We Would Love
to Keep in Touch!
A New Director
Beginning in January, 2011 the La Salette Mission Center has a new Executive director, Fr. Thomas Vellappallil, MS.
He was born in the town of Anichad, in the southern part of the state of Kerala, India on June 10, 1963, the 4th of 9 children. His parents, who are still living, belong to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Rite and baby Thomas was baptized into the Church in that rite.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was part of the family's life. Thomas' love for Mary grew stronger during his education at the local Catholic school which he attended through high school. This led him to enter the seminary run by the Society of the Missionaries of St. Thomas where, beginning in 1983, he started studying philosophy.
Becoming aware of Thomas' devotion to Mary, his spiritual director, a priest who had a great devotion to Mary and who had been to Shrine of La Salette in France, recommended that young Thomas consult with Fr. Efren Thomas, a La Salette Missionary who had come from the Philippines to speak about La Salette and to talk about vocational discernment to a La Salette way of life.
An Email from Haiti
Fr. Bernie Baris, M.S., received this email on January 12, 2011, the anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, from Father Tom Moore who works in Port-au-Prince. Fr. Tom also preached the Lenten Retreat at Fr. Bernie’s Parish of Our Lady of the Cape in Brewster, MA, last year. Fr. Bernie will be going to Haiti in February.
The rubble of a church remains
Hi, Everyone,
I just returned from an open air Mass on the grounds around the ruins of the former Cathedral. It was very moving with thousands and thousands of folks, hundreds of priest concelebrants and lots of bishops from here and from other countries. A Cardinal from Rome representing the Pope presided and gave a very powerful homily.
Sacred Landscapes
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| Map at beginning of Trail |
Across Massachusetts religious groups are permanently saving natural lands in their ownership with the assistance of conservation groups. Mass Audubon's Attleboro Springs Wildlife Sanctuary at La Salette is one of the success stories in the progressive statewide initiative. This exquisite and ecologically diverse new sanctuary in the city of Attleboro will formally open this fall.
Protecting their land was a perfect fit for the priests at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. “Our community began on top of an alpine mountains in the French Alps,” says Father Ron Gagné, MS, “so you can see why we have consistently established our ministry close to nature. We have founded parishes and shrines where people can pray, reflect, and find reconciliation with themselves, with each other, and with God.” The La Salette order's mission of reconciliation now extends to reuniting humanity with nature.
“Stewardship of all life encompasses people, animals, and the earth,” says Father Gagné. “Embracing this world view, we want to draw people to the beauty of our own
Technology and the Gospel
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| Pope Benedict XVI welcomes some children |
As Director of Communications for the North American Province of the La Salette Missionaries, I am constantly amazed at the speed and growth of technology. When I volunteered about five years ago to be involved in communications, I was initially a bit overwhelmed – a feeling common for many baby boomers. Technology is progressing by leaps and bounds and the speed of needed change seems to be increasing, even in the area of announcing the gospel message.
The Pope, the Gospel and New Technologies
Notably the Vatican has gotten on the bandwagon of technology communication, launching a YouTube channel with videos featuring Pope Benedict, releasing Facebook and iPhone apps to spread the Church’s message. Recently the Pope spoke specifically to priests, encouraging them to use the modern means of communication to share Christ’s message:
“The spread of multimedia communications and its rich ‘menu of options’ might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different ‘voices’ provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”
They Shine at the Shrine
ATTLEBORO – It's as much a Thanksgiving tradition as turkey and football games and once again thousands turned out Thursday night for the illumination of the lights at La Salette Shrine. The 57th annual Festival of Lights runs through Jan. 2 on the spreading shrine site off Park Street (Route 118), but for many, the opening night is the opportune time to take the 450,000 lights and holiday spirit in.
More than 250,000 visitors are again expected from all over for what is billed as one of the largest holiday light displays on the East Coast.
The Last Time I Visited Haiti
About our La Salette parish: Bayonnais, Haiti, is about 20 miles East of the city of Gonaives in the state of Artibonite, Haiti's third most populous city, Gonaives (124 miles north of Port-au-Prince). The Bayonnais Valley in Haiti is a remote mountain valley in the North of Haiti with little to no infrastructure or access to services of any kind. For nearly two centuries, subsistence farming has characterized the livelihood of 80,000 people in rural Bayonnais, Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. This is not uncommon. Following colonial independence in 1804, former slaves exercised newfound freedom by cultivating their own land in the countryside.
