Newly ordained friar-priest reflects on call to Franciscan life

As Friar Edgar Varela, OFM Conv., discerned life a Franciscan, it was the support of friends and family that helped fuel his journey.

“People see the vocation to religious life in others, and it’s important that they say something,” Friar Edgar said. “Sometimes someone is considering the priesthood or consecrated life, but they need a sign. Having the support of others can be that sign.”

Friar Edgar is the latest Franciscan Friar Conventual to be ordained a priest in Our Lady of the Angels Province – his ordination was on April 25 at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Graham, North Carolina. Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., of Atlanta, Georgia, was the ordaining prelate for the Mass.

“My call to Franciscan ministry includes the priesthood,” Friar Edgar said. “I’m excited to bring God to people through the Sacraments.”

Friar Edgar celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, April 26, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

“Ordained in the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi, whose 800th anniversary of his transitus into heaven we commemorate this year, Friar Edgar embraces a priesthood rooted in humility, fraternity, and joyful service, offering his life so that others may encounter the mercy and love of Christ,” Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv., said at the ordination Mass.

Born in Phoenix, Ariz., Friar Edgar is the son of Maribel and Manuel Varela. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago, and a Masters in Divinity from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C..

Friar Edgar’s path to the Franciscan Order began when he was studying in D.C. He said he was most attracted to the fraternity and “down to earth” nature of the friars he interacted with. In the Franciscans, he saw the true joy that comes from living the Gospel in community with others.

Prior to his ordination, Friar Edgar spent a year serving as a deacon at the Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr in Chicopee, Massachusetts. During the year, he also brought Communion to the sick and taught Spanish to fourth through eighth graders at the parish school.

Friar Edgar spent some of his final weeks preparing for ordination at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland – home of the Companions of St. Anthony. He professed his solemn vows as a Franciscan Friar Conventual in the Shrine Chapel in May 2025.

During his pre-ordination retreat he reflected: “You don’t have to be perfect to make this decision to pursue religious life or the priesthood. If it’s meant to be, God will open the doors.”

Easter Sunday Mass celebrated on 350^th Anniversary of St. Kateri’s Baptism

Pilgrims braved the cold in the unheated St. Peter’s Chapel at the Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site in Fonda, New York on Easter Sunday. While Easter Sunday is always the high point of the Church year, those huddled at the Shrine were celebrating a renewal of baptismal promises on a very special anniversary.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha was baptized on that very historic site 350 years ago this Easter Sunday. The spring where her baptismal water was drawn from still flows on the site today.

“Today, we stand on holy ground,” said Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv., who serves as Minister Provincial for Our Lady of the Angels Province. “Holy ground made sacred not only by the Resurrection of Jesus, but by the faith of a young Mohawk woman who was baptized 350 years ago this very day, along with two other native believers. What a grace and what a providence that this Easter and this anniversary meet for one single moment of joy.”

In addition to Mass on Easter morning, pilgrims took part in a smudging ceremony, a Native American tradition for purifying and healing.

Incorporating Native American traditions is routine at the Shrine, as the site’s historical significance – the site of the Caughnawaga National Historic Site (a Mohawk Village) – and natural beauty, the Shrine often attracts pilgrims who have not previously attended Catholic Masses.

“It was an honor to host so many for such a significant anniversary,” said Melissa Bramble, Director of Operations at the Shrine. “We’re looking forward to welcoming many more through the rest of this Franciscan Jubilee and Baptismal Anniversary year.”

The Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site is stewarded by the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province and supported by the Companions of St. Anthony. Thousands of pilgrims visit the Shrine every year for Mass, special events, and to visit this historic Mohawk Village or walk through the expansive grounds. Shrine events embrace St. Kateri’s love for creation, solidarity with the poor, and peacemaking, in harmony with the charism of St. Francis.

St. Kateri was born to a Mohawk chief and Christian Algonquin woman in 1656. Contracting smallpox at an early age, St. Kateri was left with scarred skin and poor eyesight. Her Mohawk name, Tekakwitha, means “she who bumps into things.”

She began learning about the Catholic faith when Jesuit missionaries entered her Mohawk village in her teenage years. She was later baptized on Easter Sunday 1676, taking the name Catherine, which she chose in honor of St. Catherine of Sienna. Kateri is the Mohawk form of that name.

She died in 1680 in her early twenties. She was canonized as a saint in October 2012. She continues to be a light for those seeking peace, healing, and intercultural encounters.

To learn more about the Saint Kateria Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site, click here.

