Posts in July, 2008
Recap of Serra USA Conference at Notre Dame
July 21st, 2008
During our July meeting, Michelle Dickson gave a recap of the All-American Conference for Serra USA, held on June 18-22 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. The theme for the conference was “Vision of the Catholic Church in 2025.”
The meeting was an “amazing experience,” with 180 Serrans attending the conference. Being a Serran had clearly become a way of life for some attendees, who have been Serrans for 10-20 years.
Word of our activity is spreading, and members from several clubs expressed enthusiasm for the Serra Club of Boston. Serra clubs from New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana, Georgia, Texas, Montana, and Maine have asked us how they can obtain the magnets for their own dioceses.
On Friday there were two sessions of workshops. Serra Boston was listed as a “successful club” during a presentation on membership. The outgoing president of Serra specifically commented on the Serra Club of Boston, and urged attendees to meet Loretta and ask about the Pray for our Priest magnets.
Speaker at the Serra USA conference
Michelle spoke of meeting Fr. David Lincoln, a priest ordained at the age of 71. Fr. Lincoln had been dean of the law school at the University of Notre Dame, and was married until his wife died of cancer in 2003. After his wife’s passing he felt a call from the Holy Spirit to become a priest, and a Serra Club member was crucial in supporting him during his vocation discernment. Michelle passed out an article about Fr. “Link,” which you can read in full here: 71-year-old lawyer to be ordained priest, become prison chaplain
The conference ended with a rosary at the Notre Dame grotto, offering a quiet and prayerful atmosphere to finish the Serra conference. Two photos from the Grotto can be seen below:
Rosary at the Notre Dame Grotto
Michelle Dickson in front of the Notre Dame Grotto
After Michelle’s recap, Loretta gave out a handout on “World Priest Day” distributed at the conference. The last Sunday of October is designated annually as Priesthood Sunday (also known as World Priest Day), a one-day celebration of the priesthood organized by parish lay leaders and coordinated by the USA Council of Serra International. Loretta is writing an article for the Pilot to publicize this event, which will occur on October 26, 2008. More information on this national event can be found on the official World Priest Day web site.
Thanks to Michelle and Loretta for attending the conference and sharing their experiences with the rest of the Serra Boston club!
New England soccer player signs on for priesthood
July 16th, 2008
Chase Hilgenbrinck, defender for the New England Revolution, will enter the seminary:
When Chase Hilgenbrinck bounced from Chile to Colorado to New England this spring, his eyes were already on another path. Not toward another MLS club or Europe. Toward the priesthood.MLS fans might have been startled to read the New England Revolution’s announcement this week that the defender was ending his career in midseason to enter a seminary at Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland, but the decision wasn’t abrupt
Full article at USA Today: MLS player Hilgenbrinck has a new goal: priesthood
The USA Today blog offers Chase’s commentary on his calling:
Why?
Because I feel called. I’ve actually had my calling. I’ve been discerning this decision for several years now. I had a chance to go play professional soccer in Chile. For a long time, I felt called to something greater, and I didn’t know what it was. I thought maybe it was professional soccer. In playing soccer, I realized that wasn’t it. I continued searching.
Full blog at: From soccer to seminary
Next meeting: Saturday July 19
July 13th, 2008
Our next meeting is this coming Saturday, July 19th at St. Mary’s in Waltham. We will be honored to have Fr. Mike Harrington, Assistant Director of Vocations for the archdiocese, as the celebrant for Mass at 8:30 AM. (Fr. Dan Hennessey is making his way “Down Under” for another “intimate gathering” with the Holy Father at World Youth Day in Sydney!)
Michelle Dickson and Loretta Gallagher will report on their participation at the Serra National Conference held in South Bend, Indiana in June. One thing we can tell you: there is great excitement from Serrans all over the country about the future chartering of the Serra Club of Boston — and that joy is very contagious !! So please, everyone, try and bring a friend to the meeting so we can reach our quota of members for club chartering in the spring!
The sale of the “Pray for Our Priests” magnets is going really well. Thanks to the June 8th article in Our Sunday Visitor (a national publication), we have had many requests for them from all over the country. We now have lapel pins for sale also. They will be available at the meeting.
One of our members, Geraldine DiBenedetto has been invited to talk about Serra on radio and also represent Serra Boston at an upcoming Catholic festival in North Andover. The Adopt-a-Priest Apostolate is almost ready to roll and you can hear more about that on Saturday. So a lot is happening and all are invited to share in the excitement !!
See you Saturday, God-willing. If it is warm, we will have that much more to “offer up” on behalf of our seminarians, priests and religious (not to mention Fr. Dan and all those traveling to Australia for World Youth Day)
Fr. Mark Barr’s reflections on ordination
July 12th, 2008
As he did last week, Cardinal Sean has allowed one of the newly ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Boston to blog about his experience. This week, it’s Fr. Mark Barr, who serves at St. John the Baptist Parish in Quincy:
When first I began to seriously consider the priesthood, it seemed a nebulous and distant reality. I thought God was calling me to a priestly vocation and I wanted to pursue it, but I really had no idea who the priest is or what he does. I attended Mass regularly and Mass I understood. I could even see myself acting as a sacramental minister but I could not grasp what it would mean, for me, to actually be a priest the other twenty-three and a half hours of the day.
Fr. Barr comments on the difference that attitude can make in a priest, reinforcing the need to support priests in their chosen vocations:
…a joyful priest is a better encourager of vocations than one who is very experienced, very skilled and able but angry or dour. It is not how good we are at our “job” that makes the priest a better priest, but how much we love. How much he loves, loves the people of God with Christ’s own pierced and Sacred Heart, the heart he receives in ordination, this is the measure of a priest. And this is not a distant or nebulous thing, but a real and good life, a life that ought to be pursued by all who are called, something that is concrete and doable.
The full essay is available on Cardinal Sean’s blog entry: ‘Quis Alter Christus Es’ (scroll about 1/5 down the page).
Thanks to Fr. Barr for sharing his experience and insight into the priesthood, and to Cardinal Sean for sharing his blog with the new ordinandi.
Fr. Joe Mazzone’s reflections on ordination
July 5th, 2008
Cardinal Sean allowed Fr. Joe Mazzone, a newly ordained priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, to blog about his experience during his recent ordination:
…The grace of God flowed freely and abundantly on everyone there, not just those becoming priests. I could see it so clearly on their faces. Looking at all the people I thought to myself “This is your ordination, too. It’s the prayers and support of good people like you that helped me to walk up these steps to be ordained and it’s for all of you that I’m walking down.” I couldn’t have been more grateful to them, to you, and especially to Almighty God. I could not have done it alone.
I think one of the most moving parts of the ceremony was the Laying on of Hands. This is really the most solemn moment of the Rite of Ordination. The bishop ordains each man by placing his hands on their head and invoking the Holy Spirit on the new priest.
I can’t imagine a more profound, exhilarating and humbling experience than this, that moment when Cardinal Sean placed his hands on my head. I’ve never known such joy, truly.
More at Cardinal Sean’s blog: Reflections of a newly ordained priest
Thanks to Fr. Mazzone for sharing his personal experiences with the Internet.
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