Live Jesus! Pennsylvania Speakers - 2024

“Bloom Where You Are Planted”

Saturday, February 24, 2024

St. Thomas the Apostle in Glen Mills, PA

8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

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Speakers

Fr. Patrick J. Kifolo, OSFS

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.

Heather Kinney

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.

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Live Jesus! 2022 Videos & Photos

Live Jesus! 2022 is a morning reflection sponsored by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. This is a morning of reflection, fellowship, and prayer based upon the humble and gentle spirituality of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. Keep an eye out for announcements about future Live Jesus! retreats.

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

PROVINCE PRAYER LIST

Please find the Provincial Prayer List below. If you would like a new intention or your prior intention included listed, please email info@oblates.org. Intentions stay active for three months, afterward, if you would like to keep the intention, please resubmit. Thank you!

Healing

• Michael Sheridan, Heart (severe problems)

• Richard Ream, Post-op total recovery

• Kate Hildenberger, Bone fracture in right foot

• Dennis McCrossen, healing cancer

• Eddie D

• Linda McCue, To cure my daughter’s cancer

• Lottie Blackmon, 3 month old with Downs syndrome and a heart defect that must be repaired soon

• Brady Cotler, 28, amputation of three limbs and stroke

• Kathy Fanning - healing after Surgery

• Jim Rentner - Cancer

• Carol Raphael - Knee replacement surgery

• George Sheridan - Major health problems

• Richard E. Durham - Cancer of lungs and pancreas

• Fr. Stan Dombrowski, OSFS - Full recovery from knee replacement surgery

• Kelli King Jones - young mother - breast cancer

• Richard Ream - Successful Cervical surgery and recovery

• Dave Crowley, serious health issues

• Meagan T.

• Michael Love - Cavernoma disease

• Shirley Dechant mother of Fr. Paul Dechant, OSFS - Health

• Delores Atkinson- Cancer surgery and recovery

• Matthew Lakofsky - cancer

• Mrs. Hanlon - Severe health issues

• Alejandro González Repiso - Lung cancer

• Marty Bonnes - Lymphoma Cancer

• Barbara Herbetko - Health Issues

• Dennis and Rowena mendoza

• Mary Schoenberger - Breast, bone and brain cancer

• Rowena and Dennis

• Remegio Mendoza

• Jim and Pili Reaves

• Rose and Jeff Ring

• Annie and Stephen Taliaferro

• The Austin Prayer Group

• Annie Schnells and Friends

• Gabe Dominelli- 38, stroke

• Jinny Rininsland

• Marguerite Hull

• Louie Iaquinto - Lumbar fractures, liver diagnoses

• Robert Glenn- Healing

• Chase Beasley- Mental Stress

• Lillian Goldsmith - emergency surgery for pacemaker

• Shirley Smith Simon

• Barbara Lyons

• Victor Lake- Abdominal aortic aneurysm

• April Rivenberg- 19-month-old undergoing treatment for leukemia.

• Wanda Feletski - Make a health decision

• Thomas Tiffany - Stage 4 throat cancer

• Sarah Grillo - Severe concussion

• Kim Si Basmayor Lu

• Baby Ben- Born with brittle bone disease

• Loyes Spayd- Shoulder surgery

• Katherine Reilly

• Cynthia Lavalle-Lake - Pancreatic cancer will not return

• Victoria Reilly

Prayers for Miracle to Blessed Louis Brisson

• William Ciccarelli - Inoperable Cancerous brain tumor

• Tony OConnell - Stage4 Cancer/COPD

• Jim Rentner - Pancreatic Cancer

• Lucy d - stage 4 gastric cancer

• Greg Sendi - Cancer

• Becky Fisher - Cancer

• Jimmy Becket- 8 year old boy in the hospital with cancer

• Wendy Wright- lung cancer

• Allan and Nancy Paul- on-going medical problems

• Joseph Hanlon- inoperable cancer

• George Dove - Serious heart condition

• Corinne Bristow - Heart conditions

• Chelsea Ebner - Anxiety, recovering addict

• Joseph Campitelli, blood disease

• Jeannie Gabriel, brain tumor

• Ava Maria Cashman, 3 year-old with kidney disease

Eternal Life

• Rev. William N. Dougherty, OSFS

General Prayers

• Mr. Manuel A. Medina

• Brigid Quinn, To be able to conceive life, and have safe, healthy pregnancy.

• Diane Gebicke, Family Relationships for my son, wife and my grandchildren to come back to our family

• Atlas Ashton, 3 year old unable to speak, much doctoring required

• Sue R, Please pray that the lord will transform my heart more and more into the image of his sacred heart.

