This morning, October 21, 2010 in Paris Sister Evelyne Franc, D.C., Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity, announced to the Sisters that Father Gregory Gay, C.M. has appointed Father Patrick J. GRIFFIN, C.M., member of U.S. Eastern Province as the new Director General of the Company of Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul for six years term. Father P. Javier Alvarez, C.M., previous Director General, was elected Vicar General of the Congregation of the Mission at last summer’s Assembly.
Father Patrick, the new Director General, will attend his first General Council Meeting in the Central House of the Company at 140 Rue du Bac, Paris, France in November. By Christmas, he will have finished his current work at St. John’s University, Jamaica, N.Y. As the Director General he will be living in Maison Mere, at 95 Rue du Sevres, Paris.
“According to the Constitutions and Statutes of the Daughters of Charity, the Superior General has the competence to appoint the Director General as his permanent representative and collaborator, with ordinary vicarial powers, to the Company of Daughters of Charity. His mission is to promote the spiritual and apostolic life of the Sisters and to help the Superioress General and her Council in animation of the Company, as specified in the Constitutions and Statutes.” – we learn from Fr. Griffin’s patent letter of October 18, 2010.
Rev. Patrick J. Griffin, C.M. was born on December 12, 1952 in Brooklyn, NY. He was received to the Congregation of the Mission in the Eastern Province of the U.S.A. on June 21, 1972 in St. Vincent Seminary, Philadelphia, and ordained priest on May, 26, 1979 in Mary Immaculate Seminary, Northampton, PA. He is a graduate of Niagara University, where he earned a B.S. in Physics. In 1984 h e received the M.Div. in Theology and a Th.M. in Theology from Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, PA and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from The Catholic University of America.
In addition to serving on the faculty at St. John’s University as Executive Vice President for the Office of University Mission, he has taught at Niagara University, Mary Immaculate Seminary, and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, Long Island, NY, where he currently holds the rank of Professor. From 1993-1999 he was Econome General for the Congregation of the Mission in Rome. On return to his native Province, in 2000 he was elected a member of the Provincial Council for the Eastern Province and has been holding the post until present.
In his letter to the Nominee, the Superior General assured him of his prayers and support as well as of Fr. Alvarez’s assistance in becoming oriented in the new responsibility. “In this jubilee year that we have just completed, I entrust your mandate particularly to Saint Vincent and Saint Louise so that they pray for you and obtain for you light, wisdom, and the strength of the Holy Spirit to help you in your new service”, Father General writes and concludes, “that Mary, whom we invoke in this month of the Holy Rosary, accompany and guide you. «As the Virgin Mary is invoked and taken as patron of things of importance, it is impossible that they do not go well for the glory of Jesus, her Son» (SV XIV,126).”
Read the Circular Letter of the Superior General on the occasion of appointment of Fr. Patrick Griffin CM
Nowy Dyrektor Generalny Sióstr Miłosierdzia…
Dzisiaj rano, 21 października 2010, Siostra Evelyne Franc SM, Przełożona Generalna Sióstr Miłosierdzia ogłosiła Siostrom w Paryżu, że ks. Gregory Gay CM, Przełożony Generalny, mianował ks. Patryka GRIFFINA CM, należącego do Prowincji Wschodniej USA, no…
dear fr. patrick,
I welcome your appointment with joy and gratitude as our new director general. May the Holy Spirit be there for you.
We look forward to your visit to the Philippines in the near future.
sr. mary ann guevara,dc
Province of the Philippines
We are most happy to welcome you as our Director General, Fr. Griffin.
May you be blessed by the spirit of wisdom and compassion of the Holy Spirit and find joy in your ministry.
The Daughters of Chairty of San Antonio, Texas