FINAL PROFESSION OF BROTHERS MARCIANO LOPEZ SOLIS AND RODEL CERVANTES SAPALO

On Feb. 2, 2018, in front of a crowd that included members of the Augustinians of the Assumption, family, friends, parishoners, and locals, Bros. Rodel Cervantes, A.A., and Marciano Lopez, A.A., professed their final vows in Tlilapan, Mexico, where the Assumptionists have a parish.

In a post on Facebook, Cervantes said lying prostrate during the Litany of the Saints was “a very special moment.”

“Now I know the feeling of being prayed for by the people and calling the saints to help me fully live my religious vows until death,” he wrote. “Grateful for the Augustinians of the Assumption.”

Lopez, also in a post on Facebook, thanked all who attended the profession and said he appreciated everyone’s prayers.

During his homily, Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A., provincial superior of the North American Province, told the brothers that “the light of Christ shines forth this day as you profess your vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.”

Orizaba, Mexico
February 2, 2018

Chano and Rodel,

You have come to this day of celebration at the end of several years of formation to the Assumptionist way of life.  These years have not been without uncertainties, without struggle. But with God’s grace you have persevered.  You now stand ready to profess your vows.  You are choosing to spend your lives in service to God’s kingdom, using the gifts that God has given you to become apostles for that kingdom.

Besides your Assumption family, both religious and lay, who have accompanied you through these years of formation, it is good to mention your families of origin who not only gave birth to you in the flesh, but who gave you the precious gift of your faith.
A special word of welcome and appreciation for your family members who are with you today.

We should also recognize the immediate context in which you profess your vows, this community of faith here in Orizaba, who have welcomed you during these past six months and taken you into their hearts.  Their faith and their joy for what God is doing in you, and through you for God’s people, is very much part of this day.

On January 6th, 2018, Bro. Ryan Carlsen, A.A. professed his final vows as an Augustinian of the Assumption.

By Bro. Ryan Carlsen, A.A.

In the Augustinians of the Assumption, when a brother makes final vows the superior general of the congregation gives him his first assignment. After making final vows I was assigned to the “Eastern Mission.” We have communities in Moscow, Bucharest, Plovdiv, Constantinople (Istanbul), and elsewhere. One of the main concerns of the Eastern Mission is the work for unity with the Orthodox.  This was close to Fr. d’Alzon’s heart and remains compelling for the Church at large. St. John Paul II spoke of his desire that the Church breathe with both lungs again, East and West. And recently, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Kirill of Russia. The desire for unity is felt on both sides.

One way of working for unity between East and West is by studying each other’s history and theology and then talking together about it. There has already been a long official dialog in North America between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches going back to shortly following the Second Vatican Council. The world-wide dialog is a little newer and has been proceeding well. The more we understand where the other is coming from, the easier and more desirable it becomes to find the common ground.  Being assigned to the “Mission to the East” means that I will start off with doctoral studies in Eastern Christianity in Rome this year. After that I will go to a community in Eastern Europe.

Bro. Ryan with his family

On the 6^th of January 2018 I made lifelong vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience according to the Rule of St. Augustine and the Assumptionist Rule of Life. 

The Profession Mass took place in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Assumption College.  My immediate family flew in from Colorado and Hawaii. I was happy that the long-awaited moment had arrived and that my relationship with the Lord would be strengthened and supported by this visible commitment of exclusivity and permanence.

A life’s vocation consists in making a gift of oneself.  Ultimately it is a gift to God, returning to Him what He has already given.   One can do this through making a gift of oneself to a spouse. Or in other ways like the religious life, consecrated virginity, or the single life given over to God. What is wonderful about lifelong vows is that they allow one to move forward unhindered in certain new ways. New concerns replace older ones. There is a sense of rest from difficulties that until then had been defining.

Kinshasa, January 27, 2018

Dear Sisters Dear Friends,

« If the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain do the watchmen keep vigil. »
Ps 126:1b

Many of you have been hoping to receive some news. Finally I can share something with you. Thank you for your prayers for us.

