November
Fraternity Meeting New
Sunday – November
15th 900 N 90th Str
Omaha,
NE
Kay
Regan’s 50th Anniversary of Profession to the SFO
Hospitality – All:
Everyone is asked to bring a food item to share - a cake has been ordered for our celebration. You are asked to come at 1:00 to help set up
the auditorium for our celebration.
Formation – November
Initial
Formation 1: Read Fully
Mature with the Fullness of Christ Candidacy
Session 8: “By Instilling Justice and Dignity,” pages 14-1 –
14-26 and Candidacy Session 9: “By Being Sensitive and Loyal to the Church,” pages
15-1 – 15-22. Be prepared to discuss
questions on page 14-22 and on page 15-18.
Facilitator: Ann Reynek
Initial
Formation 2: Read Fully Mature with the Fullness of Christ Inquiry Session 1: “Call to
Holiness within the Church,” pages 01-1 – 01-18
and Inquiry Session 2: “Prompted by the Spirit to Deepen the Calling,” pages 02-1 – 02-24. Be prepared to discuss questions on pages 01-14 and 02-14. Read Chapters 19 – 21: The Stigmata, The Canticle of Brother Sun,
and The Testament and Death on pages 235-274 on St Francis of Assisi by
Omer Englebert. Facilitator: Rosemary
Travis
Fraternity
Notes
Congratulations Kay Regan on your 50th
Anniversary of Profession!
Kay professed to the SFO on October 18,
1959. Congratulations Kay!!!
Pot Luck: We will have a pot luck during our
November meeting to celebrate Kay’s 50th Anniversary of Profession
to the SFO. We will meet at 1 pm to set up the
auditorium. Mass will be at 1:30
pm. The pot luck will follow. Kay’s
family will be joining us for this special day.
Thank You Father Sullivan!
Thank you Fr Sullivan for sharing about St Bonaventure and his Franciscan
spirituality during our annual Day of Recollection. You provided us with much to think about and
much to be grateful for in our vocations.
And, we are thankful that you are willing to come to Omaha and be a part
of our day and our lives!
Thank You Kathy
Kelley! Thank you
Kathy for coordinating our Day of Recollection.
You are a blessing to the fraternity and we hope you realize how much we
appreciate all that you do for us.
Feast Days: A few days to be aware of and
commemorate during November:
- November
1 – All Saints
- November
2 – All Souls
- November 5 – All Deceased Members of the
Seraphic (Franciscan) Order
- November
17 – St Elizabeth of Hungary, Patroness of the Third Order
- November
22 – Christ the King (last Sunday of Ordinary Time)
- November 29 – All Saints of the Seraphic
(Franciscan) Order
Prayer Requests
Please
remember the following in your prayers:
·
Pray for the repose of the soul of Ed Feiler’s mother,
Frances, who passed away on October 7th.
·
Kay
Regan, in thanksgiving for her 50 years of profession to the SFO!
·
Thanksgiving for Father Sullivan, OFM, and
his presentation on St Bonaventure at the Day of Recollection and for Kathy
Kelley who coordinated the weekend.
·
Pray for all deceased members of our
families, friends, fraternity, and for all deceased Franciscans and Poor
Clares.
·
Our
newly elected SFO National Council that the Holy Spirit may guide them over the
next three years.
·
Thanksgiving
for the men and women serving in the armed forces, may they come home safely.
·
The
Poor Clare Sisters of
·
All St
Clare Fraternity members, active and excused, that we are faithful to our
profession.
·
During
the ‘Year of the Priest’ remember the Friars of Sacred Heart Province, the
priests of the Archdiocese of Omaha, and Fr David LaPlante, our former
spiritual assistant.
·
Remember
the seminarians of the Omaha Archdiocese, that they are able to discern and
respond to God’s call in their lives.
o
Pray for Pope Benedict
and for his November prayer intentions:
o
Care of
Creation. That
all people of good will, especially those who make political and economic
policies, may commit themselves to care for all creation.
o
Peace of
God. That
believers of every religion may witness through their lives and through
dialogue that the Name of God brings peace.
SFO National Chapter of
Elections
The following excerpts were obtained from the National Fraternity website
regarding the elections to the SFO National Council.
Vice Minister General Doug Clorey opened the Chapter
of Elections at 1:30 p.m. Albuquerque time on October 24, spending time
explaining the election process.
The gathering sang a song calling on the Holy Spirit.
Then there was a reading from the writings of St. Francis.
Clorey prayed from the SFO Ritual, and asked the
names of nominees for national minister to be read.
Ballots were counted and distributed to the 38
voting members of the National Council, which includes regional ministers (or
their delegates) and national officers.
Deacon Tom Bello was elected the new national
minister of the U.S. Secular Franciscan Order. Bello, national vice-minister
for the past three years, is a deacon assigned to St. James Church in Church
Falls, VA, and a resident of McLean, VA.
Elaine Hedtke is the new national vice minister. She
hails from Port Angeles, WA, and has been serving as regional minister for
Troubadours of Peace Region (which encompasses Washington, Northwest Oregon,
Idaho, and Alaska).
Jan Parker of O'Fallon, MO has been elected
secretary. She has been serving as regional minister for St. Clare Region
(encompassing most of Missouri, southern Illinois and the southern tip of
Indiana).
The vote for treasurer resulted in Dennis Ross being
elected for a third term as national treasurer. He hails from Mentor, OH.
Mary Bittner was elected the first national
councilor. She hails from Ypsilanti, MI, and has served as regional minister of
Divine Mercy Region.
Michelle Kim was elected the second national
councilor. She hails from Scarsdale, NY.
Arturo Villareal was elected the third national
councilor. He hails from El Paso, TX, and has been serving as vice minister of
Empress of the Americas Region.
