August 9, 2023

Apostolate of the Suffering, an ACA recipient, seeks new members, volunteers

REGIONAL
Story and photos by David Martin

 

PALMER –The local Apostolate of the Suffering, now a recipient of Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA) funds, was established at Mary Farm, here, in 1984 and is the National Shrine of the Apostolate of the Suffering since it was the first established in the United States.

Stasia Bronner, the vice president and treasurer of the local apostolate, said the Apostolate of the Suffering was founded in Italy in 1947. In the 1980s, Italian Bishop Constantino Luna established it in Guatemala. He had friends and relatives in the United States, where he next brought the message of the apostolate. He was friends with Springfield Bishop Joseph F. Maguire and Dr. Ray Gagnon and his wife Jeannine, who owned the Mary Farm property and donated it for use by the apostolate.

Bishop Luna also was friends with Silent Worker of the Cross Brother Letasz, who became the director of the Apostolate of the Suffering for 33 years. So all of them worked together to establish the Apostolate of the Suffering in the Springfield Diocese in 1984.

“The purpose is to spread the message of the redemptive suffering, since we all suffer to some degree at one time or another,” said Bronner. “It can be totally positive if we offer it back to God with the intention of saving souls. Blessed Luigi Novarese founded the apostolate also upon the request of Our Lady at Lourdes in Fatima, where she said ‘penance, penance, penance’ to offer sufferings and prayers for people that maybe do not pray, people that need salvation. With those prayers that we offer today, maybe that person is going to be saved at the end of his life so this is following Our Lady’s request.”

Bronner shared that some of the activities include monthly prayer meetings and annual events such as the retreat day in July, which draws a good crowd of people to further spread the message of redemptive suffering. On Aug. 20 the annual picnic at Mary Farm will take place, rain or shine, which is a fun event, she said.

Bronner said they encourage people to come any time, since the grounds are open, to pray the rosary and the Stations of the Cross and also just meditate in peace and reflect on their suffering. The apostolate also meets on the first Saturday of the month for devotions when they meditate on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. On Aug. 5 a small group was present including Deborah Horn, a member of the apostolate.

“Today was on the Visitation to St. Elizabeth and I just find that these revelations are awe-inspiring to me and they are things that you do not normally hear about in any of the bible studies that you might do,” Horn said. “I feel it is a nice way to get to know exactly what was happening when Mary had conceived Jesus and was visiting with her cousin.”

Horn, a parishioner at All Saints Parish in Ware, also participated with the group when they prayed the Stations of the Cross outdoors.

Bronner said the funding from the ACA will be a tremendous help and she is very grateful because it will help with some of the maintenance that needs to be done on all the old buildings at Mary Farm, but especially fixing the roof on the farmhouse, which is very old. They also are starting a Go Fund Me page to offer donations.

Dennis Hamel, a longtime board member of the apostolate and newly named administrator of Mary Farm, said the roof has begun to leak. He said the numbers of the Apostolate have been going down because members have been passing away, so he is hoping people will read this story and help with monetary donations.

“We are in need of people who will volunteer and donate time to Jesus through Mary,” said Hamel. “We need ground maintenance volunteers, we need small repair volunteers, (there are) numerous projects we are trying to accomplish to keep the dream alive of having this place be a retreat for handicapped people.

“You do not have to be an expert. If you like to paint, if you like to stain, if you like to do some weeding in the flower bed, weed-wacking (around) the statues, we need people for all types of activities and volunteer work here. It would be greatly appreciated,” said Hamel.

Those wishing to volunteer or purchase tickets no later than Aug. 15  for the upcoming Mary Farm Picnic on Aug. 20 can contact Mary Farm at maryfarm@comcast.net or call 413-283-4529.

A video version of this story will be featured on an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel” which will temporarily air Sunday mornings at 6:30 a.m. on WWLP-22 NEWS from Sept. 3 through Nov. 19.