Live Jesus! Pennsylvania is on Saturday, February 24, 2024, from 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM at St. Thomas the Apostle in Glen Mills, PA. Join us for a morning of reflection. This year’s theme is “Bloom where you are planted.” Learn more…
Live Jesus! Virginia is on March 9 from 8:00 AM - 12:45 PM at Bishop Ireton Catholic High School, Alexandria, VA. Join us for a morning of reflection. This year’s theme is “Bloom where you are planted.” Learn more…
Live Jesus! Delaware is on December 9th from 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish Newark, DE. Join us for a morning of reflection. This year’s theme is “Bloom where you are planted.” Learn more…
The Toledo-Detroit Province has elected Father Joe Newman, OSFS, to minister as Provincial Superior. Fr. Joe was ordained an Oblate priest in 2013 and has been ministering at St. Francis de Sales School in Toledo...Read More
The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales created Nativity in the image of our patron, St. Francis de Sales. Through the grace of God and the generosity of so many men and women, Nativity has grown and has become a beacon of hope for young boys who today have grown into Salesian Gentlemen in every sense of the phrase...
Fr. Patrick J. Kifolo, OSFS is part of the Campus Ministry team at Salesianum School. He is from Lewisburg, PA, where the Oblates were invited to minister at his home parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in 1987. He studied art education at Millersville University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1995. He entered formation with the Oblates in 1999. He has a Master of Divinity from Washington Theological Union and was ordained a priest on January 20, 2007. As an Oblate, Fr. Patrick has served in Catholic education for nearly seventeen years. He served as the Director of Campus Ministry at Salesianum School for seven years, in the same role at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School for seven years, and is in his second year back at Salesianum School happy to be working with some of his former students. He also helps serve the Oblates as part of the vocations team.
Topic: "Revisit Your Roots - Bloom Where You Are Planted"
Salesian wisdom grounds us well to live where we are. In reflecting on where we are, we also ought to reflect on what has brought us to where we are. Who and what have brought you here to this moment of your life as a partner, parent, colleague, or friend? And how is this moment, this arc, of your life inviting you to grow? What lessons can we all learn from St. Francis de Sales to live today well?
Heather Kinney, who grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, has been a friend of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales for more than twenty years. She first got to know the Oblates working as an office assistant at the Oblate seminary while a student at Washington Theological Union in Washington, DC. Since then, Heather has served in various parish and campus ministries around the United States. She currently serves as Associate Director of Formation for Academics and Pastoral Placements at the seminary of the Paulist Fathers in Washington, DC.
Live Jesus! shares Salesian Spirituality which helps believers develop a deeper relationship with God through Jesus by defining a lifestyle centered on the little virtues: gentleness, humility, patience, gratitude, perseverance, and simplicity. At this special event, attendees retreat from our fast-paced world and turn to the quietness of our hearts.
2022 - “Healing Relationships…Let It Begin with Me” - Attendees enjoyed reflections from Fr. Tom Dailey, OSFS, and other speakers who shared how Salesian Spirituality helps heal relationships in their lives.
In the news: Arlington Catholic Herald Coverage
“Fr. Crossin, ecumenical expert and US bishops' former advisor, dies at 75,” National Catholic Reporter,
“What is Salesian Friendship?” A series of essays on Spiritual Friendship
“Will Christian Unity Come Sooner Than We Think,” Ecumenical Trends, 51/1 (January/February 2022):18-23,
“Moving into the Ecumenical Future,” Louvain Studies 44(2021): 152-172.
“Moral Actions: The Person Acting and Pope Francis,” Ecumenical Trends 47/5 (May 2018): 7-10, 14-15.
“Occasional Reflections on the Declaration on the Way,” Ecumenical Trends 46/6 (June 2017): 1-3.
“Ecumenical Reflections on Moral Discernment,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies (Fall 2015): 561-82.
“The Church: Towards a Common Vision,” Ecumenical Trends 43/10 (November 2014):2-4.
“Prudence and the Future: An Ecumenically Shaped Ethic,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 45:3 (Summer 2010): 426-32
“Christian Identities: Necessary but not Sufficient,” Ecumenical Trends 38/2 (February 2009):17-18, 30.
“Ecumenical Relationships and Dialogue Today: Insights from the Salesian Tradition,” in Human Encounter in the Salesian Tradition (Rome: International Commission for Salesian Studies, 2007): 409-424.
“What Does God Want Us to Do? A Meditation on Discernment,” Ecumenical Trends 36/10 (November 2007):145-149.
“Love for the Poor: God’s Love for the Poor and the Church’s Witness to It” co-authored with Shaun Casey, Eric H. Crump, A. Katherine Grieb, Beverly Mitchell and Ann K. Riggs for the National Council of Churches of Christ, 2005.
“Virtue as an Ecumenical Ethic,” Ecumenical Trends (February 2005): 28-31.
“Salesian Mysticism,” Review for Religious 62/2 (2003): 144-52.
“Reflections on Salesian Anthropology” in With Mind and Heart Renewed: A Festschrift for John F. Harvey, OSFS (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001).
“A Meditation on Humility,” in We Are All Brothers-3: A collection of essays in honor of Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos, Ed. Jack Figel (Fairfax, VA: Eastern Christian Publications, 2007): 181-91.
“The Holy Spirit: Ecumenical Reflections,” in Seminary Ridge Review (Autumn 2006):5-11. [This is an address given at the Opening Academic Convocation of Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary.]
[19th Annual] Bernardin Lecture on Jewish-Catholic relations
Article on Fr. John’s newest book: Christian unity may not be so far off, says former head of bishops’ ecumenical office
Feast Day: January 24
St. Francis de Sales was a bishop who believed that all people were called to a life of holiness, regardless of their state in life. Here, he foreshadowed the vision of the Second Vatican Council. From his writings, preaching, and ministry grew what is known as “Salesian Spirituality.” He is a doctor of the church and best known for his practical, down-to-earth approach to living the Gospel.
Salesian Spirituality is a way of living the Gospel as learned, lived, and shared by St. Francis de Sales (1567 – 1622) and St. Jane de Chantal (1572 – 1641). Its first disciples were the Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary, a community of contemplative women established by these two saints in 1610. Their vision continues today, lived by people of all walks, states, and stages of life. Learn more about Salesian Spirituality and Oblate vocations below.
