Commencement Greetings

Your Excellency, Bishop McManus, Commencement honorees Very Reverend Fr. Benoit Griere, Superior General of the Augustinians of the Assumption,  Frances Hogan, Paul Carpentier, Janice and Mark Fuller, and members of the Board of Trustees, family and friends  of the graduates, and members of the class of 2014, on behalf of the faculty, staff, and administration of Assumption College, I welcome you to this morning’s commencement exercises.

It is with great joy that I announce my upcoming Ordination to the Diaconate with nine other men by Bishop Robert McManus on Saturday, May 31^st at St. Paul's Cathedral in Worcester.  I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family in the Philippines, my Assumption family both religious and lay, the Filipino community and all those who have so generously and prayerfully supported me over the years. I ask for your prayers as I continue my journey toward priesthood, for my ministries as Campus Minister at Assumption College and Director of Vocations and for an increase of Assumptionist vocations.

Brother Ronald Sibugan, A.A.

(In order to undertake the extensive renovations necessary to restore the century-old church of St. Augustine, the bishop of Constantin-Hippo sent out a wide appeal to religious, political, cultural, and private organizations for help. As members of the broader Augustinian Family, the Assumptionists, also known as the Augustinians of the Assumption, made a substantial gift to this worthy cause. As a result, they were invited to participate in the festivities celebrating the completion of the renovations and the raising of the church to the status of a basilica. The superior general, Fr. Benoît Grière, unable to attend the ceremonies, asked one of his assistants, Fr. John Franck, to represent him at the beginning of May. He sends us the following report).

The church of St. Augustine in Hippo, newly and magnificently renovated and duly raised to the status of a basilica, stands perched prominently on an isolated hill commanding a view of the entire surrounding countryside: the Mediterranean coast, the modern city of Annaba, the imposing heights of the Edough plateau, and, at its feet, the vast complex of ruins of the ancient Roman and Byzantine city of Hippo.

The Assumption Family

welcomes

Fr. Benoit Grière, A.A.,

Superior General of the Augustinians of the Assumption,

for his month long visit to the United States!