New SHST rector installed
The start of the new school year at Sacred Heart School of Theology got underway last week with the annual Opening Mass on August 29. During it, Msgr. Ross Shecterle, a diocesan priest from Milwaukee, was installed as the 19th president-rector of the seminary. He is the first non-SCJ to be appointed to the office. Among those in attendance was Bishop Donald Hying, auxiliary bishop of Milwaukee. The archdiocese’s seminarians do their academic training at SHST.
Click here to see a few photos from the ceremony.
Cell phone incentives
“Sixteen of our 48 high school students hit the tutor’s office last night,” wrote Fr.Stephen Huffstetter, SCJ, in his blog about the start of the new school year at St. Joseph’s Indian School. “One of the rules that students complain about the most is having to turn in their cell phones before they retire to their rooms. Now the rule is that they can keep their cell phones as long as their grades are good and they have fewer than three missing assignments. I overheard students say their goal is to keep the phone the whole year by staying on top of their work from the beginning, which was one reason for the rush to the learning center.”
How student incentives have changed since the SCJs began St. Joseph’s in 1927!
Click here to read the rest of Fr. Steve’s blog, as well as blog entries from other members of the St. Joseph’s team.
Upcoming powwow
Besides being busy with the start of a new school year, staff and students at St. Joseph’s are also getting ready for the 36th American Indian Day and Powwow celebration, September 14-15. The celebration of Lakota culture has taken place at St. Joseph’s since 1976. The general public is always welcome to attend.
Click here for more information about this year’s American Indian Day celebration, as well as links to videos of previous years and dance highlights.
Anniversary celebrations continue
Each month this year special events have been planned at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Houston in honor of its 100th anniversary. This Saturday, September 8, the new school year at OLG will kick off with a special Mass celebrated by Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza. It will be followed by a birthday celebration in the parish plaza.
Happy birthday!
On Saturday, September 1, Fr. Aegi Warsito, a member of the Indonesian Province ministering in Toronto, turned 47. And tomorrow, another SCJ transplant in the Canadian Region celebrates his birthday: Fr. Gustave Lulendo turns 39. Other SCJs with birthdays in September include Fr. Steve Wiese (78) on September 11, Fr. Tom Burns (74) on September 12, Fr. Johnny Klingler (77) and Fr. John Czyzynski (75) on September 14, Fr. Greg Speck (65) on September 17, Br. John Monek (83) on September 18, and Fr. Joseph Dinh (43) on September 24.
Please remember
John Tennyson, the brother of Fr. Paul Tennyson, died on August 29. Fr. Paul is a member of the Canadian Region and ministers in Ottawa.
One chapter ends, another begins
During the past few months Fr. Tim Gray, SCJ, wrote several posts for the province blog about his sabbatical in Brazil. His final post from Brazil is about the statue of Mary, Nossa Senhora de Aparecida.
“The actual terra cotta statue is tiny — just over 12 inches tall. The statue was found in 1717, tangled in the nets of fishermen in the river Paraiba, stained dark by being submerged in the water. It was recovered in pieces — first the body, then the head. The fisherman brought it home, and soon it became an object of devotion because of the many healings which took place. A sanctuary was built, and then enlarged, as devotion spread.
“In 1930, Nossa Senhora de Aparecida was declared the principal patroness of Brazil and in 1955 construction began on a new sanctuary building which, according to reports, is second in size to St. Peter’s in Rome and the fourth most visited Marian shrine in the world. And in its place of honor, a 12 inch tall statue.
“What continues to amaze me is the hold that this tiny, dark brown image exerts over the Brazilian church… this small, dark statue, staring straight ahead, as if to say: I am one of you. I did not descend from heaven, supported by clouds of angels — I was brought up from the water, stained dark from the earth. I was not even whole; I was broken and healed.”
Click here to read the rest of Fr. Tim’s reflection.
And, click here to visit his new blog site (thebodaciousword.blogspot.com). “I decided to begin this blog both as a motivation for me to keep writing, and also as a way to share my writing with others. As for WHAT I would write about, I left that up to whatever inspiration I received.”
His first topic? The readings for Sunday, August 26, including the reading from Paul telling wives to “be submissive to their husbands.”
“This passage is so offensive to some people that the bishops gave us the option of skipping over it completely,” he wrote. “I don’t choose to do that. We have been given the scriptures, and we need to accept them and be confronted by them as they are.”
Provincial’s time
This week Fr. Cassidy is in the Milwaukee area, doing a visitation on Wednesday and Thursday with the Woods Road (St. Francis) community. September 10-16 he will be in South Dakota for a visitation, enjoying American Indian Day at St. Joseph’s Indian School on September 15. September 18-22 he will be with the Dehon Formation community in Chicago and on September 29 he leaves for Africa to attend the ordination of Archbishop Claudio Dalla Zuanna in Beira, Mozambique.
Happy Labor Day!
The Provincialate Offices are closed today, September 3, for Labor Day. They will reopen on Tuesday, September 4.
Upcoming meetings and events:
October 11-12: Provincial Council Meeting
October 12: Dedication of Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake
November 13-14, North American Councils meeting in Toronto
December 18-19: Provincial Council Meeting
2013:
January 29-30: Provincial Council Meeting
March 13: Local Superiors Meeting – NEW ITEM
March 14: Provincial Council Meeting – REVISED DATE
April 8-9: Mission Education Conference, St. Joseph’s Indian School
April 30 – May 1: Provincial Council Meeting (budgets)
Week of June 3: Province Election Assembly.
