With an Aug. 17 Mass celebrated by Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory and a festival featuring traditional Latin American and African food and music, parishioners of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish in Riverdale Park, Maryland celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding their parish.
Calling St. Bernard parishioners “the light that illuminates this parish,” Cardinal Gregory said “for 75 years you have served as a light in this community. May your light continue to shine.”
Cardinal Gregory said “it is with much sense of joy,” that he visited the parish which he called an example of the vitality of the local Church.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish was created in the early 1940s as a mission of St. Jerome Parish in Hyattsville, and was established several years later as its own parish. Today, the parish is administered by priests of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, popularly known as the Scalabrinians.
In the early 1990s, Spanish-speaking residents of Riverdale Park approached the parish seeking to have Spanish-language Masses offered there. At the time, Spanish-language Masses were offered at nearby St. James Parish in Mt. Rainier and St. Mark Parish in Hyattsville, but the opening of the Metro Green Line changed public transportation routes and schedules, making it difficult for parishioners to attend those Masses.
“In a world marked by hostility and division, it is comforting to see that here in St. Bernard of Clairvaux the unity and love of Christ is evident,” Cardinal Gregory said, noting how the parish embraced offering the Spanish-language Masses.
The cardinal noted that the parish “is a wonderful example of how different cultures can live together in peace and harmony” marked by a “spirit of unity” that comes from a “deep respect for diversity and variety.”
In the last two decades, St. Bernard’s has experienced an increase in its young Hispanic population, and boasts a very large and active group of children and young people who attend the parish’s catechetical programs.
“I see many committed young people, families and people of different nationalities sharing the same faith. This family of faith serves as a countersign to the divisiveness of society,” Cardinal Gregory said. “You are a powerful sign of how God wants us to live and treat one another.”
For Alejandra Lainez, who coordinates young adult activities for St. Bernard’s, the participation of so many young people in the life of the parish “gives them the opportunity to know they are not only the present, but the future of the Church.”
“Even if we are different, we all come together in the love of the Lord,” she said. “We are all different, but in God’s eyes we are all the same.”
The parish celebrates special events important to Hispanic Catholics, including the Feast Our Lady of Guadalupe, Posadas, Three Kings’ Day, Via Crucis and other holy days and holidays.
Juan Gonzáles, a native of El Salvador who is a member of the parish’s Hispanic Council, points out that this growth is the work of the Holy Spirit.
“For 14 years I have been working in Hispanic ministry, and I have witnessed not only the growth of the number of Hispanic faithful, but we have known how to understand, adapt and live in perfect harmony with brothers who speak other languages,” he said.
While the Spanish-speaking community in the parish has grown, other ethnic groups have also joined the parish. It now boasts a healthy community of Catholics from Vietnam, the Philippines and Africa.
Prior to Mass, parishioners decorated the church and parish grounds with flags of the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Vietnam and Ghana. In the gardens, altars were created to honor St. Bernard and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“This is our parish, this is our family,” said Scalabrinian Father Richard Gerard, St. Bernard’s administrator, as he introduced Cardinal Gregory to his parishioners.
“We are all from different cultures, but we all work together,” said longtime parishioner Teresa Luna. “As sisters and brothers, we bring different charisms (to the parish), but we help each other grow in our faith.”
Luna noted that “I used to live 10 minutes away, but even after I moved to Upper Marlboro, I still come here. I felt like I couldn’t walk away because this is my second home.”
Speaking in both Spanish and English, Cardinal Gregory praised the people of the parish as “a good example of faith, work and unity.”
“The love of God and the strength of the Holy Spirit have made this parish a place where diversity is respected, where there is no discrimination, and where we seek to build a better world with the teachings that come from the Gospel. Keep going,” the cardinal said.
For eight years, María Huerta has served as an usher at the parish and has been active in several of its programs.
“The parish is my home,” she said. “I feel useful working in this community and helping to improve catechism and social assistance programs.”
José Ramos and his son Emanuel are both active members of the parish – José is an usher and Emanuel is a member of the “Soldiers of Christ” youth group.
José noted that “although I spoke little English (when first becoming a member of the parish), I was welcomed here and the people are very friendly.” Emanual said that young people participating in parish activities “pleases God and makes us grow as a community, as people and as Christians.”
Juan Medina has been active for nearly a decade in the parish’s outreach to needy and immigrant families.
“Such work is always plentiful here and many times it is necessary to respond immediately to requests for help from our brothers,” he said. “I feel happy to be part of a parish that is always attentive to the needs of its parishioners.”
After Mass, parishioners participated in a procession to honor their patron saint and attended a play based on his life. The anniversary celebration also included parishioners preparing and serving food from their native counties, traditional folk dances, and a dramatization of the life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
