News & Events

Death of Francis Nelan, MSC

Our dear friend Fr. Frankie Nelan passed away on May 2, 2011 and was buried on May 5th from St. Anthony's Church and was buried in the MSC plot in Holy Cross cemetery to the north of San Antonio. Fr. Frankie was much loved for his sense of humor and great dedication to his priesthood and ministry. He spent the last eighteen years of his life in the loving care of the staff at Padua Place Priests Retirement Home alongside St. Anthony de Padua Church.

IRISH MSC Provincial Chapter

The Irish MSC Provincial Chapter took place in Waterford, Ireland from May 9 - 20, 2011. A Chapter is the major decision-making body for the whole Province and occurs every six years.
Fr. Bill Collins, Sectional Leader, with Frs. Richard O'Rourke, Pat Coakley and Mike O'Brien represented the MSC priests of our Section, while Patrick Purdy (San Antonio) and Dr. Steve Vogel (Harker Heights) represented the MSC Associates. Both Patrick and Steve took their wives along for the experience.
A Chapter reviews the policies and resolutions of the previous six years to determine their fruitfulness or lack of progress for various reasons, and it then makes resolutions to be implemented over the next six years and beyond. The emphasis in this Chapter was on communal discernment in our decision-making in all areas of our province as we propose and implement our various policies and ministries.

NEW IRISH MSC PROVINCIAL

Fr. Joe McGee was elected our new Provincial prior to the Provincial Chapter and took office on August 1, 2011. Fr. Joe comes with multiple qualifications, he has worked in formation, teaching, Retreat and Spiritual Direction and was Deputy Provincial for the previous six years.
He is a classmate of Frs. Kevin Shanahan and Pat Coakley (Austin). All three of them celebrated their Silver Jubilee of ordination this year.

ANNUAL SEPTEMBER RETREAT

The MSC priests and Lay MSC gather in September of each year for our annual retreat at St. Anthony de Padua Church in San Antonio. This year's retreat was conducted by Fr. Patrick (Patsy) Kelly from Ireland on the theme of MSC spirituality and the Eucharist. Fr. Patsy received the Gold Medal for his doctoral thesis at the Gregorian University in Rome. Everyone found his input both challenging and inspiring.

Fr. Martin McNamara, MSC Honored

On November 17, the University of Maynooth in Ireland honored Fr. Martin for his tremendous achievements as a biblical scholar. Fr. Martin never ‘retired'. He translated the ancient Jewish Targums (commentaries on the scriptures) which another Spanish MSC biblical scholar had found in the Vatican Archives. This was a monumental work which was undertaken by a few MSC scholars and is published in many volumes in many languages. Many of our MSC priests here in Texas studied scripture under him at our MSC seminary and at the Milltown Theological Institute in Dublin. In more recent years he helped establish a theology and biblical faculty in a West of Ireland University. He is a great linguist, historian, holds many doctorates as well as being a very humble and joyful person. We are proud of him!

MSC SUPERIOR GENERAL

Fr. Mark McDonald, MSC, a member of the U.S. Province, was re-elected as Superior General for a further six years at the MSC General Chapter held in Madrid, Spain in September 2011. Fr. Mark hails from Watertown in upstate New York. Watertown was the first house established by our congregation outside Europe in the 1800's and we still staff the same parish there since our arrival. Fr. Mark was a former Regional Superior in Colombia where he worked for many years. He is also a former U.S. Provincial and then took over direction of the Cor Novum Formation and Spirituality Center in Issoudun , France before being elected as Superior General in 2005.

JANUARY ASSEMBLY 2012

ur usual January MSC Assembly, attended by both MSC priests and Lay MSC, will be held on January 16-18, 2012 at St. Anthony de Padua Church in San Antonio. Fr. Dave Nixon will represent the Provincial Administration. Fr. Dave conducted our 2009 annual retreat and has worked much of his MSC life in formation and fostering vocations. We will review and implement the resolutions of both of the recent Provincial and General Chapters.