Father Joseph Di Mauro, SA Presently, I am doing pastoral ministry and living at Graymoor, Garrison, NY. Pastoral ministry gives me the ability to be available for confession, spiritual direction, celebrating the Sacraments in various convents in the area, and conducting Days of Renewal and retreats and giving various talks and seminars. I have had this assignment for about six years. I was born in Boston, MA into a loving, warm Italian American family. My earliest education was in the public schools until the eighth grade when I decided I wanted to transfer to a Catholic High School.

After graduating, I entered the Community on July 1, 1957. I made my First Vows on July 26, 1960 and Final Vows on July 26, 1965. I was ordained on September 2, 1978.

I have a double B.A. from Fordham University, and an M.A. from Catholic University of America. I earned an honors M.A. degree in Ecumenical Theology and Spirituality from The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. My graduate studies were in spirituality and pastoral counseling. I recently celebrated my Golden Jubilee as a Friar of the Atonement.

My prior assignments have been at Graymoor, Garrison, NY; the Novitiate in Rhode Island; our Prep School at Montour Falls, NY; Rome, Italy; London, England; Lumberton, NC and Brockton, MA.

Since I was a young child, I knew that I would become a Franciscan Friar. St. Francis was very much a part of life in my family since there was always a Francis in each Generation. We celebrated his feast day, October 4, as a family festival. I was very much attracted to the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement because of their Franciscan character and ecumenical ministry.

My vision for the future is very much tied into the reality of today. Most people seem to show signs of being lost and not grounded. I firmly believe the Friars of the Atonement have a way to be at-one with God, one's self, and all people. The Atonement of Christ lived out in the Spirit of St. Francis is the foundation for healthy, happy, satisfied living.

I can be reached at: jdimauro@atonementfriars.org.

Brother Charles Kenney, SA I am Bro. Charles Kenney, SA. I am living at Graymoor, Garrison, NY. I am working at St. Christopher' s Inn, which is a homeless shelter and alcohol / drug rehabilitation facility for men. I have been working here for the past ten years. St. Christopher's Inn is important because it gives men an opportunity to turn their lives around and away from addiction. There is a spiritual dimension which St. Christopher's Inn has. I entered the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement in July, 1962. My First Vows were in July, 1965. My Final Vows were in August, 1971.

Over the years I have been assigned to various ministries. I helped to operate a large heating and steam plant here at Graymoor and did Maintenance work at Graymoor. I spent several years in pastoral ministry at St. Anthony's Church in Hereford, Texas. For seven years I worked at New Hope Manor, a drug rehabilitation program. I did nine years in pastoral / social ministry in Jamaica, W.I. before coming to St. Christopher's Inn. I think of myself as being a patient person. The grace and goodness of the Lord has sustained me over these years. The reason I joined the Friars of the Atonement was to be able to experience some kind of missionary ministry which had an ecumenical dimension to it. I hope that the various ecumenical ministries that the Friars are engaged in will continue to grow in the future, and I hope that the Church will grow, especially in places where their are few missionaries. I can be reached at: ckenney@atonementfriars.org.

Father Dan Sylvain, SA My name is Father Dan Sylvain, SA. I am currently assigned to St. Christopher's Inn, a shelter for homeless men, and a treatment facility for the chemically addicted, which are located at Graymoor, Garrison, NY. I have been here since July of 2006, and consider myself very blessed to be working here. St. Christopher's, begun by our founder Father Paul, will celebrate 100 years of operation in 2009. A recent trivia contest held here to raise money for scholarships revealed that more than 145,000 meals were served here in 2006, which is a testament to how many men are ministered to each year.

We refer to the residents as Brothers Christopher, because the name means "Christ Bearer" and I am fortunate to be part of the dedicated and loving staff that welcomes Christ in our midst through all of these men.

I was a latecomer to religious life, entering the community in 1994 at the age of 42. Since a very young age I had felt a call to become a priest and a follower of St. Francis, but I became distracted as a teenager and managed to put it off for many years, keeping myself busy with a lot of different jobs, the longest of which was 15 years in the printing business.

