Madeleine community house in New Orleans

High school students, young adults and adult participants gather at the Marianist LIFE summer program in Mission Springs, Calif.

View of what will be St. Mary’s Hall, the main entrance to the new Marianist Center in Cupertino.

It’s a race against the weather in Cupertino as construction workers are concentrating on framing and roofing the new Marianist Center buildings before the area’s rainy season begins in mid-October. The project, which began in April, includes the renovation of property and three buildings into a full retirement center with a capacity for 27 brothers and priests as well as 10 guest rooms. Bro. John Haster, community director, is the owners' rep for the project. Bro. Tom Suda is assisting with the renovation, which is scheduled for completion in March 2007.

Bro. Tom Suda, right, working on the trellis at the main entrance to St. Mary’s Hall.

The 2006 Marianist World Day of Prayer will be celebrated Oct. 15, 2006, at Our Lady of Verdelais shrine, a place dear to Blessed Chaminade, near Bordeaux, France. Members of the Marianist Family and friends from around the world will gather at Verdelais to celebrate Mass and pray. A document has been prepared for distribution to the Marianist communities in preparation for the World Day of Prayer. Read the document.

PRAESIDIUM VISITATIONS IN PROGRESS

Praesidium Religious Services, a national leader in abuse risk management, is conducting Province community visitations from Sept. 24 to Oct. 2. In addition to the child protection workshops which brothers attended earlier this year, community visitations are a requirement for Praesidium accreditation. Fr. Jim Fitz, assistant provincial, has contacted the directors of the communities that are scheduled for visits. The communities are:

Dayton—Novitiate, Stonemill/Kiefaber and Washington St./Franklin St.
Northern California— Cupertino, San Francisco and San Jose
St. Louis—Curé of Ars, Provincial Offices, Maryland Ave., Marybrook and Our Lady of the Pillar
San Antonio—Casa Maria and Woodlawn
Hawaii—Marianist Center and Marianist Hall

Bro. Antony Nesam (back row, second from left) and Novice Vinod Johnson (back row, center) enjoy a picnic in Nirmal Deep, India, with children from the Ragpickers’ Education & Development Scheme (REDS) Hatma Center in Ranchi, India. Bro. Antony works at the center.

FINAL REMINDER: The deadline for submitting feedback regarding the “Options for the Election of Chapter Delegates” is Oct. 1, 2006. For more information and documents concerning this consultation, visit the PORTAL at www.marianist.com/portal.

At the meeting, Bros. Paul Hoffman, Mike O’Grady and Andy Kosmowski

Celebrating with Bro. Ed (second from left), Bro. Dennis Bautista, Fr. David Fleming and Novice Brandon Alana

Members of the St. Mary’s University community gathered to celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary and to bid Bro. Ed Violett farewell with a Mass and reception on Sept. 12. Bro. Ed, who was an assistant professor in international relations and director of the Institute for Asian Studies at St. Mary’s University, was recently elected to the General Administration in Rome as assistant for temporalities.

Bro. Ed with Marianist Srs. Durie Kim, Marcia Buchard, Grace Walle and Stephanie Morales

In 1941 they were together at the novitiate at Marynook. Today, they are together again as members of the St. Mary’s Residence community in San Antonio. Bros. Jim McCaffrey, Herb Janson, Charles Cummiskey, Dan Sharpe and, seated, Paul Goelz, professed first vows at Marynook on Aug. 25, 1941. Marynook, founded in 1941 in Galesville, Wis., was the novitiate of the former St. Louis Province until 1973.

"The Annunciation is both a heavenly proclamation and a vocation story about Mary, the Mother of Jesus." Read more from Fr. Bert Buby’s Sept. 12 reflection on the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, patronal feast day of the Marianists. For more of Fr. Bert’s reflections, visit his blog.

Fr. Jim Heft, president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California and former professor of faith and culture and chancellor at the University of Dayton, delivered a lecture on "Politics and Religion: The Catholic Contribution" at UD on Sept. 22. Read more.

Fr. Lee Sciarrotta (Washington St., Dayton), pastor of Emmanuel Church in Dayton, was featured in the Sept. 15 issue of the Catholic Telegraph, blessing a book store for parishioner Owen Kubik. Kubik Fine Books, Ltd, features rare and used Catholic books. Photos and story courtesy of the Catholic Telegraph.

Sr. Laura Leming, of the department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at the University of Dayton, published an article on “Church as Contested Terrain: Voice of the Faithful and Religious Agency” in the September 2006 issue of Review of Religious Research. Sr. Laura’s essay on Marie Thérèse de Lamourous appears in the summer 2006 issue of Soundings, a publication from NACMS.

Ted Galantowicz has been named chairman of the board of directors for Marianist Family Ministries, Inc. for 2006-2007. MFM, Inc. operates the Christian Family Living Retreat Center in North Topsail Beach, N.C. Read a message from Ted.

Luke Ravenstahl, a 1998 graduate of North Catholic High School, is the youngest mayor in Pittsburgh’s history. Luke, 26, who was president of Pittsburgh’s city council, was sworn in as mayor after the death of Mayor Bob O’Connor on Sept. 1. Read more.

Posing with the altar boys are Fr. Ted (far left), César Avila, Colegio San José ethics teacher and pastoral counselor (far right) and Fr. Don (back row, far right).

Bro. Frank O’Donnell (left) visits with Kay O’Brien, Marianist associate, and Bro. Mike O’Grady, assistant for religious life, at the Cape May Retreat Center in Cape May Point, N.J. Bro. Mike was giving a retreat for the East Coast Marianist associates. Kay is holding a copy of Fr. Ted Cassidy’s new book "The Hurricane of Racism."

Fr. Oscar Vasquez (Marybrook, St. Louis), invites all Marianists and lay Marianists in the greater St. Louis area to attend the St. Louis Catholic Marianist Education Celebration on Oct. 2, 2006. This historic gathering brings together the faculty and staff of Chaminade College Prep, St. Mary’s High School and Vianney High School for a day of Eucharist and social time. The event begins with Eucharist at 9:30 a.m. at Our Lady of the Pillar church followed by a brunch/social in the Chaminade dining room. Reservations are required. Please RSVP by Sept. 25 to Fr. Oscar at Ovasquez@marianists.us or 314.993.4400 ext. 254.

CHAMINADE COLLEGE PREP ST. LOUIS. Ray Harter, director of the Marianist Servant Leadership Program at Chaminade, announces a new community service relations Web page for local organizations to submit service project requests for students.

CHAMINADE-JULIENNE. Fifteen C-J students and three chaperones traveled to Slidell, La., this summer to assist in the Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts. The trip was organized by Myles McCabe, Province director of peace and justice. Read more.

C-J students work with Habitat for Humanity in Slidell.

The date when passports will be required for U.S. citizens flying or cruising to Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico is Jan. 8, 2007. On Jan. 1, 2008, passports will be required for all land-based border crossings to Canada and Mexico as well.

For details, visit www.travel.state.gov, or call the U.S. National Passport Information Center at 877-487-2778. For a list of facilities where passports are processed, type in your zip code at www.iafdb.travel.state.gov/.

Six stained glass windows from the chapel of the former administration building at Mount St. John—torn down in the 1970s— were acquired by Dodds Monuments in Dayton and are the focal point of its new showroom. The windows were made in Munich in 1913 by the F.X. Zetter Company. Our thanks to Bro. Don Winfree for this bit of history. View the windows.