"THE CHURCH NEEDS SAINTS - NOT REFORMERS..." Bishop Rifan, 11/19/05

The Northeastern Regional Conference was sponsored by ten chapters of UVA: UV Berkshires, Boston, Brooklyn, Bronx, Cape Cod, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Rochester, Syracuse, and Westchester. These ten chapters also bought His Excellency Bp. Rifan a new pontifical ring which was presented to him by Fr. Santos at vespers on Friday.

The conference weekend was a truly a blessed experience for all who attended. The speakers gave insightful and inspiring talks, and all of the liturgies were incredibly beautiful, including the pontifical High Mass, which was celebrated from the throne with the permission of Bishop Tobin of Providence. The weekend would not have been possible without the kind permission of Father Santos of Holy Name of Jesus Church, who opened his church and school for the events. A special "thank you" is extended with much affection to Allen Maynard, host of the conference and president of UV RI and also to his wife Wendy and her crew who did a wonderful job of providing food for the attendees.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Saturday Evening: Dinner and Bp. Rifan


Group picture from the Marriott Dinner
Bottom row (L-R): Fr. Gary Carr (from Missouri); Fr. Bishop (representing UV chapters in CA); Fr. Santos (Providence RI, Holy Name Church); Fra FredrikCrichton-Stuart (Pres. FIUV); Bp. Rifan; Msgr. Schmitz (ICR); Fr.Domenic Gentile (FSSP).

Top Row (L-R): Christine Philp (UV Berkshires); Ann Whelan (UVWestchester); Byron Smith (UV Syracuse); Elizabeth Murphy (UVNewfoundland); Joe Gallante (UV Cape Cod); Sandy Philp (UVBerkshires); Eva Sturchio (UV NJ); Dan Marengo (UV Bronx); Indira Sweeny (UV Brooklyn); Allen Maynard (UV Rhode Island); Nathan Collins (UV Michigan); Brian Mershon (UV Greenville, SC); Wendy Maynard (UV Rhode Island); Mary Kraychy (Coalition in Support of Ecc. Dei); MarieBoland (UV Albany); Bill Basile (UVRochester); Dave Pietrusza (UV Albany); Fred Haehnel (UV St. Louis, MO).

About 100 people attended the dinner at the Marriott, with His Excellency Bp. Rifan as key-note speaker.

Bishop Rifan's speech at the banquet dinner on Saturday night was spiritually edifying and also addressed the current concerns many have about the possiblity of a universal indult or P.A.A. for the 1962 Missal. In his speech, Bp. Rifan noted that Una Voce is a force in the Church today. He also said that the Church needs saints, not reformers, pointing out that Martin Luther was a reformer, but Ignatius Loyola was a saint.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home