Communio Volume 1 Issue 2 Fall 2008

Society of
Our Lady of the
Most Holy Trinity

50th Anniversary

July 16, 2008

“Our celebration begins at Corpus Christi Cathedral.”

“In the opening procession, children of SOLT carried flags, one for
each country in which SOLT has a mission.”

“Many SOLT priests

are in attendance, as
well as Corpus Christi
Bishop Emeritus
Gracida, Bishop
Carmody and Bishop
Wright, Bishop of
Belize.”
 “As you can
imagine, Father
Jim Flanagan was
all smiles…

…and so was
Father John!”

“The Corpus Christi Choir sang

beautifully, and the organ music
was magnificent.”

“The gift of the Eucharist was gratefully received!”

“These folks standing were present when the 25th anniversary was celebrated!!”

“Father Vince
Albano wears a stole
commemorating the
50th anniversary of
SOLT. Stoles were
given as gifts to SOLT
clergy.”
 “SOLT Sisters, old and new, with Fathers Jim and John!”

“All praise to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to Our Lady,
for the gift of this wonderful day!”
Topic: God the Father
- talk given by Fr. Tony Anderson, SOLT

Fr. Tony Anderson currently serves SOLT as head of

an ecclesial team in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Fr. Tony
joined SOLT in 1985, and has been a priest 17 years.
Here are some highlights from the talk, for you to
ponder:
• God is our generous, benevolent Father. How can
we grow to appreciate the ‘grandness’ of God the
Father? Look to creation…
• God is in the great and the small. Scientists ponder
the great e.g. stars, the Milky Way, galaxies – and
the small e.g. atoms, protons, ‘singularities’. Much
has been written about these scientific studies. Fr.
Tony recommends a book titled, A Short History of
Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson.
• Reading about these studies, and their conclusions, Fr. Tony Anderson ministering to a boy in Nuevo
can be a way to strengthen our faith! Ultimately, Laredo, Mexico.
scientists come to the conclusion that there is
a Creator and a Mind behind the structure and is necessary for emotional health. In our lives with
creation of the universe. God planned creation very God, we should embrace the ‘ABCs of affirmative
well. Creation is a sign of how much God loves you living’: A. be Attentively present to the one in front
and me! Thank you, Father, for the gift of creation of you, B. live in the realm of Being, C. live in
and life! Community (not activity or communication). This
• God blesses us with life and the gift of creation, will enable us to have a capacity to love and be
and God is also our refuge, our Rock. God’s infinite affirmers of others.
love for each of us provides us with a resting place, • “Thank you, Eternal Father, for being You toward
a refuge. As we receive God’s infinite, tender, us. Amen!”
unconditional love, we are made strong. As we let
ourselves be affirmed by God, we become a refuge
for others.
• We have many people in our lives that are a rock,
a refuge for us: Fr. Jim Flanagan, Pope Benedict.
Other sources of affirming, unconditional love might
be our biological fathers and mothers, our priests,
our ecclesial team members.
• In the Scripture story of the adulterous woman,
Jesus affirms this woman with emotional affirmation
(her sin was no worse than anyone else’s there
– “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone”)
and intellectual affirmation (“Go, and sin no
more…”). Reconciliation can be a rock of refuge for
us also. Scripture shows us that the apostles Peter
and John were a rock and refuge for others.
• God’s love is pure power, pure love. In it we
become strong. Fr. Jim’s favorite psychologist,
Fr. John Patterson (R) gives Fr. Miguel Noyola a
Conrad Baars, defines “deprivation neurosis” and
blessing.
counters it with relational healing. God’s affirming
love, found in unconditional love between humans,
And also during the Assembly ...
Eight Sisters renewed their vows
Sr. Maria Angelica Moreno
Sr. Maria de los Angeles Ramirez
Sr. Alison Marie Conemac
Sr. Mater Ecclesia Abbott
Sr. MaryAnn Richwald
Sr. Janet Marie Newcome
Sr. Catherine Nagl
Sr. Mary Claire Strasser

The following lay members made

Committed promises:
from Georgia:
Ken & Christine Dawson and family
Jim and Mary Ann Judge
Jim & Erin DesPres and family
Also:
Ilene Biberstein
Ordinations Maura Chipa
Deacon Samuel Medley was ordained a priest and Frances & Conrad Gonzales
Brother Dennis Dugan was ordained a Deacon.
Lay Definitive Promises:
Elizabeth Henricks
Rosemary Houghton
Donald Fessler
Christine Ann Mugridge
Michael and Melinda Pond and family