• Timothy James, For healing and hope, and for a blessing in the outcome of his court hearing.

• Bill and Carol G - Prayer for Peace

• Carol Raphael - Knee replacement surgery

• Dolores Meredith

• James Storey - Safe travel and renewed marital fire.

• Julie Rogan

• Anita DiSimplico - Peace and health

• Steven Rogus

• Ashley Cretul- Healthy baby

• Brooke - Conversion of heart

• Cherie, Linda, and family - protection

• Ryan Fioravanti- POTS, Connective tissue disorder

• Joe Larkin - For relief from pain and anxiety

• Tim Eilers - Intercession to find employment

• Rob Cowen - Conversion of heart

• Joe McBride - cancer

• Lenex Belton - Waiting for a Kidney donor

• Jack and Michael Stinger - US Army. US Air Force

• Ben Post -US Marine Corps Recruit Program

• Kate DiGuilio - Breast Cancer

• Walter Goering

• Safe trip home for Stephanie, prayers for everyone amid these trying times

• Marie Wood - For my children, their spouses, and children to return to Holy Mother Church

• Kate DiGuilio - Breast Cancer

• Kris and Bill McLain - Care partner

• Rose Armstrong - recovery from serious fall

• Mark - be the person Jesus wants me to be

• Lily McCaffrey, relapsing

• Aidan Evans Gartley - To find a job in his field

• Kathy McCaffrey - anxiety

• S.A. F. - Turn away from sins and lead his family

• Harmony Perkins - Anxiety and headaches

• Matt Strohminger - Acceptance and sobriety

• Tonia Graf

Intercession Prayers to St. Francis de Sales

• Michael Simpson

Intercession Prayers to St. Jane de Chantal

Canonization Prayer for Blessed Louis Brisson

God, Father of tenderness and mercy, we thank you for having given us in Blessed Louis Brisson a priest of lively faith and inventive charity. Empowered by your Spirit, he walked in the footsteps of Christ, announcing to the poor and those struggling on the road of life that you love them. Come to our aid and grant by his prayer the favors we ask for, particularly... Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Live Jesus! Virginia Speakers - 2024

“Bloom Where You Are Planted”

March 9, 2024

8:00 AM - 12:45 PM

Bishop Ireton Catholic High School, Alexandria, VA

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Speakers

Keynote Speaker - Rev. Kevin Nadolski, OSFS

Topic: “Life in God’s Garden”

Familiar with the expression, “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” we counter with a Salesian spirituality that beckons us to “bloom where we are planted.” We will explore the common sense and uncommon challenges that both St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal experienced in living the life of a Christian disciple. How can their wisdom ground us to live well in the places and spaces we find ourselves every day?

Fr. Nadolski serves as the Vice President for Mission, DeSales University

Rev. Matthew Hillyard, OSFS

Fr. Matthew Hillyard, OSFS

Topic: “Salesian Blooming: Here and Now”

Fr. Hillyard is Pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Vienna, VA

Ms. Kathleen McNutt

Topic: “Repotting to Bloom”

Sometimes we move, have life changes, or simply outgrow our current container! How can I thrive and bloom in different soil, different pots, and with different plants?

Ms. McNutt is the Head of School - Bishop Ireton Catholic High School, Alexandria, VA.

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Christmas Prayer

Dear Friend,

Many years ago, when I was the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Denver, CO, a good friend, songwriter, and fellow priest, Joe Raffa, wrote the following poem. It has always been a source of spiritual nourishment for me and a reminder of who I am in the heart of God and in the church which I carry with me through the Christmas season. Joe graciously gave me permission to share this with whomever I wish. 

Re-Member

Long ago and so far away
When time began in stillness stood.
The Word leapt forth from God to Shine
And re-member stony hearts
like yours and mine.

 Long ago and so far away
In memory of God our names were known,
Now bonded with the Word
We journey day and night
In hopes to trace our way back home.
To loose our bonds of fear
and re-member our hearts of light.

 And still today the Word is heard
Is seen and felt and still leaps forth
In lights that shine in humankind
And strikes the note in the memory of God
of names like yours and mine.

And so we wait this day -
We in cold and stillness stood
With glimmers of the Word - it is heard -
Who once came and
spoke the memory of God.
Will come again
And re-member each of us by our name.

By Joe Raffa 

This Christmas season, my prayer for you and your family is one of hope and peace. I pray that the light of the Christ, born in each of our hearts again, will leap forth and be a beacon of hope, compassion and love in your family, your community, and in our world. 

