To the Brothers of the Province of St. Paul the Apostle in Malta:
May God give you grace and peace!
I am both humbled and honored by the request to serve at your General Visitor, and I look forward to meeting each of you, and coming to know you and your ministries in the coming year. I am sure it will be both educational and inspirational for me. I did visit Malta a number of years ago for an ESC meeting. This experience will no doubt open up a new world for me and I expect it to be an experience of personal ongoing formation in Franciscan life. I am grateful for this opportunity. I look forward to experiencing the “extraordinary hospitality” (Acts 28:2) of the Maltese people that St. Paul raved about during his shipwreck there!
I thought it might be helpful to introduce myself to you by means of a letter before we meet in person. You might be wondering, who is this guy?
I am a member of St. John the Baptist Province headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio in the USA. I also grew up in Cincinnati, in a Franciscan Parish, which explains how I found my way to the friars. I have 7 siblings; both my parents are deceased. Currently, I am 67 years old, serving as the Pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration in Southfield, Michigan, which is just outside of Detroit. I live with 3 other friars, and this summer we will receive another. We are a small parish, about 500 households, mostly older, but we are a vibrant parish, very committed to service to the poor.
I went to our minor seminary (St. Francis), our college seminary (Duns Scotus), and our major seminary (St. Leonard), none of which exist any longer. As our numbers diminished, we closed our internal schools. Our formation now is interprovincial. I made first profession in 1975; I was ordained in 1980. My first three year assignment was in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Galveston, Texas. I then served for one year at St. Boniface Parish in Lafayette, Indiana. During that year, I was asked if I would be part of the Novitiate formation team. I was the Assistant Director for about 8 months, when unexpected circumstances forced me to become the Novice Director, a position I held for about 6 years. I then served as a campus minister at Rice University in Houston, Texas for 4 years. The Province then asked me to become the pastor of St. Monica-St. George Parish in Cincinnati, a parish which had campus ministry for the University of Cincinnati for three years. During those years I served as a member of our Provincial Council. I then served 9 years as Provincial Vicar and 9 years as Provincial Minister. While I was Provincial Vicar, I served as Secretary for Formation and Studies. After a 6 month sabbatical I came to Transfiguration in Southfield. So my background includes parish, campus ministry, initial formation, and leadership/administration. My time in leadership gave me the opportunity to become acquainted with the Provinces in the ESC, and also the Custody in Pakistan, with whom we have a special relationship since we shared the same patron, John the Baptist, and the Provinces in Japan and the Philippines where some of our men served. (I noticed that John the Baptist also played role in your history.) I have enjoyed the journey so far! I very blessed and privileged by all the experiences life with the friars has given me. And now another blessing!
When I served in leadership, I considered visitation to be both a privileged responsibility and opportunity. I was humbled by the candor, trust, and openness the brothers showed me.
It is too early to share with you exactly what the visitation will look like and what the schedule will be. I have so much to learn! I will share that information with you as those things clarify. I do realize that I have a responsibility now to this parish, and I need to balance my responsibility to you and to the people of the parish. With God’s grace and guidance, I am confident we can figure all that out!
In the meantime, I will be praying for you each day, and I ask that you keep me in your prayer as well.
Your brother,
Jeff