You may not know it, but the Augustinians are a part of the United Nations.  Our UN arm, Augustinians International, is a voice for human rights and social justice.  Father Bob Dueweke, O.S.A., was recently appointed by the Augustinian Prior General (worldwide leader of Augustinians) as the new Representative for Augustinians International.

The Augustinian Gala is Friday, April 22 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.  Please join in thanking our sponsors!

The Priors Provincial of the Federation of Augustinians of North America (FANA) recently authorized a five-year contract with St. Rita Parish in Racine, Wisconsin, to maintain this site as the location of the Federation novitiate, and to continue to administer the parish for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.  This represents a change in that the contract is no longer signed by the Midwest Province, but by the Federation Prior.

For several years, the Midwest Augustinians' Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel, headquartered in Chicago, have adopted administrative and canonical care over the Canadian Augustinians' Province of St. Joseph headquartered in King City, Ontario.  The center of the Canadian Augustinians' province is a captivating estate known informally as "Marylake," which mark its 75th anniversary in 2017.  In preparation to publish a historical book about the landmark, author Kelly Matthews penned the following article.

The Midwest Augustinians, the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel, has been named a 2015 All Star Award winner by Constant Contact®, Inc., the trusted marketing advisor to hundreds of thousands of small organizations worldwide. The annual award recognizes the most successful 10% of Constant Contact’s customer base, based on their significant achievements leveraging online marketing tools to engage their customer base and drive results for their organization.

Truth, Unity, and Love.  These are the three core values that the Augustinians live by in our parishes and schools.  Our longest-running school in the Midwest is Saint Rita of Cascia High School.  This past Holy Thursday, the schools students, aptly named "Ritamen," showed that the school carries the tradition of these three values through their volunteering and fundraising for the Augustinians' Pope Francis Home Challenge.

March 21 marks the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. We all constitute one human family. We want the world to have full exercise of all its inventive, creative and moral capacities, enhanced by the equal participation of men and women. it is the interchange between great traditions of human spirituality that offers the best prospect for the persistence of the human spirit itself.

This Lent, since it is the Jubilee Year of Mercy, St. Rita of Cascia Parish in Chicago changed their annual Lenten Acts of Justice to be Lenten Acts of Mercy.  Each week of Lent, parishioners were encouraged to participate in one Work of Mercy as a parish.  Read more about their activities here.

While the missionaries from North America have decreased in presence, this mission is almost completely in Peruvian hands.  Earlier this year, 14 Augustinian Novices professed their first vows in Lima.  At the same time, 22 new novices began their novitiate year.  The novitiate is in our Lima community, but is composed of all the Augustinian Provinces and Vicariates of Argentina, Bolivian, Brazil, Chile, and Peru.

Thank you to Cascia Hall, St. Rita High School, and St. Augustine Friary for helping out with the "Pope Francis Home Challenge!"  A few short weeks ago, Augustinian schools and parishes across the Midwest joined together to raise money for the challenge.  Find out more about the project and updates here!

Our Provincial, Father Bernie Scianna, offered a funeral homily for the late Bishop John McNabb, O.S.A.  Read his homily here.

The Augustinians are partnering with Habitat for Humanity on the Pope Francis Home Challenge!  We are helping raise money to build a home for the Power Family on the South Side of Chicago.  The family's current home is unbearably cramped and makes privacy and quiet work space impossible.  They are very excited to start the building process on their new house, which they will purchase from Habitat for Humanity with a 0% interest mortgage.  Their new home will give them the space they've been craving for years:  the space to create a healthy environment for the whole family.