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS

Former Provincial

Saturday, January 13 - The Union League

Center City Philadelphia

140 South Broad Street

Optional Mass - 5:30 PM **NEW **

Cocktails begin - 6:30 PM

Dinner & Dancing - 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM

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An Evening With the Oblates

Join us for an evening of casual dining and dancing supporting our seminarians!

Chase Center on the Riverfront

Wilmington, DE

Friday, October 13, 2023

7:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Cocktail Attire

Purchase a sponsorship or tickets below:

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Evening with the Oblates was formerly known as Black Ties for White Collars. This event is no longer black tie but still includes fellowship, great food, and fun dancing with the Heartbeats Band. See photos of a past Black Ties for White Collars below:

Live Jesus! Pennsylvania 2023

Morning of Reflection & Renewal through the lens of Salesian Spirituality

Live Jesus! 2023 is a half-day morning of reflection sponsored by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. The reflection, fellowship and prayer are based upon the humble and gentle spirituality of Saints Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal.

Artwork by Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS

"Be At Peace," is this year's theme. Attendees are invited to reflect on the many paths to peace.

Saint Francis de Sales tells us, “Inside each of us is a beautiful garden. We need to cultivate and prune it in order to give glory to God and be of service to others. Let us daily do this in peace, and thus experience the peace that only God can give.” Don't miss this opportunity to gather in prayer and fellowship to reflect on the peace that only God can provide.

Why Should I Attend Live Jesus!?

Salesian  Spirituality 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. This special event is an opportunity to retreat from our fast-paced world and turn to the quietness of our hearts.  

SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023

St. Thomas the Apostle, Glen Mills, PA

"Be At Peace"

8:00 AM Continental Breakfast

8:45 AM Welcome & Liturgy of the Hours

9:15 AM Keynote: Brother Dan Wisniewski, OSFS, Ph.D.

10:00 Break

10:15 AM Speaker: Ellen Hildenbrand

10:30 Speaker: Paula M. Riley, M.S.

10:45 AM Break

11:00 AM Celebration of the Holy Eucharist

Father Jack Kolodziej, OSFS, Provincial, Celebrant

Father Ed Ogden, OSFS, Homilist

Closing

Eat Fish

Last Friday, I had fish for dinner.  It was a Friday during Lent, meaning most Catholics observe the meatless Friday rule by having fish on their dinner menu.  Fridays during Lent are one of the few times I eat fish. I don’t like fish, never have, and probably never will but it’s Lent, and I eat fish.  I’ve learned to tolerate this annual penance, not happily, but I sit at the table and quietly eat what I don’t enjoy.  I do it because it helps me live the spirit of the season. 

Eating fish on Lenten Fridays helps me remember that this season is a time for me to discover those things that are less tasteful in my life. Lent is a time to reflect and identify the habits, attitudes and behaviors that prevent me from successfully “living Jesus.”  Fish Fridays help me remember the practice of Lent and maintain the spirit and focus of this penitential season. 

Linguistically, lent is derived from an old English word meaning springtime.  In Latin, “lente” means slowly.  Lent points to the coming of spring and invites us to slow down our lives to take stock of ourselves. Saint Francis de Sales preached, wrote and advised many on the spirit of Lent and fasting. Here are some of his encouragements for this season. 

Saint Francis wrote that “fasting is not a virtue,” but fasting can lead us to virtue.  Paraphrasing Francis in his Introduction to the Devout Life, he encourages us to fast with our whole being.  If we have offended God through the eyes, ears, tongue and other senses, why should we not also make them fast? The ears, by depriving them of listening to destructive and cynical talk, only to fill the mind with negative and dark images. The tongue, by avoiding judgmental, offensive, gossipy and negative comments or discussions. “We ought also to cut off useless thoughts, vain memories, superfluous appetites and desires of our will.”

Eating fish on Fridays is not going to save my soul. But, as I abstain from meat on Fridays, it reminds me to abstain from actions, behaviors and attitudes that lead me away from Christ. Lent, in a small way, allows us to imitate Christ’s forty days in the desert. It is a time to let ourselves be unprotected, vulnerable and aware of our sinfulness so that we may turn again to the light leading us to God through the mercy of Christ. Lent invites us to stop eating whatever protects us from facing the desert inside us so we can finally give the angels a chance to feed us.

The need for Lent is in all of us. Without this time, we cannot correctly prepare; hearts open, thirsting and ready for the waters of life and the grace of Easter. 

So, Eat Fish!

Father Jack Loughran, OSFS

Provincial

Toledo-Detroit Province