After my novitiate year at Graymoor, I professed First Vows in 1996. Then it was off to Toronto to complete my studies for ordination. I attended the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto from 1996, where I studied Philosophy and Theology. I professed final vows in 1999 and received my Master of Divinity in 2000. I was first assigned to St. Odilia's parish in south central LA, where I was ordained deacon in September 2000 and a priest in May 2001. Appointed as Vocation Director in 2002, I took up residence at our parish in Brooklyn, Our Lady of Victory. I served in this capacity for almost 4 years, after which I was assigned to St. Christopher's.

Because of our unique history, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement are a unique community. I am very blessed to be a member of it. I don't regret waiting so long to join religious life, since I feel very strongly that God led me to this community at the right time for me. I'm very excited about our ministries - the one I am involved in now, which is a powerful ministry for reconciliation, and especially our ministry for the unity of Christians, which has borne much fruit over the years, and which continues to be an important need for our Church and will be for many years to come.

You can contact me at dsylvain@atonementfriars.org.

Brother Savio McNeice, SA Anyone who has visited the Chapel of Our Savior in Brockton, MA in the past two years is very familiar with the smiling face of Bro. Savio as they entered the Bookstore. His welcome is something difficult to forget. He is always ready to listen to others and learn about their lives. However, I doubt if many know much about the life of Bro. Savio. Bro. Savio was born in Pittsfield, Mass. In 1936 and belonged to St. Charles Parish there until he left for Graymoor inn 1958. He made his first vows as a Friar of the Atonement on July 26, 1961.

During the two years he trained as a Religious at the novitiate in Cumberland, RI, he also trained as a chef and most of the first part of his ministry as a Friar of the Atonement was spent preparing meals for friars and guests as well as teaching other friars how to cook. During this part of his ministerial life, Bro. Savio spent 10 years at Graymoor, NY; 5 years at St. Joseph's Novitiate in Saranac Lake, NY; and finally 7 years at the seminary in Washington, D.C.

A big change in ministry came when Bro. Savio was assigned to help the Sisters of the Atonement in downtown Vancouver, B.C. in their ministry with the poor and homeless. He spent 18 years in this ministry and all during that time was able to show his great love for the poor. If ever you want to bring a tear to Bro. Savio's eyes ask him about the cat, "Gussie" whom he lived with in Vancouver.

For the past to and a half years Bro. Savio has been the one-man welcoming committee for the Chapel at the Westgate Mall. In his ministry here he has touched the lives of many people who are grateful for his ministry.

 

Father John J. Keane, SA The Rev. John J. Keane, SA is a member of the General Council for the Friars of the Atonement, a position he has held for two consecutive terms. He is also in Formation Ministry for the Friars, as Director of a Postulant Program in Washington, DC, for North American candidates. He continues as Director of the prestigious Paul Wattson Lecture and Seminar Series at the University of San Francisco, a post he has held for the past 22 years. Since 2002, he has been part of the Friars' team delivering lectures on interreligious dialogue at the Summer Course on ecumenical and interreligious matters located in the Centro Pro Unione, Rome.

At present, he serves as Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer for the Friars of the Atonement.

Father Keane was born August 1, 1935 in Philadelphia, PA. After completing studies at S. Pius X Seminary (affiliated with New York State University) and Atonement Seminary (affiliated with the Catholic University of America), he was ordained to the priesthood on June 7, 1962.

Soon after ordination, he went to Japan working there for 18 years as Pastor of parishes in Kawasaki and Yokohama and as Regional Superior for his Community. In 1974, Father Keane received a Masters Degree in Theology from the University of Ottawa, Canada, where he completed a thesis entitled "The Kami (Divinity) Concept: A Basis for Understanding and Dialogue", which was published in 1980 as a series of five articles in The Japan Missionary Bulletin. They were reprinted later in the year as a monograph by the Oriens Institute for Religious Research in Tokyo.

Returning to the United States in 1980, Father Keane was assigned to the follow ministries:

• In 1980, as Newman Center Chaplain to students at Howard University in Washington, DC;
• In 1983, as Ecumenical and Interreligious Director for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, CA, during which time the Jewish Community of San Francisco honored him with the annual Freedom Award in 1989;
• In 1991, a sabbatical year at the School of Applied Theology in Oakland, CA;
• In 1992, he filled in temporarily for one year as Newman Center Chaplain at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA; and as Ecumenical and Interreligious Director for the Diocese of Stockton, CA;
• In 1993, as Pastor of St. Francis Zavier Church, Seaside, CA, a multicultural parish with a large Hispanic population; as Ecumenical and (Interreligious Director for the Diocese of Monterey Bay;
• In 1998, full time ministry as Ecumenical and Interreligious Director for the Diocese of Sacramento, CA until 2002.
  

