By Matthew Chua

Before I left Boston for Mexico City two months ago, I cracked an off-joke to Fr. Donald, which he did not find too amusing, that I might just find a wife in Mexico and  live there. What I did not expect was that my experience from the Mission of the Mexican Assumptionists to the rural mountain communities of Veracruz was to reflect, so providentially, Jesus’ own words in Mark 10:29-30.

Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,·who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

On Tuesday evening, seventeen students and administrators left from Boston's Logan International Airport on their way to World Youth Day celebrations in Madrid. In Paris they will join the international Assumption-Family contingent that will be preparing for World Youth Day by participating in the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes from August 11 to 16.

The Assumption College group is headed up by assistant director of Campus Ministry, Fr. Dinh Vo Tran Gia, AA, and Mr. Chris Kelley, who graduated in May. Accompanying the group are Dr. Franceso Cesareo, the president of the College and his family, as well as Br. Ronald Sibugan, AA, a third-year seminarian at Boston College, and Mr. James Rizza, Director of Campus Ministry.

– Would you share with us a bit of your family’s background and your early education?

Dr. Cesareo – My parents came to the U.S. as immigrants from Italy after World War II and settled in Queens, NY. What was most important to them, as newcomers to this new land and second only to their faith in God, was the high value they placed on education, both of which they passed on successfully to their children. As a family living in Queens, we belonged to St. Margaret’s Parish. When it came time for high school, I went to Cathedral Prep Seminary and then on to the college in Douglaston, NY. During that time however, it became clear to me that I was being called to be a teacher but not necessarily as a priest.

– Where did your higher education and pursuit of teaching take you from there?

Dr. Cesareo – From Douglaston, I went to Fordham University for my Master’s and Ph.D. in history, after which I won a Fulbright scholarship to study in Rome with a focus on the religious orders of the Catholic Reformation of the 16^th century.

The annual Novena to St. Anne took place on July 18th - 26th at St. Anne's Shrine in Fiskdale, MA. The nine day novena, which focused on the theme "Teach Us To Pray," drew pilgrims from many different cultures including: Polish, Vietnamese, Hispanic, African and Eastern Orthodox.

Each evening the Rosary was recited followed by Mass with a guest presider each night. On the final morning, the feast of St. Anne, an Anointing Service and Mass was celebrated for the sick. In the evening, the novena concluded with a Mass and candlelight procession.

Next year will be the 125th anniversary of the novena.