This past summer Fr. Vincent Leclercq, who recently completed a doctorate in theology at Boston College and who currently teaches at the Catholic Institute of Lille, made a presentation on education at the Collège Stanislas in Paris. Why this school? Quite simply because Emmanuel d'Alzon, the founder of the Assumptionists,  atttended classes there from 1824-1828 and it was there that he began to reflect on the kind of education that individuals must receive to be transformed themselves and to transform society.

On October 7, Father José Miguel Diaz Ayllón, AA, our new provincial, and Tomasz Kierul, Director of Development, were welcomed at the New London, Connecticut office of Bayard Inc., a publishing ministry of the Assumptionists. During their visit, Father Ayllón and Kierul met with Bret Thomas, CEO, and representatives from Bayard’s consumer magazine division (including Catholic Digest, Living With Christ, and RTJ’s Creative Catechist) as well as the book publishing division Twenty-Third Publications.

So I invite you: Study this Catechism! That is my heartfelt desire. This Catechism was not written to please you. It will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life. It places before you the Gospel message as the “pearl of great value” (Mt. 13:46) for which you must give everything. So I beg you: Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance. Make a sacrifice of your time for it! Study it in the quiet of your room; read it with a friend; form study groups and networks; share with each other on the Internet. By all means continue to talk with each other about your faith.

“The Ministry of Catholic Secondary Education”

Once again, another year has begun by offering a series of ‘conversations’ at the Assumptionist Center in Brighton, MA. Continuing the Center’s commitment to be a place where in word and action “we can learn together and discuss what it means to be Church.”

Autumn Flames

Flaming red, orange, and yellow leaves
  Have flown off from now barren limbs,
   Carried off, away, and down to the ground,
    To return to earth and feed the soil anew.

Who was Emmanuel d’Alzon and what was his vision as founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption? That was the theme of a Day of Recollection at St.Anne/St.Patrick Parish in Sturbridge, MA, on Saturday, September 24^th. Fr. Richard Lamoureux A.A., former Superior General of the Congregation, led thirty-five spiritually curious lay and religious in a consideration of the charism and mission of the Assumption and its founder.  The theme for the morning session was “The Kingdom for Emmanuel d’Alzon.” 

Since 2009, the Archdiocese of Boston organizes an annual dinner celebration of the priesthood whose proceeds benefit the Clergy Funds Trust. This year, the third annual dinner celebration of the priesthood was attended by 1100 participants and raised 1,2 million dollars for the Clergy Funds Trust. The event took place on September 22, 2011 at the Seaport World Trade Center of Boston, Massachusetts.

On Sunday, August 28^th, 2011, on the feast of Saint Augustine, the Assumptionists celebrated the fifth anniversary of their arrival in Sokode (Togo).

On that occasion, six young Togolese made their first commitment in the Assumptionist religious family. The celebration, presided by Fr. Michel Carrière, assistant to the Provincial of France, Fr. Benoît Gschwind, took place in the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption,·adminstered by the Assumptionists in the city of Sokode.

In the 1960s the Second Vatican Council made significant changes in the way Roman Catholics worship. These changes were long overdue and have been most beneficial. It is particularly important for congregations to hear the Word of God and respond to it in their own language.

So why does a group of Catholic lay people  continue learning and singing the ancient Latin chants of the Church? Doesn’t this contradict the pastoral thrust of Vatican II?