Franciscan friars now staffing
St. Anthony Parish

CHURCH PROCESSION -- Members of St. Anthony Parish participated in a procession Aug. 31 that featured a statue of Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos, which was on a U.S. tour from Mexico. The devotion to Our Lady of San Juan began in the 1600s and is one of the most recognized and popular Marian devotions in Mexico. (Photo by Sam Lucero)

MILWAUKEE -- At a time when many religious orders are pulling their members out of parishes because of priest shortages, one group of friars is bucking that trend on the south side.

Four Franciscan Friars of the Franklin-based Assumption BVM Province took up residence this summer at St. Anthony Parish on South 9th Street, assuming all administrative and sacramental duties there from the archdiocese.

"There are a few of us in our province who speak Spanish, and we wanted to continue our ministry in the Milwaukee Hispanic community," Fr. Anthony Cirignani told the Catholic Herald during a recent interview at the parish.

Cirignani, formerly retreat director at St. Francis Retreat Center in Burlington, said that when his province officials approached the archdiocese with the desire to staff an inner-city, predominantly Spanish speaking parish, St. Anthony was offered.

The friars officially took over operation of the parish July 1.

It's been a couple months now, and Cirignani, pastor, said he thinks it's been a good move for everyone involved. "Good for myself and my province, for our visibility in the city.... Good for the parish, too. By the nature of the different groups that come here, most of them are familiar with Franciscans. And hopefully we'll be having three Franciscan sisters joining us from Mexico soon." They'll be doing home visits, and working with the elderly and youth, he said.

Cirignani said he believes the parishioners are happy to have the friars there. "The whole community is very supportive," he said.

By January, a fifth friar will join the St. Anthony community, he said. "The province vocation office will also soon be based here. We want to get the vocation director closer to where the vocations will come from," Cirignani said.

Some of the province's student-candidates will serve at the parish also. "They'll come in and do a month or so of ministry before returning to their studies. A lot of interplay that way," he said.

Cirignani said there are about 2,500 registered families and individuals at St. Anthony. At least 5,000 to 8,000 people attend Mass there on Sundays, he estimated. There are seven Masses at St. Anthony each Sunday, three in Spanish, three in English and one for the Vietnamese community. There are no Masses on Saturdays. "Too many weddings, quinceañeras and all those other things going on," he explained.

"We get quite a mix here," Cirignani said, adding that the 7 p.m. Sunday Mass in Spanish and 5 p.m. Sunday Mass in English are always packed.

St. Anthony Elementary School, a choice school, has more than 400 mostly Hispanic students enrolled.

St. Anthony Parish was founded in 1872 as the fifth German parish in Milwaukee, Cirignani said.

"Basically, I see it as a trilingual parish. English being the minority. We have a Vietnamese Mass and we also have Vietnamese sisters living next door (since the early 1970s)," he said. Because the Vietnamese priest, Fr. John Thanh-Hung, has been sick and away from the parish, Cirignani has been doing the Vietnamese Mass, "but of course in English," he said with a laugh. "I don't do Oriental languages too well. But it was a good way to get to know the people." He said they were gracious and welcoming.

Cirignani said he's eager to begin a collaboration with the community around the parish. "That'll take more time for me to get involved with the social and government establishments in the area. We don't want to be isolated and make it an 'us against them' sort of thing." He said he wants the parish to be an established, active part of the community.

There are no big changes planned for the near future at the parish, Cirignani said. For now it's a matter of "getting my feet wet and trying to address some of the immediate (pastoral and administrative) needs" of the parish.

Terry Brown, who was a trustee there for three years, and now a staff member handling parish finances, said that having the friars there is great. "They're doing a wonderful job. It's terrific to have a community of priests living here," he told the Catholic Herald.

Brown said he has been associated with St. Anthony for almost five years, and that he loves the parish. "My wife and I spend about half of our time here, and about half of our time at our neighborhood parish, Christ King in Wauwatosa."

"There's so much work to do in this neighborhood, and (the friars) fit in perfectly," he said. "You're talking about people just entering the country, or the first and second generation citizens.... In the suburbs we might run to the doctor or therapist or whatever the case might be, but here in the city, people come to the rectory for whatever they need: immigration help, crisis in the family," Brown explained.

He said parish administrators are reevaluating the staff schedule because their busiest times aren't during the day, when most people are at work, but in the evening, around 4 to 7. "The doorbell just rings like crazy."

Brown said the friars are a fun bunch to work with. "Fr. Tony is very holy, devout, and quite stable in his priesthood and theology. He's very warm and friendly."

How have the parishioners received the friars? "We serve many different communities here.... I think everybody's been very accepting of the friars," Brown said. "I think all three groups (English, Spanish and Vietnamese speaking), are looking not only for the liturgical life but the devotional life of the church, and the friars here are very devoted to the mother of God, the saints, and to eucharistic adoration and the rosary, and all these things support our main focus, which is the Eucharist.... The friars are in tune with that."