BOSTON - First Profession of Vows will be celebrated at St. Leonard Church in Boston's North End on Saturday, August 16.  There will be a Mass of Profession at noon and a lunch to follow.
 
Set to make their First Profession of Vows are novice Friars Michael Pisaturo, Joseph Powell, and Francisco Soriano.
 
Friars who plan on attending should contact Fr. Antonio Nardioanni so he will know how many to prepare for.  Friar-priests planning on concelebrating should bring an alb and stole.

DENVER, CO - Communication Directors from the Provinces of the English-Speaking Conference of the Order recently met for the first time as a group in Denver on July 29-31, 2008. The meeting was organized by Friar Thomas Washburn, Executive Secretary of the ESC and Director of Communications for our Province, and Ms. Jocelyn Thomas, Director of Communication for Holy Name Province, at the request of the Conference to open dialogue on communication issues and explore the possibility of becoming a Committee of Experts of the ESC.
 
In attendance along with Tom and Jocelyn were Ms. Toni Cashnelli of St. John Baptist Province, Friar Patrick McCormack of Assumption BVM Province, Friar John Summers, and Ms. Ali Packard of St. Barbara Province, and Friar Benet Fonck of Sacred Heart Province.
 
Over the course of the meeting, members shared the efforts of the respective provinces in the area of communications, giving samples of publications and web sites and explaining their province's approach to exchanging ideas in order to share the Franciscan message.
 
Though there was divergence in the content, methods, and tools of communications, the ESC communicators had a oneness of mind in objectives, plan of action, and hopes for getting out the word. The four objectives that surfaced were building the bonding among friars, accomplishing evangelization, promoting vocations, and serving development. The plan of action involved more collaboration between the communications, development, JPIC, and vocation offices within a province. The hope for communications seemed to be more effective efforts in the area of public relations.
 
The communicators also discussed the sources of their information for publications, like asking for anecdotes from the friars on a certain topic, featuring a profile of the life and ministry of a living friar, setting up within the province a network of local correspondents, or checking blogs or You-Tube or Facebook for messages or ideas from friars.
 
The meeting was very helpful to all gathered and the group decided to petition the ESC for incorporation as a Committee of Experts.
 
The next gathering will be at Serra Retreat in Malibu, California, on August 17-20, 2009.

 

(Portions of this article originally appeared in the August 7 issue of Around the Province, newsletter of the Sacred Heart Province.)

LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO - The four mid-West Provinces of the Order are sponsoring an Inter-Provincial Retreat to commemorate the 800th Anniversary of the approval of our Life and Rule.  Friars from any Franciscan Province are encouraged to participate.

 

The retreat entitled "800th Anniversary of Our Life and Rule 1209-2009: Commitments and Practices that Identify us as Franciscans," will be held January 12-16, 2009 at the Holy Cross Retreat House in Las Cruces.  The retreat is being jointly sponsored by Assumption BVM, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sacred Heart and St. John the Baptist provinces.

 

Friar Michael Blastic of Holy Name Province will be the presenter.  Michael is currently Associate Professor at the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure's teaching courses on Franciscan Hagiography, The Franciscan Theological Tradition, Franciscan Preaching, and Franciscan Philosophy. Michael is recognized as an expert on our Rule and is the author of "Study of the Rule of 1223: History, Exegesis and Reflection."