10:00 AM, October 22, 2011
at the
Cathedral of the Holy Cross
1600 Washington Street, Boston, MA

A talk by George Weigel to follow at 11:30 AM

Remembering Blessed John Paul II:
A Saint for our Times

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian, one of America’s leading public intellectuals, and biographer and expert on the life and person of Blessed John Paul II. His most recent book is “The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II, the Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy.”

Blessed John Paul II was beatified on May 1, 2011.

Join us for the first public celebration of his feast day in Boston.

Sponsored by the Serra Club of Boston and
the Vocation Office for the Archdiocese of Boston

This weekend the Archdiocese of Boston Vocation Office is sponsoring the Annual Vocation Discernment Retreats for men who are discerning a vocation to the Priesthood.

I am sending this message to ask for your prayers for the spiritual success of these very important retreats.

This year 50 men between the ages of 18 and 40 are attending the retreat preached by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, held at St. John’s Seminary and Connors Retreat Center. Eight men over the age of 40 are attending the retreat held at Blessed John XXIII Seminary in Weston.

Thank you and God Bless,

Fr. Daniel Hennessey
Vocation Director
Archdiocese of Boston

Please pray for the men on the vocation discernment retreats this weekend, and for an increase in priestly vocations!

The Light is On For You is a 6 week celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation throughout all the parishes and chapels of the Archdiocese of Boston. It will take place on Wednesday evenings in Lent from 6:30-8:00p.m.

The dates are: February 24, March 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31.

For more information please visit: TheLightIsOnForYou.org

Serrans helped greet guests, distribute altar server certificates, and even scoop ice cream. The ice cream was sticky and required some extra muscle, but it was well worth it to help reward the altar servers of the Archdiocese of Boston!

Photos of the ice cream social can be seen in the slideshow below.

You can see photos of this event and other Serra Club events at our Flickr site: www.flickr.com/serraboston

Thanks to the Archdiocese of Boston Vocations Office for organizing this event!

Photos of the cake can be seen in the slideshow below:

Happy birthday Fr. Dan, and thank you for your continued service to the Archdiocese of Boston!

On Friday, there was a Mass at St. John’s Seminary and a dinner to charter a new Serra Club for Boston.

We are hoping that promotion of priestly vocations and vocation recruitment will be a very important part of the Year for Priests.

Serra Club takes its name from Blessed Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest who founded a number of California missions in the 18th century.

I have always had a special spot in my heart for them. My dad joined Serra in 1960 and was a very active member his whole life.

The first president of the Boston club is Loretta Gallagher, who worked very closely with our Director of Vocations, Father Dan Hennessey on establishing the new chapter.

Read the full post at: Cardinal Seán’s Blog: Serra Club comes to Boston

The Liturgy of the Hours supplement offers the following prayer on this feast day:

God most high,
your servant Junipero Serra
brought the gospel of Christ
to the peoples of Mexico and California
and firmly established the Church among them.
By his intercession,
and through the example of his evangelical zeal,
inspire us to be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Happy Feast Day to Serrans worldwide!

• Fr. Seán M. Maher from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton
• Fr. Huy H. Nguyen from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton
• Fr. Frank D. Camp from Blessed John XXIII National Seminary
• Fr. David W. Gunter from Blessed John XXIII National Seminary
• Fr. Israel J. Rodriguez from the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan House of Formation
• Fr. Shawn P. Carey from the St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif.

God bless these new priests as they begin their new life as ordained priests!

Thanks also to Fr. Dan Hennessey and Fr. Michael Harrington of the Vocations office for helping to bring these new priests into the archdiocese:

Fr. Mike Harrington of the Vocations Boston office

Fr. Dan Hennessey of the Vocations Boston

For the Pilot’s coverage of the ordination, please click on the link below:

The Boston Pilot: Six new priests for Boston

Here are photos from the Mass:

Thanks to CatholicTV for their hospitality!

All Serrans and others who want to promote vocations are asked to attend, so that Fr. Hennessey can celebrate Mass with a full chapel.  Attendees will also have the added bonus of seeing firsthand the beautiful studio where the excellent Catholic TV broadcasts originate!

Note that all attendees need to be at the studio by 9:00 AM sharp to attend the live Mass.

The address of the Catholic TV studio is:

CatholicTV
34 Chestnut St.
Watertown, MA 02472
Google Maps directions

Hope you can join us at this live event!