USA Presence

Missionaries of St. Francis De Sales have been present in USA for more than 35 years. Confreres from
Europe, England, India and USA have been in ministry in parishes in USA during this period of time.
There has always been a desire to implant the Congregation in USA. Attempts had been made as early as 1935 to start some sort of mission in the country, but without success. An attempt was made to purchase a house for the novitiate around 1940, but the superior general was unable to provide funds.

In 1949, Frs. Basil Luyet and Grorod visited seven bishops without success. When Fr. Paul Sankoorikal arrived in St. Louis in 1964, he was asked to sign a declaration that he did not intend to establish an MSFS community. In a letter to Fr. Waldron, Fr. Luyet summarized that “religious who want to do missionary work in mission territories or in more destitute urban areas, and who are not concerned with fund-raising problems, may be welcome.”

In 1968, then Superior General, Fr. Adrien Duval, decided to proceed actively to establish a mission and commissioned the provincial of the English province, Fr. Pat Waldron to proceed to the U.S. before the end of the year, and to make contact with whoever was agreeable to our presence there. Fr. Waldron arrived in the U.S.A. on December 6, 1968 and made contact with seven bishops without success.

Finally in 1969, Fr. Waldron visited Atlanta, where he made a favorable impression on the archbishop
and Fr. Gill was assigned to St Joseph’s parish in Athens. In February 1970, the council of the English
Province decided that Atlanta would be the most favorable location for establishing a foundation for the MSFS. It was suggested to the superior general that a priest from the English Province be sent to Atlanta for a period of five years to set up a foundation. His income for that period would be sent to England.

Archbishop Thomas Donnellan entrusted the care of St. Patrick’s Church, Norcross, GA to the MSFS,
consisting of only 82 families in April 24, 1972. This parish had grown into 900 families when Fr. Fleury left the parish in 1977. A new Church was constructed with the capacity for seating 500 people in 1981. In 2002, after prayerful discernment with the Superior General and the Provincials, two of the confreres who worked with the American Mission at St. Patrick’s Church returned to their provinces and two others were given permission to work in other parishes while being directly under their provincials. Fr. John Tiernan left the MSFS in 2003. With these turn of events, the American mission had only three confreres to carry on its work and the care of St. Patrick’s was no more possible. So the parish was handed over to the Archdiocese in March 2003.

On July 3, 1974, the MSFS were officially committed to the care of St. Lawrence Church, Lawrenceville, GA, by Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan and officially accepted by Fr. Sean Fleury on behalf of the provincial, Fr. Kevin O’Neill, and the Superior General, Fr. Adrien Duval. In 1994, this parish of 1600 families was handed over to the Archdiocese.

In May 1992, Fr. Bayer was diagnosed with leukemia and suffered an untimely death from it on October 2, 1993. With his death, it became impossible for the MSFS to run two parishes. So St. Lawrence parish was handed over to the Archdiocese and confreres concentrated on ministering at St. Patrick’s Church.

In 1974, Fr. Zacharias Mannukuzhumpil, then provincial of Visakhaptnam Province commissioned Frs.
Kurian Aranjanil and Augustine Tharappel to establish a house of MSFS in USA. The project was
abandoned for various reasons in 1976 and Fr. Augustine Tharappel completed his studies and returned to India.

In 1975, MSFS were offered a house in secluded woods by the widow of Ed Barton, one of the key men involved with the construction of the church in Lawrenceville. It was named Villa Luyet in honor of Fr. Basil Luyet, MSFS, who had died in 1968 at Madison, WI. He was very well known in the research field of cryogenics. Villa Luyet was established as a novitiate house, and a place for preparing possible candidates for the seminary in 1995 and Fr. Joe Mendes was appointed Vocation and Formation Director.

The desire for implanting the Congregation in USA began to materialize more fully and in reality when
Ken Bayer (1975), Martin Kopchik (1986), John DeVore (1986) and John Tiernan (1998) from USA
joined the congregation and were ordained priests.

Many MSFS confreres, Frs. Sean Fleury, Desmond Daly, Gerry Gill, Joe Meehan, Felix Mendes, Terry
McGrath, Francis Hamilton, Christopher Yamold, Joe Thevenet, Martin Griffin, Vincent Ferandes, John
Rodrigues, S.L.Paul, Ken Bayer, Martin Kopchik, Joseph Mullakkara, Joseph Mendes, Patchala
Hrudayaraj, Abraham Mullenkuzhy, Joseph Thayil, John Tiernan have served these two parishes well
during a period of 35 years.

Toward the establishment of USA Region
In 1996, Fr. Emile Mayoraz, then Superior General, commissioned Fr. Augustine Tharappel to establish a ministry in USA, which is unique to the Fransalian charism in view of raising the present American Mission to a region. Fr. Augustine began his ministry in the diocese of Tyler as parochial vicar at the Cathedral in May 1996. After eighteen months of pastoral ministry, he established Wellspring, Fransalian Center for Spirituality on January 24, 1998.

On September 15, 1998 Wellspring moved to the present location. A three bedroom house and 1.27 acres of property was purchased for this purpose through primarily local donations and contribution from the American mission. The property has now a mobile home with two bed rooms and a kitchen for a guest house, besides the original three-bed room house. It has a small hermitage for Fr. Augustine’s residence.

A large hall, a library and a small chapel have been added to the original house over a period of four
years. Since then, we have had several meetings, discussions, prepared documents, two visits from
Fr. Emile Mayoraz, former Superior General and two visits from Fr. Agnelo Fernandes, the present
Superior General, exploring the possibility of raising the present American Mission into a region under
the administrative authority of the Superior General.

In August 2001, the Superior General, Fr. Agnelo Fernandes, visited confreres in America. He gave a
detailed outline of the process of organization of apostolic communities after his visit in his letter dated September 15, 2001. Two apostolic communities were organized and the first meeting was to be held in December 2001. Two apostolic communities were established.

Fr. Augustine Tharappel was appointed animator of the Texas-Louisiana Apostolic Community (West
USA) and Fr. Joseph Mullakkara was appointed the animator of Georgia-Alabama-Florida-Tennessee-
Illinois-Michigan community (East USA). And in February 25, 2002, Fr. Augustine Tharappel was
appointed coordinator of the two apostolic communities. Fr. Martin Kpchik continued to be the superior of the American Mission.

In September, 2002 responding to the proposals of 22 confreres in ministry in USA, the General Council proposed to form a USA Delegation juridically under the Superior General. This delegation was to be established with the four confreres of USA Mission, Frs. Marty Kopchik, John De Vore, John Tiernan and Augustine Tharappel as a starting point and other confreres whom their Provincials would designate for this purpose.

In October 24, 2004 Fr. Agnelo Feranades, Superior General, sent to all confreres and their Provincials a document on the American Region prepared by Fr. Augustine Tharappel, the Coordinator of Fransalians in USA requesting their studied response. This document received positive feedback from all concerned confreres and provincials.

On January 14, 2005 Fr. Augustine Tharappel was re-appointed coordinator. The appointment was to last till the establishment of delegation/region and the Apostolic Communities were reorganized into four.

In May 31, 2005 Fr. Augustine submitted to Fr. Agnelo a new and revised document titled “Fransalian
American Delegation” taking into consideration all the recommendations and suggestions made by the
Superior General. Provincials and confreres in ministry in USA, This document went through several
revisions between 2005 and 2006.

Fr. Agnelo Fernandes, Superior General invited Fr. Augustine Tharappel, Coordinator of Fransalians in
USA, to a joint meeting of the General council and the provincials on January 3, 2007. At this meeting after prayerful discernment, a unanimous decision was taken to form the “MSFS USA REGION”.

Formation, organization, establishment of administrative systems, etc. are in progress at this time.
USA Region 2007: Present Reality
American Mission:

Today, in 2007, we have an American Mission with three confreres, Frs. Martin Kopchik, John DeVore
and Augustine Tharappel. Fr. Martin is mission superior and associate pastor at St. Jude the Apostle
Church in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, GA. Fr. John DeVore is Bursar of the American Mission residing
at the new Villa Luyet in Loganville, GA. He also offers spiritual direction and helps out in parishes with masses and sacraments. The new Villa Luyet, a large house and six acre property was purchased with the proceeds from the sale of the old Villa Luyet in Lawrenceville. Fr. Augustine Tharappel is Founder-Director of Wellspring, Fransalian Center for Spirituality in Tyler, Texas. He is also parochial vicar at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Tyler, and recently completed two years of helping to create community and greater involvement at St. Paul Chapel, where around two hundred families gather for their sacramental needs.

Wellspring, “Fransalian Center for Spirituality”, is a well established Center for spirituality in the Diocese of Tyler, founded by Fr. Augustine Tharappel and blessed by Msgr. Joe Strickland on January 24, 1998. The main focus of Wellspring is to offer spiritual growth programs. Eight different groups meet regularly at Wellspring, some to deepen their spiritual life and others to learn the contemplative way. There are many individuals and couples who come to Wellspring every week, some seeking spiritual guidance and others to learn the contemplative way. Weekend retreats are offered for different groups from parishes, especially during the seasons of Advent and Lent. Deacon candidates for the diocese of Tyler have their spiritual formation program at Wellspring during the summer months. “Spiritual Moments”, a journal of spirituality is published twice a year. Wellspring has a website that provides valuable information on Spiritual life, especially daily meditations on the scripture readings of the Mass of the day and a weekend meditation on seasonal themes. The prayer line accepts prayer requests for various needs.

Confreres in Ministry
Besides the three confreres in the American Mission, there are 35 confreres in ministry in eleven dioceses in USA. There are 8 from Chennai Region, 6 from Vizakhapatnam Province, 12 from South West Province, 3 from North East Province, 2 from Pune Province, 3 from Nagpur Province and 1 from East African Province. There is also one confrere from North east Province pursuing studies in psychological counseling.

In conclusion, there are now a total of 39 MSFS confreres from various provinces in ministry in different dioceses in USA. All are involved in ministries well appreciated by people and their bishops and priests. Five of them are chaplains in hospitals, two are fully involved in retreats and spiritual direction while being in pastoral ministry in parishes, one is a student and the rest are fully immersed into ministry in parishes. These are the confreres who are being organized into the “MSFS USA Region”. The process has begun and will continue to fulfillment. Because the Lord who has begun a good work in us will bring it to completion because his kindness endures forever (Psalm 138:8).

Prepared by:
Fr. Augustine Tharappel,msfs,
Coordinator, Fransalians USA,
March 22, 2007
Submitted to the Superior General for the General chapter 2007