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Welcome!
Welcome!
Insert welcome from Fr. Ronnie
Insert welcome from Fr. Ronnie
CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION
OF OUR BLESSED LADY
A Roman Catholic Faith Community
143 1st Street Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075
Our Franciscian Roots
"Holy Name Province traces its roots to Franciscan missionaries who arrived in the Eastern United States in the mid 1800s to minister to a flood of European immigrants. Fr. Pamfilo da Magliano, OFM, with three other Italian friars came to Western New York in 1855, soon founding St. Bonaventure College. Twenty years later, friars from Germany, led by Fr. Francis Koch, OFM, fleeing persecution in their native land, settled in Paterson, N.J. In 1901, these early foundations were regrouped and Holy Name Province was established.
More than a century later, we are now the largest of the seven OFM provinces in the United States. Based in New York City, we have friaries in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. Individual friars also serve in various other U.S. locations and as missionaries in South America and Asia, mostly working with other Franciscan entities.
With more than 300 friars, the Province typifies the American melting-pot, with men from a wide spectrum of backgrounds: Irish, African-American, Filipino, Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese, Polish, Central American, German, Cuban, Canadian, Haitian, Hungarian and Colombian.
Holy Name Province has long been characterized by the wide diversity of its ministries and a talent for innovative service. Today we continue the mission of Francis to make the Gospel message alive in our contemporary world.
As our mission statement expresses: “Holy Name Province is an evangelical and missionary fraternity called to minister in the Eastern United States and abroad. Rooted in the Catholic and Franciscan tradition, we are disciples of Christ who seek to bring the Gospel into the everyday experience of all people through Franciscan witness, popular preaching, teaching, and pastoral leadership. We foster Christian discipleship by collaborating with those whom we serve and by standing in solidarity with all people, especially the alienated, the immigrant, and the poor.”
-from Our Province, Franciscan Friars Holy Name Province
Fr. Kevin Mullen, O.F.M.
Provincal Minister
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