Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Francis Xavier,
Our rededication weekend is finally here!
New things indeed came upon us at that time as we began to have our masses in the Xavier High School Gym and Hurtado Hall. The previous weekend we relocated to help facilitate the Church demolition and construction taking place in the Church. Our experience of being displaced from our ordinary worship space was beautifully captured in Kim King’s bulletin reflection, Sunday in the Gym with God.
She asked: Was I “Home” or “Away?” noting that she was away from an accustomed setting [our Church] but “home within the people and the ritual practiced.” And, though she decided she was on the “home team” – after all we were in a gym – she asked about the person who feels like she or he is on the “away team,” noting that such a person “might be afraid he or she will not be chosen or will be selected last or asked to sit on the sidelines … The one on the away team might be someone I see every day who has never heard that there is such a place as Xavier where they can come as they are and worship God, whose measure for our lives is not tallied in fouls, per se, but rather what we did with our time on the court, what lessons we learned and how we used that knowledge for benefit.”Kim concluded, that “our faith teaches us that with God, there is no “Away.” There is only “Home.” No athleticism required. Score-keeping unnecessary. Cheerleading helpful. Welcome to the team.
That team spirit was also expressed each week in the Moving Forward Capital Campaign bulletin page that our dedicated, hard-working and truly outstanding Capital Campaign Director, Patrick Brewis, provided each week. Included were weekly questions, give-aways and parishioner reflections. That weekend’s particular question was: “All of our marble pilasters (i.e., columns built out from the wall) are in great need of repair. The onyx under each Station also needs to be cleaned & refurbished. From what country is the marble and from what country the onyx?” (See picture on the right). The prize: a $30 gift certificate from Westside Market! Patrick also announced the previous week’s winners: Joan O’Brien and Maria Formoso. They won a Starbucks’ Gift Package, including a Starbucks’ Sampler Basket, donated by parishioners Michael and Rose Allocca. Joan and Maria were selected from a pool of correct responders for answering the question: “This picture [above] shows the medallion that fell off the center of our organ screen a number of years ago. As part of our restoration it too will be repaired and reattached. What is The answer: “I” and it stands for Jesus.” It was exciting each week before Mass to hear the winners and read what new question Patrick was going to challenge us to answer.
Bob Leggett provided the parishioner reflection that weekend. He wrote: I started the RCIA program in December 2008 and received the Sacrament of Confirmation on April 11th. I was drawn to the Church because I found myself just going to work, meeting up with friends and in a routine that did not involve my spirituality or giving. I have always wanted to become more involved; yet I found my life passing by without taking any action. So I finally decided to make it happen. Now I really would like to put what I have learned in Church – through classes and reading the bible- into action by helping people. I am drawn to the sense of community. I am 25, work in finance and live in Astoria, Queens. I moved down to NYC, from Hudson, NY about 2 years ago after grad school. I generally spend my time working, getting in shape, going out with friends, reading, watching good movies and learning more about the church each weekend. Bob, as did each and every parishioner who shared a story, deeply touched and inspired us. It was no surprise that a theme characteristic of each story shows what a truly welcoming parish we have
That weekend in my, “From the Desk of Fr. Joe,” I began by mentioning the 1947 romantic comedy “The Bishop’s Wife” starring Loretta Young in the title role, with David Niven, as the Bishop, and Cary Grant, as an angel. As the Bishop struggles to build a new cathedral, he prays for divine guidance and as he does an angel reveals himself to him. Naturally at the heart of the plot is the bishop’s “renewal.”
I summarized this movie classic because the stone masons working to redesign our Jesuit Martyr’s Shrine so that the large crucifix might be fitted appropriately in front of it had just discovered a crumpled up little section of an old piece of newspaper stuffed in a crevice in back of the shrine. We soon realized it was from an ad for this movie. It helped us solve a mystery. We now knew that approximately 17 years after the canonization of the Eight North American Jesuit Martyrs by Pius XI in 1930, our own shrine with its beautiful mosaics was erected. Its installation coincided perfectly with the 100th anniversary of the journey in the summer of 1847 that Fr. John Larkin, S.J., made from Fordham “with only fifty cents in his pocket and an abundance of faith” to found our magnificent parish. It was also extremely appropriate that the discovery was from a movie essentially about “renewal,.” Renewal had become an important third element as we renovated and restored our Church: our own renewal of the unity we share amidst all of our diversity.
In that June 21st bulletin, we also congratulated our L-Step (Life-Skills Training & Empowerment) Graduates and gave thanks to our facilitators, J. Langdon and Bob Mullane, as well as all the mentors and presenters who made the semester possible.
We welcomed parishioners who had not yet participated in helping the homeless and formerly homeless by working in this educational, goal-setting program to offer their talents and thus experience the benefits and blessings of sharing in this vital work.
We further included in that bulletin an invitation to all parishioners to participate in our LGBT ministries’ and Peace & Justice Committee’s evangelizing efforts at the 40th Annual LGBT Pride March the following weekend. These ministries wrote: We are present there because our response as people of faith is to exercise a ministry that invites our sisters and brothers to consider anew the riches of the life of the Gospel. We also march to live out more fully the inclusive mission of our parish to welcome all as Jesus did. Each year, through our presence and the handing out of flyers, a number of people find their way to St. Francis Xavier to return to the sacraments and to find their adult place in the church of their youth.
Included as well in that bulletin was The Xavier Company announcement that, while our church was closed, their June Mass for Healing would be relocated temporarily to Ascension Church. [We thank Ascension for their hospitality!] The Young Adults announced their on-line summer schedule. And we continued to encourage, as we still do, GOING GREEN, and that you help us get through the summer financial crunch by joining PARISHPAY.
It was quite a packed bulletin, showing that we remained a vibrant, active parish throughout this past year even though our Church was under major reconstruction forcing us to live under scaffolding, negotiate piles of debris, and even relocate for the summer.
As we now look around our newly renovated and restored Church, we see ever so clearly the truth of Paul’s words “Behold new things have come.” And if I may be so bold as to change the tense of Paul’s statement to provide a prophetic proposition and stance for us today, “Behold new things will come.” Surely, they will, particularly as we collaborate with one another to live out our newly revised Mission Statement.
May this Mission Statement continue to renew us, inspire us and challenge us in all of our many varied ministries. And may God give us the grace, freedom and courage as individuals, as Church and as parish community to be zealously ever “Moving Forward.” FOR BEHOLD NEW THINGS WILL COME.
Yours in Christ, Fr. Joe Costantino, S.J. Pastor
