ST. AUGUSTINE PRIORY, OXNARD, CALIFORNIA 

 Fifteen young men made a Triduum retreat at St. Augustine Priory beginning on Holy Thursday evening and culminating with Easter Sunday Mass in the priory chapel. Fr. Ramon Gaitan, OAR, St. Augustine Province director of vocations, did another outstanding job organizing the retreat. The retreat consisted of several daily themed meditations, some led by fellow religious and others for private reflection. Besides Fr. Ramon’s leadership, Deacon Ascencion Esqueda, OAR, also lent his talent and experience in an enthusiastic talk about his personal call and relationship with God. The retreatants were delighted by Deacon Ascencion's presence during the retreat.
 The young men also experienced the ministry provided by the OAR religious at neighboring Mary Star of the Sea Church in Oxnard. On Good Friday, they attended the Passion of the Lord, proclaimed in Spanish, together with hundreds of Mary Star faithful. It was a wonderful example of showing the parishioners that we are blessed and hopeful that soon our province will flourish anew with many new vocations.
 These young men brought a lot of joy to the priory community. It was a delight to join them at meals. Their youth and good humor brought plenty of smiles to the friars, especially among the elders.
 Easter Sunday Mass was celebrated by Fr. Ramon in the priory’s Our Lady Chapel. The young men enjoyed a delicious Easter breakfast in the refectory before packing up and departing for their homes.
 Fr. Ramon will continue his vocations ministry with another retreat next month.
  
 Submitted by Fr. Michael Rafferty, OAR
 Associate Pastor and Local Vocations Director, Mary Star of the Sea Parish

A group of forty-eight parishioners from Mary Star of the Sea Church in Oxnard, California, accompanied by Fr. Eliseo González, OAR, traveled to the state Capital in Sacramento on April 21 – 22.  Their trip was a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe to pray before the tomb of Bishop Alphonse Gallegos, Augustinian Recollect.  Each of the pilgrims is very familiar with the life of Bishop Gallegos and anticipated the opportunity to pray before the tomb of this Servant of God.  This pilgrimage was certainly a joyful expression of faith and unity in prayer.  While at the shrine the group took advantage of the adjacent museum with a replica of the Shroud of Turin.  Two members of Saint John Church, Bronx, New York, Braulio and Lucia Reyes, were also present in Sacramento to join with the group.  The visit to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament downtown and within the shadow of government offices was definitely a highlight because of its beauty and they especially were anxious to see the statue of Bishop Gallegos in the adjacent plaza that has been named for him. The pilgrims visited Historic Sacramento before returning to Oxnard

“Be an Augustinian Recollect priest or brother,” says the publicity slogan in major Catholic newspapers of North American dioceses where the Augustinian Recollects are present. During the Lenten and Easter seasons of 2012, the Augustinian Recollects in the United States have invested in vocation promotion for new candidates with vocational restlessness.

Cartel vocacional

“Our mission includes a great variety of apostolates: Parish ministry, Cursillo movement and retreats. All these enrich our community and the people of God whom we serve,” says the text of the publicity that the religious have placed in “Catholic New York” (New York), “The Catholic Advocate” (Newark), “The Tidings” (Los Angeles) and other weekly publications like “The National Catholic Register,” “Our Sunday Visitor” and “Vida Nueva.”

Within the framework of the XXVIII Week for Life, which the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) promotes with the support of the family ministry department of the Augustinian Recollects, the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Las Mercedes, Caracas, became the pioneer of the program: “Spiritual adoption and baptism of a child being born in danger of abortion.”

During the Eucharist, José Luis Uruñuela blesses the future mothers

Since the arrival of the Augustinian Recollects in Venezuela in 1899, after being expelled from the Philippines, they have not stopped fighting for life. Thus, at the beginning, they did it through a very hard pastoral service. That was also their effort to give attention to the sick and lepers of the Providencia Island. Since the sixties, their deep dedication to education in schools has been thus.