My Ipod woke me up at 6:15. I showered and headed over to St. Peter’s Basilica for mass. My friend Dave had my ticket for the liturgy. I joined him and some Mercy Sisters from Alma, MI. 

At this mass, the Holy Father presented the pallium to archbishops as a sign of unity. Pope Benedict was [...]

My flight was uneventful and long. I was not able to sleep as well as I would have liked. I misread my ticket. I thought I was landing at 8:30. With this pieace of false information, I made plans to go on the Scavi Tour at the Vatican with a seminarian friend of mine. However, [...]

I leave in a couple hours to Rome and Assisi to make my solemn vow retreat. Please pray for me and the 4 friars as we get ready to make our life long commitment to God and the order and know of my prayers from some of the holiest places in the Catholic church and [...]

We finished assembly with the vast majority of friars from both provinces (almost 87%) in favor of a merger between the 2 east coast American provinces to form one new entity! We were excited and inspired by how God was working among us. As one of the younger friars, I am so excited about this [...]

Greetings from Hunt Valley, MD!
Almost 200 friars from the East Coast have been meeting and pray for last day+. We have been discussing, discussing and more discussing on our Franciscan charism, ministry and future. Last night, the 119th successor of St. Francis, friar Marco Tasca. Friar Marco shared his vision, prayer and challenge for us. [...]

I have been traveling back in forth between Baltimore and Washington DC. I moved most of my stuff back to DC to the friary where I will return to next year. In DC, I helped plan our liturgy and music for our solemn profession in August. I am getting very excited about that!
Before profession, [...]

Since I was in Massachusetts for the funeral I got permission to visit home for a couple days. I was able to meet up with a couple buddies, attend the welcome home party for a friend who served in Iraq and I got to spend Father’s Day with my own father and my family. What [...]

I was very glad that I made the drive up to MA to attend the funeral of one of the friar’s mothers. I walked into the funeral home and I could tell he was moved that I made the drive to be with him and his family. There was a fantastic turnout of more than [...]

Today was the feast day of the great Francsican Doctor and atron saint of lost car keys: St. Anthony of Padua. St. Anthony is the patron saint of my province and we had a nice evening prayer and dnner alt evening and this morning we celebrated his memory at mass.
After prayers I was on [...]

I finished my year last Friday. Exams were graded, marks were submitted (everyone passed YAY!!!) and we had our final faculty meeting. I was dreading this day, not because it was a faculty meeting, but it was a definitive end. We had a number of lasts: last lunch duty, last FYM meeting, last class, last [...]