Fall-Winter 2013-2014

36 M arian H elper • F all /W inter 2013 •  www.marian.org B ack 23 years ago, as the Marian Fathers took stock of their mission and how to take it to the worldwide masses, they had no idea of the degree to which their new staffer would serve as one of their most dedi- cated mercy multipliers. Francis Bourdon, 65, the executive director of the Marian Helpers Center in Stockbridge, Mass., retired May 24, leaving behind an immeasurable imprint upon many of the Marians’ most momentous efforts to spread the message of Divine Mercy, devotion to Mary Immaculate, and prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. “He loved what he was doing. He brought leadership, harmony, and the standard of excellence to his work. We have a deep appreciation for all he has done,” said the Very Rev. Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC, the Marians’ provincial superior for the United States and Argentina. On task from day one His first day on the job, on Jan. 2, 1990, Fran was called into a meeting with the direc- tor of the Association of Marian Helpers at the time, Fr. Shawn O’Connor, MIC, and given his first task. Two trucks carrying 90,000 copies of a spiritual diary by a little-known Polish mystic would be arriving at the center in two days. On average, only about 25,000 of those diaries had sold annually. Fran’s task was to make sure this huge shipment could be stored at the center and all 90,000 diaries subsequently sold. They were stored, then sold. The task would prove prophetic in two ways. It would illustrate the unanticipated operational challenges continually faced at the center — a relatively small operation of about 100 employees tasked with serving a worldwide ministry. It also illustrated that this diary written in the 1930s by a Polish mystic was satisfying a spiritual hunger of unimagined proportions. It was th e Diary of Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska , soon to become a spiritual classic and the spark for the modern Divine Mercy movement, of which the Marians are recognized as the authorities in English G ratitude for a ‘ mercy multiplier ’ Francis Bourdon (center, surrounded by his family), longtime executive director of the Marian Helpers Center in Stockbridge, Mass., retired May 24. “I came on the job just as the ‘rocket’ of Divine Mercy was taking off,” he says. One of his top priorities in retirement is making up for lost time with his family. Dedicated executive director leaves a legacy of mercy. by Felix Carroll F elix C arroll