The PoverelloSt. Bonaventure Secular Franciscans Detroit, Michigan

Vol. 74, no. 6 — June 2014

Minister’s Letter

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My dear sisters and brothers,

May God grant you peace!

On behalf of our entire fraternity, I want to express profound gratitude to Joe Gentile. Since February 26, Joe has invited individuals attending the reception after the healing service to a presentation to learn about the Secular Franciscan Order. Joe produced a CD with a beautiful orchestration of the Prayer of St. Francis, prepared packets of information regarding the Secular Franciscan Order, developed an outstanding oral presentation, and followed up with a courtesy call. Because of Joe’s extraordinary efforts, 13 individuals are participating in our orientation class, which is our largest orientation class in many years. We are very grateful, Joe, for all of the time and energy you have devoted to planting seeds in the hearts and minds of people about the Gospel way of life. I want to express my appreciation to everyone who worked on the celebration in honor of our jubilarians: to Bev Sapian for contacting the jubilarians and inviting them to the celebration and for coordinating all of the arrangements for the Mass; to Br. Pat for preparing the worship aids; to Mary Poole for preparing the jubilarian certificates; to Jasmine from the St. Clare Society who greeted people at the entrance to the Chapel and gave them a copy of the worship aid, to Leticia Aguilar for taking photos at the event; to Pat Cardellio, Ron and Liz Kessler for handling the arrangements for the reception; to Tony Lienert for ordering and picking up the cake; and to everyone who brought desserts, helped in the kitchen, or assisted with the Mass. As has been our custom in past years, our June fraternity gathering will be held on the second Sunday of the month – June 8 – to avoid a conflict with Fathers’ Day which falls on the third Sunday of June. At our fraternity gathering on Sunday, June 8, the elected members of the Leadership Team will give an accounting of their service during the past year. A copy of their written Chapter reports will be mailed to you prior to the fraternity gathering. In order to make the best use of our time on June 8, I would encourage you to read the reports and prepare any questions you may have before coming to the fraternity gathering. Please make every effort to attend this important meeting. Please join us on Saturday, June 21, at 10:00 a.m. for a Mass in remembrance of our deceased brothers and sisters in the Choir Chapel and the social which will follow immediately after Mass. Our Franciscan vocation calls us to pray for one another including all of our brothers and sisters who are experiencing the joy of eternal life.

PLEASE NOTE ON YOUR CALENDAR: Our annual fraternity picnic will be held on Sunday, July 20 at 1:30 p.m. on Belle Isle. More information about the picnic will be available in the July Poverello.

Please join me in praying for our Capuchin brothers as they participate in their Chapter of Elections from June 2-7. May the Spirit of the living God guide their elections.

The Praises of God

You alone are holy, O Lord God. You are he who performs things wondrous.

You are strong. You are full of majesty.You are the Most High.

You are the King Almighty – you, holy Father, king of heaven and earth.You are the Lord God, threefold and one, all that is good.You are what is good, all that is good, the Sovereign Good,

the Lord God, true and living. You are charity and love. You are wisdom.

You are humility. You are patience.

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Celebrating Thomas Nozewski, OFS

You are assurance. You are restfulness.You are joy and gladness. You are justice and temperance.

You are all the wealth desirable. You are beauty.You are gentleness. Your protect.

You guard and defend. You are fortitude.You are refreshment. You are our hope.

You are our faith. You are our great relish.You are our eternal life,

great and wondrous Lord, God almighty, Savior merciful. Amen. — St. Francis

During this month when we honor our fathers, let us praise and give thanks to our heavenly Father for his unconditional love for us and his living presence with us. Your sister in Ss. Francis and Clare, maryann

Tom Nozewski was born on January 25, 1942 to Frank and Anne Nozewski at Mt. Carmel Hospital in Detroit. Tom is the older brother of Gerry and Richard. Tom attended St. Hedwig Grade School and graduated from St. Hedwig High School in 1960. Tom worked at Henry Ford Museum and in the grounds and maintenance department at Greenfield Village for 46 years. Tom retired from Greenfield Village in 2004. In 1967, Tom married Jean Jarosz at St. Helena Catholic Church in Wyandotte. Tom and Jean were blessed with eight children: Marie, Carol, Nancy, Sandra, Adele, Elizabeth, Michael and Theresa. Carol died from heart problems a year ago. Tom and Jean have seven grandchildren:

Gabriel, Andriana, Karina, Robert, Dominic, Christopher and Aubree. When Tom and Jean were first married they rented a house in Dearborn and about a year later they bought a home in Dearborn Heights. In 1962, the family moved to Westland. In 1979,Tom and Jean moved to Ecorse. Tom was introduced to the Third Order of St. Francis by his grandmother who was a Third Order member at St. Hedwig. Tom made his public permanent commitment to the Franciscan way of life in 1966 at St. Bonaventure. Tom enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren.

We love you, Tom!

R.I.P. Joseph G. Driessen, OFS

Our brother, Joe Driessen, entered eternal life at age 83 on May 13, 2014, after suffering from ALS – “Lou Gehrig’s disease”. Joe was a faithful member of our Secular Franciscan Fraternity for 64 years, having been professed in November of 1949. Joe had a deep spirituality, a voracious appetite for reading and learning, and a sometimes surprising sense of humor. He will be greatly missed! Our condolences to Joe’s wife, Rose, and to his children and grandchildren. Requiescat in pace!

SLADE7 years old

Slade is something of an expert on reptiles. Boas, pythons, rattlesnakes and lizards: this junior zoologist can almost identify them all. And if he doesn’t know a reptile’s official

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Our DeceasedJoseph Driessen, V 13 May 2014

Members of our Fraternity

Marie AmoreDan & Jan AtkinsonKay BalasJanet BodellMary Lou CatinoRocco CesaroMary GillenGrabowski FamilyNona Mary HebertJames HeymesCaroline Hojna & FamilyAnna Marie JezakGary JohnsonDonna Marie JohnstonLouis JosephJoyce KaminskiEsther KelleyMary KleinLorraine Korte

Josie LafataFrank & Rosalie LiccardelloPatricia LongIlene Manning & FamilyJoseph MarraSophie MartinMabel MichaelsHugh MontpetitBarbara PardingtonBob PeckhamGeorge PelyakTom RicardMary SaberMichael & Bridget SchultzGene SnydersBen StapelAlice VierJoseph Wisk

Relatives needing prayers:

Theresa Brannigan, daughter-in-law of MargueriteMary Ann Bridge, daughter of Connie MusialKate Comizio, sister of Br. PatRay Donahue, huisband of Julia D-ErtzbischoffFr. Edward Ertzbischoff, brother of JuliaAlice Greene, sister of Hank ForysBonnie Holler, niece of Jo Marie NardiDenise Joseph, daughter of LouisDavid Kaminski, son of JoyceIrene Kutchey, daughter-in-law of Julia ErtzbischoffAl Long (in Hospice Care)Rosemary Marson, sister of RalphDaisey McSherry, mother of Br. PatBarbara Musial, daughter of ConnieVance Nardi, sister-in-law of Jo MarieJean Nozewski, wife of Thomas

Teresa Poole, mother of MaryJoseph Ricard, brother of Tom

At times, the names of relatives needing prayers are dropped from the list if we have not received an update after a few months. Please keep in contact with Jo Marie. Please help to keep our list up-to-date. Call:

Jo Marie Nardi

name, he’ll give it a creative and catchy nickname just for fun. In November 2012, Slade developed an earache and a fever. His family took him to an after-hours clinic. There, they were shocked to learn Slade was seriously ill. The doctor who examined Slade arranged for him to travel immediately by ambulance to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The very next day, Slade was found to suffer from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the blood. Slade has another year of chemotherapy to go, but his cancer is already in remission. He has been able to resume much of his normal routine back home, taking oral chemotherapy and making regular visits to his care team at St. Jude. “I am so proud of the way he has handled himself through all of this,” says Slade’s mom. “How can a child go into a procedure with all those nurses and doctors around him and not be scared? But he never is. I will always be indebted to St. Jude. They are saving my child’s life.”

Caroline and Ted Hojnaon their 50th wedding anniversary

May 30, 2014

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2014 Jubilee Celebration

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Homily for the Jubilarian Mass

