By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

A Massachusetts priest who is a longtime friend of Bishop Larry Silva will direct this year’s diocesan priests’ retreat, Jan. 21-26, at St. Stephen Diocesan Center.

Assumptionist Father John L. Franck, 58, the former provincial and present vocations director of his religious community, will conduct the retreat under the theme and title: “The Parables of Jesus: His Story and Ours.”

The retreat begins at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 21, and concludes with lunch on Friday, Jan. 26. It will be the only diocese-sponsored retreat for priests this year. All priests are required to attend at least one retreat a year.

Father Franck, who lives in Worcester, Mass., met Bishop Silva in 1981 at a 30-day retreat in Ontario. They have remained close ever since.

He visited the bishop last December while on sabbatical and was invited to return in 2007 to direct the priests’ retreat. As provincial of the Assumptionists, formally called the Augustinians of the Assumption, Father Franck has given retreats in Mexico, Chile, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Japan, India, the Philippines, Belgium among other places.

The Assumptionists are an international community of priests and brothers founded in 1845 in France with 1,000 members in about 30 countries. They work in education, journalism, ecumenism, evangelization and other fields.

Father Franck was provincial of the Province of North America from 1996 to 2005. He became vocation director at the beginning of last year and also assists in campus ministry at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass.

Father Franck explained the retreat’s theme in an e-mail message to the Hawaii Catholic Herald.

“One of the most innovative characteristics of Jesus’ teaching was his use of parables,” he said. “Through stories and images that were familiar to his audience he was able to convey the essential message of the Kingdom.”

“He was the consummate storyteller, I think, because he understood that stories have a capacity of capturing our imagination and moving us in a way that much else cannot,” he said.

“I have found,” he said, “that throughout my life the parables keep revealing deeper and deeper levels of meaning to me.”

Father Franck hopes to use his Hawaii visit to pursue a personal pastime.

Describing himself as an “avid hiker,” the priest said he has “always thought it would be great to explore the peaks of Hawaii.”

“Now that my friend is bishop of the diocese,” he said, “perhaps that dream will come true!”