This past summer Fr. Vincent Leclercq, who recently completed a doctorate in theology at Boston College and who currently teaches at the Catholic Institute of Lille, made a presentation on education at the Collège Stanislas in Paris. Why this school? Quite simply because Emmanuel d'Alzon, the founder of the Assumptionists,  atttended classes there from 1824-1828 and it was there that he began to reflect on the kind of education that individuals must receive to be transformed themselves and to transform society.

On October 7, Father José Miguel Diaz Ayllón, AA, our new provincial, and Tomasz Kierul, Director of Development, were welcomed at the New London, Connecticut office of Bayard Inc., a publishing ministry of the Assumptionists. During their visit, Father Ayllón and Kierul met with Bret Thomas, CEO, and representatives from Bayard’s consumer magazine division (including Catholic Digest, Living With Christ, and RTJ’s Creative Catechist) as well as the book publishing division Twenty-Third Publications.

So I invite you: Study this Catechism! That is my heartfelt desire. This Catechism was not written to please you. It will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life. It places before you the Gospel message as the “pearl of great value” (Mt. 13:46) for which you must give everything. So I beg you: Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance. Make a sacrifice of your time for it! Study it in the quiet of your room; read it with a friend; form study groups and networks; share with each other on the Internet. By all means continue to talk with each other about your faith.

“The Ministry of Catholic Secondary Education”

Once again, another year has begun by offering a series of ‘conversations’ at the Assumptionist Center in Brighton, MA. Continuing the Center’s commitment to be a place where in word and action “we can learn together and discuss what it means to be Church.”