Anne Mulqueen was re-elected international
councilor. She hails from Baltimore, MD.
Michelle Kim was elected substitute international
councilor.
Source: http://www.kateriregion.org/NAFRA2009/nafra09.html
Thank You Father John
Sullivan, OFM
Here are a few of the
items Rosemary shared with Ann regarding the St Clare Fraternity’s Day of
Recollection held on October 17.
Fr Sullivan was a hit on Saturday. Several
people requested that Fr Sullivan be booked for next year.
Father did a terrific job of sharing the gift
of Franciscan spirituality that St Bonaventure left the world and especially
us. The overflowing, superabundant GOODNESS of God permeates Francis’
perception of God. And St Bonaventure pondered Francis’ writings and those of
Celano and the Early Companions.
What made the sessions special was the
abundance of handouts Father had prepared. At one point he said, “You should
have enough to reflect on for the next year.” Before sending us off for 20 to 35
minutes of reflection time, he gave us handouts with 4 to 6 optional
assignments. That’s where our Bibles, Liturgy of the Hours, and SFO Rituals
came into play. Each person could then pick the one that piqued their interest.
He even gave us songs to “meditate on, hum or sing.”
As Father nudged each one of us to “go
back to Francis’ writings often” and challenged us to dive into St
Bonaventure’s writings in a meditative way, he urged us to really frame up who
God is to us. Then he posed the bombshell question: “Is this the God you want
to spend your eternity with?”
Because St Bonaventure winds up
declaring “God is Love,” Father Sullivan woke us up spiritually with this
declaration: “God is insanely in love with us regardless…” God’s love is great
and unconditional. We Franciscans must practice falling in love again and again
– ongoing, continual conversion – with this God of all GOOD and this God of
LOVE.
Father Sullivan emphasized St Bonaventure is
called the Seraphic Doctor. He gave us a drawing of Jesus/God Crucified
with the 6 wings of the seraph. Then he explained the symbolism of each wing.
He emphasized along with St Bonaventure that “Jesus is the Center of it all as
we journey into God.” Using this simple sketch, Father Sullivan presented St
Bonaventure’s “A Soul’s Journey Into God.”
Our day concluded with the Mass from the
feast of St Bonaventure. Next to a candle on a table in front of the altar,
Father placed a framed glazed tile with the image of Francis standing before
Jesus/God Crucified with the six wings of the seraph. As people entered
the chapel for Mass, there were little gasps and quiet whispers about the
image. After Mass, Father said that I could keep it for our fraternity. After Father
left, I looked at it and read that he had made the piece of artwork. For those
who attended the Day of Recollection, it will hold lots of meaning.
Thank
You Holy Trinity Fraternity
Larry and Ann were blessed to spend
the weekend of October 17th with the Holy Trinity Fraternity in
Dubuque, Iowa. They were having their
council elections, so Larry was the witness as the Queen of Peace (Nebraska)
Regional Councilor.
We left Saturday morning for
Strawberry Point, Iowa; which is approximately 60 miles from Dubuque to meet
with Linzy and Hazel Martin. You will
recall that Linzy is the Queen of Peace (Iowa) Regional Councilor and witnessed
our fraternity elections in April. Hazel
is also on the Queen of Peace council as the JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity
of Creation) Chair.
We stopped at the Martin’s home when
we arrived at Strawberry Point. Hazel
greeted us in true Franciscan style with some of the best hugs two travelers
from Nebraska could ever receive. Hazel
booked a room for us at the Franklin Hotel – a historic landmark in Strawberry
Point. It is a wonderfully renovated
hotel and it was delightful to lodge there.
Saturday evening, the four of us went
to mass at Sacred Heart Church.
Afterwards, Linzy and Hazel treated Larry and Ann to an Italian meal at
Leo’s Restaurant. Not only was the food
“magnifico,” it was a pleasure to
have dinner with them. They are such a
great couple and we enjoyed their friendship and hospitality.
Sunday, we went to the Shalom Retreat
Center in Dubuque for the Holy Trinity Fraternity meeting. Larry and Ann were blessed to become
acquainted with our Franciscan brothers and sisters in the fraternity. We certainly can say – ‘what a great group of
people!’
The elections were held together with
a prayer service. The fraternity is
focusing the entire year on various aspects of the 800th anniversary
of the Proto Rule. October focused on
‘peace and joy’. The celebration also
included recognition of four SFO Jubilarians – Mickey (25 years), Jean,
Margaret and Ester (50 years each).
After the elections and fraternity
meeting, several SFOs (Linzy, Hazel, Sr Nancy, Ann, and Mickey) from Holy
Trinity fraternity treated Larry and Ann to dinner at the Olive Garden. This was another enjoyable time on our
weekend – great dinner companions and good food.
I cannot express sufficiently how
blessed we were over this weekend. Our
Franciscan vocation has allowed us to meet many brothers and sisters in our
Catholic Franciscan calling – and this is a gift. Thank you Holy Trinity Fraternity for taking
us in as part of your fraternity family; and a special thank you to Hazel and
Linzy for taking such good care of us this weekend.
Peace and all good,
Ann Reynek, SFO
Fraternity
Contacts
Minister: Rosemary Travis, SFO
Vice Minister: Sybil Haller, SFO
Secretary: Pat Biga, SFO
Treasurer: Christine Mehser,
SFO
Formation Director: Ann Reynek, SFO
Councilors: Fritzi Fry, SFO
Spiritual Assistant: Sr. Theresina of
Jesus
Telephone Tree: Anna Manuell, SFO
Kitchen and Hospitality: Marlene Schuetz,
SFO
Newsletter Editor: Ann Reynek, SFO
Saint Clare Fraternity Website:
http://members.cox.net/sfobro/