BOSTON - Over the last several months, St. Leonard Church in Boston's North End has been in the midst of a series of renovations under the direction of the pastor, Friar Antonio Nardoianni. 

Most recently completed was a "face-lift" to the facade of the building.  An extensive clearning and re-pointing of the brick work has revealed the original extraordinary exeterior of the Church which had been obscured by decades of build-up.  Re-discoverd were beautiful differences in the color of bricks used in the structure which add more interest to the design. 

Additionally, on the facade the statue of St. Leonard of Portmaurice, the parish patron, was nearly completely deteriorated. The works were wonderfully able to reconstruct the statue completely.

 

On the interior of the Church, work is underway to repair the stained glass windows.  Currently, the large rose window has been removed for repair.  The removal has created an interesting sensation in the interior of the Church as its absence allows for natural sunlight to stream into the Church. 

Finally, the famed St. Leonard's Peace Garden is undergoing a complete renovation and reconstruction.  Due to shifting earth beneath the garden, the walkways and brick walls had shifted and broken.  These have all been removed, the area has been leveled and redesigned and new sod has been planted.  A brick walkway will replace the former cement one; and a new ramp is being constructed to give handicapped accessibility to the former convent and Church.

The majority of the exterior work is expected to be completed by Christmas. 

 

Additional photos of the work in progress can be viewed at: ST. LEONARD'S RENOVATIONS 

SONSONATE, EL SALVADOR - Associacion Agape begins its annual radio and television telethon yesterday.  The telethon continues until midnight on Saturday.

 

The telethon will cover all of El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.  It will also be viewable in the United States.

 

Cablevision, which is transmitted in parts of the U.S., will televise the telethon on Channel 228.

by Neil O'Connell, OFM

 

This reflection on Advent, which this year begins Nov. 29, is scheduled to appear in The Catholic Advocate, the publication of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J. 

Francis of Assisi identified himself as "the herald of the Great King." Baptized as Giovanni Baptista or "John the Baptizer," he no doubt wished to imitate his patron, thus Francis is the perpetual Advent person and Franciscan men and women are perpetual Advent people. 

As a Franciscan, then, I am a strict Adventist. I avoid doing Christmas things prior to Christmas Eve, since Advent has its own rich and enveloping experience.

A Franciscan Advent is apocalyptic and forward-looking in a creative sense. We stand erect and raise our eyes as we do cosmic and environmental housecleaning for the arrival of the Great King who makes all things new.

A Franciscan Advent is renovational. We straighten out paths twisted by confusion and anxiety, we fill in valleys of poverty and alienation, we bring down mountains of pride and self absorption, we smooth out roads roughened by violence and racism so that all may plainly see the Great King who is always healing.

A Franciscan Advent is evangelical. We announce and live the good news of the Great King who embraces sinners and who refines them into nourishing wheat for others. 

A Franciscan Advent is Marian. We, with Mary, bearing the embryonic Word Made Flesh within us, hasten to those once empty to make present to them the Great King who makes their whole being leap with joy.

Since Franciscans do not belong to an exclusive club, they welcome all to be companions in observing a Franciscan Advent. Though Advent concludes prior to the Christmas Vigil, Franciscan women and men and their companions remain adventist for the rest of the year as they herald the Great King in his ministry, passion, death, resurrection and sending of the Spirit.

(Fr. Neil, a former president of St. Bonaventure University, is the Catholic campus minister at Manhattan Community College and Herbert H. Lehman College in the Bronx, where he is also an adjunct professor of history.)

OXFORD, ENGLAND - Friar Andre Cirino has been invited by the Centre for Franciscan Studies to give a lecture at the Greyfriars, Oxford, UK.

 

The lecture, titled "Solitude In St. Francis' Writings," will be given on Friday, January 22 at 5:15 p.m.