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| Fr Evariste |
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| Fr Herve |
I had thought of entitling this article, “How I spent my Thanksgiving Vacation,” except it really wasn’t a vacation. And I feared losing those readers who could care less about my personal time. So, “The Last Time I Visited Haiti,” will have to do. Although this is longer than my average letter, I am hoping you’ll be interested enough to read something of the country and situation in which our missionaries are working.
Fr. Jeannot, the Provincial of Madagascar, had to be in the States for a meeting of the General Council, and so he and I decided a joint visit to Haiti would be in order. After all, we are partners in this mission endeavor where there are now two Malagasy La Salettes with a parish entrusted to their care – about which I’ll write more later. We decided to brave threat of earthquake, cyclone and cholera – all of which have struck Haiti in the past year – to encourage our brothers missioned there. Moreover, I wanted to understand what they have to deal with so that I can communicate it to you, as well as to those benefactors who support our mission endeavors.
Shrine Honors Bro. André
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| Official Picture of Bro. André Bissette, a brother of the Sacred Heart |
When we think of saints for our time, perhaps we think of Mother Teresa of Calcutta who spent her life in far-off India or some other saints of ages past. Yet we have a saint from our times who worked and served locally for many years. His name is the recently canonized Brother André Bissette, a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. The Attleboro Shrine has gathered information and materials for a display honoring his life and ministry.
His New England Connections
In his lifetime he has visited Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Central Falls, RI; Woonsockett, RI; he worked for a year in Fall River, MA; he visited friends and family members in New Bedford, Holyoke and Springfield, MA; he has distant cousins in Providence, RI;
From these connections to our own area, a great devotion to him has arisen. In fact, Therese Davignon, who lives at Hope Gardens, next to our Attleboro Shrine, had an aunt named Doredd was cured of lameness at the age of twenty-four.
Attleboro Launches Annual Appeal
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| Tom McKenna, Business Manager with Bro. Bob Russell, Development Director |
With much excitement, La Salette in Attleboro proudly launched its 2011 La Salette Annual Appeal on Nov. 11, 2010. A group of La Salettes, along with supporters and employees, applauded this first Annual Appeal to benefit the Shrine and Retreat Center and their many ministries.
For over nearly sixty years the La Salette Missionaries have been ministering in the Attleboro area and providing extensive services for the New England area and have welcomed pilgrims from all 50 states and many foreign countries.
As Our Lady of La Salette requested at the conclusion of her apparition, the La Salettes and all of us are to make her message known to all her people. It is truly remarkable how these missionaries have served the surrounding Catholic communities. For example, during this past year the Shrine and Retreat Center Ministries have offered the following:
A Few Good Men
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| Our eight Attendees for the October “Come and See’ Weekend” in Attleboro with Fr. John A. Welch (back row, center), with other La Salette priests, a brother, three La Salette seminarians and one living with the La Salettes in Attleboro. |
In this time in the Catholic Church’s history, it is clear for the Catholics in the United States that we are experiencing a crisis in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. From the statistics of the 1950s versus our numbers today, we realize that something must be done.
Yet “there is hope on the horizon” says Fr. John A. Welch, M.S., Vocation Director for the La Salette Missionaries in North America. He frequently says, “Like the Military Services, we also need a few good men — young men who have heard the call of God and need our encouragement to follow that call, perhaps as brothers or priests in our community.”
Fr. John recently sponsored a “Come and See Weekend” at the La Salette Retreat Center in Attleboro, MA for some young men who are discerning their call to La Salette religious life. They have backgrounds in the wide-ranging fields of accounting, criminal justice, mortician, youth ministry, golf professional and several students. They range in age from 16 to 45 years of age.
Reconciliation Project
Editor’s Note: Fr. George Brennan ministered as a La Salette Missionary for a number of years before he was recently incardinated into the Diocese of Albany. His reconciliation ministry continues in his work with Catholic Charities and his leadership in the Albany Diocese’s Task Force on Evangelization.
Reconciliation is the key to right relationships and healing emotional wounds. Thus, the Albany Diocese’s evangelization initiative, “Amazing God,” is launching the “Reconciliation Project,” asking people to share personal stories that demonstrate the power of God’s healing grace.
“For us to understand what reconciliation with God is all about, we have to pay attention to how people go about reconciling with one another,” said Rev. George Brennan, a member of the Diocese’s task force on evangelization.
During Lent 2011, storytellers from the Reconciliation Project will speak at parishes and schools about their efforts to forgive, reconcile and advocate. The team is looking for people willing to share personal efforts at working to restore right relationships.