Thank you from Fr. Emmanuel Wenke

Dear fellow parishioners of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and St. John’s,   May the Lord give you peace!   I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to you for all of your support and for your prayers over the course of my journey to ordination as a friar-priest. So many of you have been part of my life for many years, some even since I was barely eight years old. You have welcomed me as part of the Catholic community in Olean and supported my involvement in the life of our parishes as I learned to altar serve and became involved in family ministry through Morning Star Family Holy Hour and the St. Clare of Assisi Lifeteen group. In the eleven years since I joined the Franciscan Friars Conventual, every home visit has brought me such a sense of the love and support of the good people of Olean as I continued my journey of discernment, formation, and study. My ordination as a friar-priest this past week was an overwhelming experience of God’s merciful love and goodness for me. One of the most powerful expressions of that love I experienced was the amazing number of parishioners from St. John’s and from the Basilica who made the trip up to Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna for the occasion, and the many more who sent words of love and support my way, not to mention so many who came to my first Mass at the Basilica in Olean on Sunday and visited with me afterwards. Your presence and your words of support and encouragement mean the world to me! As I begin my priestly ministry in the context of our Franciscan high school in Baltimore, Maryland, I humbly ask that your prayers might continue – not just for me, but for the nearly 100 young men I will be teaching this year, for their families, and for my fellow teachers. Catholic education is a critically important endeavor, particularly as the world at large moves away from awareness of and reverence for God and the dignity and value of each and every human person. I believe our work here is so important, but we can’t do it alone. We need the spiritual support of many good people of faith who can commit to praying for us to be fruitful in this ministry of educating and forming our young men. I thank you in advance for your prayers, and I reassure you that you all remain in my heart and prayers each day.   I will see you next time I’m home! May God bless you and give you His Peace!   Fr. Manny Wenke, OFM Conv. Gallery of pictures from Ordination and Thanksgiving Mass can be found above on this main webpage.