For Msgr. Ron Marino, his 45th anniversary Mass of thanksgiving was a family affair.
For almost 40 years, Msgr. Marino has been involved in ministry to immigrants. So it wasn’t unusual that joining his Brooklyn parishioners from Regina Pacis-St. Rosalia, were the faces of people from many different nations.
I was honored to receive the St. Francis de Sales Diocesan Communicator’s Award last week from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio at our annual celebration of World Communications Day.
A recent phenomenon is walking down the street of your neighborhood and picking up the scent of marijuana. All of a sudden it’s no longer a strange occurrence. Apparently, pot smoking is everywhere. It’s no longer only at concerts and in clubs, but it’s also outside schools, at the beach and in public parks.
Even those who take care of other people need to be taken care of themselves.
That’s the rationale behind the Wellness Day conducted last week for priests of the diocese. Held at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, the day consisted of workshops, a panel discussion and opportunities for various medical tests throughout the day. There were hearing tests, information on avoiding strokes, chances to have blood pressure measured – all as a way to impress upon the clergy the need to be concerned about their physical and emotional health.
It’s never too early to start planning an anniversary party.
Our Lady of Angels parish in Bay Ridge has set Sept. 24, 2091 as the date for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of its founding. On that day, the time capsule that was entombed last weekend in the wall of the church will be opened by parishioners to get a glimpse at what parish life was like in 2018.
That was the message from Bridgeport Bishop Frank Caggiano as he addressed the annual Diocesan Diaconate Convocation in Douglaston. The April 15 meeting at the Immaculate Conception Center was a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the permanent diaconate to the Brooklyn Diocese and the 50th anniversary of the revival of the Order by the Second Vatican Council.
Brooklyn-born Bridgeport Bishop Frank Caggiano can say some very profound things in a very simple way. When he told the Diaconate Convocation in Douglaston last weekend that our permanent deacons were on the front line of the New Evangelization, his words sounded nice but they should have made every deacon in the chapel stop and think.
We think of saints as perfect people with halos on their heads. At least that’s the way they are pictured in religious art. But in his new papal exhortation, “Gaudete et Exsultate,” Pope Francis tells us that saints are actually ordinary people, who do ordinary things, day-in and day-out.
A Queens parish that has a very high record of bringing new members into the Church has set its sights even higher and has asked Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio to hold it accountable.
When I was a student at Cathedral College in Douglaston, we celebrated Easter morning with a sunrise prayer service. We would go up to the roof of the then-recently opened college seminary and wait the first light of day.
