The month of July was filled with canonical visitations and special events across North America.
On July 5, 2024, six men were welcomed into the inter-Provincial postulancy program at the St. Bonaventure Friary in Chicago. The event took place with a ceremony during Evening Prayer in which the men received the San Damiano Cross. Our new brothers range in age and experience. They have good backgrounds in academics, health care, outreach, and a love for our Franciscan values. Their Postulancy Directors are Friars Paul SCHNEIDER and Ian BREMAR.
The directors are eager to start lessons and share their insights into our fraternal life.
On July 12, 2024, three men were vested in the habit of the Order at the inter-Provincial St. Francis Novitiate in Arroyo Grande, California, USA. They were welcomed by their Ministers Provincial, many other friars in attendance, and the two newly assigned Novice Directors, Friars Jim CIARAMITARO and Tony VATTAPARAMBIL. The American novitiate is operating in partnership with the nearby Capuchin and Observant novitiates. This triple crown alliance enhances the novitiate year by promoting the development of long-term friendships and inter-obediential collaboration through shared classes and fraternal interactions.
Over several days in early July, Friar Joseph WOOD conducted conferences for the three friars from the Conventual Franciscan Federation (CFF) who were preparing to profess their solemn vows on August 2. All three men had been his novices in Arroyo Grande, California, so it was a special reunion as well.
Friar Joseph continued conducting canonical visitations across the Province of Our Lady of Consolation, in the midwestern region of the United States. He first visited Prior Lake, Minnesota, where the friars have been ministering at the “Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center” since 1966. The facility is a sixty-acre (twenty-four hectare) haven of manicured gardens, lakes, and woodlands. Next, he visited two large parish complexes in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the friars have ministered since 1872. The first, the St. Benedict Parish Church, was originally built for German immigrants. The second, the St. Joseph Parish Church, was originally intended for Irish immigrants. Now, it doubles as a chaplaincy center for the three universities in Terra Haute, namely, Indiana State, St. Mary of the Woods, and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Friar Joseph also conducted some canonical visitations for the African Federation of Conventual Franciscans (AFCOF). He met with a number of new missionaries in the United States from Kenya. For the past few years, the Province of Kenya has been under contract with the Province of St. Bonaventure (based in Chicago) to provide ministerial assistance in St. Bonaventure Province and to the north, in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, where there is a great shortage of diocesan clergy and where most priests must cover at least three parishes each! Friars Timothy MACHILA and Simon MINYATI, from Kenya, jointly staff four rural parishes in Wisconsin. They have been warmly welcomed by the generous farmers who are their far-flung parishioners. Friars Erick ONDIEKI and Dominic WAMBUI have only been in the United States for a month. They have had to “hit the ground running”! The Bishop of Green Bay offered them three urban parish churches. They are large facilities that are architecturally stunning. Most of them have not had a resident priest for many years. The friars from Kenya say that being in the United States does in fact allow them to benefit their home Province with contributions from their salaries and donations. However, from a wider perspective, the friars mentioned that originally, missionaries came to them in Kenya. Now, they can “give back” by being missionaries in another land. They also expressed their gratitude to the friars who founded their home Province of Kenya, namely, the friars of the Mother Province of Gdańsk, Poland.
Friar Joseph WOOD
