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Living the Way of the Cross

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Living Way of the Cross at St Raphael
Catholic Church, Raleigh, NC

For over 2000 years people have been modeling their lives in the way Jesus taught us. For over 500 years a book called The Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas à Kempis, has provided comfort, understanding, peace and been a source of prayer for millions of people. In the seminary we used to read a short meditation from that book each evening. Fr. Norman Butler, M.S., wrote from Argentina about how some people, while meditating and enacting the Way of the Cross, came to an understanding of Christ’s presence today in their lives:

For Holy Week in Argentina most parishes put on what is called a “Living Way of the Cross.” Teenagers and young adults get together to act out the passion of Christ. Costumes tend to be the “classic” Roman soldier fare, while tunics and shawls serve for Jesus, the apostles and the chief priests.

This year I saw a very special and original presentation. It was put on by young drug addicts who are in a recovery program. This program takes place on our La Salette property in Pilar near Buenos Aires.

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Life Conquers Death

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Feeding the hungry at Amancer
in Cochabamba, Bolivia

In my years of ministry in Cochabamba, Bolivia, I have seen how Christ’s message is working wonders in God’s people. The words of St. Paul are so true: “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). In other words, if we let God work in us, Christ’s Resurrection will triumph over death.

In spite of the handful of people who continue to lead the world down paths of death, many, if not most, are Easter people, in whose lives of sacrifice and commitment Christ is resurrected in our own times.

Here in Cochabamba we have lost one such gifted person. At 85 years of age, most of her life was spent in constant work among God’s poor. Her name is Kathleen Mary Murray, known here in Cochabamba as Sister Stephanie. The people of Cochabamba revere her as their own “Mother Teresa.”

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Angels Without Wings

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Fr. Bernie Baris (left) with Fr. Flavio
Gillio
who is amazed at the heavy
weight of
 a basket of chickens
Through the kindness of Fr. Bernie Baris, M.S., pastor of the parish of Our Lady of the Cape in Brewster, MA and some of his parishioners, I arrived in Haiti on Feb. 19th, 2013, with Fr. Bernie.

The personal impact of this brief visit to Haiti has been profound and very challenging. By the evening of my first day, I already wanted to leave and to go back to the USA. But I did not. I did not even share my initial thoughts with Fr. Bernie or with Sr. Christine. I remembered that something similar also happened to Fr. Bernie, during his first visit some thirteen years ago and it encouraged me. I repeated to myself: if it happened to him, and this is his thirteenth visit, then maybe things can change for me as well.

The Stark Reality of Haitian Daily Life

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A People's Pastor

Untitled-1As St. Paul reminds us, each of us have gifts given to us by God.

I arrived on Dec. 12, 2012 at Immaculate Conception Parish in Holyoke, MA, to give a hand. I came as an “interim priest”, before the La Salette Missionaries return this parish to the pastoral care of the Diocese of Springfield, MA. We have served here for a full 100 years.

I was greeted by the Pastor of ten years, Fr. Jim Aherne, M.S., with a welcoming hand and a caveat: "I am not an administrator.” It seemed to be the answer to many of my questions. True as that might be, what he didn't tell me and I soon discovered, he is a true leader.

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Associates and Religious

Untitled-1Editor: I came across this blog post and asked permission to reprint it on our website. Sister answers well some basic questions and misunderstandings about associates and their connection with their religious community. This applies well to our own La Salette Associates.

Donna raised an important topic in religious life — the role of lay associates (or affiliates) in religious life — in her comment on my post The Demise of Religious Life Here’s what Donna said:

What role do you think lay affiliates of religious orders will play in the future in religious life? Do you think these folk will be more integrated into a given community’s life (i.e., their ministries, activities, etc.) than they are now? How do you view the associates of your order? Is it difficult for older, more traditional sisters to accept associates?

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First La Salettes in Argentina

Editor: This article was originally written for a booklet celebrating the Centennial of the La Salette Apparition in 1946.

Untitled-1"Tierra prometida, tierra por lavenir," — thus do the Argentine people love to speak of their country: the Land of Promise, the Land of the Future. Argentina is a rich country and for the most part its people are the descendants of Spanish and Italian immigrants. It is a Catholic country and it has harbored many a Polish refugee. The lack of clergy has prevented the development of the Church among the scattered population of the hinterland. Hence a great field of apostolate lies open in Argentina.

In May,1936, the Rev. Michael Kolbuch, M.S., Provincial of Poland, was urged by Cardinal Hlond, at the invitation of the Polish Government, to undertake a survey of the Polish Catholic immigrants in Argentina. The outcome of his visit was the establishment of several La Salette mission centers in four of the provinces of Argentina: La Plata, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Rosario. A first group of six Fathers and two lay-brothers set out from Poland in 1937 and the following year brought reinforcements.

The work of the Fathers in Argentina, be it said in passing, is not limited to Polish immigrants only. Moreover, these are quite scattered throughout that vast country. The Missionaries labor to spread the Gospel and Mary's message to many needy souls in a broad and strangely mixed territory. A Novitiate and a Scholasticate have been opened to recruit vocations.

More apostles are being trained in the American High School Seminary founded at Olivet, Illinois. It is hoped that the success of this undertaking will help to compensate for the terrible losses incurred by the Province of Our Lady, Queen of Poland, in the old world.