Father Keane was a member of the National Association for Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (NADEO) Faiths in the World Committee from 1984 to 1988 and he participated in the preparation of the second revised edition of the Handbook for Interreligious Dialogue to which he contributed an article on Japanese religious traditions. His most recent article appears in The Japan Mission Journal, Winter issue (2005), entitled: "Religious Influences in the (Japanese) Tea Ceremony". He has written another article in One in Christ, Vol 41, No 2, April, 2006, concerning the Second Vatican Council Decree on Religious Freedom and its impact upon ecumenical and interreligious work for the Roman Catholic Church.

On May 9, 2006, the Executive Board of the National Association for Diocesan Ecumenical Officers bestowed on Father Keane the Annual James Fitzgerald Award for Ecumenism during its annual meeting in San Jose for "outstanding contribution and services in the work of Christian Unity"

John is an avid baseball fan and he closely follows the Philadelphia Phillies. He has found that baseball is a convenient topic that is always available when ecumenical and/or interreligious energies seem to flounder with friends representing other Christian Churches and/or Faith Traditions.

You can contact Fr. Keane at: jjk2944@aol.com.

 

Father Elias D. Mallon, SA For more than twenty years I have been engaged in dialogue with non-Christians in general and with Muslims in particular. I have worked on the local, national and international level in Roman Catholic/Christian-Muslim relations. Presently I am working at Franciscans International, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and the United Nations. Here I am engaged in issues of interreligious cooperation for conflict transformation and peace building. I also work with issues of peace and justice in the Middle East. At the same time I am engaged in lectures, educational programs in different organizations, dioceses, etc. in the United States.

My most recent book Islam: What Catholics Need to Know is part of a series of books published by the National Catholic Education Association to help Catholics to understand contemporary issues facing the Church..

I entered the Novitiate of the Friars of the Atonement at Saranac Lake, NY in 1962 and was professed the following year. I attended the Friars' college, St. Pius X, at Graymoor. After having graduated from St. Pius X in 1967, I did my theological studies at the Catholic University of America. I was ordained to the presbyterate in January of 1971. While at CU I earned a Licentiate in Theology (STL) in Old Testament studies and a PhD in Near Eastern Languages. For five years I worked at did dissertation research at Eberhard-Karls Univeristät in Tübingen, Germany, where Hans Küng, Cardinal Walter Kasper and Pope Benedict XVI taught at various times.

For several years I taught Old Testament and Near Eastern Languages at different institutions, including the University of Washington in Seattle. Afterwards I represented the then Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (now the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) as a faculty member of the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches in Bossey, Switzerland. For fourteen years I worked at the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, ten of them as director. For one year I was the Interim Dean at Auburn Seminary, a Presbyterian Seminary in New York City.

How one asks a question greatly determines how one seeks the answer. For centuries Christians have been asking if non-Christians could be saved. Early on in my work with non-Christians the question which arose for me and continues to motivate me is: What is our good and loving Creator trying to tell us by the existence of different religions in our world? It is a question which fascinates me, humbles me and drives me on.

 

Brother Joseph Buettner, SA I am currently assigned to Graymoor Spiritual Life Center, Garrison, New York. I believe this assignment is necessary and important as a ministry to the People of God because of the wavering faith, insecurities, brokenness and loneliness so prevalent in the world today. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio August 9, 1930. I entered the Community at the age of thirty-six. This was a lifetime dream to become a Religious Brother; my inspiration was St. Martin DePorres. I was unable to pursue this calling until later in life because of family responsibilities. I was educated up until the sixth grade at St. Thomas Aquinas School in Cleveland, Ohio.

My elementary education was completed at Immaculate Conception School, Johnstown, Pennsylvania. My High School education, four years of college preparatory, was completed at Johnstown Catholic High School (now Bishop Mc Court High School). I graduated in 1950.

Prior to entering the Community I was employed by The National Acme Co. (Machine Tool Industry) Cleveland, Ohio, for fifteen years. When I left the company, my position was Assistant Cashier.

