After six years serving St. Patrick-St. Anthony Parish as an associate pastor and guardian of the friar community, Fr. Bill Beaudin, O.F.M. will be moving on to a new assignment.
He was recently asked by the administration of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province (the larger entity of the Franciscans who staff our parish) if he would accept a transfer to the friary in Danville, California in order to do full-time retreat ministry there. The friars have several spiritual renewal centers on the West Coast, including San Damiano in Danville. Fr. Bill has accepted the invitation.
“Among the things I have enjoyed most in my six years here have been the opportunities to conduct parish days and evenings of recollection,” Fr. Bill wrote in a letter to the parish staff. “These have been enriching experiences for me and, I hope, for our parishioners. I have come to realize that what really energizes me, challenges me, and taps into what gifts I have at this point in my life are preaching, adult faith formation and spiritual development. I would like to devote the next, and probably last, assignment of my active ministerial life to this work.
The move to Danville, I believe, will enable me to do just that. So I am excited by the prospect of living and working at San Damiano, even as I am anxious over the transition and saddened by leaving our wonderful parishioners, lay staff, and friars in Hartford.”
Fr. Tim, Fr. John, and Fr. Mike are remaining here. Fr. Tim will continue as pastor; Fr. Mike will be the new guardian in the friary; and Fr. John will be his vicar and will continue in his role as an associate pastor. As you know from past experience, friar-reassignments can be disruptive and disconcerting to our parishioners. The ongoing presence of Frs. Tim, John and Mike will no doubt be reassuring to the good people of St. Patrick-St. Anthony that their ministerial needs will be well-served.
Fr. Bill will begin his new ministry on October 1. A farewell Mass and reception will be scheduled for some time in September.
In other news from the friary, Fr. Francis Soucy, O.F.M. was permanently assigned earlier in the summer to St. Lawrence of Brindisi Friary, a long-term care facility administered by the Capuchin Franciscans in Beacon, NY.
Fr. Francis has been a resident there since October 2025 after sustaining injuries from a bad fall. At first, he was undergoing physical rehabilitation at the friary in Beacon. While his condition has improved to the point where he is able to move around with a walker, he is unable to negotiate stairs (of which there are many in the St. Patrick-St. Anthony Friary), and other health-related issues now require the physical assistance and nursing care he is currently receiving at St. Lawrence.
The friars’ medical assessment team determined that it would be unwise and unsafe for him to return to Hartford. After exploring long-term care facilities in Connecticut, Fr. Francis decided to remain in Beacon where he is continuing to live his religious life alongside his Franciscan brothers.
Fr. Francis ministered here at St. Patrick-St. Anthony as a senior friar-in-residence from 2017 to 2025. He is greatly missed both by our parishioners and by Hartford’s homeless and marginalized with whom he developed a close rapport and to whom he provided so much assistance.
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