Missions

Parish in Mission
Parishioners from St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Bridgeport, CT, joined Fr. Michael Socha, OFM Conv., (Gdansk Province) on a Mission Trip to Kenya on January 23, 2012. Visit this video link to view a portion of the Mass, including Fr. Michael's blessing (in Polish) the day before they left. For more on the trip as well as the other activities of the parish, visit their website. Please pray for all those who give of their time and talent to serve in Missions.

Lead by Example

Fr. Jaroslaw Wysoczanski, OFM Conv.
Our Order's Secretary General for the Missions, blessed us with a speaking tour that included many sites around the Province. Here he engages students from our parish school at the Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr, in Chicopee, MA. His presentations included information about two Franciscan Friars, Frs. Miguel and Zbigniew, who were martyred in Peru 20 years ago, to whom he served as Guardian.

The St. Anthony of Padua Province continues to financially support the work of the friars in Peru (some of the children served are shown in the bottom picture on this page). For more on these young friars please see the December 7, 2011 posting on the Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv.) Website here.

St. Francis felt a call to be a missionary. He desired with his whole heart, mind and soul to spread the Good News, especially to those who had never heard of Jesus Christ. In 1219 St. Francis set out for the Middle East, where he met the Sultan and fulfilled his dream of preaching the Good News to the Saracens.

Inspired by the example of St. Francis and imbued with his missionary spirit, friars of St. Anthony Province have responded to the call to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth. In the fall of 1952 two friars of the Province traveled to Japan and established the Province's first foreign mission. Similarly, in the fall of 1976 four friars of the Province departed the States for Ghana, West Africa to establish the Franciscan presence there. In recent years both of these missions have become Custodies of their own and no longer require the Province's direct sponsorship. A recent grant from our province did assist our Ghannaian confreres in purchasing some books for their library serving the novices in Saltpond, Ghana, West Africa.


In 2011, our friars gave our Jamaica Mission and Parish back into the hands of the Archdiocese of Kingston. We are blessed to be able to continue to support the needs of the Jamaican people through the Cupertino Education Program and the Fasini Feeding Program that will be funded as a sign of our continued presence and service.

The Province's desire to assist in the Church's missionary effort is still strong. Through the Franciscan Mission Association (FMA) the friars offer much needed financial assistance to its former missions as well as to missionaries in Kenya, Peru, the Philippines and Honduras. Through the Order's Headquarters in Rome, our Province assists with the missionary works of friars around the globe in addition to our continued help and supportive ministry to the poor here in the United States.

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St. Anthony of Padua Province Provincial House 12300 Folly Quarter Road Ellicott City, MD 21042-1419

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