From May 18–22, 2026, the Province of Our Lady of the Angels in the USA conducted its Ordinary Provincial Chapter. The event took place at the Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum Heights (Baltimore), Maryland, USA. This large Merchant Marine training center has facilities that are also open to the public and is spacious enough to accommodate the seventy delegate members of the Chapter.
One major topic of the Chapter was the possibility of inviting smaller Provinces of the Conventual Franciscan Federation (CFF) to merge. However, the issues of diminishment and aging were also concerns for this large Province, with its many commitments and numerous parochial, educational, and chaplaincy sites.
The Province welcomed Friar Michael HEINE to his second term as Minister Provincial, with Friar Gary JOHNSON elected to his second term as Vicar Provincial, and Friar Nicholas ROMEO also elected to his second term as Provincial Secretary. Five others were elected to their first terms as Definitors, namely Friars Edward FALSEY, Dennis GRUMSEY, Michael ZIELKE, Robert BENKO, and Richard ROME. Friar Richard Jacob FORCIER was elected Provincial Exactor and Econom.
During the installation of his new Definitory, the Minister Provincial, Friar Michael HEINE, gave a final reflection, saying: “During this Jubilee Year commemorating the 800th anniversary of the transitus of St. Francis, we find ourselves at an important moment in the life of Our Lady of the Angels Province…. A Provincial Chapter is also a renewal, a chance to begin again…. In a world where peace is increasingly fragile, people look to us as witnesses [showing] that men of different backgrounds, personalities, cultures, and temperaments can actually live together in peace, reconciliation, and joy…. [May we] continue reaching out to those on the margins – the forgotten, the lonely, the wounded, the people no one else notices. St. Francis challenges us to heal wounds, to bind what is broken, to bring home those who are lost. Pope Francis’ image of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ remains so powerful and relevant for us…. Tonight, as these seven friar-Definitors take the oath to serve in leadership, they do so first as men of prayer. Everything begins there.”
Friar Joseph WOOD
