Category Archives: Passionists

Fr. Theodore Foley Remembered

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Foley Memorial

A memorial area honoring Fr. Theodore Foley, CP in Sacred Heart Church, Springfield, Mass. was blessed today by Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell of the Diocese of Springfield.

Fr. Theodore led the worldwide religious community of Passionists until his death in 1974 and the process for declaring him a saint has begun in Rome. Sacred Heart, in Springfield’s North End was Foley’s parish where he was baptized, attended school and served as an altar boy.

I was one of  nine Passionists at the service, along with a number of diocesan priests, seminarians, sisters and laity. I liked Bishop Mc Donnell’s observation that Fr. Theodore is “a reminder that holiness is all around us.”  How true that is! The memorial area in this beautiful church built in 1889, which has been the spiritual home for so many from the area, is a testimony to the simple, powerful faith of generations of loyal Catholics like the Foleys and their holy son.

The Springfield Republican covered the story  http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/late_springfield_priest_rev_th.html?category=Springfield and CBS televevision.

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more about “Springfield Priest A Candidate For Sa…“, posted with vodpod

Photo courtesy of Jim Brady, Chicopee

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Veronica’s Veil

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DSCN1721The Passionists, the community I belong to, were founded by St. Paul of the Cross (+1874) to keep alive the memory of the Passion of Jesus Christ. For 86 years, from 1915-2001, people from Saints Joseph and Michael’s parish in Union City, NJ,  a parish nearby where the Passionists served for many years, presented a Passion play, “Veronica’s Veil,” during Lent.  Two Passionists , Father Bernardine Dusch, CP, and Father Conrad Eiben, CP,  were the play’s creators.

Patrick Allen, a Union City native and the last stage manager of the play in 2001, has begun to bring the play “back into service,” he says. Last Lent, on Good Friday, the Veronica Veil players processed through the streets of New York’s Little Italy near Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, reenacting the Lord’s journey to Calvary, and ended up in the church itself.

Patrick hopes to present the play again in Union City and New York City this coming Lent. This Thursday, June 25th, he’s accompanying Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the new archbishop of New York, to Rome where the archbishop will receive the pallium from Pope Benedict XIV.

At the Mass, Allen will bring a service banner from Veronica’s Veil as part of the offertory gifts. Afterwards, the banner will be placed with the original relic of the veil presently enclosed in one of the great pillars in St. Peter’s Basilica next to the main altar.

For centuries, Passion plays have told the story of the Passion of Jesus. The banner to be blessed by the pope this Saturday explains why they are created. “May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.”

Here’s Patrick talking about Veronica’s Veil.