February 15, 1999

May the Love of God Reign in our Hearts



There are many items to report to you at the beginning of this year which Pope John Paul II has designated as the Year of the Father, urging reconciliation with the Father, and focusing especially on love and harmony in the family and on charity toward the poor. As we begin this Lenten season, may we heed that call to reconcile, to come home to the Father.
 
  The following are items to report:

Cause of Father Usera 
Annual Meeting
Elections to the Board of Directors
Prayer List
Doctoral Thesis on Father Usera
"Adoption" of a Boy and a Girl by the Association in the Dominican Republic
CARITAS 2000 - HELP IS STILL NEEDED FOR VICTIMS OF HURRICANE!
Receipts
New Bishop for the Arlington Diocese
1999 Membership Dues
Pilgrimage 2000

 

Cause of Father Usera - At this very moment, the Congress of Theologians of the Congregation for Causes of Saints in Rome is meeting and will examine the Positio Super Virtutibus, the document which is used to establish a candidate’s heroic virtues. This is the second and final phase of the process of heroic virtues, the first having been the historical phase which has concluded with a unanimous favorable vote. God willing, if the vote of the theologians is favorable, the matter then goes to the Congress of Bishops and Cardinals for consideration of a declaration of heroic virtues. When such is signed off by the Holy Father, the candidate is considered Venerable. The Congregation also will be looking into the process of miracle, which was sealed by Cardinal Ortega y Alamino of Havana in 1994. Please continue to pray that God may be glorified through the recognition of Father Usera’s heroic virtues and prompt beatification.

Annual Meeting - On October 16 and 17, the Father Usera Association held its annual meeting. We were honored to have with us Father Millan Arroyo Simon, S.J., Chairman of the Department of Social Work of the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. Father Arroyo gave a talk on Friday, October 16 at the Institute of Pastoral Formation of the Hispanic Apostolate, Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. The talk, entitled "Christian Life Today - Actuality of the Testimony of Father Usera" was well received by the audience, and brought Father Usera’s message to many who were unaware of his life and work. Our thanks go to Father Ovidio Pecharroman, Director of the Hispanic Apostolate for the Diocese of Arlington, VA for the invitation. Father Arroyo also celebrated mass at St. Catherine of Siena in Great Falls, Virginia, followed by a talk on the evangelizing mission of Father Usera.

Elections to the Board of Directors - After a call for nominations in our last newsletter, the Board of Directors has come up with a slate of candidates to serve as the Board of Directors of the Association for the next three years. Enclosed is a description of the candidates to the Board. If you are a dues paying member of the Association, and your dues are paid up at least through the 1998 membership year, you are entitled to vote. If your dues are not paid up, no ballot is enclosed. Yellow ballots are for family memberships and blue ballots are for individual memberships. We have included a stamped return envelope for you to return your ballot. Please follow the instructions on the ballot. Please return the ballots no later than March 20, 1999.

Prayer List - The current prayer list was distributed by mail. Please keep these intentions in your prayers. If there is a family member, friend, or anyone, living or deceased, you want added to the list, please let the office know. Also, if you have placed someone on the list and wish that person’s name removed, please let us know. 

Doctoral Thesis on Father Usera - Sister Teresa Vaz, RAD, deputy secretary of the Sisters of the Love of God in Madrid, who is in charge of Father Usera’s cause for the Congregation, was awarded last October a doctorate summa cum laude by the Social Work Faculty of the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. Her doctoral thesis, entitled Jeronimo Usera, precursor of social pedagogy, raises to figure of Father Usera to the heights of other great social workers of the 19th. Century, such as St. John Bosco. Congratulations to Sor Teresa!

Cistercians Honor Father Usera in their Ninth Centenary - The II International Cistercian Congress in Galicia, Spain and Portugal, which concluded at the Monastery of Oseira in Orense, included a work entitled Rev. Jeronimo Usera, a vanguard apostle with Cistercian roots. In addition, last August the influence of the Cistercian order in the region of Sanabria, Spain, was the topic of a series of conferences sponsored by the municipal government of Galende. Among the talks was one focusing on the paradoxes in the life of Rev. Jeronimo Usera, the monk whose spirituality was profoundly based in the Cistercian tradition, who went on to develop an intense apostolic and social mission after the monasteries were suppressed, without ever renouncing his contemplative vocation which he lived intensely during his long life. 

