Begin Mission of Passion

Paul Keggington

January 03, 2009

img_5042.jpgJanuary 3 is the third day on the Gregorian calendar. It is also the third day that Father Anthony Cirignani, OFM, is serving as the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity chaplain. A Franciscan Friar of the Assumption Province, Father Tony is presently serving the Franciscan Sisters while living in fraternity  in a house recently established in Manitowoc, WI. A friar is “wherever people need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and to experience God in their lives”. A mission of passion.

101_0141.JPGJanuary 3 also marks the first ordination by Bishop David Ricken in Wisconsin’s Green Bay Diocese. The newly ordained, Father Jason Blahnik, is a relative of one of the Franciscan Sisters, Sister Christine Stoller, OSF.  And Father Jason will have his first Mass of Thanksgiving at the Sister Bay site of Stella Maris Parish, Door County, WI on Sunday. See Compass News slideshow. Other photos on Flicker.

Father Jason’s first days following diaconate ordination were ministering at St. Raphael Parish, Oshkosh, WI where Sister Anne Marie Lom, OSF, is a spiritual director and parish staff member. And where Sister Pamela Biehl, OSF, is a parish director of nearby St. Mary Parish in Winneconni and Omro, WI. (Find (pre-priesthood) Father Jason in this  podcast. View his ordination podcast compliments of St. Raphael Parish.) Integrating the life of prayer and service is a mission of passion for a committed diocesan priest.

This  third of January the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity also celebrated the Mass of Resurrection for Sister Eligius Hoolihan, OSF, who was a consecrated religious woman for eighty-four years and shared her art of teaching music until she was 89 years old. She lived to be one hundred and two years old. A mission of passion.

Do you have any stories of  individuals who live life with a mission of passion? Or helpful hints on how to live with deep-down, burning charity?

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