I Entered the Community as a Postulant, St. Joseph's Graymoor, Garrison, NY, on September 11, 1966. After my Novitiate year at St. Joseph's Friary in Saranac Lake, NY, I professed my first vows in August of 1968. I professed my Final Vows at St. Paul's Friary, Garrison, NY on August 14, 1971.

In September of 1968 I was assigned as Bookkeeper, Our Lady of the Atonement Friary, Cumberland, RI. In August of 1969 I was assigned as bookkeeper, St. Paul's Friary, Garrison, NY. In September 1970 I was assigned as Bookkeeper/Procurator, St. Paul's Friary, NY. In that same year I was elected to the Friary Council of St. Paul's Friary. In September 1973 I was elected Vicar to St. Paul's Friary Council. In September 1977 I was Appointed Executive Director off New Hope Manor and Guardian of New Hope Friary, Garrison, New York. New Hope Manor was a drug Rehabilitation Home for young women. Shortly after, I became a counselor in the program. In September 1983 I was appointed Director of the Graymoor Book and Gift Center, Garrison, NY. In April 1996 I was assigned to Graymoor Spiritual Life Center in Garrison, NY. Beginning in September 1997 I was elected Guardian of Paul Wattson Community until October 2003.

I am grateful to Almighty God for my faith and my religious vocation. My mother
was a Methodist before becoming a Roman Catholic and the faith we received from her,
was an absolute trust in God. Simplistic, perhaps, but it works! We were also taught
many Methodist Hymns. There was always a little bit of Methodist in my mother, but
she was faithful to her promise and responsibility to raise us Roman Catholics. Because
of the tension between Catholics and Protestants I became interested in the Friars of the
Atonement and their work in Ecumenism. Before I decided to enter this Community I
investigated two other Communities Maryknoll and The Brothers of the Good Shepherd. These were the three American communities.

My vision and hope for the future: peace and understanding among all Faiths. I read a statement in Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh in which Hans Kung
Said, "Until there is peace between religions, there can't be peace in the world."
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk said "During the war in Vietnam he saw communists and anti-Communists killing and destroying each other, because each side believed they had a monopoly on the truth, and many Christians and Buddhists in his country were fighting each other instead of working together to stop the war." This is something to think about to say the least. Which persuasion of Faith has a monopoly on the Truth or The One True Religion? Sometimes I can't help but wonder. We need more dialog between other faiths, hopefully this will help break down the barriers. There is so much we can learn from each other. Why can't we just respect and support all Faiths and try to work together to make this a better world for all mankind.

You can contact me at:jbuettner@atonementfriars.org.

 

Brother Liam Young, SA My present assignment is at Graymoor, handling the Mass request of our benefactors. I came to the Society of the Atonement by way of Philadelphia, Pa. I attended local parochial schools, St. Columba Grammar School, Roman Catholic High School and graduated 1950. I entered the community in 1955, receiving first vows in 1958, final vows in 1963. My Silver Jubilee was celebrated in 1983 and my Golden Jubilee was celebrated in past 2005.

Down through the years, my service has been mainly in administration, with the exception of several years at one of our former missions, Our Lady of the Atonement Mission in Kinston, North Carolina. I found this assignment very rewarding, with the struggle for civil rights taking place during this period of time.

Among my many administration assignments have been:

• Secretary to the Director of the Chair of Unity Octave currently called Graymoor Ecumenical & Inter-Religious Institute.
• Procurator at the former St. John's Minor Seminary in Montour Falls, New York located in the Finger Lakes area.
• Our Lady of the Atonement Mission Church, Kingston, North Carolina.
• Office Manager of our present Benefactor Service Processing.
• Assistant Superior and Administrator at our major seminary in Washington, D.C., Holy Ghost Seminary.
• Manager of the Graymoor Religious Article Shop.
  On the staff at the Catholic Ecumenical Library, London, England.
• Procurator at St. Paul's Friary. Planned Giving in Community Development Department.
• Manager of the Graymoor Book Store.

I thought about entering religious life while spending a period of time serving in the U. S. Army during the Korean conflict. I was spared any of the military combat action that had taken place prior to my arriving in South Korea. I had been in contact with the vocational director before being discharged. It was the Friars' Ave Maria Hour, their work at St. Christopher's Inn and their many other apostolates that attracted me to the community. They fulfilled my desire to be associated with a Franciscan Community.

