GLENDALE — Juan Pérez, director of religious education at St. Pancras Parish, light-heartedly admits to having a “big mouth,” but that can be a good thing.
Pérez is an international recording artist and performer. His vocal range garnered “Best Pop Song in English” at the first-ever Catholic Music Awards last summer in Rome.
He’s also the pastoral assistant for Msgr. Steven Aguggia, pastor of the parish in Glendale, and its youth pastor. So, the ability to clearly articulate requests is useful. Such was the case when he requested a relic for the new shrine for St. Carlo Acutis at the parish. That was achieved with help from a friend, Cardinal Raymond Burke, a retired American prelate still residing in Rome.
Cardinal Burke visited St. Pancras on May 10 to bless the new shrine, which features four relics of the first millennial saint and a mosaic of his likeness.
RELATED: Local Pilgrims Gather in Diocese of Brooklyn to Pray Before Relics of St. Carlo Acutis
Also attending was Bishop Emeritus Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn.
“Through Juan, I got to know the cardinal a bit,” Msgr. Aguggia said. “He has become a very good friend to us all. And then, how this happens with St. Carlo is …”
“Because of my big mouth,” interjected Pérez.
“Yes,” the pastor added with a laugh, “because of Juan’s big mouth. Feel free to print that!”
Cardinal Burke is now a part of a global prayer campaign for Pope Leo XIV. He is also known for making headlines for his outspoken views on Church leadership — not the typical social circle that would bring him in contact, let alone friendship, with a director of religious education and youth pastor in Queens.
With a lot to unpack, Pérez launched into the back story.
In 2019, he met Cardinal Burke while they attended the same pilgrimage to Cana of Galilee in northern Israel — the site of Jesus’ first miracle, when he turned water into wine (John 2:1-11).
“Then we started talking and chit-chatting, and we became good friends,” Pérez said.
View this post on Instagram
Next, in 2024, Pérez introduced Msgr. Aguggia to Cardinal Burke while they were in Rome for a seminar.
The cardinal invited them to lunch at his home, where the conversation turned to the not-yet canonized Carlo Acutis. The two-man delegation from Queens commented how it would be great to have a relic from him at St. Pancras.
Cardinal Burke offered help.
“And then,” Pérez said, “I said, ‘Well, I don’t want just a relic. I want something special for St Pancras.’
“And then, monsignor kicked me under the table!”
But Cardinal Burke came through on his offer. A few months after the Rome visit, Pérez continued, Msgr. Aguggia got an email from the cardinal saying, “I got you a special relic per Juan’s request.”
It’s a special gift for two reasons, Msgr. Aguggia said.
First, he explained, most relics are singular, such as a strand of hair or a sliver of bone.
RELATED: New Chapel in Astoria, Queens Honors Modern Saints Including St. Carlo Acutis
Conversely, the monsignor added, the reliquary for this relic contains four items from St. Carlo: a piece of his hair, a piece of his heart, a piece of cloth from an outfit he wore, and a piece from the casket in which he was first buried.
“But this particular relic was given to the cardinal for us by St. Carlo’s mother,” Msgr. Aguggia said.
Work got underway to create the shrine including a statue of the saint who was canonized on Sept. 7, 2025.
However, his mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis, had a suggestion for the parish. Instead of a statue of her son, why not try something different, like a mosaic?
Msgr. Aguggia and Pérez were eager to accommodate her, so they adjusted their plans. They turned to Chiarelli’s Religious Goods & Church Supply in New Hyde Park to purchase a St. Carlo Acutis mosaic made in Italy.
Pérez and Msgr. Aguggia noted, however, that their parish is not the official Shrine to St. Carlo Acutis in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
That distinction, they said, goes at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Bayside, pastored by Msgr. Thomas Machalski. Bishop Robert Brennan dedicated the shrine last October, a few weeks after St. Carlo’s canonization.
Still, the mosaic of the saint at St. Pancras is unique, according to Msgr. Aguggia.
RELATED: Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Queens Named Diocesan Shrine of Saint Carlo Acutis
“Ours was a special order,” he said. “Mosaics before had Carlo pictured without a halo because he was not yet canonized. We wanted to show the saint now.
“So, I think we are the first to have the mosaic picture of him with a halo. The whole thing is really kind of unique.”
That is why, he added, Cardinal Burke wanted to do the shrine’s blessing, “because he was so involved in it.”
Cardinal Burke said after the blessing on May 10 that St. Carlo inspires people with his devotion to the Holy Eucharist from a very early age. Cardinal Burke also noted how St. Carlo embraced the positive aspects of social media with enormous self-discipline, limiting his time online so he could strengthen personal relationships.
“This requires very profound thought,” Cardinal Burke said, “and he thought very deeply about matters. He is a very special gift of God to us in our time.
“So, I very much wanted to come.”