Jennifer Wycoff seated next to Fr. Jim Flanagan became a consecrated widow
Others pictured: L-R Anna Eby, Rose Crilly, Marie Garrett, Mary Hanrahan, Nikki Sullivan, Maria Blount, Magdalene
Edmonton, Mary Louise Zell, Juanita Steele, Rosemary Fesen, Jackie Sheehan
Topic: God the Son
- talk given by Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT

Sr. Anne Walsh is currently greater way. There was an explosion of the Holy
the General Sister Servant Spirit! The disciples must have felt awe and yet
for SOLT Sisters. She great sadness as they watched Jesus ascend into
joined SOLT in 1983, and heaven…how difficult to be parted from Jesus! Yet
has been a SOLT sister for without this separation, the explosion of the Holy
twenty years. Spirit could not have come…
Here are some points from • We can look for a similar gift when God calls Fr.
the talk for you to ponder: Jim home. Let us pray we have members among
us who are courageous enough to ask for this
explosion of the Holy Spirit for this community
• Jesus is the center of
when Fr. Jim goes home.
everything, and the
Firstborn of all creation. • “Let us be fully united with Christ in His life,
sufferings, death and resurrection. Let us rid
• There is a beautiful, active exchange of love
ourselves of all obstacles to that. Let us be a
between the Father and the Son.
blessing to each other. Let us, with the help of Our
• Jesus works to restore the image of the Father Lady, fully put on the mind of Christ.”
in us so Jesus can bring us into communion with
Himself and the Father, through the Holy Spirit.
The Father looks for Jesus, and looks to see Jesus
reproduced in our souls.
• The Blessed Mother mirrored Jesus and the Father
and the oneness of love between them both.
• Jesus always sought to please the Father. As we
strive to be more like Jesus, our goal should be to
please the Father; the only way we can do this is to
become more like Jesus! There are several ways
we can do this…
• Blessing: bestowed as a gift to bring about the will Deacon Paul McCardle, the first deacon in Our Lady’s
of God. (If you spend any time with Fr. Jim, you Society.
will see that he blesses everything!) Through our
priestly capacity given us at our Baptism, all of us
can participate in the power of Christ to bestow the
priestly blessing of Christ to upon each other and
all creation.
• Living the Pascal Mystery: the Father will see
Jesus in us if we react to suffering with forgiveness
and love.
• Healing of Memories: we must receive healing, so
our memory operates prompted by the movements
of the Holy Spirit. If I need to remember something,
the Holy Sprit brings it to mind; if I don’t need it, it is
not in my conscious mind, causing any disturbance.
• Popes John Paul II and Benedict are an incredible
gift to us: they move from suffering, through
memory, and into hope!
• Recall that after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Father Rogel (Ogie) Rosalinas, General Priest Servant of
Jesus was present to the disciples in an even Our Lady’s Society at the 50th Anniversary Mass.
The First ‘Graced Friendship’ in SOLT
- a cowboy and a Bostonian!

The year: 1957 (the month of May) Once the cowboy and the Bostonian met, things started
The setting: Diocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico - to change fast. The cowboy likes to point out that he
Archbishop Byrne presiding was consecrated to Our Lady in 1946, one year before
The cowboy: Father John McHugh the Bostonian was consecrated. The two have been
The Bostonian: Father Jim Flanagan together ever since, a reminder to all of us that the
Father’s plan comes from His love!
The cowboy had been working in this diocese, in the
town of Holman, for the last three and a half years.
When he arrived, the parish had a school run by an
order of nuns. After he arrived, the school burned
down and the nuns left the diocese. Everything was
going badly, and the cowboy prayed to Our Lady to
‘make something happen.’

The Bostonian wanted to convert the world to Christ,

and was looking for others to do the same. After
meeting Archbishop Byrne, the Bostonian was told to
begin his work anywhere in the diocese, AFTER he
talked to the priest currently working in the Sangre de
Cristo Mountains (Holman).

The Bostonian arrives, by stagecoach, to Holman.

He waits in the hardware store to meet the priest,
who comes there once a week for supplies. The
Bostonian looks out the big picture window of the
store, and sees a
priest coming up the
walk…WEARING A
COWBOY HAT AND
COWBOY BOOTS!
The Bostonian
immediately thinks
to himself, “That’s
all I need, someone
who wants to play
cowboys and Indians,
and I want to convert
the world to Christ!”