Recent convert thanks friars and Shrine of St. Anthony for helping her find Christ

Every day, fresh flowers are arranged (or rearranged), bulked up, or trimmed down in the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, MD for placement near the tabernacle and at the feet of the Mary and St. Anthony statues flanking the altar in the Chapel. Behind these arrangements is Karen Sympson, a volunteer who uses this way to give back to the place she says has given her so much.

“I’d been to more churches than you can imagine in search of the Lord, and many of them, I turned around and walked right back out,” Karen said. “I walked in here and the Lord’s not letting me walk out.”

Karen was confirmed this Easter (2026) at the age of 65. She grew up in a house that did not have a faith tradition, but said she discovered who Christ was, as well how saints can pray and intercede for us, at the Shrine of St. Anthony.

The Shrine of St. Anthony is a ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province and home to the Companions of St. Anthony. A private novitiate for decades, the Shrine building began being used for public Masses and retreats in the 1990s before being established as the Shrine of St. Anthony for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2005.

Karen first came to the Shrine in 2021. At the prompting of three customers in the same week – she worked at a local grocery store chain at the time – Karen decided to visit the Shrine despite her long-held skepticism for Catholicism.

She didn’t get very far, she said, sharing that she left before entering the Chapel, but something drew her back the next day and the day after that.

It took months before Karen would attend Mass, but she still found solace on the Shrine’s grounds. For a long time, Karen would come to the Shrine property and pray after work.

“I walked the eternity garden until I wore holes in my shoes,” she said, referring to the St. Anthony Garden of Eternity just west of the Shrine building.

With the help of friars, staff, and volunteers at the Shrine, Karen started to learn more about Catholicism and eventually went to her first Mass. Months later, she received her first Communion on All Saints Day in 2023.

“I was broken when I came here,” Karen said, referencing years of seeing specialists and needing medications for health troubles. “The friars have totally changed my life. When they pray for you, you feel it!”

As for St. Anthony and the Blessed Mother, she held on to some skepticism for a while even after she started to feel Christ’s presence at Mass and in receiving the Eucharist. She described her interactions with the saints as “snarky,” before they each showed her their way of interceding for her journey in their own way.

Now, arranging flowers in the Shrine’s sacristy for refresh the vases in the Chapel, Karen said she talks with Mary while she works.

“It’s like I’m hanging out and chatting with a girlfriend,” she said, the thought of never returning to the Shrine a distant memory.

“It took this whole community to get me here,” she said, with a special thank you to the friars who live and minister on this site. “Whatever I needed, they were there for me.”

Taking home a basket of fresh produce that includes hearty greens, root vegetables, and herbs can be intimidating for any amateur chef. It can be especially hard for clients of a soup kitchen and food pantry with limited resources to cook.

In March 2021, the Franciscan Center of Baltimore, a ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual, started a culinary training program for clients receiving one of the more than 200 boxes of fresh produce being distributed weekly at that time. This past fall, the Center celebrated its 14^th class of graduates from the program.

Dignity Plates Training Academy has hosted 118 students for a free 13-week culinary training program over the last five years. And over time the program has evolved from simply teaching clients to process fresh food to a workforce development program, helping students not only learn to cook at a high level, but find employment upon completion of the program.

More than 65 percent of students who have gone through the program have successfully found employment in the food industry in Baltimore. Students have found employment at medical centers, Baltimore sports stadiums, universities and local country clubs. The Center has also employed many graduates as it expands its own catering program.

Sustainable Living

Dignity Plates Culinary Academy offers free tuition for the 13-weeks and includes a $1,300 stipend for participating students. The program is funded through donations from the community and social enterprises of the Center.

In addition to culinary techniques, students are taught menu development and food safety, as well as customer service skills. “Wellness Wednesdays” include classes on diet and nutrition, and students also take classes on financial literacy. Students visit Little Portion Farm, another ministry of the friars which donates a large sum of its produce to the Center’s soup kitchen, during their course to learn about different ingredients they will use in their culinary career. Their final exam is preparing a luncheon for Center donors from start to finish – including developing the menu, ordering all required ingredients and quantities, and preparation.

“We’re helping students create opportunities for sustainable living,” said Chef Derrick Purcell, Culinary Director at the Franciscan Center. “It’s great to see our students achieve a growing sense of confidence and identity after completing the program, which is not easy.”

