EWTN News Director, Anchor to Moderate Lively Panel Discussion at Assumption College

WORCESTER, MA (October 24, 2016)—Assumption College will host a unique discussion on Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), featuring renowned Catholic scholars and Church leaders on Thursday, Oct. 27 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Hagan Hall, located in the Hagan Campus Center, on the Assumption College Campus, 500 Salisbury St. in Worcester. EWTN News Director and Anchor Raymond Arroyo will moderate the lively panel discussion.

Amoris Laetitia was released on April 8, 2016 and encourages a comprehensive examination of the family and the many challenges posed to family life in our contemporary society. Many have debated whether Pope Francis’s teaching in this Apostolic Exhortation is a radical break from long-standing teachings on the family and marriage or if it is indeed a reflection of authentic Church teachings.

WORCESTER, MA (October 3, 2016)—Assumption College will host a unique discussion on Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), featuring renowned Catholic scholars and Church leaders on Thursday, Oct. 27 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Hagan Hall, located in the Hagan Campus Center, on the Assumption College Campus, 500 Salisbury St. in Worcester. EWTN News Director and Anchor Raymond Arroyo will moderate the lively panel discussion.

Amoris Laetitia was released on April 8, 2016 and encourages a comprehensive examination of the family and the many challenges posed to family life in our contemporary society. Many have debated whether Pope Francis’s teaching in this Apostolic Exhortation is a radical break from long-standing teachings on the family and marriage or if it is indeed a reflection of authentic Church teachings.

Dr. Cesareo, president of Assumption College, together with trustees, Assumption Rome students, and members of the Assumpionist community in Rome

From October 1-8 more than fifteen of the twenty-five members of the Assumption College Board of Trustees, the body in the American higher educational system that bears primary responsibility for the institution's mission, sets institutional priorities, determines the budget, and hires senior management, and many of their spouses were in Rome for its first-ever visit, a visit with multiple purposes.

First, the Board wished to focus on their primary responsibility as a body, namely safeguarding the mission of the institution. In order to do so they spent an entire day listening to a series of talks beginning with the superior general, Fr. Benoît Grière, on the role of trustees at an Assumptionist institution. He addressed such topics as the meaning of Assumption College as a mobilizing work of the congregation, his expectations for College trustees, and avenues of broader collaboration between the College and other Assumptionists educational institutions.

By Br. Ramón Gutierrez, A.A.

I had the pleasure of being present to accompany my religious brother, the bishop of Juazeiro, Jose Geraldo da Cruz, on the day that he passed the episcopal reins to the new diocesan bishop, Carlos Alberto Breis Pereira, OFM, and immediately became bishop emeritus. I was the only Assumptionist able to attend this event in Juazeiro.

I had also been present in this city in 2014 and had the opportunity to spend time with many priests, religious, and lay-people. The occasion: the day that Bishop da Cruz rededicated the cathedral and confirmed its status as the shrine of Nossa Senhora das Grotas. There was an atmosphere of joy and profound reverence that day.

After repeated invitations from the archbishop of Bukavu, Most Rev. François-Xavier Maroy Rusengo, the Assumptionists recently opened a community in this large eastern Congolese city on the southwestern shores of Lake Kivu, bordering Rwanda and Burundi.

The Assumptionists are not new to the region. In 2001 Assumptionist bishop, Charles Mbogha, was named archbishop of Bukavu, a position he held until his untimely death in 2005, but whose short mandate left an indelible impression on the clergy and lay-people of the archdiocese.

At the beginning of the 20^th century the White Fathers (the Missionaries of Africa) opened various communities in this region, parishes, schools, and dispensaries. In 1959, just before independence took place, Pope John XXIII erected Bukavu as one of the six archdioceses of the country. The archdiocese and its institutions have often been the victims of armed conflicts which have troubled the mineral-rich eastern part of the country. Its location next to Rwanda, itself subject to internal tribal divisions (like the 1994 genocide), left the city vulnerable not only to an influx of refugees but all the subsequent problems that arose.

After celebrating the Sunday liturgy together, the community, residents and guests gathered recently for this semester’s first CONVERSATIONS AT THE CENTER at the Assumptionist Center in Brighton, where the overriding theme was “Launch Us on the Adventure of Mercy!” More specifically, the presentations zeroed in on the inspirations gleaned by attendees at this summer’s World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland as experienced by Fr. Ron Sibugan, AA, campus minister at Assumption College and Cameron Martin, a member of the college’s choir and a teacher at Algonquin Regional High School.

The theme for this year’s WYD was, “Blessed are the Merciful for They Shall Obtain Mercy.” After visiting several significant sites in Italy and France where the U.S. Assumption pilgrims traveled in the footsteps of Fr. d’Alzon and were greatly touched by his spirit and his love of the Church, youth, the poor and marginalized. Moving on they met up with the international Assumptionist pilgrims in Brussels and then on to Krakow, Poland where they represented fourteen countries. According to Fr. Ron and Cameron, what was most striking during this pilgrimage was the over whelming experience of celebration, openness, hospitality, diversity, fraternity, love, solidarity, commitment, trust and compassion experienced not only by meeting other pilgrims but by living with host families in Poland. Because of the many languages represented during daily encounters with folks, there were many creative methods of communicating devised that were quite successful!

This past August six young Vietnamese began their novitiate under the capable guidance of Fr. Paul Nguyen Van Hung. The novitiate is located in Ba Ria, some 55 miles southeast of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on the shores of the South China Sea.

The Assumptionists run a house of theology, a novitiate, one parish, an orphanage, a community for candidates, and four student residences in Vietnam. They also oversee a residence for young workers in Saigon.

The Assumptionists are celebrating their 10^th anniversary here just as they are in the Philippines and West Africa.

What were your thoughts as you made your final profession?

As I look back over the years since I have met the Assumptionists, I feel a certain kind of joy that the Lord has led me to be counted among them as a brother and as a fellow-worker for the extension of the Kingdom. I must admit that the journey was not always easy and I found myself asking whether this was where the Lord wanted me to be.

There were many things in my life that I had to let go and more still that I need to change. In the journey filled with constant conversion, my Assumptionist brothers have provided the invaluable challenge, support and encouragement to be formed in Christ who has called each one of us.

Perhaps like the brothers who had been through the path of Assumptionist formation, I am now at a certain point and with a certain confidence to say that I could not imagine living any other life other than being an Assumptionist—with the conviction that the Lord has truly called me to be one.

THE ASSUMPTIONIST CENTER...

a place where we learn together,
a place where we discover what it means to be Church.

In order to help that happen, we need to think and talk together.
And so, we are happy to announce this semester’s

CONVERSATIONS AT THE CENTER
on SUNDAY, September 25

“Launch Us on the Adventure of Mercy!”
Inspirations from World Youth Day Krakow 2016

At this conversation, we are delighted to have Fr. Ronald Sibugan, AA and Mr. Cameron Martin share with us their recent experiences at World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland. Fr. Ronald is a campus minister at Assumption College. Cameron is a high school teacher at Algonquin Regional High School and sings for the choir at Assumption College.

Come, Listen and Share
Sunday Eucharist at 11:00am, followed by
Conversations and Brunch
@ 330 Market Street, Brighton MA 02135