"Adoption" of a Boy and a Girl by the Association in the Dominican Republic: The Board of Directors authorized the "adoption" of a boy and a girl in the Dominican Republic by the Association. The Sisters of the Love of God minister to that country, with schools in Santo Domingo, Villa Altagracia and San Pedro de Macoris. The sponsorship is through the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA), a lay Roman Catholic organization serving the poor at mission sites throughout the world. Funds go for food, medical and dental care, basic clothing and instruction. 

CARITAS 2000 - HELP IS STILL NEEDED FOR VICTIMS OF HURRICANE!

Although the headlines and the news reports on last summer’s Hurricane Georges’ devastation in the Dominican Republic have died down, the suffering and lingering effects have not. The Sisters of the Love of God serve one of the poorest sectors of the capital, Santo Domingo, known as el Palmar, where they have a school and minister to the poor. The needs of these poor have been exacerbated by the natural catastrophe. In San Pedro de Macoris. they have a school which was severely damaged by the hurricane. In Villa Altagracia, the sisters have a school and medical dispensary, and they serve many rural areas and villages affected by the hurricane. The Father Usera Association of Spain has generously donated some funds to help with the rebuilding efforts and to help alleviate the human suffering, in addition to arranging for shipment of a container of food and clothing through the Catholic relief agency Caritas. The sisters have asked the help of our Father Usera Association as well.

Please be generous and contribute to this cause! We will establish a separate account in response to this call for help. We will allow for a six month campaign of fund raising, at the end of which, all funds will be forwarded to the Sisters of the Love of God. Please make your checks payable to the Father Usera Association, but designate it somehow that it is for the Dominican Republic relief effort. Remember, that the Holy Father has designated this Year of the Father as one focused on charity toward the poor!

Suggestions for fund raising - We would appreciate receiving suggestions from our members and supporters as to how best raise funds for this and other works of charity of the association.

Receipts - If you paid your membership fee during calendar year 1998 or contributed to the Father Usera Association, you should have a receipt in your packet. If you have any questions in this regard, please contact our offices.

New Bishop for the Arlington Diocese - Our Holy Father John Paul II has appointed Bishop Paul Stephen Loverde of Ogdensburg, N.Y. as the new bishop of Arlington, Virginia. He replaces the late bishop John R. Keating, who passed away last March during an ad limina visit to Rome. The Father Usera Association is headquartered in the Arlington diocese, and members of the Board are planning to request a meeting with the new prelate to welcome him on behalf of the Association. Installation of the new bishop is scheduled for March 25 at Arlington’s St. Thomas More Cathedral.

1999 Membership Dues - The Membership Dues statement for 1999 is included for those members who have yet to pay their 1999 dues. If your dues have been paid, you should not have a dues statement in your packet. Please be prompt and generous in returning the sheet and your check. Thank you for your generosity!

Pilgrimage 2000 - Work is still underway for a pilgrimage to Spain and Fatima in the spring of the year 2,000. We will keep you posted. If you are interested in details on the trip, please contact our offices.

On a personal note, Betty and I traveled last November to Spain, where we had an opportunity not only to visit with some of the Usera relatives, but also to visit the mother house of the Sisters of the Love of God. We were graciously received by Mother Superior, Sor Carmen Diaz, and other sisters. We also visited the house of the Adoratrices, the order founded by Saint Mary Micaela Desmaisieres, friend and collaborator of Father Usera. It was Saint Micaela who trained the first group of sisters of the Love of God, including the first mother superior of Father Usera’s order. As we toured a museum dedicated to Saint Micaela, in one corner we found the story of their collaboration, as well as that of the saint and St. Anthony Mary Claret. It was truly an unforgettable experience.
   

May you have a fruitful Lenten season.

 In Christ,

 J. Andrew Usera

President