Father Joseph Zhang remembers his mother telling him when he was quite small, “Today is Ash Wednesday and we have to fast.”

When he asked her what “to fast” meant, she told him there would be no meals in the house that day.

“We were so poor there wasn’t ever much food in the house, but I wanted to know why this particular day,” he said. His mother told him “If you fast, you will go to heaven when you die.”

This sounded like such a great idea to the little boy that he went out, found his best friend and said they should fast together so that they would go to heaven together. When his mother overheard, she was horrified. She told him to be quiet. He wasn’t allowed to tell anyone he was fasting.

He couldn’t tell anyone he was Catholic. This was China in about 1984 and the church was not “open.”

On Saturday, March 21^st, 2015, the two Lay Assumptionist groups from Brighton and Sturbridge gathered at Old English Road in Worcester for a retreat day facilitated by Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A. The focus of Fr. Dennis’ presentations were five frequent themes found in the writings and preaching of Pope Benedict XVI and how they echo frequent teachings of Emmanuel d’Alzon.

Beginning with the need we have as human beings to have God in our lives, Fr. Dennis moved on to the idea of being drawn out of ourselves in loving service to others and of servants of the truth through the person of Jesus who always sees himself as ‘Son.’ Lastly we saw how the Church is first and above all a communion with leadership, being responsible for those in their care, as shepherds with holiness being the ultimate goal of us all.

WORCESTER – Rev. Alexis Babineau, A.A., died Saturday, March 21, 2015 in St. Francis Rehabilitation & Nursing Center.

Besides the members of the Assumptionist community, he leaves a brother, Raymond P. Babineau of Belchertown, MA; a sister, Marguerite Lussier of Charlton, NY; nephews and nieces and grandnephews and grandnieces.

He was born and raised in Three Rivers, one of the 8 children of J. Arthur and Alexina (Plouffe) Babineau and moved to Leominster in 1926. He graduated from Assumption Preparatory School in 1936 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Assumption College in 1940. After entering the Assumptionist novitiate in Quebec, he attended Laval University in Quebec, receiving a Bachelor of Theology in 1944 and a Licentiate in Theology in 1946. He pronounced his perpetual vows on April 26, 1945 to Reverend Yvon LeFloc’h, AA. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 22, 1945 by Cardinal Villeneuve in the Basilica of Quebec City. Upon returning to Worcester, he earned a Master of Arts Degree in 1949 and then a Doctorate in Chemistry in 1953, both from Clark University.

So this is how it happened. It begins, actually, a long time ago, back in the early seventies before I was an Assumptionist. I had finished a program in political science at Boston College, was living in the North End of Boston and wanted to start teaching, but until then, to make ends meet, got a job at the Chart House Restaurant that had just opened up on one of the piers at Boston Harbor. I didn't feel at home either with the other restaurant people or with the clientele, which at the time seemed to me unpleasantly demanding and unreasonably snooty. For hours every night I'd be wiping clean their tables. And that's how it happened.

The tables, fitting in with the nautical theme of the Chart House, were inlaid with nautical charts of the whole watery world and its coastlands. The landmasses were colored green, but as a place set apart from all of them was Greenland--because of its icecap Greenland was represented as white.

The image of that clean, white and distant land, showing up every night at work in the vaguely sleazy environment of the restaurant, worked its way into my imagination, and after work, night after night, I had dreams of flying to Greenland, sailing to Greenland, climbing the coastal mountains up to the icecap of Greenland...

For seven years, this smiling Vietnamese patiently prepared himself to return to his homeland in order to reinforce the young Assumptionist community by studying at the Catholic Institute of Paris and sharing the life of his brothers in France.

«"When you see Pierre in his community or bump into him in the corridor at Catholic University here in Paris, you can't miss that happy smile that says so much. It sets the tone: meeting him is something simple, like meeting a brother. Pierre Tran Van Khue is one of the first Vietnamese Assumptionists. 31 years old, he was born after the Vietnam War, one of those children they call "peace babies" there. He came to France to undertake his spiritual and intellectual formation as a young religious."

