January 7, 2025DEAR FRIENDS,![]() As you all certainly know, this year of the Lord 2025 in the Catholic Church is a Jubilee Year of Hope. But have you known that it’s also a Jubilee Year for the Congregation of Saint John (whose member I am), which was founded 50 years ago on December 8th 1975, when the first five Brothers consecrated themselves to the Blessed Mother in a small chapel of the Holy Trinity on the island of monks called Lérins, in Southern France? Our own particular Jubilee Year kicked off on the Solemnity of Epiphany, and will conclude on December 27th, the Solemnity of Saint John, the Father of our Community.
There will be various events in the Community of Saint John to commemorate this anniversary, and it seemed to me that the erection and blessing of the statue of the Risen Christ of the Divine Mercy on the grounds of the Regina Caeli Hermitage could be yet another special jubilee event to join all the other ones. All the more that it seems that the Providence really wants it happen: thanks to the generous donors who donated before the end of the year I was able to secure the marble for the statue at the prices of 2024, and on January 3rd, the day when the Catholic liturgy commemorates the Holy Name of Jesus, I received a donation of $5,000 specifically for this project – which covers fully its expenses! The statue’s carving will take about three months, and the shipping – another month. I hope that the statue will arrive to the Hermitage before the Spring Volunteer Work and Prayer Day, so that a team of volunteers may transport it to the Mass Rock, which will become on this occasion the Resurrection Rock. I realize that to install it securely I will need a professional’s help, so that’s where the money donated for this project before the $5,000 check came in will go. |
And the solemn jubilee blessing will happen on August 23rd – the day following the Patronal Feast of the Hermitage, during the traditional Hog Roast fundraiser, which will be attended this year by the Provincial of the Americas of the Community of Saint John, Fr. Jesus Rodriguez, C.S.J: Please mark the date!
Another great news is that almost after 7 years of vocational “lean cows,” we have at last a novice, Ryan, from our U.S. Region! However, because (for now) he’s the only one American novice, he joined the other novices of the Province (from Mexico and Brazil) in the novitiate of the Mexican Region in Monterrey, Mexico. Thus, the RCH remains again open to guests all this upcoming summer. In the next Newsletter (in a month or two) I will give you this year’s dates of the various events at the RCH. Meanwhile, I recommend to your fervent prayers the main RCH project for the upcoming summer – the full repair of the dirt road leading to the Hermitage. We cannot start building the new individual prayer cabins before the road is fixed, because the Jefferson County made it clear that they will not allow us to pull the construction permits before the road is approved by them for the fire trucks’ access. It’s a huge project, but hopefully by common effort of the RCH generous helpers, volunteers and neighbors (including the Jesus Our Hope Hermitage) we’ll be able to make it happen before the end of the year. Still, the RCH’s financial part in the project is at least $100,000, and so far, the fundraising efforts brought in over $30,000. We need another $70,000, and the work should start beginning May… So, please pray for the fundraising success, and if you know people or companies who would be interested in contributing to the substantial improvement of this spiritual haven of Our Lady, just let them know that they can do it here. Thank you so much, and have a blessed New – Jubilee – Year! Fr. Francis of the Child Jesus, RCH Steward |
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