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The 2023 Cardinal’s Appeal has begun!

“Blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” (Psalm 2)

In our Archdiocese, 2.8 million Catholics and countless of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters take refuge in the Lord through His Church and her ministries. The Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal exists to fund the expansive efforts of our Archdiocese to provide every person with an encounter with Jesus and a confidence that He, present in every church in the most Holy Eucharist, is our refuge.

The funds that we give to this year’s Appeal will be used to address the following needs of the archdiocese:

• $9MM Assistance for Financially Vulnerable Parishes
• $5MM Charitable Outreach and Pastoral Support
• $4MM Evangelization, Communications, and Catholic Education
• $1MM Formation of New Parish Priests
• $2MM Care for Retired Priests

For more information about what your contribution is used for click here.

DONATE NOW:

If you would like to make a contribution to this year’s appeal click HERE.

Please remember to select “Direct my gift to” and select “St. Francis of Assisi, New York” from the drop-down menu.  This does not mean that St. Francis will receive these funds, it just means that the Archdiocese knows that your donation came from our community.

Here is a message from Cardinal Dolan for this year’s appeal:

ENGLISH:

SPANISH:

On Friday, February 17, 2023, forty five members of our St. Francis of Assisi family took a trip to the Mt. Alvernia Retreat center in Wappingers Falls, New York, for our annual weekend retreat.  The retreat is a time away dedicated to prayer, reflection, sharing of our faith, and fun.

Our days began and ended in prayer inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours and were filled with reflections where we were all together and time in small groups where people were able to share what our faith means in their daily life.  On Saturday there was an extended free time for quiet reflection, or a group walk around the beautiful grounds of the retreat center, or even a walk to tshe nearby Tibetan Buddhist temple.

Fr. Steve Patti, OFM, offered 4 major reflections about the spiritual life and our journey with God inspired by episodes from the life of St. Francis of Assisi.  This gave everyone a chance to learn more about our beloved patron saint and the joys and struggles he had in his own life.  Fr. Steve invited the groups to reflect on how Francis’ experiences can inspire our dedication to Christ and the Gospel today.

The retreat ended Sunday with Mass and we returned to New York renewed, refreshed and with the bonds of friendship and community strengthened.

Next year’s retreat will be January 12-14, 2024.  Save the date!

Here are some highlights of the weekend.  Thank you to Keith Kemp and Jenn Wiler for the photographs.

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The Church of St. Francis of Assisi has long dedicated itself to ongoing faith formation of Adults through our Adult Education ministry.

Our Spring 2023 courses are now listed online and open for registration at: www.stfrancisnyc.org/courses/.

Subjects range from theology, biblical studies, and liturgy to literature and poetry.  Here are the titles of the courses for this upcoming semester:

• • • Affirming the Light: The Poetry of Joy Harjo
    • Catholicism 101: The Gospel of St. Matthew
    • The Celtic Bards
    • A Deeper Look at Catherine of Siena: Her Dialogue, Prayers, Spirituality, and Life
    • Elizabeth of the Trinity: Her Life, Letters, and Spirituality
    • Franciscan Short Stories: , a 5-week series on the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi
    • Great Music Inspired by the Old Testament
    • “I Shall Pour Out Water upon the Parched Land” (Isa 44:3): Second Isaiah as Story and Promise.
    • A Literary Walk through Dublin
    • Reconsiderations: Three Novels of the Bronte Sisters
    • The Queens of Hearts:  Women Saints Who Were Queens Throughout Church History

While we try to keep our registration fees low (generally about $10 per hour of instruction) we also understand that for some this can be a burden.  We do not want anyone who wants to attend a class to be prohibited by economic hardship.  Please contact Joseph Nuzzi, Director of Adult Education and Evangelization for information on scholarships:  [email protected] or 212-736-8500 x365.

Dear Community and Friends of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi,

May the Lord give you peace.

Ash Wednesday saw hundreds of people streaming through the church. Some came for ashes, some for Confession, some for mass, and many for a time of prayer. We are blessed to be able to welcome everyone who comes. Our many ministers were present to assist all who came.

Thank you to the ministers and the faithful folks who came to be with us for even a few moments of the day. Many told stories of their long association with St. Francis and spoke of parents and grandparents who brought them here.

We go from the desert with Jesus to the mountaintop. We go from fasting to feasting. We experience the awesomeness of God’s glory reflected in Jesus with the disciples. Sometimes life is like that, filled with highs and lows. What is consistent in the Gospel is the love of God. Jesus in his baptism, is named son, beloved, and favored. His responses to temptation in the desert are responses born of the reality of that love. His transfiguration on the mountaintop reveals God’s love for him. That the disciples witness this is a sharing in the grace of God. With Jesus, we are named beloved of God, we are in a familial relationship with God, and by God’s grace, we are favored by God. May our journey, with all its ups and downs, radiate the gift of God already present among us.

This weekend the Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal has made pens and commitment forms available for us. I know I just asked you to increase what you give each week, and I am grateful to everyone who responded. Some folks have made a single donation, and others are increasing what they give weekly. I do not like to ask but feel that I must ask you to consider both our needs and the needs of the Archdiocese of New York. The forms for the CASA will be ready for you to make your commitment before you leave, or you may take them home to add to the ones you got in the mail. I thank you for your generosity and your constant prayers.

Blessings and peace,

Fr. Tom, ofm

Dear Community and Friends of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi,

May the Lord give you peace.

We have begun our journey and are blessed to make this journey together. Please join us for Mass, soup and scripture, reconciliation, time of reflection with James Martin, SJ, and quiet prayer time in the lower church. Your presence is a gift for everyone.

As I noted last week, I see Lent, not as an isolated time but as a segment of the transformative experience we are offered each year. We begin with Lent preparing ourselves for the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection of the Lord. We celebrate our Easter liberation through the days leading to Pentecost. Ideally, this is a time to begin again, to deepen our reception of God’s love for us and for all. For too long, Lent has been presented as a time of penance. We have been told to reflect on our sinfulness. We give up what we enjoy making up for our failures in discipleship. I seriously doubt that God wants us to act like children who fear discipline. The fasting God seeks is the liberating of all who are bound, the welcoming of the stranger, and the binding of the wounds of all who have been broken under the slavery of oppression/abuse. It is time to move from focusing on ourselves to the vision of God’s love for us and all. This shift calls us to ministry, service simply because it is natural to us. Realizing how greatly we are loved and the call to maturity in grace, we give ourselves generously in response to the needs that we see all around us. Christ has liberated us from the weight of sin. He has called us to live by the Word that comes from the mouth of God. He chides us not to put God to the test (God’s love will always win.). He calls us to awe and wonder at the goodness of God, who is compassion.

The first phase of our 2023 journey has begun. Can we make lifetime changes incrementally, responding to the communion we already enjoy with God? Let us take time to listen, watch, and pray. We are blessed as a Franciscan community of grace. St. Francis’ life was shaped by his encounters with the Lord in people with leprosy, the friars, and his time among the Muslim community and in times of prayer. He learned to surrender to love. What God did for the poor man of Assisi; God does for us.

Sadly, our bulletin publishing company will no longer be able to publish any bulletins. They are one more business that did not survive the pandemic. We are looking to find another publisher. However, other companies are inundated with the many parishes affected by this loss.

Next week we will have cards and pens available for the Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal. We have $10,000.00 of the $73,000.00 requested of us.

As always, I thank you for your generosity and your presence.

-Fr. Tom, ofm