Our Regional Newsletter: The Doorkeeper's Notebook

UPDATE

My dear brothers and sisters,

For the first time in eight years, there has been a sudden interruption in the publication schedule of The Doorkeeper's Notebook, (TDN), the newsletter of the Blessed Solanus Casey Region. Given the level of personnel poverty here at TDN (in numbers of "employees", that is), this unwelcome and dispiriting turn of events was virtually inevitable. Unhappily, the obstacles are not easily overcome. 

TDN was conceived as an apostolate for our Region, which covers parts of 4 states in the northeastern US (about 30 Local Fraternities). One of the fundamental goals of that apostolate is to record the annals of the Region, as the years pass, in as many of its aspects as can be made available to us for publication. Our intention has been to do this on an uninterrupted periodic basis. This has been possible until recently, when both the Late Fall 2024 and Early Spring 2025 issues were conspicuously absent. Ordinarily, an issue published on or about 1 December (Late Fall) chrocincles activity during the months August, September, October, and November; an issue published on or about 1 April (Early Spring) chronicles activity during the months of December, January, February, and March.

The next anticipated up-to-date issue of TDN is expected to be published as the Mid Summer 2025 issue on or about 1 August 2025.

That said, activity during the months August 2024 to April 2025 will neither be disregarded nor, for that matter, remain unpublished. It is our wish to eventually "fill in the blanks" with complete issues of Late Fall 2024 and Early Spring 2025. A great deal of copy was made available for the Late Fall 2024 issue; less was submitted for the Early Spring 2025 issue, but items have been stored in folders with the intention of publication at some future date. In fact, a Late Fall 2024 issue is nearing completion and Early Spring 2025 is in its infancy.

A letter detailing our plan and how you can help to get us caught up will be sent out soon. Thanks for your patience.

Fraternally, wishing you Peace,

Fred Conforti, MD, OFS

tausaeculum@gmail.com

The Regional newsletter is an important communication apostolate. As a means not simply of communication, but of formation, of fellowship, of a heartfelt and prayerful expression of the Secular Franciscan phenomenon in our Region and the world. St. Francis established the Secular Franciscan Order to be part of a larger "organic union" (OFS RULE, 2), the Franciscan Order itself. The Doorkeeper's Notebook is a vehicle both for emphasizing the special contribution that the OFS makes to this living union and for highlighting Regional activity in a way that expresses our specific vocation for the particular mission that our Seraphic Father Francis and the Holy Spirit have enjoined upon us here in the Blessed Solanus Casey Region."

All Fraternities in the Region are encouraged to submit items of interest (e.g., anniversaries, events, professions, elections, etc.) and photos for publication. Local Fraternity members are likewise encouraged to submit articles, which may be edited for clarity, grammar, etc. (by request, articles will be made available to the author for review prior to publication). Publication of submissions is at the discretion of the Regional Executive Council of the Blessed Solanus Casey Region.

 

All members in the Region who have email addressess on file in our newly updated Database will receive the newsletter on the day of publication. Keep your contact information current by writing to our Database Manager Regional Vice-Minister Joe Krans, OFS, at st.joseph.ofs@gmail.com. Questions? Send an email to Fred Conforti, MD, OFS, at tausaeculum@gmail.com.

    

Visit the Newsletter page of our Regional Website to access prior issues. 

        

       

The Doorkeeper's Notebook is the newsletter of the Blessed Solanus Casey Region. Fr. Solanus was an ordained priest, but he only had limited priestly faculties. As a simplex priest, he was not able to hear confessions or to deliver doctrinal sermons. He, therefore, found himself in a position to embrace duties that ordinarily would have been performed by the friar brothers. He found a special niche as the porter, also known as the doorkeeper, and in that capacity he was required to keep a log, or a notebook, describing his activities and encounters. The Regional Executive Council of the Blessed Solanus Casey Region aptly named the newsletter to memorialize the activities of our patron. Please consider sharing our commitment here at The Doorkeeper's Notebook to embracing the matter of building this newsletter as an apostolate, a means not simply of communication, but of formation, of fellowship, of a heart-felt and prayerful expression of the Secular Franciscan phenomenon in our Region and in the world.                                                     

St. Francis established the Secular Franciscan Order to be part of a larger "organic union" (OFS RULE, 2), the Franciscan Order itself. The Doorkeeper's Notebook is a vehicle both for emphasizing the special contribution that the OFS makes to this living union and for highlighting Regional activity in a way that expresses our specific vocation for the particular mission that our Seraphic Father Francis and the Holy Spirit have enjoined upon us here in the Blessed Solanus Casey Region.

The Doorkeeper's Notebook and the apostolate which brings it to you is dedicated to the beloved deceased of the Blessed Solanus Casey Region.