Welcome Paul Boisvert, OFS

In place of our regular October meeting, we were happy to celebrate the solemn profession of Paul Boisvert into the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS).  Following a suggestion we received at our recent pastoral visitation, we celebrated Paul's profession during a regular weekend Mass at our home parish Holy Family of Nazareth.  Since the Mass is the "source and summit of the Christian life (CCC 1324), it is entirely appropriate for the profession to be at a Mass, and by having it a regular weekend Mass, others in the faith community of the parish were able to share it with us.  Usually, we are able to get a Franciscan priest to say the Mass, but Fr. Sam was unavailable.  Nonetheless, our own Fr. Jose was happy to conduct a moving and joyful ceremony. 

Our fraternity was also to perform various ministries at the Mass:  Horace was the lector, Deacon Bill assisted (as deacon), and Jan filled a role as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist.  For the profession itself, Paul was joined at the foot of the altar by our Minister and Formation Director.  Most of the Rite of Profession took place after communion, but still, almost all the regular parishioners stayed to witness the ceremony.

Paul invited friends and family to celebrate with him, and after Mass, we moved downstairs to a fraternity pot luck.  As God provides, there was food enough for all.

Beautiful cake.

Very nice crowd.

Delicious food with leftovers.

Blessing of the Animals

This year's Blessing of the Animals occurred after the Feast of St. Francis.  As usual, we began by leading a couple verses of All Creatures of Our God and King out in front of the church main entrance.  Fr. Jose enthusiastically greet pets and owners and then went around to each animal to bestow an individual blessing.  Our fraternity manned a table with people and pet treats including munchkins and apple cider.  It was wonderful that several of our fraternity members were there as well.  With the beautiful early fall afternoon, all seemed to enjoy the experience.

We're singing!

Pets get blessed while we man the goodies table.

Pets and people lined up for individual blessings.

Our fraternity in attendance.

There's plenty of room on the grass, too, before getting a chance to head into the church.

Everybody gets a treat. 

The felines kept out of harms' way (i.e., the dogs).

It's nice to make our presence known o the parish.