Dear Friends, Family and Benefactors,

Today, while the Friars attended a meeting for their congregation in their Newark Friary, we had the opportunity to see some of New York City.

We started our day with an early breakfast and were out the door by 6:45 am. We walked to a subway station and traveled to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for their 8:00 am Mass. The Cathedral was beautiful. The priest told us in the homily that we are the luckiest people in the world because we got to receive Christ in the Eucharist. After looking around a bit we did our Liturgy of the Hours in the back of the Cathedral.

Colin and Fr Dye

From there, we headed to Times Square. We were complete tourist but enjoyed every moment of it. Next, was the World Trade Center Memorial.  It is hard to describe being there. We were in awe, sad, inspired, and humbled. Certainly, we knew we were on hallowed grounds, knowing that so many people died right where we stood. We offered a decade of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and prayed the Angelus there.

The group

Meghan, Patti, Paul and John in Times Square

Paul and Deacon Jim at the World Trade Center Memorial

The group at the World Trade Center Memorial

Sarah and Jim looking at the names of those who perished on 9/11

We walked to the Staten Island Ferry and took the ferry back and forth seeing the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of Manhattan. The Shrine of St Elizabeth Ann Seton is right next to the Ferry so we stop to make a visit there. We finished our visit to the City with a late lunch of real New York pizza. For many of us, this was the first time in New York City. We had a blast.

Olivia, Walker and John in front of the Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton 

who was born in New York City

The World Trade Center Memorial

Once we got back to St. Crispin Friary, we had a holy hour, dinner and then to work at the two shelters. Patti and Sarah went to Padre Pio shelter to help serve dinner and play games with the men, while John and Walker went to St. Anthony’s shelter. The men had a “free night” there so our team entertained them with a skit. More on that later.

One thing striking to us is that these shelters that the Friars run are completely managed by volunteers and donations. The guests tell us that these shelters are really “upscale”. The Friars regard each man with dignity, love, and respect and maybe for the first time in a long time they receive this kind of treatment. We wish you could experience a day here. Many of the preconceived ideas of homeless are shattered once meeting the guys. The volunteers are amazing. Men and women come from all over the area to give of themselves and do so with great joy. It is so contagious to be around the Friars and the volunteers.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

The 2012 Mary Our Queen Mission Team

Our day with the Franciscan Sisters

Dear family, friends and benefactors,

Yesterday a few of us had a unique opportunity…we attended morning Mass with some of the novitiates of the Community of Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal.  After Mass we ate breakfast with them and then visited a second convent, where the postulants are living their first years of religious life. 

In addition to praying and visiting with the sisters, we helped them with all sorts of little tasks in their mission of serving the poor: sorting food-donation bags for the one hundred and fifty poor families who will likely knock on their door, begging for food this week.  Pre-cooking and freezing food for a week-long retreat that they will be attending, with other sisters in the area.  Weeding, planting and cutting back trees in their yard, and finally, joining the “Rosary Club” at a neighboring Jewish-owned Nursing Home.

 We give thanks to God for having had the opportunity to serve alongside such joyful and simple women whose lives are totally consecrated to Jesus.  Their invitation to pray at the beginning of each activity was a reminder to us of how much more our lives could become a prayer of thanksgiving and self-offering to Our Father.  We thank each of you for making this mission possible for us, and we commit to continue praying for you and your intentions. 

God bless you.

Affectionately yours in Christ,

Mary Our Queen Mission Team 2012

Check out franciscansisterscfr.com if you’d like more information about the sisters!  

Tuesday

Dear Friends, Family and Benefactors,

We are having an amazing mission trip with lots of different things happening. We of course start our day with prayer and the Mass and then off to work. Today we split the team up. Marcia, Meghan, Lucy, Sarah and Olivia went with Fr. Rich to help with the Franciscan Sisters all day while Fr. Dye, Paul, Colin, John, Walker, Deacon Jim, Reese and Patti stayed behind to help with a number of chores at St Anthony’s shelter. 

If you wanted to know more about the shelter that the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal run, you can go to this site. It is impressive.  http://www.stanthonyshelter.org

Fr Andrew Apostoli, Marcia, Sarah, Olivia, Meghan, and Lucy

Meghan and Sarah helping sort at a food pantry that the Sisters have

Olivia and Sarah

Meghan with a Sister cooking

The group with the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal

Meghan and Lucy went with the Sisters to visit a nursing home

Deacon Jim painting at St. Anthony's shelter

Paul and Walker preparing to paint

John and Colin moving some shelving

John and Fr Dye preparing dinner

Tommy and Cynthia (Tommy was a former guest of St Anthony's) who volunteer each week cooking for the men along with Fr Dye and Reese

We are praying for each of you while we are here and are very grateful that you have made this mission possible through your generosity.

