I started feeling attracted to poetry in high school and it never went away. I started writing poetry while at the Montmartre Canadien in Quebec City. Each religious had to write for the Sunday bulletin, and my first piece was a prayer for vocations in poetic form. It was like a push to continue. So I did. Whenever I wrote a poem in French or in English, I’d make a version in the other language.

When I was stationed in Brighton, I was working at Babson College as the Catholic chaplain. It was only a part-time job. I had a lot of free time, so I decided to try prose and perhaps begin an autobiography. But then I thought of doing a novel. I sat at my word processor and typed a title—Cold Morning—and continued typing until the novel was complete. I immediately started a second one, Frozen Days, until I’d finished twelve of them. There were three series of four following the seasons and ending with Summer Squalls or the Carousel Caper. Another, October Surprise, is on the way, but that one will have to wait.

Father Ron Sibugan,A.A.
Homily for Baccalaureate Mass 2018
May 12^th, 2018
Unity - Goodness - Sanctity

Bishop McManus, Bishop Barron, President Cesareo, members of the Class of 2018, honored guests, one and all, Good evening to all of you!

Students, I have had the great privilege of being able to share a meal with many of you. For, as most of you know, I live in one of the dorms here at Assumption, in Plough, and part of my responsibilities as a minister in the residence halls is to deepen my relationships with students and serve in the dorms as a minister. By way of doing that, I have been inviting students, many of you here tonight, to a cooked meal!  It’s truly a great ministry. I joke with Father John that one of my responsibilities at Assumption is not only that of a priest and campus minister, but also that of a cook ----- but your mothers and grandmothers here today need not worry.  I usually cook rice with chicken adobo, or pasta with chicken parm or chicken picatta.  I guess many of you who had a meal with me liked it well enough that you asked me to deliver the homily on this very special occasion of your Baccalaureate Mass tonight.  Actually what I’d like to share with you today is the significance of having a meal together.

By Margaret M. Russell 
The Catholic Free Press
May 4, 2018

The Assumptionists are rededicating themselves to St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish in Sturbridge by establishing a new local community of men there. 
Assumptionist Father Dennis M. Gallagher, provincial superior of the North American Province, made the announcement after Masses this past weekend. He said the number of priests serving the parish has been dwindling. Currently there are two Assumptionist priests assigned to cover the parish and St. Anne Shrine – Father Peter R. Precourt, pastor, and Father Peter Omwoyo, associate. The parish of 1,300 registered families is not staffed by diocesan priests. 
“Two people do not make a community,” Father Gallagher said. “We are at a crossroads and we can’t continue to be a presence at St. Anne’s with only two people.” 
Father Gallagher said Bishop McManus was pleased when he informed him that the Assumptionists will be making personnel changes to ensure that a community of three men would live at the parish and shrine. 
Constituting a local community of at least three assures that “we have a community carrying out the essential elements of religious life,” living together and praying together, Father Gallagher said. 
For the past year the pastor has gotten help with  sacramental ministry on the weekends from the Emmanuel House Assumptionist community in Worcester. 
Effective Aug. 1, Father Alex Castro, 46, will be the new pastor, Father Gallagher announced. Father Castro, a native of the Philippines, is also serving as the provincial treasurer, responsible for the United States, Mexico and Quebec. He spent his novitiate at St. Anne and St. Patrick, followed by his first profession of vows in 2004, according to an interview published on the Assumptionists’ website. 

Students at Assumption High School in Nairobi, Kenya.
(Credit: the Augustinians of the Assumption in the United States.)

• Jon Bishop

Apr 29, 2018

People who have heard of the Augustinians of the Assumption, more commonly known as the Assumptionists, probably know of Assumption College, located in Worcester, MA.

But that’s not the only Assumptionist school. In fact, the congregation has educational institutions all over the world.

The Rev. Jacob Barasa, A.A., director of the new Assumption High School in Nairobi, Kenya, said through email they decided to open the school to help “curb the lack of secondary schools” in the area and to provide a solid education.

“Assumption High will help in planting seeds of Christian values so that we promote holistic formation of our citizens,” he said via email.