Sharing Our Marianist Stories

In celebration of the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative’s (MSJC) 25th Anniversary, Sarah Gray moderated a panel of current volunteers serving on the MSJC’s Issue Teams. Maureen O’Rourke (Racial Justice Team), Ish Ruiz (LGBTQ+ Initiative Team), and Julia Love (Adele Social Justice Team) share their passion for social justice, the MSJC’s impact, and their hopes for the future of the MSJC.&...

Bro. Jesse O'Neill, SM has been a Marianist Brother for over 25 years and is the Assistant for Education on the Provincial Council for the Society of Mary. In this episode, Bro. Jesse shares about his first exposure and discernment with the Marianists. He gives a glimpse into his role on the Provincial Council and a few of the programs and institutions within the Office of Education including Moth...

This special episode is a joint production between NACMS and the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative (MSJC) who is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. This podcast is a recording of a Zoom conversation that took place between MSJC Director Sarah Gray and three people who were present at MSJC's foundation: Sr. Leanne Jablonski, FMI; Jim Vogt; and Fr. Ted Cassidy, SM. These three Marian...

In this episode, Patti and Gabby interview each other about their time at NACMS as they prepare to transition to new endeavors: retirement for Patti and PhD work for Gabby. Tune in to hear them share about highlights from their NACMS career, which Founder inspires them the most, and their future plans. See a transcript of this episode here. Follow the North American Center for Marianist Studies on...

In this episode of Sharing Our Marianist Stories, Gabby Bibeau sits down with Brother David Betz to talk about his role as the promoter of the Marianist Saints in the United States. They talk about who are the Marianist religious and lay people on the path to sainthood, the process of canonization, and the possibility of a US-born Marianist having their cause introduced.  Want to learn m...

Patti Gehred and Gabby Bibeau are excited to share this interview with Brother Andrew Kosmowski and Teresa Trimboli, who are the very talented (and very hard working!) librarians at NACMS. Listen to them talk about the history of the library, its importance for Marianist studies, and share some fun facts about rare items in the collection. Send your reference questions to Brother Andrew or Teresa...

Patti Gehred and Gabby Bibeau are excited to share this interview with Fr. Quentin Hakenewerth that follows up on a previous podcast episode with Rob Brodrick, which heavily featured this quote by Fr. Quentin: "The quality of our presence is more important than our work." Fr. Quentin elaborates more on this quote in this episode, as well as touching on what Marianist presence is and how it is...

In line with the tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent, NACMS is offering these guided reflections on what we are calling the Stations of Easter, each one reflecting on a different moment in the Easter season. Tune in each Saturday in Easter for a new Station and accompanying reflection. We hope these reflections will guide us in our journey into the mystery of the Resurrectio...

In line with the tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent, NACMS is offering these guided reflections on what we are calling the Stations of Easter, each one reflecting on a different moment in the Easter season. Tune in each Saturday in Easter for a new Station and accompanying reflection. We hope these reflections will guide us in our journey into the mystery of the Resurrectio...

In line with the tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent, NACMS is offering these guided reflections on what we are calling the Stations of Easter, each one reflecting on a different moment in the Easter season. Tune in each Saturday in Easter for a new Station and accompanying reflection. We hope these reflections will guide us in our journey into the mystery of the R...

In line with the tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent, NACMS is offering these guided reflections on what we are calling the Stations of Easter, each one reflecting on a different moment in the Easter season. Tune in each Saturday in Easter for a new Station and accompanying reflection. We hope these reflections will guide us in our journey into the mystery of the R...

In line with the tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent, NACMS is offering these guided reflections on what we are calling the Stations of Easter, each one reflecting on a different moment in the Easter season. Tune in each Saturday in Easter for a new Station and accompanying reflection. We hope these reflections will guide us in our journey into the mystery of the R...

In line with the tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent, NACMS is offering these guided reflections on what we are calling the Stations of Easter, each one reflecting on a different moment in the Easter season. Tune in each Saturday in Easter for a new Station and accompanying reflection. We hope these reflections will guide us in our journey into the mystery of the R...

