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Catholic Retreat - A Time for Renewal
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| Fr. Cyriac Mattathilanickal, M.S., Director, La Salette Retreat Center, Attleboro, MA |
La Salette Retreat Center
Making a Difference
My name is Fr. Dennis Loomis, M.S., presently Superior General of the La Salette Missionaries. Several years ago while I was visiting our Missionaries in Argentina, I heard about a special woman who felt called to make a difference. Here is her inspiring story:A True Missionary Spirit
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| Fr. Clément Moussier (1860-1919) |
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| (l to r) Frs. William Breault (1894-1974) and Aloysius Spielman (1892-1948) |
Shrine Offers Shelter
In what can only seem like a nightmare to residents so close to Halloween, thousands across the area remained without power Sunday night with no clear timetable on when service will be restored.
Virginia Leveille, left, and Janet Millian, play a game of cards while passing the time away in the community room at the Wrentham police station Tuesday. (Chronicle staff photo by Mark Stockwell) All Are Missionaries
Editor: Vacationing missionaries are a proverbial “breath of fresh air.” Fr. Jack Garvey wrote this note after preaching back in North America.
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| Fr. Jack Garvey, M.S., La Salette Missionary in Argentina |
“Living and working with a people who suffer many privations gives all missionaries a different perspective on life. They serve a people who, despite their problems, maintain their courage, a people who grub at the land – sometimes not too fertile – hoping to grow sufficient crops, a people who seek more gainful employment, a people of faith in God and a people truly gracious toward their fellow human beings. It is our privilege to work among them.
When we come home to the U.S. every three years on vacation, it is indeed a return to our native land, a return to a lifestyle of relative comfort and convenience, a return to a land where air conditioning, relatively new cars and comfortable homes are perceived as natural. While enjoying this lifestyle, vacationing missionaries cannot forget the struggles of their people and the mission of the Church. And so, thanks to the Mission Cooperative Programs in many dioceses, each weekend they frequent different parishes to give mission appeals, speaking to God’s people of the missionary Apostolate of the Church and the lives and struggles of peoples in the lands where they minister.
…While visiting at home, I often preach many mission appeals. I see these weekends as an opportunity to bring to the people back home an increasing awareness of the missionary work of the Church. It is my custom is to stand outside the church and greet people after Mass. One Sunday after Mass to my great surprise a lady spoke to me about that day’s Gospel reading. It referred to the Lord’s choice of the 72 whom he sent out 2 by 2 to preach the Gospel (Luke: 10:1). The lady said to me: “Of course priests and religious are missionaries, but aren’t we also missionaries? Those 72 referred to in this morning’s Gospel were not priests or religious but laity.” She had indeed gotten the message. Christ founded a missionary Church in which each believer has an important mission to fulfill.
Festival of Lights Brightens Season
Attleboro, Mass. — When Our Lady of La Salette visited two shepherd children, 15-year-old Melanie Calvat, and 11-year-old Maximin Giraud, on a mountain side in the French Alps in 1846, she appeared “within a light that was brighter than the sun.” It’s in that tradition of light that the Missionaries of La Salette in Attleboro established the Festival of Lights in 1953.
Since then, millions have flocked to the shrine between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day to view the Christmas story illuminated by thousands of lights, giving pilgrims “the opportunity to meditate on the close relationship between the Christ Child, the Light of the World, and his mother,” who appeared to the shepherd children in a dazzling brilliance.
While the Christmas message remains the same, the festival has evolved a great deal leading into the 58th year. A series of new displays and the gradual transition to LED lighting, this year’s Festival of Lights, entitled “Light of Life” promises to be inspiring and breathtaking. “It is my hope that each and every visitor may be touched by Jesus’ light and be reborn,” said shrine director, La Salette Brother Bob Russell. “It is also my hope that those who come become a light of life to their families and all those they meet throughout their lifetimes.”
Fr. Jack’s New Mission
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Fr. Jack Nuelle, M.S., soon-to-be
appointed Executive Director of the United States Catholic Mission Association |
There is a saying: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” This saying are seems quite fitting for recently retired Fr. Jack Nuelle, M.S. His efforts for the past fifteen years as founder and Executive Director the LSMC – the La Salette Mission Center – now based in St. Louis, MO, are well known.
At the annual meeting of the membership of the United States Catholic Mission Association (USCMA), which was held on October 28-30, 2011, he was asked about accepting the position of Executive Director of that National Organization. Having been asked in advance of the meeting, he told the Board of Directors that he would accept this new position.
Fr. Jack explained in a letter to his fellow La Salettes about his process of discernment: “That invitation came at a time when, as you know, I had just stepped down as executive director of the LSMC… and now I was planning a ‘leisurely’ retirement. I had often said that ‘if one wanted to make God laugh, one need only tell God one’s plans.’ Well, God started laughing again! You have all experienced over the last 50+ years my zeal for the Mission of the Church and the way we, La Salette Missionaries, are asked to minister in that global Mission. So I entered into a prayerful discernment process, which led me out into the deep… My roots, as a La Salette Missionary, were and are in Mission! I also heard the expression: “Keep your missionary roots watered,” and came to see the ministry of executive director of the USCMA as a way of doing so. This called me to utter my ‘Fiat.’”
Fifty Years of Faith
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Brother Bob Russell, Director of La Salette
Shrine in Attleboro, in front of the Shrine Church. (Staff photo by Mike George) |
Good Shepherd – Good News
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| Fr. Roman Gromala ministered from March 1956 to Dec 1957 |
La Salette at World Youth Day
Pope Benedict greets the thousands of youth in Madrid at World Youth Day 2011Youth by the Thousands