If you walked along Flushing’s Union Street on Saturday afternoon, June 24, you would have witnessed a diverse community thriving with the sounds of a sweet celebration: drums thumping, cymbals clanging, confetti streams hissing and voices singing.
The parish of St. John Vianney was commemorating its 50th anniversary as a faith community with Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and visiting Bishop Martin Su, C.S.J.B., of Taichung, Taiwan.
More than 300 people gathered for the tri-lingual Mass that was celebrated in English, Chinese and Spanish.
On the birthday of his congregation’s patron saint, St. John the Baptist, Bishop Su shared his appreciation for those gathered that day. “I would like to emphasize the spirituality from St. John the Baptist and also St. John Vianney, so we can love our God more and make more people come to join this community and believe in God,” said Bishop Su.
In the summer of 1967, with the price tag of nearly half a million dollars, Archbishop Bryan J. McEntegart was able to buy a plot of land between the intersection of 34th and 35th avenues, which at the time consisted of two-family houses on the property. The parish was named after the patron saint of parish priests, and it was carved out of the larger neighboring communities of St. Michael, St. Mel and St. Andrew Avellino parishes.
It took six years for the community, which was under the guidance of its first pastor, Father James McCabe, to raise money, plan and construct the first church.
The first Mass was celebrated at Flushing Singers Hall, an old German social hall, which now stands as Flushing Town Hall. Even the priests’ residence at the time was used to celebrate daily Mass, baptisms and confessions. Ground was broken for the new church building in 1972.
Rosemarie Cruz joined the parish seven years after it was built.
“We’re little, but we’re mighty,” Cruz said. “Each individual pastor that came after the founder…Father McCabe, they all added something to our parish. Each of them gave us their personality, strength and love.”
For those who sacrificed their time, talent and treasures nearly half a century ago laid the foundation for a diverse community that now includes English-, Spanish- and Chinese-speaking parishioners.
Prior to the anniversary liturgy, Bishop DiMarzio blessed a new outdoors statue of the parish’s patron.
“May we follow in the footsteps of the Lord keeping before us the example of St. John Vianney,” Bishop DiMarzio said, “knowing we grow to a maturity measured not by nature but by the fullness of Christ.”
Since 2009, the parish has been under the direction of the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist and Little Sisters of St. Theresa.
The Pastors of St. John Vianney Parish
Father James S. McCabe 1967–81
Father Michael J. Cantley, Administrator, 1981–83
Father George Nicholson, Administrator, 1984–97
Father Carlos Valencia, 1997-2000
Father Brian Dowd, Administrator, then Pastor, 2000-09
Father Antonius Ho, CSJB, 2009-present