On Sunday, January 21, 2018, while at Mass, even though we hadn’t received the final blessing nor even instructions about the upcoming march, we were caught by surprise when tear gas came streaming into the church. It was flying everywhere. We hurried about the church looking for people who had brought margarine to be applied to faces. When they stopped using the tear gas, the celebrant, the pastor of St. Augustine’s, courageously took up the cross, walked in front of the Christian community, and began to march. We followed him.

There was a crowd of non-Catholics waiting outside to join us. Within minutes the police attacked us. They grabbed the priest, threw him down into the mud and tore his liturgical vestments. Then the crowd began to disperse. Some courageous young people, however, kept marching up to a point about 10 minutes from the church. There they were ambushed; the police began firing their guns at point blank range; one of the young people was hit and died. They brought his body back to the parish.

January 23, 2018

Thanks to the help of the Augustinians of the Assumption in USA and France, as well as the Oblates Sisters of the Assumption, a young woman has the opportunity to study abroad in Nîmes, France for a school year. Veronika Jaster is a junior in high school from Northborough, Massachusetts, and she is the daughter of Tomasz Jaster, who works for the Assumptionists in their Boston headquarters.

Veronika is staying with a host family who is very caring and welcoming, and she attends the Institut Emmanuel d’Alzon with her host sister. The Institute is a private Catholic school that is composed of a middle school, high school, vocational school and university. Veronika is studying in the high school’s Literary branch, where most of her courses focus on the humanities and the arts. Veronika also plays the cello in the high school’s music band.

She often visits the city’s Assumptionist communities and spends time with the Brothers and Sisters. One of the Sisters gave her a tour of the local Emmanuel d’Alzon museum, and Veronika found it very interesting to learn about the history of d’Alzon’s childhood, his mission, and his legacy that continues today all over the world.

A few days ago the first rays of sunlight returned to the Arctic Circle, the first since November, and the new home of Fr.  Barry Bercier who became pastor of a Inuit parish in Igloolik,  Nunanvut (Canada) last summer (see http://www.assumption.us/news/1578-from-north-of-the-border-way-north).  Recently he wrote describing some of his activities in the far north.

“….every day, sometime twice a day, kids come over here wanting to eat, and so I fetch them soup or chili or eggs, pancakes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, etc., and give them hot chocolate, tea or coffee. (Kids up here typically drink coffee).  The tea and coffee they load with sugar, enormous, breathtaking amounts of sugar.  I try to persuade them to ease up on it, but everybody up here is hooked.  I was talking to one of the young hunters (he should be in school but he prefers to be out on the land—and it seems to me it’s just the place he should be)... He said about ‘pop’— what they call Coca Cola—‘When I’m out hunting, it keeps me warm.’  Makes some sense, but still, they take in way to much sugar.  And there’s no dentist in town, so the effects are evident whenever they smile. There is a project for feeding people, They call it ‘Feeding Nunavut.’  They used the parish hall once for one of their feasts.”

Fr. Xavier, second from left with Fr. General, second from right, and the other members of the Istanbul community

January 9, 2018

Source: La Croix

Fr. Xavier Jacob, renowned specialist of Islam in Turkey, has died.

A pastor of Christians in Turkey, this Assumptionist distinguished himself by his studies of Islam in Turkey and by his translations of liturgical texts into Turkish.

Fr. Xavier Jacob, 89 years old, died on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 26, 2017, the same day as another apostle of the Christian-Muslim dialogue, Fr. Maurice Borrmans.

Born in Alsatia on January 15, 1927, Fr. Xavier was ordained an Assumptionist in 1953 and was described then as « a friendly and serviceable brother, whose intelligence is only equaled by his modesty.”

After spending some time at the headquarters for the Revue des études byzantines (today located at the Institut Catholique of Paris), he was assigned to the Assumptionist apostolate in Turkey. He would then spend 54 years there --- 40 years in Ankara and 14 in Kadikoy/Istanbul (formerly known as Chalcedon)--- where he ministered to Christians there and to the small remnant of Christians in Konya (formerly Iconium).