This summer I had the opportunity to visit the Assumptionist communities in Romania and Bulgaria.  In the first part of my trip I was in Bucharest, Romania. An Assumptionist community there operates the St. Peter – St. Andrew Center, which is both a house of studies and a meeting place for Catholics and Orthodox. While there I learned about the work being done to foster relationships between Catholic and Orthodox believers. At a conference hosted by the center we had the opportunity to meet with the Orthodox Bishop of Bucharest and listen as he described the situation in the Orthodox world.

THE ASSUMPTIONIST CENTER...

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

In order to help that to happen, we need to think and talk together.

And so, we are happy to announce the first of this year’s

CONVERSATIONS AT THE CENTER
on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5

The Church outside of Boston:
A Perspective From Iraq

At this conversation, we are delighted to have Fr. Khalid Marogi share with us his experience of the church in Iraq.

October 1, 2014

7 p.m. Hagan Center Hall

John L. Allen Jr., D.S.Litt, Associate Editor of The Boston Globe and Senior Vatican Analyst for CNN will deliver the first lecture of the 2014-2015 Assumption College President's Lecture Series. The Series provides a public forum in which important ethical, spiritual and human issues are illuminated and examined within the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Originals Destroyed by 1953 Tornado that Ripped through Assumption’s Greendale Campus; Worcester Diocese Bishop to Attend Sept. 20 Blessing, Dedication

Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, Assumption College will dedicate four additional stained-glass windows that were once part of the College and Preparatory School’s Greendale campus chapel, which was damaged 61 years ago by a tornado. They will join three other stained-glass windows—one of which is called “The Tornado Window,” in remembrance of the three Assumption community members who perished in the June 9, 1953, storm—that were dedicated in June 2013.

Joining Assumption College President Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D., at this Saturday’s dedication will be Bishop Robert McManus of the Diocese of Worcester. The ceremony will start at 3:30 p.m. on the ground floor (Atrium) of Testa Science Center for the dedication of the first two windows, The Crowning of Mary and The Adoration of the Magi. These windows’ restoration was donated by the Assumption Prep classes of 1957 and 1962, respectively. At 4 p.m., the ceremony will move to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit for the dedication of Christ before Pilate and The Last Supper. The restoration of these two windows was funded by donations by the Assumption Prep classes of 1956 and 1964, respectively. Bishop McManus will bless all four windows.

At the close of the Jubilee Year of 2000, in reference to the Christian’s call to HOLINESS by virtue of Baptism, St. John Paul II writes the following: “The time has come to repropose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary Christian living” (Apostolic Letter: Novo Millenio Ineunte, #31). He then goes on to mention the importance of prayer for “training in holiness” and that “we who have received the grace of believing in Christ . . . have a duty to show to what depths the relationship with Christ can lead”, and that “the great mystical tradition of the Church of both East and West has much to say in this regard” (NMI, 31-33).

I am Joseph Kakule Munduvuyira. I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC), August 14, 1978.

My parents are Ferdinand Muhindo Muhuwo and Madeleine Kahambu Muhiwa. They are Christians. I come from Mbau, a small village in the Eastern part of the DRC. I am a native of an Assumptionist Parish. Thus, I knew the Assumptionist family since I was young.

Katherine Vachawski ‘14 Will Conduct Research on Catholicism and National Identity Formation in Lithuania.

Assumption College alumna Katherine Vachawski ’14 of Coventry, R.I., has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship. Vachawski will conduct research in Lithuania during the 2014-2015 academic year on how and whether the shared experience of Catholicism works to integrate the Polish community in Vilnius, Lithuania.

“Katherine Vachawski represents the best of an Assumption College education and embodies the finest qualities of a Fulbright Scholar,” said Assumption College President Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D., a former Fulbright Scholar himself. “The Assumption community is proud of her commitment to intellectual growth and cultural awareness. Katherine wants to make a difference in our world, and the Fulbright scholarship provides her the opportunity to contribute to discovering solutions to shared international concerns.”

On the Feast of Saint Augustine, August 28^th, 2014, five novices from four continents and two provinces professed their first vows in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Assumption College in Worcester, MA. The Most rev. Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester, presided at the Eucharistic celebration. Fr. Jose Miguel Diaz Ayllon, A.A., Provincial of North America and the Philippines and Fr. Juan Carlos Cisterna, A.A., Provincial of Chile-Argentina were concelebrants.

I had an opportunity to go back to visit my home country, Vietnam during 2014’s summer. It was good for me to be back after many years away from home and also it was a great time for me to be allowed to do my apostolate work during summer there. Although I was born and grew up in Saigon, when I came back, I realized that things have changed a lot since I was away from the city. I spent three weeks with my family. During that time, I just paid some visits to the altar-servers in the parish by joining with them in their weekly meetings. I was asked by them to give a short sharing of the Gospel in their meeting, because I was actually the one who initiated it when I was in charge of them, and that custom has been keeping up to the present.