Called to "leave his homeland"

Born into a peasant family in the region of Vinh (north central Vietnam), the eldest of eight children, Pierre learned to enjoy this simple but demanding life. It shaped his character and his faith. In Vietnam there is no such thing as a non-practicing Catholic (99% of the Catholic population practices its faith); it is a faith that is deeply ingrained. When he reached college age, he went off to study English in Saïgon. While there during six years, he lived with 15 other young men in a youth residence, partially supported by the Assumptionists. It was intended to give young men an opportunity to discern a Christian vocation: to the priesthood, religious life, or marriage. The residence, together with several others, were under the direction of a Vietnam Franciscan, Fr. Jean Bosco. Here it was that Pierre met the Assumptionists and was drawn by the Congregation's charism. Even though religious life has a long history in Vietnam, Pierre detected something new in this Congregation. And so it was that he, in a land suffused with Confucian wisdom, responded to a call once heard by Abraham to "leave your land". This adventure, as Pierre, explains without hesitation was none other than a call to meet Christ himself.

A half-million people, including thousands from high schools and colleges, participated Jan. 22, 2015, in the 41^st annual March for Life on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Fifteen were Assumption College students, who rallied in support of the protection of human life at all stages.

“There has been a new wave of support for the pro-life movement in the past few years,” said senior Julia Gilberto, president of Assumption’s Advocates for Life student organization, which co-sponsored the bus trip to the nation’s capital with the College’s Office of Campus Ministry. “This support is because people have realized that the pro-life movement is a direct response to a genuine concern for the well-being of every human being.

“We try to stress at our meetings that Roe v. Wade has not only left the unborn voiceless, but women as well,” added Gilberto. “There are numerous testimonies from women who express that they felt pressured by boyfriends, family members, or abortion clinics to have abortions. These voices need to be heard.”

By Fr. Alex Castro, A.A.

For five days last January, we were blessed, we were moved, we were humbled, and we were challenged by the visit of our Holy Father Pope Francis.

Indeed his visit brought about the Lord’s call for “Mercy and Compassion” which was the theme of his visit.

As I reflect on his speeches during his pastoral visit, it seems like he wanted to present to us a Program of Mercy and Compassion which we can use during this season of Lent.

First and foremost, this program is centered on Jesus Christ’s mercy and compassion. He repeatedly reminded the faithful that his visit was not about him; it is all about Jesus Christ.  In his homily at the emotion-filled mass in Tacloban City, the Holy Father emphasized that “I come to tell you that Jesus is Lord and He never lets us down. He is there for you. He is capable of understanding us…he is capable of crying with us, capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of our life.”

On Saturday, January 31^st, 2015, members of the St. Anne-St.Patrick Parish Life Care Ministry participated in a unique retreat opportunity. The retreat theme, “Until Jesus is Formed in Us,” was the focus of the entire day.  The participants, all members of the Life Care Ministry, are Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist who serve the shut-ins, sick and elderly in the Sturbridge area.

Held at the Old English Road residence of the Assumptionists, the retreat was conducted by Father Joseph Zhang,A.A., Deacon Keith Caplette and Patty Haggerty. The presentations for the day focused on the “bread of life discourse” and several documents from Vatican II dealing with the liturgy, the Eucharist and the lay apostolate.

At the beginning of this year, the Assumptionist shrine in Quebec City (Montmartre canadien) launched a new website to promote its various activities: http://www.lemontmartre.ca/culture-et-foi.

Montmarte canadien, as the new site explains, is a place to encounter Christ through prayer, listening to the Word of God, reflection, and fellowship. The center is run by the Assumptionists and their lay collaborators. It seeks to reach those individuals, especially the young, who wish to deepen their faith or return to the Christian faith by joining a Christian community that focuses three areas: