Assumptionist Father Alex Castro to serve as treasurer for the order

By Tanya Connor | the Catholic Free Press

Assumptionist Father Alex Castro, pastor of St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish in Sturbridge, has been elected general treasurer for the Augustinians of the Assumption worldwide. This is a six-year term serving as one of the officers who work with the Assumptionists’ general council.
Father Castro has been provincial treasurer of the Assumptionists’ North American Province for the past six years, explained Father Dennis Gallagher, the province’s provincial superior. In that position, Father Castro has been a member of the congregation’s economic council, composed of treasurers from all the provinces.
Father Castro said he hopes to move to Rome in mid-September.
A new pastor for the Assumptionist-staffed Sturbridge parish has not yet been named. The Assumptionists also run St. Anne Shrine on the parish grounds.
“This election is a strong vote of confidence in Father Alex’s financial competencies and leadership abilities,” Father Gallagher said in a June 13 letter to parishioners of St. Anne and St. Patrick. “It is a position that he accepts with humility, but also with a measure of confidence. We are happy for him, and congratulations are very much in order.”
Father Gallagher said Father Castro would leave with people’s prayers and “accompanied by gratitude for all that he has done to infuse the St. Anne’s community with his good and joyful Filipino heart.”
He also said that the pastor’s departure is “a significant loss” for the parish, and for the province, which is comprised of communities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Assumptionists elected general council members and officers, including a new superior general, during their 34th general chapter in Rome in June. Father Ngoa Ya Tshihemba, 52, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was elected the 11th superior general, according to LaCroix International, an Assumptionist publication. Father Castro said he is the only Assumptionist now living in the Worcester Diocese who was elected to a council position.
Filling Father Castro’s position as pastor in Sturbridge could take a few more months. In the meantime, the Assumptionists are to continue to staff the parish.
One of the tasks of the new superior general is to consult with Assumptionists in the North American Province and appoint the next provincial superior. Father Gallagher said his term ends in July and he is awaiting his next assignment.
The next provincial superior will propose a provincial council to work with him. Members of that council need to be approved at the Assumptionists’ implementation chapter in Mexico in August, Father Gallagher said.  
He said the next provincial superior, with the consent of his council, is to propose to Bishop McManus an Assumptionist to succeed Father Castro as pastor of St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish.