Around the Provinces: Confrere News and Updates

Fr. Jim Swift, CM		Fr. Charles Prost, CM		Fr. Larry Asma, CM		Fr. Joe Geders, CM		Fr. Perry Henry , CM

Midwest Province

St. Mary’s of the Barrens, Perryville

In January, Father Jim Swift, CM, installed Father Charles Prost, CM, as the new Superior at St. Mary’s of the Barrens. Fr. Prost succeeds a long line of Superiors at the Barrens, the oldest house in our province.

Recent visitors to the Barrens included Father Rich O’Brien, CM, who came to take advantage of our health care facility while recuperating from a serious illness. Other visitors included Fathers Don Ours and Chas Shelby, CM. Confreres of the house recently welcomed Father Henry Piacitelli, CM, who was transferred to the Barrens shortly after Christmas.

Lazarist Residence, St. Louis

Father Larry Asma, CM, has returned from his sabbatical, the last stage of which took place at the Sangre de Cristo Center just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. On the mend from knee replacement surgery is Father Ray Van Dorpe, CM. Recent visitors included Fathers Ron Ramson, Tom Croak and Paul Sisul, CM. Another recent visitor had to lengthen his stay unexpectedly: Brother Jim Steinbach, CM, from St. Joseph Church in New Orleans, broke his leg while ice skating in Forest Park. He’ll be at the Lazarist Residence until he’s fit to return to Louisiana.

Provincial Office

Father Jim Swift, CM, recently spent 10 days on a trip to Rome, where he participated in a workshop on dealing with confreres in difficult circumstances. While in the Eternal City, he took the opportunity to visit our priest-students who are working on graduate degrees at various pontifical universities: Fathers Gary Mueller, Angelus Njagi and Derek Swanson, CM.

DePaul House, Denver

Father Paul Golden, CM, is recuperating quite well from his prostate cancer surgery. He seems to be pleased with his post-surgery status.

In late January, a number of confreres from the Colorado Region gathered in Denver to
celebrate our Foundation Day. The confreres at the DePaul House hosted them for prayer and dinner out. It was a fun evening, and the weather cooperated somewhat. It was nice to
see Father Joe Geders, CM, at our house for meetings, even though the drive from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is about eight hours...when there is no snow.

Southern Province

Comments from Provincial Superior
Father Dan Borlik, CM:

The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us always!

How can devastation look…well, so green, so alive? During a tour of the neighborhoods most affected by Katrina in 2005, yet on a beautifully clear, bright day with signs of spring everywhere, the five of us (invited by Father Perry Henry, CM, to a “Come and See” experience of New Orleans) noted how we felt caught between sad despair and irrepressible hope.

Later that day, while celebrating Congregation of the Mission Foundation Day with the New Orleans confreres, Fathers Tom McKenna and Jim Swift, CM, and various Vincentian Family members and women religious leaders, I was struck how this poor city today may accurately imitate the darker chapters of our own human stories—Post Katrina recovery continues to be very, very slow and frustrating. Everyone involved will remark on their “progress” more as a crawl through the muck of post-traumatic depression, traditional suspicion of change, an ever-changing and mysterious bureaucracy, and woefully inadequate public services.

Nevertheless, genuine surprise bubbles up as residents trickling back are joined by volunteers and those in religious life, discovering reasons and ways to remain, to re-build, to hope. Very soon, in fact this spring, the new “Rebuild Center” will be constructed at the back of the St. Joseph Church parking lot. This is truly a collaborative Vincentian effort with the Presentation Sisters, the Jesuits, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Daughters of Charity, Government agencies such as FEMA, and the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Such a broad partnership has no precedent in New Orleans and, indeed, may show what Religious Life could look like in the future. If so, thanks be to God!

Our men in New Orleans – Fathers Perry Henry, Joseph Thottamkara, Anthony Nettickatt, Bob Lamy, George Weber, and Lou Arceneaux, CM, and Brother Jim Steinbach, CM – remain enthusiastic about their work and supportive of each other despite hardships suffered since the great Katrina storm and flood. We are proud of them and I thank them publicly! By all accounts our presence in New Orleans at this time and our willingness to continue as Vincentian missioners there has been a grace. This kind of grace not only challenges us to respond effectively in a crisis but provides us with a unique opportunity to redefine our charism in a place that has been home for Vincentians for over 150 years.