PROVINCIAL COUNCIL APPROVES FOUR MEN FOR ASPIRANCY

Four men have been approved by the Provincial Council for a one-year aspirancy program that begins this week. Three of the aspirants will join the Casa Maria community in San Antonio — Kenneth Barrett, Rayler (Ray) Dominguez and Brandon Alana-Maugaotega. Aspirant Alan Smith will join the community in Dublin, Ireland, where he will work at a local parish and teach at St. Laurence College, a Marianist secondary school. Assignments for the other three aspirants will be announced in a future issue of FamilyOnline.

Kenneth Barrett, 22, was born in Westlake, Ohio, and has a bachelor’s degree in math and religious studies from the University of Dayton. Ken was active in campus ministry at UD.

Ray Dominguez, 29, was born in Los Angeles and has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English and a minor in Spanish literature from St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo, Calif. Ray was a teacher for four years and religion department chair for two years at Chaminade Preparatory School in West Hills, Calif. Ray also is national director of formation for the Foundation for Prevention and Rescue, which assists families with gang, drug and alcohol issues.

Brandon Alana, 24, was born in Honolulu and was raised in American Samoa. He has a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Chaminade University of Honolulu. Brandon worked at Chaminade’s campus ministry office for the last two years.

Alan Smith, 36, was born in Dublin and earned a higher diploma in education from the University College in Dublin. He also has a graduate certificate in educational management from Northern College of Education in Scotland. After teaching for one year at St. Laurence College in Dublin, Alan served as a teacher and administrator for 13 years at schools in the Middle East.

Congratulations and our prayers to the new aspirants!

MARIANISTS ANNOUNCE THIRD MUSP PROGRAM

Fr. Tim

Fr. Tim Kenney, assistant for education, announces the creation of a third Marianist Urban Students Program (MUSP) at Central Catholic High School in San Antonio. MUSP is a program that identifies high-potential students in urban elementary schools and offers them financial, academic and social support to succeed in Marianist high schools. MUSP programs are in place at two other Marianist high schools —Villa Angela-St. Joseph in Cleveland and Purcell Marian in Cincinnati.

Bro. Rich

Bro. Rich Thompson (Holy Rosary, San Antonio) has been appointed director of the program. He will serve under the supervision of Bro. Gene Meyerpeter, who administers the Cleveland and Cincinnati MUSP programs. The Central Catholic program will be modeled after the existing MUSP programs, with comparable guidelines and an advisory board. Bro. Rich will work with Central Catholic and the Archdiocese of San Antonio to determine which elementary schools MUSP will draw candidates from and qualifications for the program.

The new program, slated to begin September 2007, aims to increase Marianist outreach to Hispanics — one of the fastest growing Catholic populations in the United States. According to Fr. Tim, Central Catholic’s strong Marianist charism and location in a growing Hispanic area made it a natural choice as a MUSP site.

“Expanding our outreach to the Hispanic community in Marianist education was identified at previous Province assemblies and supported at subsequent Provincial Chapter meetings. It has been an important goal of the Provincial Council and the office of education,” said Fr. Tim. “It also is a direct response to the Province Mission Statement, ‘committed to education, we minister with youth and in solidarity with the poor.’” Read more.