AGGREGATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Province of Saint Ann
We are a Catholic religious congregation of priests and brothers whose mission is to share the riches of God’s love manifested in the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is at the center of our life and faith as followers of Jesus Christ. It has the power to transform individuals and societies, to renew the church. Our founder, Saint Peter Julian Eymard, understood this and proclaimed it with his whole heart and being.
We are many, though one. We minister in many lands and cultures, and in a variety of situations, but share a common vision and hope for a world renewed by the Eucharist. We speak different languages, but tell a common story of life transformed by the power of table, word, bread, and wine―the sacrament of Christ’s presence and love. The Spirit of God moves us, as it did our founder, Saint Peter Julian Eymard, the Apostle of the Eucharist, “to do something great for the Eucharist!” And we invite all―religious, lay, and ordained―to share in this work.
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament was founded in Paris, France, in the year 1856 by Father Eymard. All his life, he searched for an answer to the deep spiritual hungers of his day, and he discovered it in the Eucharist. Inspired by this sacrament, he inaugurated a new way of life in the church, one completely shaped by the Eucharist celebrated, contemplated, and lived in communion.
We respond to the reality of God’s love in the Eucharist by a “gift of self” to God and others. By prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and an active apostolic life, we strive to make Christ in the Eucharist better known and loved. We live together and work together to show the fruits of the Eucharist.
In the United States of America (the Province of Saint Ann), our ministry of eucharistic evangelizing includes celebrating the sacraments, preaching, writing, teaching, counseling, and working for justice. We publish Emmanuel, an award-winning magazine of eucharistic spirituality. We promote Life in the Eucharist programs and work with teams of laity in doing so. We serve parishes and are active in ecumenism, the effort for Christian unity. In these and other ways, we care for the body of Christ in the church and in humanity with the same love and care that we show Christ in the Eucharist.
In everything, Christ in the Eucharist is our inspiration and the center of our personal and community life. “We seek to understand all human reality in the light of the Eucharist, source and summit of the life of the church.”
(Rule of Life, 34)
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August 11, 2022
Formal installation of Father John Thomas Lane as new
Provincial Superior of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.
Current Chapter Leadership Team 2022- 2026
Term of four years
Father John Thomas J. Lane, S.S.S. (Provincial Superior),
Father John Kamas, S.S.S. (Provincial Treasurer),
Father William Fickel, S.S.S. (Consultor 1),
Father Thomas Smithson, S.S.S. (Consultor 2),
Father Norman Pelletier, S.S.S. (Delegate Generalate Chapter)
Father John A. Keenan, S.S.S. (Alternate Generalate Chapter)
Province of Saint Ann
Father John A. Keenan, S.S.S.
HAWAII 2019 ~JUBILARIAN ~ 50 years
Father currently resides at
Saint Pascal Baylon Parish, Cleveland, Ohio
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Born: 1942, New York City
Community:
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Served in Hawaii: 200
Past ministries:
Founder, clinical director of Trinity House, treatment center for priests and
religious, Chicago; clinical psychologist licensed in Illinois and Hawaii;
faculty, Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois;
Department of Psychiatry, Mercy Medical Center, Chicago;
Pastor, Saints Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church.
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Formation of clergy and religious; consultant, permanent diaconate formation, Diocese of Honolulu;faculties to function in Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church;diagnosis and treatment; aviation psychology
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Reflection:
After high school, I had no doubt about my interest in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and its founder’s passion for care of priests: formation, education, treatment, when necessary. After ordination, I received a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Fordham University in 1980, and a Psy D in clinical psychology from the Chicago School in Chicago. Over the years, I have taught at Loyola University, Chicago, and De Paul University, Chicago.
In my years of ministry, the joys outweigh the sorrows and the highlights outshine the previous ones. Rev. John Keenan, S.S.S.
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Daily Eucharistic Reflection: August 11, 2022
Father John Keenan, S.S.S.
Alternate Generalate Chapter
“Amen, Amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” John 13: 20
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On a medical visit to a Hansen’s Disease settlement in Southern China, a patient wanted me to meet “our elder.” He was a ninety-plus-year-old Catholic who held this little group of “lepers” together since the Cultural Revolution in China for over fifty years. He did this without Bible, crucifix, priests, and even the Mass. They were an isolated, stigmatized, and deprived community except for one thing: the presence of Jesus. It was the faith of the chosen and sent “elder,” which assured the community that the loving Father and his beloved Son were with them.
