Dear Friends,
20 January is a special date in the history of our parish. Henceforth we will be remembering this date and celebrating it with thanksgiving in our hearts as it is the day on which we remember the gift of our new and beautiful sanctuary to worship the Lord. As Fr. Moreau would say: “It is God’s hand which has guided everything, and it is God whom we must thank above all.”
For us in the Congregation of Holy Cross, 20 January is a day of celebration as we celebrate the feast of Blessed Fr. Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Some have been asking me about whose statues adorn the niches of our church. The one on the right as you walk out of the church is the statue of Fr. Moreau and the one on the left is the statue of Saint Brother Andre. Let me take this time to speak about Fr. Moreau today.
Born Basile-Antoine Marie Moreau (Basil Anthony Marie Moreau in English) in Laigné-en-Belin, in the diocese of Le Mans, France, on February 11, 1799, he would be forever affected by the spiritual upheaval caused by the French Revolution. Church property was seized, priests were executed and arrested and religious communities were expelled from France. Basil Moreau’s hope was to fill this vast spiritual and educational gap.
In 1821, Moreau was ordained a priest for the diocese, later becoming a seminary professor, teaching philosophy and theology while enthusiastically continuing his pastoral duties.
By 1835, Moreau had organized a group of young and energetic
“auxiliary priests” whose mission was to travel the diocese, assisting in
educational and spiritual growth programs at parishes. That same year,
Bishop Jean-Baptiste Bouvier asked him to oversee the Brothers of St.
Joseph, a group of educators founded by Rev. Jacques-François Dujarié. Two years later on March 1, 1837, Fr. Moreau merged the priests and brothers and the association took its name from the small French town outside of Le Mans from which it was based, Sainte-Croix. The new order’s name became Congregatio a Sancta Cruce (hence the initials C.S.C.), which literally means “Congregation of Holy Cross.”
The Cross soon became an integral part of his community’s spirituality. The motto of the congregation is Ave Crux, Spes Unica, which means “Hail the Cross, Our Only Hope” — calling on the community to “learn how even the Cross can be borne as a gift.”
Blessed Moreau’s vision was to complete and maximize the spiritual vigor of this association — to give it “one heart, one soul” — by modeling it after the Holy Family and bringing into it a group of sisters who would also be involved in education and evangelization. Reflecting his association’s zeal to make God known, loved and served, Moreau started sending members to other countries, including Algeria, Canada, Bangladesh and the United States. He sent seven young men — six brothers and Rev. Edward Sorin — to the United States, where in 1842, they founded the University of Notre Dame. In 1857, the Holy See officially declared Moreau’s group to be a religious congregation and the Congregation of Holy Cross was born. Moreau died on Jan. 20, 1873, and was beatified on Sept. 15, 2007. Now that you know who Fr. Moreau is, I request you to pray for his canonization so that the Lord might be glorified in the works of Fr. Moreau’s descendants. (Portions taken from “Basil Moreau, Founder of Holy Cross” by Gary MacEoin and “The Cross, Our Only Hope” edited by Andrew Gawrych, C.S.C. and Kevin Grove, C.S.C.). I invite you to pray for the canonization of Fr. Moreau.
This month we celebrate the sanctity and beauty of life that goes beyond the rights of the unborn. Respecting life also applies to health care, homelessness, immigration, and capital punishment. It means respecting people, giving them the dignity and respect that they need and deserve. Let us continue to pray that each of us might be seen as images of God, made uniquely in His likeness. I am grateful to many of our parishioners including some of our teens who have been to Washington D.C. to participate in the March for Life. Some of us have been to St. Augustine to participate in the March for Life events.
I am so grateful to our team and the volunteers who are working on the Habitat Faith Build Project. Work has begun in full swing after the raising of the wall on the 12 January, 2019.
I am also grateful to the coordinating team and the volunteers and all of you for making the three day celebrations of the First Anniversary of the dedication of our church a huge success.
Have a Blessed Week! With love,
Fr. John