THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR A PRIEST EACH DAY!
A PRAYER FOR PRIESTSO Jesus, Eternal High Priest, live in (name of priest), act in him, speak inand through him. Think your thoughts in his mind, love through hisheart. Give him your own disposition and feelings. Teach, lead and guidehim always. Correct, enlighten and expand his thoughts and behavior.Possess his soul, take over his entire personality and life. Replace himwith yourself. Incline him to constant adoration and thanksgiving; prayin and through him. Let him live in you and keep him in this intimateunion always.
O Mary, Immaculate Conception, Mother of Jesus and Mother of priests,pray and intercede for (.....). Amen.
Dear Father Bill Cosgrove,This donation is to help the Fraternity of Priests in continuing their work of ministering to priests.
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The Fraternity of Priests pledge of financial accountability: We take very seriously the trust you put in uswhen you send a gift. We stand accountable before God and you to honor that trust. We pledge: To use yourgift carefully and wisely, and not to ask for money that is not needed.
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Fraternity of Priests, Inc.Franciscan University
Steubenville, OH 43952-9671Phone: (740) 283-4400Fax: (740) 283-3622
Email: [email protected]://www.fraternityofpriests.org
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Name
Street
City, State and Zip
June 2009
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Rev. 1
James George Hartford, CT
Rev. 2 Chacko Kumplam Hartford, CT
Rev. 3 Robert Grant Hartford, CT
Rev. 4 Joseph Dorcin Hartford, CT
Rev. 5 Honore Kombo Hartford, CT
6 PPope BBenedict XXVI
Rev. 7 Zacharias Pushpanathan Hartford, CT
Rev. 8 Carlos Zapata Hartford, CT
Rev. 9 Paul Halovatch Hartford, CT
Rev. 10 Francis Karvelis Hartford, CT
Rev. 11 Joseph Looney Hartford, CT
Rev. 12 Robert Rousseau Hartford, CT
Rev. 13 Will-Roger Malave Hartford, CT
Rev. 14 Brian Jeffries Hartford, CT
Rev. 15 Lewis Papera Newark, NJ
Rev. 16 Stephen Toth Newark, NJ
Rev. 17 Paul Lehman Newark, NJ
Rev. Msgr. 18 John Demkovich Newark, NJ
Rev. 19 Brendan Murray Newark, NJ
Rev. 20 Timothy Graff Newark, NJ
Rev. 21 Eugene Bettinger O. Carm. Newark, NJ
Rev. 22 John Gordon Newark, NJ
Rev. 23 Paul Cannariato Newark, NJ
Rev. 24 William Halbing Newark, NJ
Rev. 25 Joseph Meagher Newark, NJ
Rev. 26 Paul O' Donnell Duggan Newark, NJ
Rev. 27 John Primich Newark, NJ
Rev. 28 Jeff Kegley Newark, NJ
Rev. 29 Francis Coryer Ogdensburg, NY
Rev. 30 Alan Shnob Ogdensburg, NY
ISSUE 6 MAY, 2009VOLUME XVIII
The Boston Fraternity: Strong and Readyby Father John Kiley
The members of the BostonFraternity are honored to behosting the Annual Fraternity ofPriests Conference, which will beheld as usual during the first weekof August. This year we have aparticular cause for joy since PopeBenedict has declared thatbeginning with the Feast of theSacred Heart of Jesus, June 19th,the universal Church will observeThe Year for Priests. It is at thistime, when there is a deeper callfor holiness among all who standat the altar, that we have beengiven St. Jeanne-Marie Vianneyas our mentor and guide. It is ourgood fortune that his feast dayfalls on August 4, the Tuesdayof our week together. This yearwill mark the one hundred andfiftieth anniversary of his passageto eternal life, having died onAugust 4, 1859.
Let me tell you a little bit aboutour Boston Fraternity, whichbegan in April 1988. Aware of theneed for mutual support andencouragement several priests hadalready been gathering for prayerand reflection. Some members ofthat original core had a relationshipwith the Community of Hope in
New Jersey. Father Jim Ferry, whohimself was so intimatelyassociated with that covenantcommunity, told them about thebeginnings of a committedbrotherhood of priests. Sooncontact was made with VisitationHouse in Steubenville, Ohio andarrangements were made for aFraternity Conference to be givenhere locally. This teachingconference was given by FatherKen Gallagher and six priests madetheir underway commitments andthe Boston Fraternity was born.
It is very interesting that whilewe have been called the “BostonFraternity” from the beginning, ourmeetings have taken place weeklyat the Salvatorian Center inMethuen, MA which is part of theMelkite Diocese of Newton, MA.At this time the majority of the menare from the Diocese of Manchester,New Hampshire. Currently ourleader is Father Moe Larochelle,pastor of Miraculous Medal Parishin Hampton, NH. Almost half ofthe men who make up our Fraternityhave been ordained in the last tenyears. Regardless of the age thereis an enthusiasm for the ministry thatcomes from the depth of our
relationship with Jesus that isstrengthened by the Fraternityway of life. Sadly on the last dayof last year one of our mostfaithful members, Father DavidZiomek died. He battled the curseof cancer courageously and wasconstantly encouraged by hisbrothers in the Fraternity.
As busy as each of us is withour parish responsibilities we arekeenly aware that the fulfillment ofour mission is dependent on thequality of our relationships. Firstand foremost of course ourrelationship with Jesus, which issustained by our fidelity to prayer.With that in mind we meet at theSalvatorian Center each Tuesdayafternoon. There we follow thetraditional Fraternity teaching withregards to the outline of ourmeeting. We begin with asubstantial period of Prayer andPraise in the presence of the Lordin the Blessed Sacrament. We arefortunate that several of the menplay the guitar, which is a greatassistance to us in lifting our voicesin praise of God.
Prayer of this nature truly attunesyou to the working of the Holy Spirit
...continued on page 3
Fraternity of Priests Newsletter • May 2009 Page 2
EPISCOPALADVISORS
Bishop Sam JacobsHouma-Thibodaux, LA
Bishop Paul BemileWa, Ghana
Archbishop Donald WuerlWashington, DC
Archbishop John MyersNewark, NJ
Archbishop Franc KrombergerMaribor, Slovenia
DIRECTORSRev. William Cosgrove
New York, NYChairman
Fr. Bob FrancoCleveland, OH
Fr. Michael RoyWorcester, MA
Fr. Francis DabreIndia
Fr. John SweeneyPittsburgh, PA
Dear Friends of the Priesthood
Editor’s Box:
Please send articles,comments, and photos to the
FOP Newsletter editor,Fr. Michael Roy via
e-mail [email protected]
or fax to508-943-2213.
Newsletter material from allFraternity members isgratefully accepted. Anysubmissions will helpmake each issue better!
Monthly Donation Budget: $4,750.00
Actual Donations: $2,242.00
Budget Surplus (shortage): ($2,508.00)
Current as of March 31, 2009.
Fraternity Financial Report
What better way to markthe 150th anniversaryof the death of St. Jeanne-
Marie Vianney than to declare June 19,2009-June 19, 2010 as the “Year forPriests”. There have been many priests fromthe beginning of Christianity that couldhave been chosen to be the model andexemplar of the priesthood. However,mother church in her wisdom chose thelowly, humble man Jeanne-Marie Vianneyof an obscure out of the way town inFrance—Ars, to be the model for the parishpriest. Does that sound familiar? Is thatsomething God has done before inchoosing Mary and Joseph in the humbletown of Nazareth to be the model for allChristian parents.
However, our Holy Father is doingsomething different this coming year. Heis expanding the role of the Cure of Ars toinclude not only parish priests, but willdeclare him the patron saint of all priests.There will be much reflection, prayer andmeditation in the coming year on the lifeof this man. What we all need to do on anoccasion such as this is to rediscover thegift of this man’s priesthood for us whohave been called to live out our priestlyministry during the 21st century.
As is customary during this time of theyear the Fraternity of Priests Board ofDirectors gather for fellowship, businessand most especially hear the direction theLord wants to lead us in the upcomingFraternity Conference to be held this yearin Ipswich, MA. One of he Board ofDirectors shared that Pope John XXIII hadwritten an Encyclical on Jeanne MarieVianney. I never heard that and wassurprised when we “googled it”immediately and found it to be just so.
Immediately we were stricken with theidea that reading and meditatingprayerfully on this encyclical would giveus much food for thought for the upcomingPriests Conference in August.Could it be that through the divineintercession of the Cure of Ars, who wasso devoted to the confessional, there will
be a graceb e s t o w e dupon prieststhat will helpus not onlyembrace theSacrament ofReconciliationm o r eprayerful lyand regularlyo u r s e l v e s ,but also will be a blessing on the churchwhen many more people will return to thissacrament.
I am writing this letter five days before3 men will be ordained to the priesthoodfor the archdiocese of New York. This isthe lowest number ever since the foundingof the seminary in 1897. Our archdioceseis not the only one experiencing such adrought of vocations. Let us pray that manymore of God’s flock will be attentive to thevoice of the shepherd calling to him/her tofollow the Good Shepherd in a priestly orreligious vocation. May many more chooseto walk in the footsteps of the Cure of Ars.
Thank you for your faithfulness to usand one another.
Fraternally,
Father Bill
One of the objectives for the Fraternity ofPriests is to inform our donors about theongoing financial health and details of theorganization. We’re providing thisinformation to help communicate ourspecific need and to thank those manyfaithful benefactors who help make ourservice possible. Thank you!
Fraternity of Priests Newsletter • May 2009 Page 3
Please send us your prayer intentions:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
...continued from page 1
and after listening in faith we sharethe word or prophecy we have receivedand the Scriptures with the wholebrotherhood. Next follows a briefsocial time. Very often our leaderor one of the brothers has prepareda teaching that is given in order todeepen our understanding of howwe can grow in holiness. Somesharing and reflection is given tohelp us appropriate this teaching tothe real life situations that we aredealing with. What follows next isof essential importance to keepingus faithful to the Lord and the visionof the Fraternity Brotherhood. Webreak up into smaller ministrygroups where we can honestly sharewith each other what are thestruggles and consolations of ourlives. We can each say that theFraternity is a great gift from Godthat helps keep us faithful to the callof the priesthood and remainenthusiastic about ministry.
Our August Conference will beheld in Ipswich, Massachusetts, atown on the ocean about 30 milesnorth of Boston. This year Ipswichhappens to be celebrating its 375th
Anniversary. You can check outall the information online atwww.ipswichma375.org. TheSisters of Notre Dame de Namurwill host us at their center located at30 Jeffreys Neck Rd. in Ipswich. Inaddition to the worship, teachings,faith sharing, and the annualbusiness meeting that are the majorelements of the Annual Conference,there will be the usual WednesdayBrotherhood Day. This will offer
an opportunity to visit sites in theBoston area, such as the FreedomTrail, Old Ironsides, QuincyMarket, and Museum of Fine Arts,etc. Also, the historic towns ofGloucester, Rockport, andNewburyport are near our homebase in Ipswich. During the week,weather permitting; there will be anopportunity to visit famous CraneBeach in Ipswich for a swim.
The Annual Conference isalways a wonderful opportunity togrow in our priestly vocation, torenew friendships and make newones, and to commit ourselves oncemore to living faithfully theFraternity disciplines. If you havenever attended the Conference, prayabout it and consider it this year. Ifyou have been coming to it in thepast, welcome back. Mostimportantly keep our AnnualConference in your daily prayers,so that those of us in thisBrotherhood might with zeal“minister as a priest the gospel ofGod” (Rm 15:16).
For four years the editor ofVisitation Newsletter has beenFather Bob Franco of theCleveland Fraternity. He hasdone a masterful job using hiscreativity and writing skills inkeeping us inspired, informed,and in touch with one another.Of special note is the series ofarticles that he did last yearduring our 25th Anniversary.Our thanks and prayers areoffered to him for a task donewith great love for the Lord andthe Brotherhood.
Gratitude and PraiseWell Deserved
Upcoming Events & ConferencesKeep these dates in mind as you plan for your upcoming schedules!
• June 15-19 Annual Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians Conferenceat Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio. For more information or toregister online, visit www.franciscanconferences.com.
• August 2-7 Annual Fraternity Meeting at the Notre Dame MissionCenter in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Visit www.fraternityofpriests.org.
• September 27-October 3 International Priests Retreat in the villageof the Holy Cure of Ars, France. This retreat will be preached by CardinalChristoph Schörnborn. More information, including program fees andschedule, can be found at www.retraitears2009.org.
“I have had crosses in plenty—more than I could carryalmost! I set myself to ask forthe love of crosses—Then Iwas happy.”
—The Cure D’ars
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