Celebrating the feast day of its patron saint in style, St. Kevin’s, Flushing, welcomed Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio to bless the newly completed renovations to the church and school June 3. Joining the bishop on the altar were members of the priesthood ordination class of 2017, celebrating their one-year anniversary.

Bishop DiMarzio was thrilled to have so many people there to make it a special feast day for the parish. “Having last year’s newly ordained joining us for Mass is a tremendous gesture and shows today is truly a feast day worth celebrating,” he said.

“I just met with the pastoral council and this is such an amazing parish. Of course, Bishop [Raymond] Chappetto does a great job, but the people are so involved and continue to bring new ideas to the table. They have also raised a great deal of money for these renovations and we see the beauty in the church today and it is such a joy to be here.”

To celebrate the feast day of St. Kevin Bishop DiMarzio gave a blessing to last year’s ordination class, but also to all those named Kevin that were in attendance. After the Mass, a procession was led to the front of the school building to bless it for continued success.

Bishop Chappeto was very excited to show off his parish, and welcome Bishop DiMarzio for this event.

“The parish has been working so hard and has been so generous to help with this project,” he said. “There has been a great deal of time, talent, and treasure invested in this project and we are very proud to show off the results today. To be able to celebrate the feast day in such a way is very special for us all.”

Steve and Cathy Pryor were personally thanked during the Mass for their generous donation to the renovations.

Steve attended St. Kevin’s for a few years as a boy. When the renovation projects were in the planning stages, the couple happened to be in the neighborhood. Steve stopped in to show his wife where his Catholic education began. Cathy saw the bulletin asking for donations and knew they had to help.

“This is where so much of my faith and life began so to be able to give back means a great deal to us,” he said. “Bishop Chappeto does such an amazing job here and these people continue to run such an excellent parish. Being able to help in any way to keep the church and school running helps to go such a long way in keeping the faith as part of the neighborhood and we are just so happy to be a part of it.”