BAYSIDE — Fourteen-year-old Logan Juntereal is a parishioner at St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Jamaica, but made the trip to celebrate Mass at the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bayside to celebrate the establishment of the Diocesan Shrine of Saint Carlo Acutis in the parish.
He shared his excitement for the day and expressed his admiration for St. Carlo Acutis, who he called a modern-day embodiment of what it means to be a “true person” faithful to the Catholic church.
“We, as the next generation, can look up to him as an example of how we should lead in this new world,” Juntereal said. “This world is becoming kind of evil, and we can look up to him and know how to be a better follower of Christ and a true Christian for each and every one of us.”
On Oct. 12, the feast day of St. Carlo Acutis, Msgr. Thomas Machalski, pastor of Sacred Heart, read aloud the official decree during a Mass concelebrated with Bishop Robert Brennan, the main celebrant. The decree formally recognizes Sacred Heart as a diocesan shrine, describing it as a “sacred place for pilgrimages, prayer — especially for the youth — the spread of the faith, acts of charity, and evangelization.” It also affirms that “all necessary Church laws have been followed to make this designation.”
During his homily, Bishop Brennan likened the life of St. Carlo Acutis to the biblical story of the 10 lepers, where Jesus heals 10 men, but only one — a Samaritan — returns to thank him. Jesus praises the man’s faith and notes that he alone came back to give thanks.
“His piety led to something else,” Bishop Brennan said during his homily. “The piety led him to initiative, the piety he had brought about the desire for true happiness for himself and for the true good of other people.”
Like the Samaritan, St. Carlo Acutis was transformed by his encounter with Jesus Christ.
“Carlo recognized the grace of God in his life and became a missionary,” Bishop Brennan told The Tablet. “For him, the encounter with Jesus was a powerful thing, not just a passing thing.”
Bishop Brennan noted that while the decree officially recognizes the parish as a shrine to St. Carlo Acutis, young people have already been making pilgrimages to the parish.
“It’s a beautiful thing, it’s edifying to see so many people who are drawn here because of their devotion to St. Carlo,” Bishop Brennan said. “It’s great to see faith being lived out and faith being so joyful.”
This growing devotion was evident even before the shrine’s official designation.
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Ahead of the canonization of St. Carlo Acutis, Sacred Heart of Jesus was one of four parishes to open its doors during an informal pilgrimage on Sept. 6, for the faithful to honor the soon-to-be-saint. Other parishes included are St. Pancras Church in Glendale, St. Patrick Church in Bay Ridge, and the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Williamsburg.
Msgr. Machalski pointed out that people have been making their pilgrimage to Sacred Heart of Jesus to venerate the parish’s first-class relic of St. Carlo, which contains a lining of his heart, gifted to the parish by then-Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. He said because of the excitement surrounding St. Carlo Acutis, he already knows what is to come.
“I’ve had people … traveling here from all over the country,” Msgr. Machalski said. “I even had a couple fly from Florida in the morning and fly back in the afternoon to come and pray before the relic.”
The path to Sacred Heart of Jesus becoming a shrine began in 2021, when Msgr. Machalski read an article about a Polish bishop who was sending a relic of St. Carlo to various parishes. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he contacted Bishop DiMarzio and asked him to request a relic from Italy.
“Bishop DiMarzio [emailed] back within 10 minutes and said, ‘Tom, what a great idea. I’m on it,’ and then I didn’t hear anything,” Msgr. Machalski said. “Then, in July, his secretary called me and said, ‘The relics arriving on July 14. Bishop wants you at the chancery the day it arrives.’ And the rest is history.”
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While the strands of hair will remain permanently at Sacred Heart of Jesus for public veneration, the relic of his heart is available to travel to other parishes across the diocese upon request.
The presence of these two relics, along with a formal petition submitted by Msgr. Machalski, the parish’s active promotion of devotion to St. Carlo, and a diocesan examination of the parish’s ministry, all contributed to the final decision to designate the church as a shrine.
At the conclusion of the Mass, parishioners were invited to venerate the relic of St. Carlo’s hair before leaving. Then, in a gesture of gratitude, Msgr. Machalski presented Bishop Brennan with a vestment he had purchased in Rome during the canonization. The vestment features an image of St. Carlo Acutis.
“When I asked for the vestment,” Msgr. Machalski said, “they said it was the one and only vestment that they had with him on it, and I took that as a sign that it belonged with the bishop.”