Weekly News: April 25, 2011

Happy Easter! The Fridge Notes are being posted on a Tuesday this week since the Provincial Offices were closed yesterday in observance of Easter. This was an Easter that had many SCJs traveling, including Fr. Tom Cassidy, who is in Rome.  Who took him to the airport for his overseas travels?  Fr. Francis Vu Tran, Read More…


Blessed Easter

As a community that holds dear the gift of the Eucharist, I pray that Holy Thursday will be truly special for all. As a community that prizes reconciliation, I pray that Good Friday will be a special moment of grace for all. As a community that values the proclamation of the Gospel, I pray that Read More…


Weekly News: April 18, 2011

Funeral homily Approximately 800 people attended the April 15 Funeral Mass for Fr. Charlie Bisgrove, including area police and fire personnel.  Fr. Charlie had been a chaplain to the Franklin Fire and Police Departments.  Besides posting an honor guard during the visitation, the fire department honored Fr. Charlie before the start of Mass by ringing Read More…


Funeral homily for Fr. Charlie Bisgrove, SCJ

Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, provincial superior of the U.S. Province, gave the homily at Fr. Charlie Bisgrove’s funeral at St. Martin of Tours parish, Franklin, Wis., on April 15: Several years ago I read The Life of Pi, the story of a teenage boy traveling with his family by ship off the coast of India. Read More…


Weekly news: April 11, 2011

Remembered around the world Fr. Charles Bisgrove died April 10; on April 7 he suffered a massive stroke. Born in Lorain, Ohio, he professed vows with the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1972. Before his ordination to the priesthood in 1990, Fr. Charlie, 58, had been a brother with the community for 18 years. During his nearly 40 years Read More…


Ordinations in May and June

In May and June the U.S. Province celebrates the priesthood ordination of two of its members:  Dn. Duy Nguyen, SCJ, on June 11 and and Dn. Greg Schill, SCJ, on May 21 .  Classmates, Dn. Duy was ordained to the diaconate last October and Dn. Greg was ordained a deacon in November. Dn. Greg, 34, Read More…


Meet an SCJ: Fr. John Czyzynski, SCJ

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio (which we Clevelanders call “the best location in the nation”; others are not as gracious in the epithets they attach to my home town). I had two sisters, one of whom died two years ago. My other sister still lives in Cleveland. I entered our minor seminary in Donaldson, Read More…


Meet an SCJ: Br. Duane Lemke

I am biased. The best two views in the world can be found in Lower Brule, SD, and Chicago, Ill. Nothing compares to the Missouri River dominating the Dakota horizon as seen from the bluffs overlooking Lower Brule, nor the skyline of steel, glass and light as seen after dark from Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. Of Read More…


Fr. Charles Bisgrove dies of a stroke

Fr. Charles Bisgrove, SCJ, died April 10, in Milwaukee, from complications of a massive stroke that he suffered on April 7. Born in Lorain, Ohio, he professed vows with the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1972. Before his ordination to the priesthood in 1990, Fr. Bisgrove, 58, had been a brother with the community for 18 years. After making Read More…


Bringing SCJ spirituality to the marketplace

Two down, one to go Recently Fr. Quang Nguyen passed the second of the three tests required for him to move forward in his doctoral studies in economics.  After taking the third exam in July, he can submit his proposal for his thesis and begin research. When Fr. Quang was a student in theology he never Read More…