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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Vital Life: A Friar's Experience







Fellow Residents and Staff,

As many of you know, this September I begin a new life in Detroit, Michigan.  Forty-five years ago I committed myself to the brotherhood of the Friars Minor and vowed to live the Rule of that brotherhood all the days of my life.  The brotherhood gives meaning and structure to my life.  In the brotherhood I grow into the person that God is calling me to be.

When I moved to Saint Leonard three years ago, another brother, Curt Lanzrath, OFM, was living here in retirement.  I fondly remember our evening meals together in the assisted living dining room.  Two years later Joe Rigali, OFM, another brother, retired here.  Curt’s health deteriorated, and he moved to Cincinnati, while Joe and I got together weekly for prayer, fellowship, and dinner.  This summer Joe moved to a nursing home as resident chaplain; and I was left alone at Saint Leonard, a brother without nearby brothers. 

As Joe’s move was being finalized, the brothers asked me to consider moving to Saint Aloysius Friary in downtown Detroit.  I checked it out, considered the pros and cons, prayed over it, and said, “Yes, I want that.”  The friary is an apartment on the eighth floor of the archdiocesan chancery building.  I will be living with my brother Tod Laverty, OFM.  In two different parishes we will be ministering to senior citizens in HUD housing, homeless people on the streets, business people in office buildings, and a host of volunteers who are helping the friars carry out God’s work.  It will be an exciting and new venture for me.

Life is about growth, and growth reaches its climax in autumn.  Autumn is the season of abundance.  The riches of the preceding seasons are harvested and enjoyed.  In the autumn of my life, I look forward to an abundant harvest in downtown Detroit.  No one is ever too old for the harvest.

Residents and staff of Saint Leonard, you have welcomed me into your lives, and I treasure our time together.  To each of you, in the words of Saint Francis,


Peace and every Blessing!
  
 Loren Connell, OFM,

 sacramental minister

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