As I looked at the elder’s feet which suffered the complications of the disease, I was reminded of the warning of Jesus to his disciples after washing their feet: “If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen” John 13: 17-18
In my mind’s eye, I could imagine the varieties of foot washings done in faith and service in this little community as the Master blessed the one he chose and sent. “If I therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” John 13: 14-15
In this little community in Southern China, faith-filled foot-washing assured the presence of the God of Love even though it was deprived of the Eucharist as a Church event and Sacrament.
Saint Peter Julian Eymard reminds us: “To live with Jesus in us, of Jesus and by Jesus is to be a living ciborium and house of God.” Do I see myself a Christ-bearer? Do I see myself chosen and sent to wash feet literally or figuratively by my faith-filled service of my sisters and brothers? Father John Keenan, S.S.S.
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Parish of Saint Vincent de Paul, R.C.C.
Holiday, Florida
Served by
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
FLORIDA -2021 ~ RUBY ANNIVERSARY ~ 40 YEARS
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Christ is the one who calls us to be the church with one another. I love the diversity I find within St. Vincent de Paul parish. It makes our community all that much more vibrant. Like many members in the parish, I'm from away. Florida was for me the fountain of youth; a place to escape to and rejuvenate. On my first vacation after ordination happy to get away and relax, my bishop was the first one to greet me on arrival in Florida. He was there to board the return flight back to Cleveland. Our chance meeting reminded me to “behave.”
Florida is the home of Food for the Poor providing relief service to the Caribbean and Central American countries. I was a Pastor for the poor for seven years, preaching to raise charity and distribute goods to the destitute. I came to experience the presence of Christ living among hardship yet joy-filled in their faith in God's goodness. Every weekend found me in another parish speaking about those who depend on God's providential love.
Another great blessing has come through friendships in seeking God in prayer, As a retreat director with Contemplative Outreach, I have been able to spend days in complete silence listening to the quiet inner voice that comes in prayer. The Spirit of God manifests when people sustain one another in a loving environment of attentive listening to God.
Uniting all these elements in my life is my religious community of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, I am grateful for the call to serve this parish community and to minister with all of you. Having served as the director for the Center of Eucharistic Evangelizing I enjoy sharing the vision of St. Peter Julian Eymard and delving deeply into the mystery of God's love present in the sacred Eucharist. We are all active in the Body of Christ. “We are here for you”.
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Father William J. Fickel, SSS
Born May 26, 1945
Fr. Dominic Long Nguyen, S.S.S.
Pastor at Saint Vincent de Paul, R.C.C.
Saint Peter Julian Eymard
S.S.S. Founder
Born: November 7,1971
Profession Vows: August. 2, 2006
Congregation of the
The Blessed Sacrament
Ordained: November. 20,
Installation: July 1, 2023
I, Dominic Nguyen Hoang Long, was approved to:
Enter the Novitiate on August 1, 2004 at the chapel of Hai Duong Community. It is located on phuong Ho Nai, Bien Hoa, Dong Nal.
I make my first profession in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament on August 2, 2006 at Khiet Tam Church. It is located on 15b Duong 4, khu pho 4, phuong Binh Chieu, quan Thu Duc.
I received the ministry of Lector on September 20, 2011 at the Chapel of SSS Scholasticate. It is located on 198/10 Dien Bien Pu, Phuong 17, Binh Thanh, Ho Chi Minh.
On this day I made my final profession in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament on August 2, 2012 at the Khiel Tam Church. It is located on 15b Duong 4, Khu pho 4, phuong Binh Chieu quan Thu Duc.
My ordination to the Sacred Order of Deaconate in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament on July 18, 2014 at the Chapel of SSS Scholasticate located on 198/30 Dien Bien Phu, Phuong 17, Binh Thanh, Ho Chi Minh by Most Rev. Paul Bui Van Doc, Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh Diocese.
My ordination to the Sacred Order of the Priesthood in the Congregation of Blessed Sacrament on November 23, 2015 at the Khiet Tam Church located on 15b Duong 4, khu pho 4, phuong Binh Chieu, Thu Duc by Most Rev. Joseph Nguyen Tan Tuoc, Bishop of Phu Cuong Diocese.