“It is said that man deifies the heavens. Let it be granted. But where, exactly, did he find the idea of the divine that he applies to the heavens? Why do we discover the same spontaneous movement wherever we look at our kind? Why that impulse to deify?” (Henri de Lubac, The Discovery of God)

I am not aware of a single atheist argument that can answer any one of these questions. Are you? So why is it that, despite all the voices sounding the drumbeat of a world without God, there yet remains this intractable tendency to deify the heavens? Why is it that even the best and the brightest, with all their huffing and puffing on behalf of unbelief, cannot kill the desire for God? “Against the wild prayer of longing,” as the poet W.H. Auden reminds us, “legislation remains helpless.” How maddening and perverse it must all seem to the wise and the clever.

And yet, until we ask such questions, we’ve no business asking anything else. How can this be?

This month, 63 students spent their spring breaks positively contributing to several communities along the East Coast. During the week of March 6-10, students traveled to Baltimore, MD; Georgetown, DE; Immokalee, FL; Norristown, PA; Trenton, NJ; and Washington, D.C. as part of the College’s Campus Ministry Office’s SEND Service Immersion Program.

SEND, which was established in 1986, provides students—who are accompanied by faculty, staff and alumni—the opportunity to directly impact communities through volunteer work. SEND participants bond with fellow peers, faculty, staff, and alumni while working side-by-side to rebuild neighborhoods, gain new cultural perspective, and engage in prayer activities that reflect on ideals rooted in the Assumptionist tradition. This spring, SEND partnered with organizations like Catholic Charities, Habitat for Humanity, and Ministry of Presence sites.

“Our hope for the students participating in SEND is that they begin to view service as an opportunity to build relationships with others in ways that recognize our shared human dignity and call us to a life of faith in action,” said Vincent Sullivan-Jacques, assistant director of Campus Ministry and director of volunteer outreach and community engagement.

CONVERSATIONS AT THE CENTER: Social Media - An Opportunity for or Threat to Christian Witness? -  PDF file

From 1963 to 1967 I attended Our Lady of Lourdes Seminary in Cassadaga, New York, an Assumptionist enclave. During that period, I received an excellent education, strengthened the foundations of my faith, learned to think and question, built true friendships and received valuable lessons in living as a member of a community. To this day, I've never hesitated in telling anyone that my seminary experience was positive and much appreciated.

I send this contribution with heartfelt gratitude for the experience the Assumptionists gave me so many years ago.

Sincerely,

Charles "Charlie" Garon

In late February, Vietnamese brothers and sisters of the Assumption Family in formation in Europe gathered at an Assumptionist retreat center outside of Paris to celebrate together the Asian New Year (Têt) around the theme of Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato si'.

In spite of the wintry weather, spring was still in the air, at least a little bit… with daylight expanding, some wildflowers blossoming, and sap in trees begin to flow more swiftly.

More than fifty of us came to usher in the Year of the Rooster.

College to Bestow Honorary Doctorates Upon Founder of Worcester Regional Research Bureau,
Exec. Dir. of Catholic African-American Scholarship Organization During May 14 Ceremony

WORCESTER, MA (March 13, 2017) — This spring, Assumption College will celebrate its centennial commencement, an event that has evolved and grown tremendously, from two graduates in the Class of 1917 to nearly 700 in the Class of 2017 who will receive either an associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degree or certificate of advanced graduate study. While much has changed since that inaugural ceremony, the College’s commitment to educating students in the Catholic tradition has endured.

To commemorate this milestone, John L. Allen, Jr., editor of Crux, a publication that focuses on news of the Vatican and Catholic Church, willdeliver the address at the College’s 100th Commencement exercises on Sunday, May 14 at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester. Allen, Mary Lou Jennings, executive director of the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Educational Foundation, and Roberta Schaefer, Ph.D., founder and former president of the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, will receive honorary degrees during the ceremony recognizing their dedicated work to community service and living lives that reflect the values of the College’s mission that include critical intelligence, thoughtful citizenship and compassionate service

WORCESTER, MA (March 8, 2017)—In celebration of the College’s partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), a global humanitarian organization, Assumption College’s Office of Campus Ministry will focus on the theme of migration during this Lenten season. Opportunities to learn about Catholic teaching on migration, to pray for migrants, and advocate on behalf of migrants will be made available through a number of events:

• Screening of The Vigil
  Tuesday, March 21, 7-9 p.m.
  Room 112 (Alden Trust Auditorium), Kennedy Hall

The Vigil is told from the viewpoint of a female immigrant, Gina, and a small group of her fellow undocumented single mothers, Rosa and Maria, who live in fear of deportation in the state of Arizona. Unwilling to just merely survive, Gina becomes a leader of a vigil and her journey to create refuge for the immigrant community in the face of Arizona’s groundbreaking anti-immigration law takes her all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The filmmakers describe it as “a story of those who are not considered American, making American history.” Director Jenny Alexander and film advisor on immigration issues, Alexandra Piñeros Shields, will introduce the film and answer questions afterwards.

A candlelight prayer will follow the event at 9 p.m. in the Assumption College Chapel.

 Conversations at the Assumptionist Center - March 19, 2017 - pdf file

WORCESTER, MA (March 6, 2017)—Fr. Allan D. Fitzgerald, O.S.A, S.T.D., Ph.D., director of The Augustinian Institute and theology professor at Villanova University, will deliver the College’s Annual Augustine Lecture on the towering figure of St. Augustine of Hippo, the great early Christian theologian who profoundly influenced the development of Western Christianity. Fr. Fitzgerald’s lecture will be held on Monday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the Salon of Assumption’s La Maison building, located at 500 Salisbury Street.

Fr. Fitzgerald’s lecture, entitled “Augustine: Reaching for Peace in This World,” will address Augustine’s attitude toward peace-in-action. It is often said that, for Augustine, perfect peace in this life is unattainable. Perfection, of course, must await the fullness of time in just about everything. But, Augustine also accepted the benefit of human efforts for peace in this time, engaging the imperfect world and culture in which he lived in human ways. It is, in fact, more interesting and more accurate to talk about his thought and dedication to peace than to pretend that he had theory about just war. Fr. Fitzgerald’s lecture will address that contrast and begin to frame Augustine's attitude toward peace-in-action.