My years of service have been ones bursting with energy, making the most of what comes my way and using my talents to the fullest. Having served in various ministries of the community and in internal service to the Friars, I realize that much is due to the faith and devotion of my parents, to my family and relatives and friends in supporting me through all of these years in God's Service in furthering his Kingdom here on Earth. For this I am most grateful.

You can contact me at:lyoung@atonementfriars.org.

Brother Gregory Lucrezia, SA I am Bro. Gregory Lucrezia, SA. I am a member of our General Council and Secretary General for our community the Friars of the Atonement. I was elected to the post of Council member in 1999 and re-elected in 2004. As a member of the General Council I am an advisor to our Minister General along with 3 other members. As Secretary General I am responsible for the official communication and record keeping for our Community. With our Present Minister General residing in Rome, I represent him when necessary and assist him by keeping him informed of activities in the U.S. and Canada. This assignment is very important to the administration of the community.

I entered the Community on Sept. 30, 1960, professed my first Vows in 1963 and my Final Vows in 1967. Prior to entering the community I was a High School Student and a part time Hospital Worker in St. John's Hospital in Yonkers. It was because of my involvement in Hospital Work that I spent many years in the community working as a Nurse here in the Graymoor Infirmary and St. Christopher's Inn, our Temporary Shelter for Homeless Men.

Upon first profession in 1963, my first assignment was to the switchboard at Graymoor. In 1966 I went to school for Practical Nursing. Following this in 1967, I was assigned to our infirmary where I cared for many elder Friars. From 1973 until 1993, I was assigned to St. Christopher's Inn (our shelter for homeless men) where I did nursing for 15 years and then from 1988 to 1993 I was the Director. From 1993 to 1995 I was the Director of the Hawthorne House (a residential half way house in White Plains, NY. I was then sent to our infirmary again to work with the elder infirmed Friars. In 1996, several of our Friars were transferred to Resurrection Nursing Home in Castleton, NY. It gave us a good place to bring our Friars to get the care that they needed. I went with them to supervise and assist in their care. I remained there until our General Chapter in 1999 and then returned to Graymoor where in addition to my Council and Secretary General Duties, I am the Health Care coordinator for the Community. My work keeps me busy, but knowing that I am involved with the Friar's ministry, it gives me an incentive to keep active.

I had thought of the Religious life during my high school years and eventually applied to Graymoor and was accepted a few weeks later. Many of us are still working together in various ministries throughout the Society. I came to the Friars because I felt called by God to this kind of ministry. With the changes of Vatican II, many of us became involved in proclaiming and spreading the atonement charism in different ways. I believe in the Friars of the Atonement. Even though change has taken place and will continue to take place, I believe our mission is to all people. Much is being done and I want to be a part of it. Our vision includes looking at possibilities in Africa and in other places and we have just begun a new foundation in Assisi. If it is God's will I would consider one of them. I have ministered for 47 years in the States and would like to spend at least a couple of years somewhere else. I feel that I have answered the call of God and have tried to do His work, both with the marginated who came to the Inn and with the Friars who were infirmed and needed care. At this time we try to care for the infirmed at Graymoor if possible and when they are not able to be cared for here, we try to place them in a Religious Nursing Facility where they will be treated with love and dignity. We would hope more young men would come to join us in our ministry. We need you.

I can be contacted through the Friars of the Atonement, P.O. Box 300 Graymoor, Garrison, New York 10524 (845-424-3671) or via e-mail at: glucrezia@atonementfriarsl.org.

 

Father Malcolm Martin, SA I am Fr. Malcolm Martin, SA. I am currently doing pastoral work at the Chapel of Our Savior in Brockton, MA, located in front of the Westgate Shopping Mall. I've been here since the fall of 1996. We are not a parish, but a chapel of convenience and an information center. We have Masses, Confessions, counseling and workshops that are available at times when people can easily take advantage of them. When I was in the 8th grade at the Parochial School, in Caribou, ME, run by the Ursuline Sisters, the pastor came once a month to see how the students were doing in religion class.

