The latest update from Fr. Barry serving for one year the Inuit Catholic parish in Igloolik (above the Arctic Circle)...

"There are times when I think I’m back in my hometown with our old Hungarian family.  When I see the Inuit sitting on the floor, gathered together for a feast of raw seal and caribou, I think of my family sitting on overturned bushel baskets in the cellar, spending a week separating grapes from their stems to make wine. That world has been devoured by modernity’s merciless bureaucracy.  The culture of death isn’t limited to abortion clinics...   It’s our automatic mindset, invisible to us.

You asked about vacations up here.  Flights out of Igloolik are prohibitively expensive.  Today I head to my other mission, Hall Beach.  A 15 minute flight.  I always go standby, because that takes something off the price of the ticket, but still, for two trips to Hall Beach I could do round trip from Boston to Ben Gurion. And I’m too old to go camping out on the ice.  So...no vacation!

Being stuck indoors has been an opportunity to write, however. I guess that’s my vacation.

"Last summer, she spent the summer in Buenos Aires teaching English and Spanish to students aged eight through 17 at two different Assumptionist schools, an internship program offered by the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department at Assumption."

Assumption College senior Jessica Ferronetti, of Andover, has received a Fulbright award for the English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Program in Argentina. The grant will enable Ferronetti to teach English in local classrooms while serving as a cultural ambassador for the United States. She is one of a select number of Assumption students awarded this prestigious designation.

The theme for the last "Conversations..." at the Assumptionist Center for the semester was "Art and Faith." Our presenter, Bro. Blair Nuyda, A.A., is our artist in residence. Bro. Blair is completing his D.Min. in transformative leadership, with a focus on art and faith at Boston University School of Theology. He was also a former editor and creative director of Living with Christ in the Philippines and is an illustrator, graphic designer and campus minister.His presentation was his personal story illustrating how he first experienced the power of visual art reinforcing faith and vice versa. He explored the different possibilities of integrating art and faith that could help advance God's plans for us and the whole of creation.What followed his presentation was a lively discussion and exchange of ideas which, as usual, led to sharing over a delicious brunch.

 SALUBONG: An Easter Encounter by Bro. Blair Nuyda, A.A. - PDF file

NEEDLE AND THREAD

As a young child, I remember watching my mother sew. She never actually taught me how to sew, but it was something I embraced once I became a young mother. I made costumes for alloween and for school projects. I even was so bold as to reupholster a couch and chair that had been handed down. When I returned to teaching, the sewing machine and fabric were put away until recently. Now the projects involve creating beautiful liturgical settings for our chapel.

Terry Johnson, Lay Assumptionist

THE BOOK

About 10 years ago, at the end of summer, I decided to compile all our family recipes. Some were half torn, yellow with age, and some written on small pieces of paper.  The “authors” were grandmothers, aunts, mothers and daughters—all great cooks. I brought it to a publisher in Webster who printed it, bound it and by Christmas all our family households had a copy under their tree. To this day, our family refers to it as “The Book”

Sylvia Desautels, Lay Assumptionist

Assumption College’s SOPHIA (SOPHomore Initiative at Assumption College) Program has been recognized with a Best Practices in Mission Integration Award by the Association of Student Affairs in Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASACCU). The SOPHIA Program was the top ranked program in its category.

The award recognizes those institutions whose programs have a positive impact on student learning; successfully address student and/or campus needs; are original and creative; possess a foundation in Catholic identity; and make practical use of research or assessment. Since it was established in 2013, 98 percent of SOPHIA Collegians have demonstrated significant growth and insight into their personal vocation journey.

“An Assumptionist education is characterized by the rich and productive community between teacher and student, built upon the conviction that truth exists; that this pursuit orients love; the tradition coupled with a fundamental openness guides; and faith sustains,” shared Esteban Loustaunau, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish and director of the SOPHIA Program. “SOPHIA invites sophomores to recognize that vocation lasts a lifetime, but it begins in the undergraduate years with the need to respond to the world in which they find themselves.”

Dear Friends,

Let us not keep our eyes fixed, gazing on the so many crosses erected around us. They are real, cruel, destructive, demeaning... In the country where I live for more than twelve years, these crosses are called misery, exploitation, exclusion, drugs, violence and murders, corruption... They destroy people, families and the society. Universally speaking, they have names such wars, exclusions, betrayals, illnesses and sufferings, jealousy, closure of heart, lack of simplicity, greed for power, and lack of compassion... Personally speaking, they too are my mistakes, my misjudgments, my faults and my sins that often God alone knows.

Raise the signs of life and of resurrection!

The strength of life already penetrates the darkness. It awakens love and self-giving... for those who accept to see and to be transformed. Together, let us also look, share and support the signs of life and resurrection around us. Here are some of them manifested in my daily life in the Philippines:

O God, who on this day, through your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light of life.

Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.                                   Verse Before the Gospel

"This is the Body that will be given up for you;
this is the Chalice of the new covenant in my blood, says the Lord;
do this, whenever you receive it, in memory of me."
(1 Corinthians 11:24-25) Communion Antiphon