Twice in this chapter of John’s gospel we hear Jesus says: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” The actual Greek text is even more forceful: “Stop allowing your hearts to be troubled.” Jesus seems to be saying that there’s something we can do to lessen or even eliminate worry from our lives. We hear these words in the Easter Season, but Jesus spoke them right before his passion. And he offers two beacons of hope for us when things upset us. Believe in God; believe in me; and he gives the promise of the Holy Spirit. Now, that’s nice in theory – but when it comes to real life – not allowing ourselves to worry is very, very difficult. In the course of this past week alone, there’s been more news about the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. A lady is killed randomly at Eastern Market, just a few blocks away. A Detroit-area priest is under indictment for financial fraud. The already shameful situation of child abuse by Church personnel is being investigated by the United Nations as church-sponsored torture. Fewer people are getting married in the church; divorces now outnumber marriages. Even some of our own relatives have stopped practicing the faith. And who among us isn’t worried about loved ones who are feeling the effects of age or illness? How can our hearts not be troubled? Our age, however, is not much different than that of St. Francis. There were bitter wars, and random killings, there were many scandals involving the Church; right in Assisi there was a major clash between the civil authorities and the church authorities. There was an increasing number of people leaving the Church because of the poor behavior and example of Catholics, both cleric and lay. So how can we stop allowing our hearts to be troubled?

There are two related incidents in the life of St. Francis that give me hope. If you look at the cover of the worship aid today, the first image is a mural by Giotto depicting St. Francis kneeling before the Crucifix in the little chapel of San Damiano. The Crucified Christ speaks to him: “Francis, repair my church which, as you can see, is falling into ruin.” It’s important that we hear not just the first part of that statement: “Repair my church” – as if it just needed some Spring cleaning and some sprucing up. We know that San Damiano – and two other chapels were in dire physical disrepair – Giotto pictures it – the roof is collapsing, whole sections of wall have fallen in. We also know that this event is historical – it’s not just a metaphor. There’s a second, related event that we find not only in Fran-ciscan sources, but in non-Franciscan sources as well. That’s pic-tured again by Giotto, in the other painting. The dream of Pope Innocent. The Pope has a dream in which he sees his own church – the Lateran Basilica – toppling over. And the only thing that’s preventing it from total ruin is a man

dressed as a beggar. The beggar was identified as Francis and his band of followers. And that led to the approval of the Franciscan way of life. We never have to downplay or deny the reality of our world, our church, our families or ourselves. Sometimes it’s not just one thing but a multiplicity of things that cause our hearts to be troubled. As in the past, the pope looked to Francis and his followers, and Francis, in turn, looked to Jesus as the source of inspiration and energy. For all that might seem negative in our age, we live in exciting, challenging times. And we are blessed! We have a Pope who not only bears the name of our founder, but a Pope who in so many ways is filled with the charism of our way of life. A Pope who is also a source of inspiration and energy. A Pope who looks for what needs repair and is seeking ways to accomplish it. A Pope who – like St. Francis – believes in God and believes in people, and relies heavily on Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit.

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This is what fills me with hope today! We are so blessed to be part of this renaissance of the church and renewal of society. As our jubilarians today renew their commitment to the church and to the Franciscan way of life, let us all renew our commitment to the vision and lifestyle of St. Francis and unite ourselves to the efforts of this Pope to embrace our reality and still find hope in re-visioning the ways things could be. It takes inspiration and cour-age not to get bogged down by the way things are, in order to see how things could be, and to make it happen. I’d like to end with a story. A wise old gentleman retired and purchased a modest home near a junior high school. He spent the first few weeks of his re-tirement in peace and contentment. Then a new school year be-gan. The very next afternoon three young boys, full of enthusiasm, came down his street, beating merrily on every trash can they en-countered. The crashing percussion continued day after day, until finally the wise old man decided it was time to take some action. The next afternoon, he walked out to meet the young percus-sionists as they banged their way down the street. Stopping them, he said, “You kids are a lot of fun. I like that. I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a favor? I’ll give you each a dollar if you’ll promise to come around every day and do your thing.” The kids were elated and continued to do a bang-up job on the trash cans. After a few days, the old-timer greeted the kids again, but this time he had a sad smile on his face. “This reces-sion’s really putting a big dent in my income,” he told them. “From now on, I’ll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans.” The noisemakers were obviously displeased, but they accepted his offer and continued their afternoon ruckus. A few days later, the wily retiree approached them again as they drummed their way down the street. “Look,” he said, “I haven’t received my Social Security check yet, so I’m not going to be able to give you more than 25 cents. Will that be okay?” “A lousy quarter?” the drum leader exclaimed. “If you think we’re going to waste our time, beating these cans around for a quarter, you’re nuts! No way, mister. We quit!” And the old man enjoyed peace and serenity for the rest of his days. Believe and you will do even greater things!

