"Service to the poor is an essential part of our “calling card” as Assumptionists. Our brothers and lay Assumptionists in Mexico have responded to that call in parish apostolates at Parroquia San Andres Totoltepec and Parroquia Santiago Apostol. Here in the States, since the closing of Guadalupe in the late 1990’s, we have looked for an opportunity for more hands-on ministry to those in need."

Our foundation in El Paso marks the beginning of a new chapter of our apostolic legacy of service to the poor and marginalized. We are grateful to God for this opportunity to minister to those in greatest need.

Please enjoy these photos of Assumptionist Hispanic ministry over the years - in New York and Mexico, from 1904 to today!

The Assumptionists’ new foundation in the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, connects us to an important part of our apostolic legacy here in the North American Province. Our oldest sustained foundation in the province was on the lower West Side of Manhattan, at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish. For more than a century, Assumptionists served the Hispanic Catholic immigrants in New York City and beyond. For much of that same time, we were engaged in a similar ministry of hospitality and outreach at Our Lady of Esperanza parish on West 156th parish in Manhattan.

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SAINTLY EXAMPLES FOR A TIME OF PANDEMIC

By Louise Carroll Keeley | July-August 2020

Louise Carroll Keeley, Ph.D., retired in 2019 from Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts, as Professor of Philosophy and Provost Emerita.

On August 28, 1877, in Alençon, France, Zélie Martin, 45, died from breast cancer, 12 years after noticing the first signs of disease. By the time she sought medical attention, her condition could not be cured, nor did a pilgrimage to Lourdes less than three months before her death result in a physical healing. She left behind a loving husband, Louis, and five daughters: Marie, 17; Pauline, almost 16; Léonie, 14; Céline, eight; and Thérèse, the youngest, age four.

The death of matriarch Zélie was a searing loss for the family, one that led to their relocation in Lisieux to find consolation and support in proximity to Zélie’s closest living relatives. Louis, 54, the newly widowed father of five daughters, sought the companionship and help of Zélie’s brother, Isidore, and sister-in-law, Céline Fournet. (Zélie’s other sister, Élise, Sister Marie-Dosithée, had died of tuberculosis six months before Zélie’s death.) Louis was an exceptionally kind man, equally fond of and devoted to his daughters, but he was not nearly as accomplished in practical affairs as his deceased wife had been. His temperament was as monastic as hers had been domestically and economically engaged. But with the help of Zélie’s relatives, Louis raised his daughters in an intimate family community of love and faith. All five daughters entered religious life and made final vows: Pauline, Marie, Thérèse, and Céline in the Carmelite community of Lisieux, and Léonie, after three failed attempts (including a brief stint as a Poor Clare), at the Visitation convent at Caen. After Thérèse’s death at the age of 24 in 1897, the publication of her unfinished manuscript, Story of a Soul, led to her canonization in 1925 and the worldwide fame that continues today. Less well known, her parents, Zélie and Louis, were beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 and canonized seven years later by Pope Francis. Theirs was a family of saints.

Fr. Roland, at 93 years old, continues to minister (safely) to those around him as a member of the Assumptionist Center Community in Brighton. He recently did a "car blessing" for one of our employees and friends. Thank you, Fr. Roland, for your life of love and joyful service!

"Let us remember that we are, above all, subjects of Jesus Christ our king, citizens of the Church, our homeland, and that we owe Jesus Christ and his Church our fidelity, our service, our love and our life." - Venerable Emmanuel d'Alzon, founder of the Assumptionists, to his brother Assumptionists

By Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A., the provincial superior of the North American Province of the Augustinians of the Assumption

The article was first reported by Catholic Digest Magazine.

Q: Does the New Testament “cancel out” – or outweigh – the Old Testament? Is one of these parts of the Bible more important than the other? – Newbie Bible student

A: Dear Newbie Bible student:

Thanks for your question. I suppose one way of approaching an answer to it is to note the use of the Bible in the Church’s liturgy. On Sundays during the liturgical year, except for the Easter season, the first reading at Mass is always taken from the Old Testament. Included among those readings are passages from many different books: the prophets, the book of the Law (the Torah), the historical books, the wisdom literature. If the New Testament simply cancelled out the Old, to use your term, the importance signaled by their place in the Church’s liturgy would be difficult to understand. The Church clearly teaches that God continues to speak to us through the words of the Old Testament.

But how does he speak to us? The liturgy again provides some help. The Old Testament passage chosen for a particular Sunday always has some relation to the Gospel reading of the day. Often enough, the relationship is one of fulfillment: that something foreshadowed in God’s dealings with the people of Israel is brought to completion in the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. Sometimes we are presented in the Old Testament passage a “type” of something that is fulfilled in the New Covenant. Take, for example, the story of Joseph’s brothers in the Book of Genesis selling him into slavery in Egypt, which is a type of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Or the later episode in Genesis, when Abraham is asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, to be fulfilled beyond all measure by God’s sacrificing his only Son, Jesus.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 at 11:30 AM
(Virtual) Celebration of Assumption University & Mass of the Holy Spirit

Please join us as we celebrate Assumption University and the start of the new academic year with a Mass of the Holy Spirit livestreamed from the Chapel of the Holy Spirit.

Mass will begin at 11:30 a.m. and will be presided by the Very Reverend Dennis Gallagher, A.A., Assumptionist Provincial Superior for the North American Province.

The Mass will be immediately followed by a video, "Assumption: Ever Ancient, Ever New," documenting pivitol moments in the history of the institution. After the video, a blessing and the unveiling of the new Unviersity sign at the front entrance will take place, followed by the debut of the University Alma Mater, performed by the Assumption University Chorale, and virtual greetings from community members from throughout the country and abroad.

Students who are residing on campus are invited to attend a BBQ cookout at Taylor Dining Hall.

The Mass and other events will be livestreamed and available at Assumption.edu/MassoftheHolySpirit and on the AU app.

In the event of inclement weather, all events except for the Mass will be rescheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5, beginning at 11:30 a.m. The Mass will still be held on Sunday, Sept. 6, but at 7 p.m.

The article was first reported by The Catholic Free Presss.

by Tanya Connors

STURBRIDGE - Renewing their vows Aug. 28, the Feast of St. Augustine, at St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish, were four Augustinians of the Assumption: Brother Brian Verzella, who serves at the Assumptionist-staffed parish; Brothers Daniele Caglioni and Hugo Morales, who serve in campus ministry at Assumption University in Worcester, and Brother Matthew-Mary Okereke, a student at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

Assumptionist Father Dennis Gallagher, provincial superior, told them in his homily that living through this unusual time of pandemic is an opportunity for them to affirm that Jesus Christ is always the answer to the world’s problems.

In celebration of the Feast of our Father, St. Augustine, Brother Blair Nuyda, A.A., shares with us the process of "painting" a digital icon. The hand-painted version will be displayed at the renewal of vows of our temporary professed brothers.

"Renew, O Lord, in your Church the spirit you gave to the bishop Saint Augustine; grant that in our thirst for true wisdom we may never cease to search for you, the living fountain of unending love."