Fr. Andrew
Fr. Francis Di Spigno, OFM,
Pastor
As many of you know, for the past year, Fr. Andrew has been dealing with some very serious health issues. He has been diagnosed with Amyloidosis. Although it is not cancer, the protocol is nine weeks of chemotherapy then six months of treatment every other week.
Because the risk of falling is high, Andrew will be moving to St. Lawrence Friary in Beacon, NY, a nursing facility run by our Capuchin Franciscan brothers on Wednesday, July 23rd. It is situated on 30 acres of rolling hills in New York’s Hudson Valley. He will receive individualized care within the context of a Franciscan Friary. Although it is a Capuchin house, nine of our OFM brothers also live there. Andrew will continue to be among brothers and some of them he already knows. Although this is not our first choice, Andrew does realize that it is the best thing for him at this time. He is in good spirits and ready to keep fighting.
Andrew has been assigned to St. Francis of Assisi Parish and Center three times. He first arrived in 1971 with long hair and muttonchop sideburns. Many of you may remember him as the “hippy priest” who started the Easter Sunrise Mass on the beach. After 13 years, living with friars like Fr. Thaddeus Sapio, Br. Christopher Coccia, Fr. Donan McNally, Andrew was asked to be the Prefect of Formation. In this role, he oversaw the entire process of when a person first enters the province until their Solemn Profession as a Franciscan Friar. After only one year in that position, he was asked to become the Novice Director as well. That is when Andrew and I first met 35 years ago. I was in his second class as Novice Master. The Novitiate year is an intense year of prayer, study, and discernment before one takes first vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, as a Franciscan brother. Frs. Steve Kluge and Scott Brookbank were also Andrew’s novices and introduced to the Franciscan life by him as well.
After 12 years in those positions, Andrew was asked to return to LBI for the second time in 1996. This time he was named the pastor. As I was to be ordained in May of that same year, Andrew asked me if I would like to join him. Andrew was pastor at St. Francis, LBI, for nine years. When he left St. Francis the second time, he became the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Tampa, FL. Having fulfilled a nine-year term there, he became the Pastor of St. Francis Church in mid-town Manhattan.
In 2020, when his 9-year term was up at St. Francis, Manhattan, and my 9-year term was up at St. Bonaventure University, I asked him if he would like to return to LBI. He said yes, Steve Kluge said yes, the Provincial Minister said yes, so it was that we all came back to LBI, just like the swallows of Capistrano!
Below is Fr. Andrew’s address if you would like to send him a card or keep in contact with him:
Fr. Andrew Reitz, OFM
St. Lawrence Friary
180 Sargent Avenue
Beacon, NY 12508
On behalf of Andrew and all the friars, I would like to thank you for your help, concern, prayers, and support, especially over this past year. A special thanks to Ed English, Skip and Maddie Foley, and Joe and Lorri D’Orsi for the countless trips to the doctors’ office and to everyone who sent cards or visited him in the hospital or Genesis Rehab. They are all signs of the great love that is shared in this parish community and as St. Paul tells us, there are only three things that last, “faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” [1 Cor. 13:13]
Thank you, and Peace and All Good.
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