Thank you and God bless.

The Mary Our Queen Mission Team

Dear Friends, Family and Benefactors,

Today we started with praying the Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours with the Friars and then Mass that we concelebrated with Frs. Louis, Conrad, Rich, Herald and Dye. What a blessing to for us.

After breakfast, we had a quiet time to reflect and then Fr. Herald continued during the day with our retreat with the theme of the Role of the Laity. We all agreed that starting the first day with a retreat, was a great way for us to transition from the world and all of our busyness, so that we could slow down and properly prepare our hearts to serve Christ in the poor. Fr. Herald ended the retreat with that the deepest hunger of the human heart is to belong, to be recognized, and to be cherished.

                              Mass this morning with Frs. Conrad, Dye, Rich, Herald, Louis

Breakfast at St Anthony 

A shot of  St Adalbert and the Friary to the left

Our retreat ended with dinner tonight and we started our work. Deacon Jim, Paul and Patti went to St. Anthony’s to help serve the dinner to the men as well as to sit and talk with them. Afterwards they attended a 12 Step meeting with the men. They said that it was humbling to be with the men as they shared from their hearts their own struggles and difficulties from their lives. Fr. Dye and John went to Padre Pio shelter and did the same.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue with the mission in serving the poor.

Thank you for all that you have done for us.

The Mary Our Queen Mission Team

Deacon Jim, Paul and John (a weekly volunteer) serving dinner to the men

A view of the church and the block

          The Mary Our Queen Mission 2012 Team

Dear Friends, Family and Benefactors,

This year, we have 13 missionaries who responded to the call to come on Mary Our Queen’s eight mission trip. We will be working in the Bronx with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (known as the CFR’s).

We arrived safely at LaGuardia late this morning. Fr. Herald and Br. Ignatius picked us up in two vans and  we made our way across to the Bronx to the complex where we will live and work for the next week. The complex consists of St Adalbert’s school and church that closed down 25 years ago. The school has been renovated to include a men’s shelter, St Padre Pio, a medical clinic, a gym, and the dorms where we are staying. The old rectory is St Crispin Friary and the former convent is another Friary, Our Lady of the Angels. Lastly, the complex includes a six story building which houses St. Anthony’s men’s shelter. In between the buildings, the Friars have transformed the area into beautiful gardens and fish ponds with a water fall creating a serene environment. This is the first house of the CRF’s.



St Adalbert School that  has been converted

 
           One of the the gardens in the compound



    Another garden with a statue of St Anthony of Padua

This afternoon we had introductions and orientation to our week sitting in the garden and then started with a retreat given by Fr. Herald. Fr. Herald spoke to us about the urgency of our mission as Christians. He used the parable of the laborers in the vineyard and how God calls us in a number of ways and in His time.  He told us that we can’t remain idle especially in today’s culture of indifference and irresponsibility. We each have a role to play as individuals to help evangelize the world.



John, Colin and Walker relaxing before the retreat

We had a holy hour from five to six and then dinner. Tonight we went to Mass with the men of St. Anthony’s shelter. We are tired and ready to have a good night of sleep after leaving Mary Our Queen this morning at 5:45 am.

We all feel so blessed to be here. Thank you for your support to make this happen for us. Please keep us in your prayers as we are praying for all of you.

God bless,

The Mary Our Queen 2012 Mission Team

Mission Trip 2012

To our friends, families and benefactors, Because of the increase in crime in Honduras recently, Mary Our Queen has decided that we are not going to go to Honduras this summer for our annual mission trip. Instead, Mary Our Queen missionaries are going to New York City to work with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal at a men's shelter, St Anthony's, that they run. We are going Sunday, June 17 -24. We have a few spots open if anyone, parishioner or not, would like to join us. We will be doing some maintenance projects at the shelter among other things. It certainly will be different than Honduras but still amazing. If you want to come, please contact Patti Di Rito at pgdirito@gmail.com for more information. Blessings!

Honduras 2012

Mary Our Queen has set the dates to return to Comayagua, Honduars to assist the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal for Saturday, June 16 to Sunday, June 24, 2012. We have spaces for 40 missionaries. More information to come.