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St. Augustine Parish
People and Events
Cardinal Seán is a busy man!
Just check out his weekly blog at www.cardinalseansblog.org.
So the parish community here at St. Augustine was delighted by his visit,
Wednesday April 28th to help celebrate Vocations Awareness Week.
The prayer service was beautiful and the Cardinal's reflection on his
vocation was very engaging! Here is
an excerpt from his blog about the event:
"On Wednesday
evening I visited St. Augustine Parish in Andover to participate in their 5th
annual Vocations Awareness Week. The parish Vocations Committee…helps young
people to understand that priesthood, religious life, marriage, parenthood and
single life are all vocations in the context of our faith.

The parish
turned out in great numbers for this event. The church was filled as together we
prayed the Augustinian Corona and offered a reflection on my own experience of
being called to religious life and priesthood. The Corona (which means “crown”)
is an Augustinian devotion, consisting of 13 Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory
Be’s, that prayerfully meditates on the Apostles’ Creed and is dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Mother of Consolation. The friars
presented me with my own corona before the prayer service. I noted that it had
far fewer beads than the Franciscan rosary we wear with our habit and wondered
if they were getting a shortcut on their prayers!"
For complete text and more pictures visit the Cardinal's blog at
www.cardinalseansblog.org.
Vacation
Bible School
(VBS) will be held this summer during the week of August 2-6.
Ages 4 through kindergarten will be held here at St. Augustine and grades 1-6 will be held at
the Free Christian Church. This
popular program is co-sponsored by the Andover Baptist, Free Christian,
GracePoint Community, St. Michaels and
St. Augustine Churches.
The program runs from 9am-noon, cost is $35.
Register at www.andovervbs.com.
We are also looking for volunteers (including students in grades 8-12) to
help with this program. Please
contact Bridget Rao at brao@staugustineparish.org or 978 475-0050 x28.
Parishioners in Service
Parishioner
Nancy Cronin recently returned from a service trip to South Africa with her
daughter Carrie. They spent time
assisting the Augustinian Volunteers by tutoring children at St. Leo's Primary
school and a local clinic and wherever needed.
Here are some of Nancy's reflections:
After a return of 30 hours combined airtime, airports, shuttle vans, and
cars, my recent journey to South Africa with my daughter, Carrie, is now a
memory. However, the experiences deepened my faith even more. We lived in the
Augustinian Community amongst the sisters, friars, and volunteers, with an
atmosphere of warm hospitality and friendship.
The highlight has to be the day at Hillcrest Respite Center
where a 24 year old woman named Cindy, HIV positive, was in need of treatments.
Most Zulu people do not have birth certificates, so the Augustinian
Volunteers, Carrie and I went deep into the valley of Cindy’s township, dodging
goats and cows in the road, to her primary school, HOPING to get birth
information from the principal. The
principal was not there, however, a former teacher of Cindy’s recognized her.
Thank God! The principal was
called by cell phone, verbal approval was given, the handwritten letter was
stamped and back we went to town, delivering it to Home Affairs for processing
so that Cindy could get an ID to begin treatments and better health.
Life in Africa! And we
complain about paperwork here in America.
I have been asked why I go to Africa and I have to say the
reason for all reasons is “because God wants me to.”
This journey began with an unexpected and special blessing during Mass by
Fr. Peter in which I felt God was “sending” me back to a place where I could
continue to see, feel and value the things that really matter.
Through prayer and the Holy Spirit I witnessed God’s love more and more
abundantly. The poor Zulu people
have innate hope, love and caring for each other, and I believe that is why they
have such spiritual joy. They may go
days without food, but what they need the most, as do we, is the Word, love, God
himself. My journey didn’t end at
Logan Airport, but continues to this day and beyond.
I’ve come to learn that people live on truth and on being loved: on being
loved by the truth.
God Bless,
Nancy Cronin
During the February school break parishioners John and Tara McCormick traveled
with their five children Tristan(11), Liam(8), Kiara(7), Bridgette(5) and
Nolan(3) on a service trip to the Rancho de los Ninos Orphanage in El Castilla,
Mexico. Accompanying them were
occupational therapists from the Kioko
Center of which
Tara
is founder and director. Family members
of the therapists and a local grade school teacher rounded out the team.
At the ranch the therapists were able to evaluate and develop treatment plans
for 22 of the children. Through translators, the
Kioko
Center therapists trained
and educated their staff and caregivers. The rest of the team of volunteers were
involved in multiple jobs around the orphanage. They constructed and repaired
therapy equipment, painted the Spanish alphabet and benches, organized learning
materials and installed new kitchen counter and sink.
Above and beyond the smiles, there were many other measures of a successful
trip. The director of the orphanage,
seeing the progress made in these children, added another caregiver solely to
carry out therapy activities. A very special boy, named Jesus, reported that his
muscles felt so good after receiving range of motion that he did not want it to
end.
As Mother Teresa once said, “you can do no great things, only small things with
great love” and that is certainly what this team did.
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