June - July Fraternity Calendar Saturday, June 7 .......10:00 a.m. ...... Leadership Council meetingSunday, June 8 ..........1:30 p.m. ........ Fraternity Gathering – Chapter – Welcoming CeremonySaturday, June 21 .....10:00 a.m. ...... Mass for OFS Deceased

Saturday, July 12 ......10:00 a.m. ...... Leadership Council meetingSunday, July 20.........1:30 p.m. ........ Fraternity Picnic at Belle Isle

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Joseph Gentile, OFS — Outreach Ambassador Ever since Joe Gentile began his formation to become a Secular Franciscan, he felt led by the Spirit to invite others to consider joining our St. Bonaventure Fraternity. As a result of the brainstorming by our recently formed “Dream Team,” Joe considered the sizeable group of people who often attend St. Bonaventure’s Prayer Service for the Sick on Wednesdays, followed by a social. Joe envisioned this as a wonderful opportunity both to invite participants in the Prayer Service to consider the Secular Franciscan way of life. Each week during Lent, people were invited to attend a short presentation which began with an inspiring musical DVD of the “Prayer of St. Francis,” followed by a bit of Franciscan family history using a specially made chart, and then an explanation of how Secular Franciscans strive to go “from Gospel to Life and Life to Gospel”. A great packet of information that Joe had prayerfully put together was then distributed to those interested in attending an OFS Orientation class. Joe’s efforts were blessed with 21 people who attended their first Orientation class — truly a Spirit-led effort. Thank you, Joe!

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From the Friars’ Choir

(l to r) St. Clare Society member Rebecca Zwolinski, her dad, Chris,Joe Sapian and Hank Forys organizing the towels from our 2014 Towel Campaign.

2.... Jerrold Marsh4.... Hugh Montpetit5.... Joe Sapian11 .. Melissa Lindow12.. Mary Morawa14.. Elda Scabich15.. Clair Boutain

20.. Patricia Long23.. Theresa Haas24.. Sandra Sherman25.. Joe Wisk26.. Elizabeth Barnowsky29.. Paul Ivan

1 2 3 4

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

MeldrumSoup Kitchen:

10:30-1:00

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BODY &BLOOD

OF CHRISTPss Proper

HOLY TRINITYPss Proper

FATHERS’DAY

PENTECOSTPss Proper

29 30

fraTerNiTYChaPTer

12 - formaTioN

1:30 - everYoNe

SS. PETER& PAUL

Pss Proper

Mass forOFS Deceased

10 a.m. - Friars’ Choir

ASCENSIONPss Proper

EASTERWEEK 7Pss Wk 3

WEEK 10in Ordinary

TimePss Wk 2

WEEK 11in Ordinary

TimePss Wk 3

WEEK 12in Ordinary

TimePss Wk 4

WEEK 13in Ordinary

TimePss Wk 1

Sacred Heartof Jesus

Immaculate Heart

of Mary

Minister Maryann KummerVice Minister Teresa Westbrook-LienertTreasurer Laura SapianSecretary Anthony LienertFormation Minister Sylvia SnigierCouncillors-at-Large: Patricia Cardellio Caroline Florescu Melissa Lindow Beverly Sapian Joseph Sapian Mary Williams Spiritual Assistant: Br. Patrick McSherry

APPOINTMENTSInfirmarian: Jo Marie NardiContinuing Formation: Beverly SapianHealing Service Coordinator: Melissa LindowSoup Kitchen Coordinator: Joseph SapianHospitality Coordinator: Pat CardellioAnnual Picnic Coordinators: Terry Westbrook-Lienert and Tony LienertGospel Happenings Coordinator: Laura Sapian

MAKING FRATERNITY HAPPEN

The entire St. Bonaventure Secular Franciscan Fraternity gathers on the Third Sunday of every month. For more information, contact: Maryann Kummer In addition to our monthly Fraternity gathering, some members also gather in a small group:

Fr. Solanus Cell (2nd Friday, 7:30 pm): Mary Ann and Hugh Montpetit

FRATERNITY MINISTRY OUTREACH:Meldrum Soup Kitchen

Usually on the 2nd Friday of each month.&

Healing Service Social Wednesdays at 2 PM

The Poverello is published by theSt. Bonaventure Secular Franciscan Fraternity

1780 Mt. Elliott St.Detroit, Michigan 48207

Phone: 313-579-2100, ext. 136e-mail: OFSDetroit@gmail.com

editor: Br. Pat McSherry, OFM Cap

Pray Dailyfor Vocations to the OFS

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OFSDetroit@gmail.comhttp://www.sfostbonaventure-detroit.org

Fax et Phonum

St. BonaventureSecular Franciscan Fraternity1780 Mount Elliott StreetDetroit, Michigan 48207