Looking Ahead

The Franciscan Center of Baltimore offers a variety of services to clients in West Baltimore, including child and family support, health care referrals, Maryland state ID services, and daily hot lunch for clients in the soup kitchen. While the Center has been operating for more than 50 years, Our Lady of the Angels Province began their relationship with the organization 2023 when the Franciscan Sisters of Milwaukee asked the friars to support a ministry they no longer had the resources to provide for.

While the sponsor relationship is relatively new, the friars’ Little Portion Farm has donated tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce to the Center’s kitchen since 2019.

“We were honored to begin working with the Center more formally a couple years ago after so many years of successful partnership with the farm,” said Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv., Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province. “St. Francis was a man of the poor, and the Center embodies his spirit every day.”

And the Center has no plans to slow down. In 2026, the hope is to begin offering the culinary training program at night as well.

“We recognize that the industry need is not slowing down, and students can’t afford to give up a paid job to do the course,” Derrick said. “We want to offer chances for students to get a new or renewed passion for cooking.”

By Friar Chris Dudek, OFM Conv.

Youth ministry has always been central to the Church’s mission, and especially important for Our Lady of the Angels Province. From the beginning, Sts. Francis and Clare recognized that young people are especially open to encounter, transformation, and courageous change. Both heard Christ’s call to a deeper Gospel life at a young age. Today, our Province carries on this legacy by creating spaces where young people can experience fraternity, prayer, and the adventure of following Christ. We are grateful to have friars serving in high schools, college campus ministries, and parishes with active youth groups and parish schools that continue to thrive.

This same spirit fuels my ministry as Campus Minister at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, MD, where the friars have faithfully served for several decades. Each day at Curley is life-giving—journeying with young men as they discern who God is calling them to be, celebrating the Sacraments together, forming them in the Franciscan ideals, and watching them grow in faith, character, discipline, and service. It is an honor to work so closely with my fellow lay teachers and administrators who have also embraced the Franciscan mission. Our school is a vibrant example of what happens when friars and the laity walk with youth consistently and joyfully.

Much of my passion for youth ministry comes from my personal experience. My own calling to our fraternity began in high school, when I met the friars and was drawn to their joy. I was particularly inspired by my active youth group at The Basilica of St. Stanislaus in Chicopee, MA. During that time, I traveled to Assisi for the first time. Walking those old streets, praying in the Portiuncula and at the tomb of St. Francis, and standing where Francis encountered the leper changed my life. That experience planted the seeds of my vocation and showed me that God speaks powerfully through encounters, places, and community. Now, it is a privilege to help create similar opportunities for young people in our province.

In the past three years, one way this vision has come to life has been through the Assisi by the Chesapeake retreat, a three-day gathering for youth on the Chesapeake Bay. Each summer, young people come together to pray, share stories, serve meals, and enjoy being young disciples of Christ. My fellow friars play a big role each year, with at least a dozen joining us to celebrate Mass, lead small groups, offer Confession, play games, and, most importantly, walk with young people on their faith journeys with the warmth and joy of Sts Francis and Clare. My favorite part of the retreat is seeing the Franciscan joy present among both the friars and the young people, the same joy in Christ that inspired me when I was a teenager.

Last year, for the first time, we launched a youth Assisi Pilgrimage, inviting young people to walk physically and spiritually in the footsteps of Sts Francis and Clare. We have already filled up our second pilgrimage for this upcoming July. This pilgrimage is a transformative experience that immerses young people in the heart of our charism. From the holy walls of the Vatican to the quiet caves of the Carceri, from the bustling piazzas of Assisi to the tomb of our Seraphic Father, students and young adults discover the power of place—how stepping into the story of a saint can awaken their own call to holiness. Once again, our friars journey with them, helping each participant reflect on the deeper movements of God within their hearts.

These initiatives remind us that encounter is everything. When young people step out of their routines, place themselves before Christ, and journey with others who love the Gospel, their lives truly change. Some find renewed faith, some experience healing, and some discern a deeper call to serve. And some, inspired by Sts Francis and Clare, may begin to imagine the possibility of religious life.

As a Province, we are deeply grateful to the friars who give their time, the ministries that send their young people, the benefactors who support us, and everyone who prays for these efforts. We ask that you continue supporting these efforts. Encourage the young people you know to take part, come back to Church, deepen their faith, and, if God wills, consider the vocation of a friar or sister. Let’s keep walking with our young Church, trusting that Christ, who called our founders in their youth, still calls today.

The foundations of a new Franciscan friary in Gulu, Uganda have been laid, paving the way for a larger community of friars to minister in the missionary outpost of the Franciscan Friars Conventual.

