Have you read a good Pier Giorgio book lately?

If you are looking for a good book about Pier Giorgio to read or share with others, I would recommend his sister Luciana's beautiful account of his death. The book is called, "My Brother Pier Giorgio: His Last Days." Although the book has been available for years, it seems to have been a well-kept secret and as a result is listed for sale on Amazon for incredible prices. I have been fascinated to see the book listed for upwards of $200 for more than a year! Right now, the price range on Amazon is between $22 and $195. The book is not out of print and you don't need to pay that much for it. You can get it in the EWTN Religious Catalogue for $12.00 or in the FrassatiUSA PGF Bookstore for $12.95. It is a book you will not want to put down and it will draw you even closer to Pier Giorgio than you have been before. Happy reading!

Pier Giorgio Down Under

After a terrific send-off in Turin, Pier Giorgio's coffin has made the long journey down under and is now in Australia.

His casket has been placed in the church of St. Benedict where his July 4th feast day will be marked with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney. The coffin will be moved to the Cathedral from July 11th to the 22nd where World Youth Day participants will be able to venerate the relics of Pier Giorgio. An exhibit dedicated to Pier Giorgio will be held in Sydney Exhibition Hall.

This is surely a time of grace for the Church in Australia where hundreds of thousands of Catholics will soon gather for a terrific outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Blessed Pier Giorgio...pray for us!

How to Start a Frassati Society -- Part One

Some general guidelines for starting a Frassati Society can be found on the FrassatiUSA website. But the blog is a better place for a forum of ideas and I hope some of you will be willing to share your experiences -- what works and what doesn't, etc. I'll start off with the first Frassati Society that I was involved with back in 1996. It came about at the inspiration of our associate pastor who wanted a group for young adults but something more than just another singles group. After much consideration, he one day was inspired to use Pier Giorgio for our model and call the group, "The Frassati Society." We never put an age limit on the group but aimed at the 20s and 30s crowd, single or married. We came up with a format that worked pretty well down in the Bible Belt. We met every Wednesday evening and had a four-week cycle. One week would focus on service, one on social, one on spiritual and one on catechetical. This opened up a lot of possibilities for activities. For example, we studied a section of the catechism under the guidance of our priest on the weeks devoted to catechetical. Our favorite service project was probably cooking dinner at the Dismas House, a place for people transitioning from prison to freedom. Social included things from hiking to parties to sporting activities to dinner out. Spiritual allowed us to learn more about the sacraments and devotions and grow in our faith. This is just a little of what we did. There were never dues or financial obligations or commitments to make. It was pretty much, "come when you can and pray for us when you can't." I can honestly say that I made some of the best friends I have ever had in that group.

What does your group do?