Going to the dogs

Sacred Heart Monastery hosted just over a dozen dogs and cats, along with their owners, at a Pet Blessing on Sunday, October 2. Fr. Byron Haaland (pictured above with two of the participants) did an individual blessing for each animal. There was also a brief prayer service.

Each pet received a blessing certificate and one lucky pooch won a raffle prize: a basket of dog bones. Interviewed about his prize the award winner said “Woof, woof!”

New appointment

Last month Fr. Tom Cassidy and his council appointed Kassandra Wilson (province administrative assistant) as vice-provincial secretary. She will help with some of the administrative duties of the provincial secretary’s office.

Members of the province who need faculties to exercise ministry in a diocese can contact Kassandra at provadm@poshusa.org to process the documents.  Please contact the Provincialate FOUR weeks before the permission is needed. When you do so, make sure to give Kassandra the date(s) the document is needed, as well as name of the diocese(s) and other pertinent information.

Update

Fr. Jim Schifano
New email address: jschifano@poshusa.org

Keep in prayer

The parents of Fr. Greg Schill
Fr. Greg’s parents were in an automobile accident last week; a semi-truck hit their car. Both parents were taken to the hospital. Mr. Schill was released hours after the accident but an MRI determined that Mrs. Schill has two broken bones in her back. Doctors are trying to determine whether surgery is needed. Please keep them in prayer. Fr. Greg is a member of the Mississippi community and his email is gregmarine@yahoo.com.

Sister of Fr. Tony Kelly
We received an email from Margaret Kelly, the sister of deceased SCJ Fr. Tony Kelly. Frances, the sister of Fr. Tony and Margaret, died last week after suffering from a lengthy illness. Her funeral Mass will be October 8 in Florida. Margaret thanks SCJs for their prayers for the family. Margaret’s email: mkelly@myfairpoint.net

Fr. Jerry Clifford
Fr. Jerry is out of the hospital and at Alexian Brothers Lansdowne Village for rehabilitation. He went to the hospital last week with complications from treatment he is receiving for lung cancer. Fr. Jerry suffers from neuropathy in his feet and has difficulty walking. He will be at the rehab center for about a month. His address there:

Alexian Brothers Lansdowne Village
4624 Lansdowne Ave
Saint Louis, MO 63116

He thanks SCJs for their continued prayers.

Fr. Bryan Benoit
Fr. Bryan is experiencing more complications from Parkinson’s; he has increasing difficulty with walking and with tremors. Please continue to keep him in prayer. His email: bryan_scj@hotmail.com

Pat Singer, sister of Fr. Bill Pitcavage
Please keep Pat Singer in your prayers. Recently her apartment was destroyed by fire. Her home and everything in it was a total loss. She is now in the midst of the difficult process of starting over. Fr. Bill’s email is pitscj@juno.com

ESL Cultural Fair

Nine nations were represented at this year’s Cultural Fair at Sacred Heart School of Theology on September 28. The lunchtime exhibition gives international students at the seminary an opportunity to show off their home cultures, including some of the food and beverages of their countries.

Sacred Heart has approximately 40 students in its ESL program during the year, with the largest concentration being in the summer and early fall. They come from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Approximately 25% of SCJs worldwide have taken part in the program, including members of the general curia and SCJ students from the international college in Rome.

Represented at this year’s Cultural Fair were Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam, Guatemala, Mexico, Poland, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Click here to view a few photos from the fair.

New archbishop named

Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Wilson Tadeu Jönck, SCJ, as archbishop of Florianópolis, Brazil. Professed in 1972 and ordained in 1977, he was a seminary professor and administrator in Brazil before being named bishop in 2003. He has served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro and as bishop of Tubarão.

New coverage but no change needed

The new medical cards for SCJs who are NOT on Medicare are in the mail.  SCJs on this plan will now only have one insurance card, which will be used both for medical visits and for prescriptions.

“You will notice that we have a new prescription drug plan with CVS/Caremark,” said Dn. David Nagel, province treasurer.  “The new company replaces Express Scripts.  CVS/Caremark will cover prescriptions at any drug store including Walgreens.”

The change was made because Express Scripts has been in negotiations with Walgreens; there is a possibility that Express Scripts might no longer be accepted at the pharmacy. Since so many SCJs use Walgreens to fill prescriptions the province changed to coverage with CVS/Caremark.

SCJs need to present the new card to medical providers and pharmacies; however, beyond that there are no changes. “Even though the coverage is through CVS/Caremark, SCJs DO NOT need to go to a CVS pharmacy,” emphasized Dn. David.

This DOES NOT affect SCJs on Medicare.

Provincial’s Time

Fr. Tom Cassidy is in the Milwaukee area until next Thursday when he leaves for Europe to attend the SCJs’ European Conference on Secularity. Following the conference, Fr. Tom will visit the Polish Province. He will be in Europe from October 14-28.

Upcoming meetings and events:

October 4-5: Provincial Council Meeting
October 17-20: European Conference on Secularity (Frs. Tom Cassidy of the U.S. Province and Fr. Bill Marrevee of Canada will attend the conference in Clairefontaine, Belgium)
November 8-9: Combined Councils Meeting of the U.S. and Canada (Ottawa)
November 14-16: SCJ Retreat, Pinellas Park
December 14-15: Provincial Council Meeting