Seventh Announcements

Seventh Announcements

Fr. Provincial's 7th set of announcements was issued by letter to the confreres of the province on June 4 (and carried 2 days later also in E-Service).  Your humble blogger is a bit late posting them because he was doing the final copy and the proofreading for the spring issue of the Salesian Bulletin, so that it could be at press while he's on retreat and not be left "sitting" for an entire week.  Besides, spring is passing away quickly!

This 7th set of announcements was all about personnel and covered the ground from British Columbia to New York--in other words, almost the entire geographical spread of the province.

Fr. George Atok will move from Elizabeth, N.J., to Surrey, B.C., remaining an assistant pastor.  There's a large Filipino community in Surrey, so he'll be busy.

The staff for the new work in Champaigne, Ill. (see below), was announced:  Fr. David Sajdak, pastor of Holy Cross Parish (moving from assistant at Surrey); Fr. Joe Santa Bibiana, assistant with charge of Hispanic ministry (moving from pastor-director in Belle Glade); and Fr. Bill Bucciferro, campus minister at UI (moving from the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw).  No one has been named yet to replace Fr. Bill as coordinator of the Shrine.

Fr. Steve Leake will become assistant pastor at St. John Bosco in Chicago, moving from staff of the Marian Shrine.

Fr. Tim Zak will become pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Port Chester, moving from the same office in Chicago.

No pastor has been named for Chicago yet; Fr. Greg Fishel will serve as administrator until mid-August before he moves to Belle Glade (see below).

Fr. Franco Pinto will become coordinator of the retreat team at Don Bosco Retreat Center in Haverstraw, where he was already on the team; he replaces Fr. Jim Berning (gone to vocation work, based in Orange).

After making their first profession, God willing, in mid-August, our present novices will resume academic studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange and at the Salesian formation house in Orange. They are Lenny Carlino, Steve Eguino, and Craig Spence, who will be professed brothers when they make that transition.

On the vocation front, we have an unusual but not unheard of situation: 2 diocesan priests are entering the candidacy program with the intention of becoming Salesians.  Fr. Dennis Hartigan from the Toledo Diocese actually was an SDB in formation once upon a time (1970s), and will join the community at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey.  Fr. Derek Van Daniker comes from the Lexington Diocese and will be part of the retreat team in Haverstraw.

Fr. Tom promises another round of assignments "within the next ten days" (from June 4).