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BISHOP INVITES ALL TO
NOTE
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Diocese of Brooklyn has asked the pastors of the 216 parishes of Brooklyn and Queens to invite parishioners to join him on Saturday, Oct. 15, for a historic diocesan commemoration of the closing of the Special Year of the Eucharist, proclaimed last October by Pope John Paul II.
KeySpan Park in Coney Island, where the observance will take place, can accommodate some 10,000 members of the faithful for the spiritual activities that begin at 9 a.m. and conclude with a 1 p.m. Mass, with the Bishop as the principal celebrant.
Under the theme, “One Bread, One Body, One Family in Christ,” the event will “celebrate our diocesan family of faith that comes from many nations and cultures, united around the great gift of the Lord’s Body and Blood,” said Msgr. Francis J. Caggiano, the Vicar for Evangelization and Pastoral Life, who heads a committee coordinating the program.
“We are especially inviting the youth of our Diocese to attend with their families,” said Bishop DiMarzio, who will issue a pastoral letter in early October on “the mystery, gift and mission of Catholic families for our Church and world.”
The homilist for the Mass, Father Caleb Buchanan, said he would address the “unique and fruitful power of the Eucharist to keep families together and to revitalize our society in the spirit of Christ’s Gospel.”
Having attended World Youth Day in Cologne, he said he would reflect on the “energy” of the event and “the importance of the Eucharist for young people as the center of their spirituality.”
Father Buchanan, 33, parochial vicar at St. Ephrem’s Church, Dyker Heights, completed work this Summer for a master’s degree in pastoral theology that he earned from the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans.
The assemblage will also hear a talk, entitled "Be Surprised at the Eucharist," by Father Benedict Groeschel, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, during the morning program. A popular writer and retreat leader, he is an internationally known specialist in spirituality.
Msgr. Caggiano said the coordinating committee was guided by the intention expressed by the late Holy Father in convoking the Eucharistic Year---to underscore the Eucharist’s transforming power and the place it has at the heart of every Christian’s life.
When parishioners arrive at the beachfront baseball stadium, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, they will be greeted by the voices of a combined choir from two Brooklyn high schools---Xaverian in Bay Ridge and Nazareth in East Flatbush.
A “Blessing of the Families Present” will open the morning’s ceremony. It will include a “witness talk” by a family living in the Diocese.
Led by Youth 2000, an international movement, based locally in Greenpoint, for young people seeking to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, the assemblage will recite a “Living Rosary” in ten languages---Italian, Creole, Vietnamese, Urdu, Croatian, Portuguese, Chinese, Lithuanian, Arabic and Tagalog. The Lord’s Prayer and Glory Be to the Father will be said in English and Spanish.
After the “Living Rosary,” the Eucharist will arrive at KeySpan in a procession from nearby Our Lady of Solace Church for Exposition, Adoration and Benediction. A “witness talk” will be given by James Rodriguez, a student at the Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, L.I., on “The Eucharist in the Life of a Seminarian.”
The afternoon Mass will reflect the multi-ethnic flavor of Brooklyn and Queens The readings will be in English, Spanish and Creole and the general intercessions in 17 languages: English, Polish, Italian, Akan (Ghanaian), Lithuanian, Portuguese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Malayalam, Chinese, Croatian, Urdu, Igbo, Indonesian, Arabic and Romanian.
Bishop DiMarzio expressed the hope that the Oct. 15 event and other Eucharistic Year celebrations held in the Diocese will lead to “a personal spiritual renewal that will enkindle within us the burning flame of faith that will attract others to seek meaning and hope in Jesus Christ.”
Corpus Christi (Body and Blood of Christ) Sunday May 29 was the focus of several commemorations that the sponsors related to the Year of the Eucharist.
In the cluster of eight parishes located in Flatbush, in the Brooklyn East Vicariate, close to 2,000 parishioners, carrying banners and pennants, processed on Corpus Christi Sunday from their separate churches to St. Jerome’s Church, where an outdoor altar was constructed for Solemn Evening Prayer, with Bishop DiMarzio presiding.
Father Alfred LoPinto, pastor of St. Therese of Lisieux Church, said that beginning at his parish on Trinity Sunday a week earlier, each parish in the cluster held services on consecutive evenings, either for Mass or Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The parishioners moved from parish to parish, drawing a strong attendance.
“It was phenomenal,” Father LoPinto said.
In Queens Village, more than 1,500 people, including parishioners of SS. Joachim and Anne Church and visitors from other parts of the Diocese, celebrated Corpus Christi Sunday in a procession that wound its way to four locations where altars were set up, each with a separate theme: the Road to Emmaus in Spanish, the Upper Room in English, and Passover and the Last Supper, both in Creole.
The themes were Eucharistic, said Msgr. Joseph Malagreca, the pastor, who added that the Charismatic Renewal will conduct a Eucharistic procession in Williamsburg Sunday, Oct. 9, which will attract 1,200 participants from all parts of the Diocese.
On the Thursday before Corpus Christi, 120 youngsters from Polish-American parishes received their First Holy Communion at a Mass celebrated in St. James Cathedral Basilica, Brooklyn.
Brought together by the diocesan Polish Apostolate, it was the first time the parishes combined their First Eucharist Masses into one, said Father Peter Zendzian, the apostolate coordinator.
“The priests in the apostolate felt that this was a new way of increasing devotion to the Blessed Sacrament,” he said. He read a letter to the youngsters that extended the blessings of Pope Benedict XVI. Each child also received a memento of the occasion.
In a letter to pastors, Bishop DiMarzio offered a sweeping invitation for participation in the Oct. 15 ceremony. He said:
“All families are encouraged to attend, especially those with pre-school children, those whose children attend our Catholic grammar schools and high schools, families whose children attend public schools and our religious education programs, families who represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of our parishes, grandparents, widowers and the families of those seeking admission into the Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.”
The hope, he said, “is for a spiritual success.”
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