News

2008 Archive

December 15, 2008
Father Ben Pope, Teacher and Missionary, Dies

In the late evening of 07 December, Capuchin Father Benedict Pope passed away. Born in Cumberland, MD, in 1929, to Claude and Regina Pope, Father Ben became a friar in 1948 and was ordained in 1954. For a number of years he taught science and math at St. Joseph Military Academy in Hays, KS. In 1968 he was assigned to teach in Papua New Guinea, where he remained for seven years. He returned to the US in 1975 and ministered in various parishes in Kansas. Later he became a hospital chaplain in western Pennsylvania. Father Ben’s inquisitive nature led him to a great interest in natural and mechanical sciences.

November 2, 2008
Gentle Friar and Beloved Chaplain Dies

Father Blaise Fusco, OFM Cap, was a wonderful preacher who spoke with sincerity about God’s tremendous love for us, and he ministered to the sick and dying with that same care and compassion that he discovered in his relationship with God. That’s the heart of a real friar. This compassionate friar passed away on All Souls Day, 02 November 2008, at the age of 92.

October 10, 2008
19 Friars Celebrate Anniversaries

On Friday, October 10, 2008, friars, families and friends gathered at St. Augustine Church in Pittsburgh, PA, to celebrate nearly 1,000 years of religious life and priestly ministry.  Nineteen friars observed their jubilees during the past year, some as few as twenty-five and for others as many as sixty years.

Father DePaul Ripko made his first profession as a friar in 1948 in Cumberland, MD, the same year that Fathers Otmar Gallagher and DeSales Young were ordained to the priesthood in Washington, DC.

Ten years later, in 1958, in Annapolis, MD, at St. Conrad Friary four friars made their first profession - Fathers Victor Kriley, Lester Knoll, Ed Laurent and Robert E. McCreary - and four were ordained - Fathers Gervase Degenhardt, Marvin Justi, Ben Madden and Mario Mastrangelo -  in Salina, KS, and in Washington, DC.

Fathers John Bednarik, Jerome Dunn, William Fey, and Allan Wasiecko were ordained in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1968.

Fifteen years later Fathers Dennis Klemash and Jorge Macías professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as Capuchin friars in Annapolis, MD.  In Puerto Rico and during the same year, Fathers Edward Maldonado and Jose Cruz were ordained to the priesthood.

Each jubilee is an opportunity to thank our good and gracious God for the gift of our vocations and the lives and works of those who respond generously to God’s call to be Capuchin friars and priests.

September 15, 2008
Friars Host Jubilee Scholars

For the past ten years or so, the Province of St. Augustine has invited friars from around the world to come to the United States for advanced studies. This year a friar from Tanzania and a friar from India have accepted the invitation. Father Matthew Mulangacherryil of the Kerala Province in India is living at Padre Pio Friary in Philadelphia and attending Neumann College in Chester, PA. He is studying pastoral counseling. In Washington, DC, Father Wolfgang Pisa, from the Province of Tanzania, is studying theology at Catholic University. Father Wolfgang is living with the friars at Capuchin College.

August 3, 2008
Seven Invested as Capuchin Novices

After a year of postulancy, seven young men began the Capuchin novitiate for the Province of St. Augustine in July of last year. The year of intense prayer, heightened fraternal challenges and in-depth study of the Capuchin Franciscan tradition, leads to the profession of first vows. Brothers Manuel Aviles, Thomas Choi, Jared Denman, Michael Meza, Mark Monahan,  Juan Antonio Ortiz, and Stephen Shin are midway through the novitiate, and, God willing, will make their temporary vows this coming July.

August 2, 2008
Eight Men Profess First Vows

On the Feast of the Portiuncula, young men from five states made their first vows as Capuchin friars for the Province of St. Augustine. Father John Pavlik received the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience from Brothers Albert Carver, Richard Droddy, Florian Gabor, Chuck Mocsiran, Jonathan Ulrick, Brian Bradshaw, Matthew Hindelang and Rob Battalini in the chapel of the Divine Providence Sisters in Allison Park, PA. The eight newly-professed friars made their novitiate in Burlington, Wisconsin, and are now in Washington, DC, at Capuchin College. At this next step of their formation as Capuchin friars they continue to deepen their life of prayer, pursue educational goals and engage in various ministries.

July 29, 2008
Sydneys World Youth Day Attracts Friars

Sydney, Australia, was the site of World Youth Day 2008, and it was the destination of nearly a dozen friars from the Capuchin Province of St. Augustine. They joined nearly a half million other WYD pilgrims to study, pray and rejoice in our Catholic faith. The religiously skeptical city of Sydney was converted to joyfully embracing the pilgrims, and in particular the friars who walked in their habits on the streets of Australia’s beautiful east coast city. Of course, the friars were able to have Mass with the Pope, but for the week leading up to the last festivities, friars participated in workshops, prayer events and vocational witnessing. The Capuchins of Australia could not have been more hospitable to the friars from around the world.