In line with the tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross during Lent, NACMS is offering these guided reflections on what we are calling the Stations of Easter, each one reflecting on a different moment in the Easter season. Tune in each Saturday in Easter for a new Station and accompanying reflection. We hope these reflections will guide us in our journey into the mystery of the R...

In this episode, Patti Gehred and Gabby Bibeau discuss an interview Gabby did with Rob Brodrick, who is a lay Marianist and the newly hired National Director of the Marianist Lay Community of North America (MLC-NA). Rob talks about his experience starting a residential lay Marianist community in Dayton, which eventually morphed into the Mission of Mary Cooperative, as well as how he lives the Mari...

In this episode, Patti and Sr. Gabby share an interview they did with Marianist artist and photographer Brother John Lemker. Bro. John just completed 70 years of profession as a Marianist, and much of his religious life has been filled with his greatest passions: faith, science, and photography. We talk to Bro. John about his photography, how he finds God--the "original artist"--in nature, and how...

In this episode, Patti and Sr. Gabby discuss one of the few writings we have by Marie Therese: an act of self-offering she wrote to God in 1797, signed in her own blood. This document details how Marie Therese offered herself as a "victim in expiation of the crimes of the Revolution." We talk about what this self-offering meant, what the crimes of the Revolution were, and how, despite Marie T...

In this episode, Patti Gehred and Sr. Gabby Bibeau discuss the most famous and most important letter in Marianist history: Father Chaminade's Letter to the Retreat Masters of 1839. In this letter, Chaminade lays out exactly what it means to be Marianist, especially the importance of Mary and her power to defeat evil, as well as our call to be missionaries. You don't want to miss this one!  If...

In an episode that is a bit of a departure from the usual format, Patti and Sr. Gabby discuss one of Blessed Adele's letters, which was written to a Marianist sister who was the director of one of the community's houses in 1825. This letter is a great window into the final years of Adele's life and the strength of her leadership. Patti and Sr. Gabby discuss the challenges the Marian...

In this episode, Lay Marianists Matt Meyers and Linda Zappacosta share the story of how they helped start the Marianist Sisters Vocation Fund, which is a group of Marianist brothers, sisters, and laity who raise funds to offset the college debt of women entering the Marianist Sisters. They share about how they came to know that student debt was an obstacle to women discerning with the Sisters, how...

On September 3rd, 2000, Father Chaminade was Beatified along with five other holy people during a Mass in St. Peter's Square. Pope St. John Paul II was the presider, and he noted that Blessed Chaminade was an "apostle of the laity." In this podcast, we interviewed six different people who were at the Beatification and the events surrounding it. Each of them provides their own perspective on t...

Lay Marianists Carol Ramey and Ann Hirt originally met as undergraduate students at the University of Dayton in the 1960s, where they both became involved in the UD Sodality. After graduating, both of them joined the Marianist Visitation State Community, where they have been members for over 50 years. In this podcast, they reflect on how their friendship, their Marianist commitment, and relationsh...

Sister Columba is a Marianist Sister from South Korea who has spent the last 13 years of her life as a missionary in India. She was among the original 4 Marianist Sisters who went to India in 2006 to begin a community of Marianist Sisters there. The Sisters live in Ranchi in the northern part of India where they do a variety of ministries including healthcare work and job training for women. Sr. G...

In this "socially distanced" episode of the podcast, Patti Gehred interviews Sister Gabby Bibeau about an article she wrote for the NACMS website on the parallels between the current COVID crisis and the Founders' own experiences of crisis during the French Revolution and experiences of illness. In particular, the focus is what we can learn from our Marianist Founders about how to approach th...

Marianist Brother Tom Redmond is a staff member at NACMS. He has been working for the past several years to adapt the Spirit of Saragossa Retreat--which has traditionally been a 30 day retreat centered on Marianist spirituality, Mary, and the Founders--into a retreat that people can do in their daily life. A major component of the retreat is meeting with a spiritual director. In this podcast, Patt...