Join us at this summer's MLNNA Continental Assembly, which will be held from July 27 to 30, at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.

This year's theme is "Come to Cana: Many Stories, One Table, One Family."

"Come to Cana" is an opportunity to reflect together on the meaning of community life and how Marianist Lay Communities can use their diverse gifts to grow in faith, spirituality, family spirit, and social concern.

Keynote speakers will include Jacqueline Landry, former Catholic chaplain at Harvard University, who also grew up in Dorothy Day's community, and Neomi DeAnda, a lay Marianist and professor of religious studies at DePaul University.

See the link below for registration material, a discount offer on air travel, Assembly schedule, and child care information.

If you would like to share information about your ministry or gather people around a particular theme, you may want to request exhibit tables or a focus group at the Lay Continental Assembly.

(A focus group is a time when participants can ?focus? on an area of interest.)

There are a limited number of exhibit tables and rooms for focus groups, so please get your request to Susan Vogt, SusanVogt@fuse.net or 859/291- 6197, by June 30. (The fee for each of these is $10.)

Brother Richard Joyal, SM, was warmly welcomed home by the Winnipeg Marianist Family on May 26. Brother Richard moved from Winnipeg, Canada, to India in 1985 and is now living and working with two other brothers in a new SM foundation in the Philippines.

Their work in the Philippines is threefold: directing the Balay Pasilungan project (a care center for street children); developing lay communities; and promoting vocations to Marianist life, both lay and religious. Besides a joy-filled reunion with old friends, the evening included an informative and inspiring Power Point presentation and slides.

More information on the Marianist presence in the Philippines may be found at www.marianist.org under the link, ?Foundations.?

(In the photo, left to right: Christine Lussier, Brother Richard, David Moyer, Lawrence Lussier)

Congratulations to Armando A�eses, Dennis Bautista, Alfredo Ch�vez, and Andrew Kosmowski who made their first profession of vows on May 20 at Mount St. John, in Dayton, Ohio.

Reminding us of the vast richness of the SM Province of the United States, vows were professed in English, Hawaiian, and Spanish.

The Marianist Center for Education of Faith in Quebec is organizing musical/pastoral camps for the summer. The six-day camps will offer a large variety of musical and pastoral activities to children over six years old.

Two camps (July 9-14 and July 30-August 4) are dedicated to children between 6 and 11 years old, and two other camps (July 23-28 and August 6-11) will be for 12 year old children and older. The unique formula combines both quality musical formation and pastoral activities.

The camps are offered at a low price to allow less fortunate families to participate ($275 Canadian, about $225 US for the whole week). Parents are welcome to join their children, either to help at the camp, or simply enjoy the beautiful Quebec area.

People interested should contact Josee Roberge at 1- 418-882-0114.

As we in the United States ponder immigration reform, let us be guided by Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of all the Americas.

May we be ever mindful that she appeared to Juan Diego, and not to an anglo-equivalent name, John James.

May Mary guide us to wise choices and deeper holiness as a nation.

Daniel M. Jordan, editor MLNNA E-News

Join in a solidarity fast with Starvin' for Justice 2006, the 13th Annual Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty, which will take place at the US Supreme Court, June 29-July 2, 2006. (MSJC is a cosponsor.)

For a resource packet on the Marianist Pledge to Eliminate Racism, click the link below.

(To get a copy by mail, email jimvogt2@yahoo.com.)

?People are Fragile, Handle with Prayer.?

As members of the Marianist Family, let us lift up the following prayers that our brothers and sisters have requested.

For those who appear ?lost? in life, may they find their way;

For parents and care givers of the ?lost,? may they find comfort and hope;

For the unemployed and underemployed, may they find dignifying work;

For those planning the Lay Continental Assembly and the SM General Chapter in Rome, may their work go smoothly and their efforts appreciated.

For all the sick, especially

• Nicholas Gasaway?uncle of Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill, of St. Mary's University, and the brother of James Gasaway?who has moved into St. Anthony's Hospice in St. Louis, Missouri;

• Sr. Audrey Buttner, FMI;

• For Sharon, the cousin of Pati Krasensky, who was diagnosed with liver cancer;

For those who have died, especially

• The father of Raymond Baxla, a lay Marianist in India.

Lord, we lift up these prayers to you.

+ Amen

Brother Javier Anso, who is completing his 10 years as Assistant for Temporalities for the General Administration of the Society of Mary, shares with his Marianist Family his prayer-filled reflection on St. Joseph.

"My gift to you will be something simple, something that doesn?t need much explanation, something that comes from the heart. What I offer, simply, is what I have been discovering about Joseph, in case it might help you."

To read this wonderful reflection, click the link below and go to the SM page and to the 3 Offices link to discover "Go to Joseph," which is number 115, May 2006.

Bill Hirt (bottom left), of Dayton, Ohio, visited with the Seguidores de Cristo lay Marianist community while in San Antonio, on April 26.

The comunidad sang and prayed before discussing hot-button issues in mainstream news. Discussion of the coming summer Continental Assembly was also in the mix. Thank you, Bill for your visit. The door stands open to visitors to San Antonio.

The University of Dayton's campus ministers enjoy bowling at an end-of-the-year social.

Part of their ministry is to build Marianist community with students on campus and to foster small Christian communities.

The Catholic Telegraph, the Catholic newspaper for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, recently ran a full-page article on 16 young adults from the University of Dayton who made a commitment to live the Marianist charism.