At the 97th annual Communion Mass and Breakfast for the New York City Police Department’s Holy Name Society, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio celebrated the Eucharist with more than 1,000 officers at Our Lady of Lourdes, Queens Village.
On the second Sunday of Lent, Bishop DiMarzio honored the heroes of the NYPD who “risk their lives to save and defend others” with their “truly heroic activities, their truly religious activities … that “brought them out of themselves eventually to help others and to recognize the power of God.”
After Mass, members of the NYPD Emerald Society Pipe Band led the early-morning march down Springfield Blvd. to Antun’s Catering Hall as Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill, Chief James Secreto, Holy Name Society President Sergeant Edward Conroy, Deputy Chief of Chaplains Msgr. Robert Romano and NYPD chaplain, Msgr. David Cassato follow. Before the award ceremony and scholarship announcements, Msgr. Cassato, pastor of St. Athanasius Church, Bensonhurst, led the opening prayer.
The 2017 Person of the Year award went to the Chief of Housing Bureau, Chief Secreto. Twenty-seven members were presented with Cops of the Year awards, including Sergeant Chris Vincenti, and officers John Dean, Jonathan McKiski and Brian Muldowney from Precinct 60.
Nine members who lost their lives in the line of duty were also recognized, including officers Filippo Gugliara, Tom Kennedy, George Davino, Captain Matthew Hanrahan, Vincent Harrison, Patrick Winberry, Scott Cavallaro, Christine Reilly and Sergeant Ed Rummel.
Officer Joanne Sullivan was proud to bring her daughter to the event, who wore a matching NYPD uniform. When asked to explain her mother’s job, 3-year-old Lucy Sullivan replied that police officers “protect us from monsters.”
PO George Davino was my nephew. I am proud to say he was a member of NYPD. He will be missed by many.