The cowboy was told by the Chancery that a priest Frs. Jim Flanagan, John McHugh - enjoying their
from Boston was coming. The cowboy had a prejudice graced friendship - and Sr. Maria Angelina Soto after
against Bostonians: they the Anniversary Mass.
talk big, smoke big cigars,
and wear Homburg hats! From the Editor
He thought to himself, “I
We are eager to hear from you! Please send any
have no help, no Sisters,
news, articles, prayers, pictures, etc. to the Com-
no teachers, all I need is
munio email address: Communionewsletter@
a city slicker from Boston
yahoo.com.
telling me what to do and
not to do!” In Christ and Our Lady,
Diane Olsen
Topic: God the Holy Spirit
- talk given by Dr. John Purk, SOLT
Dr. John Purk joined
SOLT in 1979. John
currently serves on the
North American Regional
Council. He and his wife
Patty and their children live
in Roeland Park, Kansas.
John spoke about the
Holy Spirit. Here are some
points from his talk for you
to ponder:
• The Holy Spirit is devoted to us; we live in the age
of the Holy Spirit.
• After a living encounter with the Holy Spirit, the fire
of the Spirit burns inside us.
• Just as you and I proceeded from a mother and
a father as a sign of their love, so the Holy Spirit
proceeds from the love of the Father for the
Son and the Son for the Father. In this manner,
individually, each of us is patterned after the Holy
Trinity.
• Our memories must be purified in order to hear the
voice of the Holy Spirit. Healing of memories can
occur through the sacraments of Eucharist and
Reconciliation.
• One cannot have opposition to Our Lady AND the
Holy Spirit.
• Inner darkness can come from sin, a need for
purification, or temptation. Our response to it is the
same. We can ward off darkness with prayer, doing
our daily duty well, and remaining faithful to the
commands of the Councils of the Church.
• Jesus is our first Counselor; the Holy Spirit is
our second Counselor. The Holy Spirit makes it
possible to bear witness to Jesus.
• Sin can be defined as the rejection of the mission
of Jesus that causes people to condemn Jesus to
death. However, the love of Jesus is so great that
Jesus would rather die on the cross than condemn
us.
• The evil one is an accuser, and can make us
suspicious of God, fearful that God wants to judge
us. The Holy Spirit wants to drive this suspicion out
of us. We receive happiness and peace when the
Holy Spirit overshadows us.
Items for Sale
This Christmas give the gift of the 50th Anniversary
Commemorative Book of SOLT. It includes a bio
of the Founder, history of the early years in NM, the
Kansas City years, Boston and Corpus Christi years,
mission and apostolate throughout the world, special
events, specialized ministries, future directions and
much more …. The book is an attractive 64 page,
hard cover publication, professionally laid out with
many pictures included and it is ready to be shipped.
A $20 offering + $5 postage is suggested for each
book. To order a copy online go to Soltsisters.org/
catalog.html or mail a check to PO Box 536, Bosque,
NM 87006. For questions please contact Sr. Anne or
Sr. Mary Paul at 505-864-4251.
Membership Directories are available for sale:
hard copy in binder form $10 + $5.50 shipping or
CD (power point necessary) for $5 + $1.00 shipping
These are available thru the General Lay Office in
Bosque, PO 417, Bosque, NM 87006.
If you would like a cookbook with recipes compiled
by Nikki Sullivan, call 816-531-0244.
Medals of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity
are available in silver, 14k and 18k gold. Visit the
Web site www.artifexmariae.com or order through
Blair Burton at PO Box 40, Capulin, CO 81124 or
artifexmariae@gmail.com.
A Scripture Rosary DVD with 200 images and
scripture meditations is available. Donations
are used to promote the rosary and support SOLT
missions. There is an image for every Hail Mary
accompanied with a scripture meditation. There
is no audio, just pictures with meditations. You or
someone in the family reads the meditations out loud
or silently. After the meditation you respond with the
Hail Mary.
The Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous and Glorious
mysteries are recited by you, your group or family.
It takes about 25 minutes to recite each set of
mysteries. Total DVD length is 1 hour and 40
minutes. Pray the rosary as the Rosary DVD plays.
For more information go to www.scripturerosary.com.
To order call 913-638-6811, email scripturerosary@
gmail.com or write SOLT, c/o 3305 West 50th
Terrace, Shawnee Mission, KS 66205.
Suggested donation $13.00 includes shipping.
Five Aspects of a Jubilee Year
- from a reflection given by Fr. Anthony Blount

1. Jubilee “rest”: time to rest in the abundant SOLT are encouraged

goodness of God, and give thanks with a joyful to take time daily
heart! to pray the Jubilee
2. A renewed commitment to live in freedom: Prayer of the Fiftieth
this is the graced time to be freed from whatever Anniversary of SOLT,
may be keeping us from living the fullness of our composed by Father
commitment to Our Lady’s Society. Jim Flanangan (see
below).
3. Restore unity and peace: “write off the debt of sin”
by letting go of any grudges and offenses. 5. Receive blessings that God promises to bestow
in a Jubilee year. Be faithful, and receive abundant
4. Time away with the Lord, perhaps making a grace!
pilgrimage to a Marian Shrine. All members of

Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity

Prayer for the Fiftieth Anniversary
July 16, 2008
Holy Spirit,

All Our Lady’s Society is truly grateful for all your Gifts,
Graces and Blessings during these past 50 years.
We ask forgiveness for any ways we have been unfaithful
and have not brought forth the fullness of the Divine plan
of the Father for Our Lady’s Society in His love.
May you be the inspiration to indicate the path we should
take to fulfill God’s plan and show what we must do with your help.

May all the apostolic works of Our Lady and all her members
be pleasing to you. May you be the inspiration of all our serving
as Jesus served. May you be our inspiration, for you alone can
bring us with the Father and the Son to the Divine destiny.
May you never leave us or allow us to displease our Father.
Unite our hearts with the hearts of Jesus and Mary
and the great heart of our Father so that the gifts of your grace
may bring us to become one in the communion
of the Most Holy Trinity.

May we be united in loving one another and live in the infinite

mercy of our Father, united to Jesus in the Eucharist,
and come to the fulfillment of grace.

In eternity, let us become sons and daughters of the Father in His

Family in the eternal life and happiness He has prepared for us all.

May we imitate Mary, become like Jesus, and live for the Triune God.
 Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity
109 W Avenue F
Robstown, TX 78380

Please pray for the

healing of:
Fr. Jim Flanagan
Fr. Joe Hadgkiss
Fr. Isidore
Fr. Tom Showalter
Fr. Neal Stull
Fr. John Corapi
Fr. Jim Tambornino
Fr. Ralph Jones
Fr. Jack Purtell
Br. Philip Howard
Sr. Trinity Vaughn
Sr. Eileen Dougherty
Mary Lou Farrell
Leocadia Serbin
Jacqueline Sheehan
Linda Avila
Maria Blount
Mary Chapa
SOLT Golden Jubilee Activities
Richard Anderson Kansas City
Billy Ann Steward
Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 5:00 p.m. – SOLT Jubilee Mass - held at
Tom Andreoli the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Robert Finn, Bishop of
George Estes the Kansas City St. Joseph Diocese will be the main celebrant. A reception will
Marijane Camilliri follow in Donnelly Hall, with a talk by Fr. Jim Flanagan.
The family of Israel and Thursday, November 6, 2008, 6:00 p.m. – SOLT Memorial Mass and
Paula Trevino Celebration of the Life of Fr. Tom Gier - held at the Filipino Association of
Greater Kansas City. Father Flanagan and other SOLT priests will attend.
Friday, November 7, 2008, 6:00 p.m. – Mass and re-dedication of Our
Please pray for the Lady’s Montessori School – will be held with Father Flanagan and other
repose of the souls SOLT priests. A reception will follow to celebrate the school’s service in the
of: Kansas City area since 1971.

Dorothy Dumatier Sunday, November 9, 2008, 10:00 a.m. – Mass and Reception at St. Louis
Inez Barrameda Church - for all current and former SOLT members in the Kansas City area.
Mary Albano If you would like more information, please call (816) 561-8849.

Also, please continue
praying for all the ill and
struggling priests, sisters
and laity of SOLT .
Boston
A get-together is being planned in Boston for the middle of November. Fr. Vince
Albano said it is hoped that Fr. Jim Flanagan would be able to attend along with
former lay apostles from the New England area and New York as well as former
Boston College classmates. They will have a Mass of Thanksgiving, a sit down
dinner with a couple of speakers and promotion of the worldwide missionary
works of the Society.