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I Make All Things New

Editor: Bp. Donald Pelletier, M.S. shared that his two Masses – one to close St. Joseph’s Parish in Attleboro, MA, and one to open the newly merged St. Vincent de Paul Parish – “was a great privilege for me. I see this brand new parish as an invitation from God to grow. It is a great opportunity for these two Catholic communities to be joined, reconciled, in order to reach out in God’s name to the poor and the most needy of our area.”

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Bishop Donald Pelletier presides over the
first Mass at the Church of St. Vincent de Paul
that combines the parishes of St. Joseph’s
and Holy Ghost. (Staff photo by Martin Gavin)
The first day of the new year brought a fresh beginning for the just-merged parishes of St. Joseph's Church and Holy Ghost Church, now renamed the Church of St. Vincent de Paul. The new church held its inaugural Mass on Tuesday morning at the former Holy Ghost Church on Linden Street.

Retired Bishop Donald Pelletier, who also presided over Sunday's final Mass at St. Joseph's, celebrated Mass at Holy Ghost Church, calling the day "a new reality" in the city of Attleboro. "We are all optimistic," Pelletier said. "For us, today, there is excitement and joy as we witness a new parish." During his homily, Pelletier quoted a relevant Bible verse in the Book of Revelation. "‘Behold, I make all things new,'" said Pelletier. "This word is being accomplished in this parish today."

The merged parishes have a large Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking congregation, and Pelletier went on to say that those languages should not be a barrier when sharing the Gospel with other people in the community. Pelletier also pointed out the symbolic shape of the cross, in which the horizontal and vertical lines meet in the center, as do the members of the community, regardless of their languages or social standing. The church's patron saint, St. Vincent de Paul, reached out to the poor, Pelletier reminded the congregation, and urged them to do the same.

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To Bat for Fr Pat

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Fr. André Patenaude, M.S.

ATTLEBORO - For 22 years Fran Gunning has been working with La Salette Father, André "Pat" Patenaude. As manager of his ministry that takes him around the world spreading Our Lady of La Salette's message of reconciliation with God, Gunning has always been proactive.

So when the singing priest fell seriously ill this past August while ministering in France, Gunning immediately took the only action she could for her friend half way around the world - she began to pray for him. Not asking God0 to heal him, but confidently thanking God for healing him. "I began to thank God in advance for Father Pat's healing," Gunning told The Anchor. "I started to pray, ‘Thank you, God, for healing Father Pat,' and others started to pray it as well. It became our mantra while he was in a hospital in Grenoble, France."

When Gunning learned that Father Pat and the La Salette Community had no insurance to help pay for the astronomical bills that began to pile up, she again sprang to action, this time by organizing a fund-raising event to help defray some of the costs. The event will take place March 3, 2013, at the Lake Pearl Restaurant in Wrentham from 3 to 8 p.m.

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Argentina’s Disappeared


 
Northern Argentina’s secret Detention Centers
for the Disappeared (indicated in yellow)
Editor: “Desaparecidos” is the Spanish word for “The Disappeared.” For thousands of Argentine families, this word has become a symbol of a long harrowing nightmare.
 
In a coup on March 24, 1976, a military junta seized power in Argentina and went on a campaign to wipe out left-wing terrorism with terror far worse than the one they were combating. Between 1976 and 1983, under military rule, about 30,000 people, most of them dissidents and innocent civilians — including priests, religious and children — unconnected with terrorism, were arrested and then vanished without a trace.
 
In 1983, after democracy was restored, a national commission was appointed to investigate the fate of the disappeared. Its report revealed the systematic abductions of men, women and children, the existence of about 340 well organized secret detention centers, and the methodic use of torture and murder. According to former president, Carlos Menem, records of the atrocities were destroyed by the military, following the 1982 Falklands War. The disappeared have not been heard of to this day.
 
The website, “The Vanished Gallery” is a humble attempt to bring the voices of the “desaparecidos” and their loved ones to the world. Human Rights organizations estimate that about 30,000 people disappeared during those years. The vanishing was swift, a burst into a home at night, a few minutes and they were gone – not enough time to be heard. We owe it to them. The following is just one story of this ongoing tragedy, attested to by Fr. Norman Butler, M.S., Regional Superior of the La Salette Missionaries in the Region of Argentina/Bolivia and Fr. Alfredo Velarde, M.S., a native Argentine who now serves in Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de Perpetuo Socorro, Las Termas de Rio Hondo, Santiago del Estero, Argentina. 

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Attleboro’s La Salette ‘eXtreme’

Joe Everton speaks with the youth
at La Salette eXtreme
La Salette eXtreme, a program geared towards area youth in the Attleboro, MA, area, on Dec. 7, 2012, welcomed Giovanni Calise, Executive Director of the ministry, Rock My Faith, as its first guest speaker in its 2012-2013 season. La Salette eXtreme meets on the first Friday of the month from September through May. The ministry began in 2007 under the name Extreme East and was renamed La Salette eXtreme in 2010.
 
In an interview, Joe Everton, the Coordinator of Youth Ministry for La Salette, said that the program aims to help supplement what is already going on in parishes and their youth groups. Since La Salette is not a parish itself, La Salette eXtreme allows youth from many area parishes to meet in a more corporate way, said Everton.
 
"The ministry is... for young Catholics who want to come and enhance their faith experience," said Everton. He said that the turnout for the first night in October was about 60 people and added that the theme was glow sticks, and that pizza was served at the end of the night. The most recent event occurred last Friday, when Allison Gingras spoke. An author and inspirational speaker, Gingras is part of the shrine's praise and worship team.

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