After the class one day, the priest came and called me over and asked me if I wanted to be a priest. The idea stayed with me. Then after High School, I was drafted into WWII and spent 2-1/2 years in the Philippines. Afterwards, back in the States, I worked for an accounting firm and would go for lunch at noontime with employees in the other offices in that building. Once in a while I'd go for lunch with a girl who was a Baptist. She'd always talk about religion and it became obvious to me that she was trying to convert me to her church. This would cause me to think: "why so many churches; why so many religions?" So, reading the Sacred Messenger, I found addresses of several religious communities, including the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. I wrote to several to get information and with the responses, the Friar of the Atonement mentioned their Ecumenical history and Charism. This attracted me, so I joined the community and in 1962 I was ordained a priest. In 1963, I went to Brazil and worked there for 25 years. I was the Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer for the Archdiocese of Sao Paulo and also worked for 8 years at the Secretariate for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Department of the Brazilian Conference of Catholic Bishops. I returned to the States in 1994 and did a sabbatical year in California. Then in the fall of 1996, I came to Brockton.

 

Father Paul Ojibway, SA I am Paul Ojibway, a Friar-priest of the Atonement and an enrolled member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, perhaps one of a dozen American Indian priests in the United States. I am in residence at the Church of Santa Maria in Orinda, California, writing, speaking and consulting on a national and international levels on Indigenous spirituality, cultural and pastoral life. I see my life, ministry and relationships as a bridge-builder between cultures and spiritual systems; and fostering dialogue on the emerging role of Indigenous communities in the transformation of the earth.

I was raised in a Catholic home that also deeply respected American Indian spiritual and cultural values. I graduated from St. Mary's College of California, with a major in psychology. During those formative years I was a retail clerk, a camp counselor, a radio announcer at the college station, and organized resistance to the war in Vietnam. I was blessed to enter the community in 1973 as the first friar from California and from an indigenous community. I took final vows in 1977 and was the first friar ordained (1978) in our parish in British Columbia, Canada after completing theological studies at Catholic University and Fordham University.

In thirty plus years in the community I have been blessed to minister in a host of different spheres of interest and locations in North America: in parish life, focusing on youth and young adult ministry, founding the National Young Adult Ministry Association; campus ministry and training of ministers; in vocation and formation ministry in the community; leadership with the National Tekakwitha Conference, eventually becoming the first director of Native American Programs at Loyola Marymount University and of the Archdiocesan Native American Ministry. While in Los Angeles, I was appointed Commissioner for American Indian Affairs for the City and County and in that capacity began a seven year relationship with the White House (Intergovernmental Affairs). I was assigned as Director of the Washington Office of the Graymoor Ecumenical Institute in the mid-1990's for social ecumenism, leading the ecumenical and interfaith collation in public policy relationship to the Congress and White House. From the late 1980's, I was also appointed by the United States Catholic Conference to the Bishop's Committee on Education and Catechesis, the Committee on Evangelization, and to the Executive Committee of the United States Commission on Evangelization. In that term, I also was an advisor to the Religious Liaison at the White House, and in 1998, consulted and contributed to the Presidents' Initiative on Race. After coming to California in 2001, I have focused my writing and consulting on Indigenous spiritual and cultural issues and needs, including international consultations, as a presenter and advisor to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Relations (2005), The Vatican, as well as advising on cross-cultural and national issues for the Indigenous leadership in Western Samoa and at the Pan-Pacific indigenous leadership in New Zealand, along with the Center for Culture and Spirituality at Loyola Marymount University. I am invited to write and speak at national conferences on a number of issues, pastoral care and dialogue throughout each year.

My life as a human being, person of faith, son of my tribal community, friar and priest has been profoundly blessed with challenges and opportunities for ministry and leadership. I came to the Friars to share in the vision of a world and Church called to be reconciled, healed and empowered by faith, hope and love in the one Lord. I have not been disappointed in the embrace of that vision or in the struggles to keep it clear over a life time. For much of my professional life and ministry I have walked the road alone and into unknown territory - seeking to understand the consequences of racial and cultural division as much as the inclusive opportunities for education and social change, and a life that embraces what is possible and not yet tried. I am grateful that the community of the Friars of the Atonement has not only allowed me to walk this path but encouraged me to excellence. I will continue to journey on this path as a friar and in seeking to know how to both reconcile, heal and empower forgotten, ignored and wounded peoples and to celebrate, embrace and honor their gifts in a world hungry for these very fragile and passing gifts.

I can be contacted via email at Ojibway@igc.org.

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