director) and Friar Raphael Zwolenkiewicz, OFM Conv. (Friar in Residence).
Two of these Novices are friars in formation for our Province:
Left to Right: Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv. (Minister Provincial) with our province novices – friar Marvin Paul Fernandez, OFM Conv. and friar Connor J. Ouly, OFM Conv. Photo taken at their July 2022 Investiture.
Friar Marvin Paul Fernandez, OFM Conv. is originally from the Philippines, and is now a citizen of Canada. He worked for several years in healthcare as a nursing assistant, then as a full-time cook, and later as a full-time manager of nursing assistants, at a Senior Living Center. For a time he worked with Ottawa Public Health (OPH) as a Clerk for the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic. He decided to enter the Franciscan Friars Conventual because he was inspired by the work that the Friars do in his home parish. Having Saints Francis and Anthony as his patron saints, has been a big inspiration too.
Friar Connor J. Ouly, OFM Conv. is originally from Steelton, PA, but lived in New York City for his undergraduate studies in Voice/Opera at the Juilliard School. He became interested in the Franciscan Friars Conventual due to a love of Saints Joseph Cupertino and Maximilian Kolbe. He was also greatly attracted to the deeply fraternal and community driven life of the Conventuals, as well as their dedication to serving the poorest of the poor in simple but necessary ways such as parish, school, and hospital work. In addition to music, his interests lie in other art forms such as film, drama, and the visual arts.
If you would like more information on life as a Franciscan Friar Conventual, and would like to add a visit with our Vocation Directors to you discernment journey, email them at vocations@olaprovince.org or visit Franciscan Voice.
On August 15, 2022 ~ the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, most of the over half of the friars of our province friars who moved onto new assignments (90 out of 172), officially assumed their new responsibilities in ministry. A Friar’s Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are a great source of strength, as he says “good-bye” to the ministries, the people and the places he holds dear. It is not only those who are beginning in new assignments who realize the loss, but a friar who remain in his ministry and friary also has to say farewell to his confreres who move onto new assignments. All of our friars appreciate the well wishes and the gracious welcome received from those for whom we serve.
Prayer offered by our Minister Provincial, Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv.,
on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
May Our Lady of the Angels, Assumed into Heaven, intercede for us with her Son Who promises us countless blessings as we join our “yes” to Mary’s “yes” and together thank God for the wonderful things He has done
and will continue to do
for us.
There is no official listing of these many changes, but whenever possible, the farewell & welcome liturgies, celebrations, and acknowledgements by individual ministry locations have been and will continue to be shared via our Province Facebook page. For information about friars serving in a specific ministry, visit that ministry’s website for updates. A listing of the ministries in which friars of our province serve can be found on this site’s “Locations” page, including hyperlinks.
Saint Julia Festival 2022: On Saturday, August 27, 2022, our province’s Siler City, NC pastoral ministry ~ St. Julia Catholic Community was able to again celebrate its Annual Parish Festival for the first time, in three years. 
It was wonderful to revive this tradition that brought parishioners and the people from the greater community together. There were games and activities for the kids, a car show for the youth, lots of music and dancing. The clown was a crowd pleaser, and the food was fantastic. Most of all, everyone had a great time and the Festival was a success, as is evident by the joy in these great photos.
On August 15, 2022 ~ the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, most of the over half of the friars of our province friars who moved onto new assignments (90 out of 172), officially assumed their new responsibilities in ministry. A Friar’s Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are a great source of strength, as he says “good-bye” to the ministries, the people and the places he holds dear. It is not only those who are beginning in new assignments who realize the loss, but a friar who remain in his ministry and friary also has to say farewell to his confreres who move onto new assignments. All of our friars appreciate the well wishes and the gracious welcome received from those for whom we serve.
