The annual Shining Star Award Dinner is so popular that the Diocesan Migration Services has to run two of them. (See photos on Page 8.)
Sixteen people were honored last week, and 13 more were scheduled to be honored this week as Catholics who have come to the U.S. from another country and made outstanding contributions to the Church and community.
“These are people that most people do not know outside the ethnic apostolate from which they are chosen,” explains Msgr. Ron Marino, vicar for migrants and ethnic apostolates.
Father Patrick Keating, CEO of Catholic Migration Services, adds that each one has “a special story.”
Like 61-year-old Sir Anthony Okeke, who came here from Nigeria 33 years ago. A Grand Knight and Life Member of the Igbo People, he is a member of St. Anthony of Padua parish, South Ozone Park, where he is a member of the parish council, active in youth ministry and helps organize various fundraising events.
Dressed in the colorful garb of his homeland, he attended the dinner with his wife of 34 years, Beatrice. They have seven children.
Like 45-year-old Eliete Lopes de Oliveira Jeronimo, a native of Brazil. She and her two sons came to the U.S. seven years to join her husband, who was already living here.
She’s a member of St. Rita’s parish, Long Island City, where she is a member of the pastoral council and coordinator of the Christmas Novena. Holder of a degree in pedagogy from the University of Itauna, she volunteers her time at her sons’ schools while being self-employed in the computer business.
“I am here to help,” she says.
Like 51-year-old Helen Ha Huynh, who fled Vietnam in 1988 because the Communists had taken control of her country.
A member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, Astoria, she is a lector and a member of the choir and helps organize entertainment in the parish during the holidays.
An employee at the Royalton Hotel, she was a union delegate who helped many workers receive equal treatment in the work place.
Like 73-year-old Irma Rose Laguerre Alexis, who came from Haiti in 1970.
A member of St. Francis of Assisi-St. Blaise parish in Crown Heights, she has been a catechist for 30 years, active with the Charismatic Movement for 40 years and a extraordinary minister of Holy Communion for 35 years.
She attended New York City Technical Community College and received a degree in science as well as hotel and restaurant studies. She volunteers at the Henry Street Settlement Senior Companion Program.
The list of honorees goes on and on – a deacon from Puerto Rico, a religious sister from Ghana, a retired bank vice president from Ireland, a gas station manager from Egypt, a priest who coordinates the Mexican Apostolate, among many others.
“We are blessed with many dedicated, talented and hard-working women and men of faith who are in our parishes,” says Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. “We are invigorated by the faith of our newcomers who remind us of our traditions and teach us new ways to practice and express our faith.”
Bishop DiMarzio, who learned about immigrants from his own Italian grandparents, proudly waves the banner of “The Diocese of Immigrants.”