Casa Maria Marianists

Andrew, Lynette, Roberto, Bob and Norman

Marty Solma, provincial-designate, and Lynette Bernot, St. Mary’s faculty member, accompanied the brothers attending the St. Mary’s faculty appreciation dinner at Oak Hill Country Club hosted by the university’s Alumni Association on Friday evening, Jan. 22—Chaminade Day.

Roberto, Bob and Dan Thompson, chair of Theology

Roberto and Bob celebrate with Dan Thompson, chair of the Theology department and a 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award. Roberto is a theology student graduating this May and Bob attends Dan’s graduate course on ecclesiology this semester.

Marty and Charlie Cotrell, university president

Marty, quickly identified by St. Mary’s staff as the provincial-designate and, therefore, chancellor-designate of the university, enjoyed a front-row seat of the presentation; he is shown above with Charlie Cotrell, university president.

More photos on our Flickr set and a live video uploaded on Twitter.

Community Director Brother Brian welcomes Provincial-Designate Rev. Martin

Rev. Martin “Marty” Solma, provincial-designate of the Marianist Province of the U.S., arrived at Casa María on Thursday evening, Jan. 21. He is spending the weekend in our community while visiting with several Marianists in the San Antonio area over the next few days.

French-inspired appetizers (mini quiches) in honor of Blessed Chaminade

Students and staff of St. Mary’s University joined the brothers to celebrate Marianist heritage week—Casa Tuesday style—on the evening of Jan. 19.

Opening with an evening prayer that recounted the history of the Marianist laity, sisters, and brothers and priests, Casa Tuesday featured a few French-inspired foods in honor of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, a French priest who founded the Marianist family.

Appetizers included homemade mini quiches of bacon, cheese and egg. Highlighting the dessert menu were ‘petite and sweet’ macarons made from scratch (almond meringue cookies filled with bittersweet chocolate ganache) and HEB-bought mini eclairs (chocolate-covered pastry filled with custard cream).

More photos on our Flickr set.

Homemade macarons and the Eifel Tower complete the French-inspired menu.

Brian, Mike and Tim, winners of Apples-to-Apples played at Casa María

Brothers Brian Halderman, Michael Sullivan and Tim Pieprzyca each emerged victorious in three rounds of the game Apples-to-Apples at Casa María on Monday nite, Jan. 18.

While Monday nights typically are reserved for weekly community meetings, the brothers decided to rotate ‘community fun nites’ into the schedule periodically as way to foster community building, coordinated by Casa María’s Office of Education.

Members of the Casa Maria Marianist community joined with students, faculty and staff of St. Mary’s University and Central Catholic High School to participate in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. march in San Antonio, Mon., Jan. 18, 2010.

More photos on our Flickr set.

Braving the thunder, lighting and heavy rain, nearly 20 gathered in Flores Residence Hall lounge to celebrate evening Mass with the brothers of Casa María on Thurs., Jan. 14. Rev. Tim Dwyer, S.M., presided at the Eucharist.

As part of their efforts to connect with the student community on campus and support faith formation and spiritual growth, the brothers of Casa María made the commitment to celebrate their Thursday evening community Mass every week throughout this academic year at a residence hall on campus. In the fall, this Mass was celebrated at Founders Hall; this semester, it is in Flores Hall.

More photos on Flickr.

Maple cream sandwich cookies, gingerbread cookies and maple-walnut chocolate fudge (inspired by the Québécois sucre à la crème) were the featured feast day treats in honor of St. Margaret Bourgeoys of Canada during the first Casa Tuesday of 2010.

Celebrating his one-month birthday, Diego Jakob Hoenigman gets into the spirit of celebrating the Canadian saint.

More photos on our Flickr set.