Leaving all that is familiar – your home, your family and friends, and your culture – creates an environment that encourages profound reflection, new perspectives and personal transformation, says Fr. John Franck, A.A. ’70. For many of the hundreds of Assumption students and alumni who have participated in the College’s annual Mexico Mission trips, those changes have lasted a lifetime. This year the Mexico Mission program is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The celebration of the bicentennial of our Founder has taken its cue from the theme "Following Jesus Christ with Emmanuel d’Alzon", developed according to the three dimensions evoked by Fr. d’Alzon in a letter that he wrote on September 2, 1878, to Sr. Marie-Véronique Guiraud, on the occasion of the anniversary of his baptism: "Sixty-eight years ago today I was baptized, my dear child, and I have chosen this day to answer you in the hope that you will make a novena for me to obtain from Our Lord the grace to hold fast to the vows of my baptism, my ordination, and my profession".

Fr. d’Alzon, it is said, preferred to recall the anniversary of his baptism rather than that of his birth. In fact, one can find in his correspondence the date of his baptism mentioned at least nine times (in 1849, 1859, 1867, 1869, 1875, 1877 two letters, 1878, two letters).

His baptism took place in the parish church of St. Peter's in Le Vigan, where a plaque still commemorates the occasion.

The Assumptionist Center in Brighton, MA was the site of Bro. Ron's renewal of temporary vows on Saturday, August 28th, the Feast of the Solemnity of St. Augustine. Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A., Regional Superior, celebrant and homilist at the liturgy, received Bro.Ron's profession of vows on behalf of the congregation and the Church.

In his homily, Fr. Dennis spoke of Bro Ron's life journey, freely chosen, as  charting a course that binds himself and his fate to that of Christ, "participating in his redemptive love for the world." In desiring to live out this ideal on a daily basis, Bro Ron and all Assumptionists are strengthened by the model of their father St. Augustine's desire "to lead a life of peaceful contemplation," amid the challenges and demands of life which require frequent surrendering of one's self for the love of Christ. Truly, Bro. Ron's profession of commitment bore witness to this ideal.

Following the liturgy, the community and guests of Bro. Ron continued the joyous celebration with a cookout in the backyard of the Center.    

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On Saturday, August 14th, over 200 members of the Assumptionist Family, religious and lay, gathered in the Hagan Campus Center at Assumption College in Worcester to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Birth of Fr. Emmanuel d'Alzon.  During the festive luncheon old friendships were renewed and new acquaintances were made through the sharing of memories and stories of the past and new hopes and dreams for the future.