“Our mission in Gulu is being built from scratch,” Friar Józef Matuła, OFM Conv. said. “We look forward to offering opportunities for pastoral development, reaching more people in our area, and allowing the mission to grow not only through buildings and infrastructure, but above all, spiritually.”

Friar Józef arrived in Gulu (in the northern region of Uganda) in April 2025. He is helping oversee the construction of the new friary in Gulu, though friars have been living and ministering in southern areas of Uganda for decades.

“We are grateful to see that our mission is growing and brings many wonderful fruits,” Friar Józef said. “Our prayerful presence with all people, our sisters and brothers in our mission, all pastoral and sacramental ministry, catechism and catholic formation, strengthening the faith, raising and discerning new vocations brings so much joy to our missionary life!”

A New Marytown

On an area of about 40 acres in Gulu, tall grasses have been cleared, a deep well dug, and construction begun to open the new site, which was inspired by St. Maximillian Kolbe, OFM Conv.

A saint with a deep devotion to Mary whom he called the “Immaculata,” St. Maximillian Kolbe began the Militia of the Immaculata and envisioned a world where “Marytowns” continued to spread devotion to Jesus through Mary. Franciscans have founded these communities committed to Mary in Poland (Niepokalanow nearby Warsaw), Nagasaki, Japan, and in Libertyville, IL (near Chicago).

Friar Józef envisions the next Franciscan epicenter of Marian devotion in Gulu.

“Saint Maximilian with his great faith and heart wanted also to come to Africa, but because of his sickly health condition and the Second World War made it never happen,” Friar Józef said. “We give thanks to God, that now after many years the dream and prayers of Saint Maximilian, his inspiration brought many brothers Franciscans to this continent and now we are serving in many African countries!”

Hope for the Future

Friar Józef describes Gulu as warm and dry, as compared to Kampala on Lake Victoria in the South, but a rainy season contributes to a lush and colorful landscape. He said most people rely on farming and cattle raising to make a living.

“Every day on such a mission is filled with various organizational and material responsibilities, but we also strive to ensure that this mission grows spiritually and brings blessed fruit to this local Church and everyone we meet here,” he said.

While work is underway on the new friary, the mission friars also dream of building a large Church in the region.

Friar Józef added that through their mission work in Uganda, they have come to see a great devotion to Mary among the people. Especially in a country still recovering from decades of civil war (ended 2008), a center of Marian devotion would be a welcome blessing and promote further healing and reconciliation.

“A Church dedicated to Marian spirituality can bring a very positive, blessed influence and impact on people here and their families,” Friar Józef said.

Donations to the Companions of St. Anthony assist with mission projects in Uganda, through the Franciscan Mission Association.

“If you build it, they will come.”

Or, in the case of the Newman Catholic Community at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill, if you renovate, even more will come.

When faced with needed improvements to campus ministry infrastructure, Newman’s Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry, Friar Tim Kulbicki, OFM Conv., knew starting a more than $1 million project was a leap of faith.

“God [has] rewarded us with both burgeoning numbers and generous benefactors who often took the initiative in suggesting and funding further projects,” Friar Tim said. “We are now positioned to better minister to both larger numbers of students and increasing involvement in the parish. God bless this community of faith for its hope in the future.”

Phase II of these capital improvements was completed in September – the occasion marked by a rededication ceremony for the main gathering spaces of the Activity Center. The center is now more accessible to students and parishioners with mobility challenges, with ADA compliant facilities and gathering spaces that can more safely and easily accommodate wheelchairs. Additionally, the sound system and electrical capacity of the indoor and outdoor gathering spaces were significantly upgraded.

“This ministry is growing, and these updates will bring the community together even more,” Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv., said. “We’re blessed to share our Franciscan charism with all who visit there.”

Friar Michael serves as Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province, a branch of the Franciscan Order that ministers in 19 (arch)dioceses of the United States. Friars live and minister in Chapel Hill and the Newman Catholic Community at UNC. Contributions from the Companions of St. Anthony multiply the generosity of the local community in helping this campus ministry to thrive.

“The local parishioners are very dedicated to the students, and the Catholic students reap the benefits of the local community invested in their faith,” Friar Michael said.

The final stage of the renovation project includes replacing the chairs in the Church with pews. These pews are set to be installed in Spring 2026 and the seating capacity in the Church will increase from 315 to 350.

Ken Reeb, Newman’s Finance Council Chair, speaks at rededication ceremony on September 28.