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Visiting Holy Rosary Church, Cardinal Gregory says reasons to praise God and thank others remain during pandemic

As Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrated a Dec. 13 Mass at Holy Rosary Church in Washington on the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday after the Latin word for “rejoice,” he noted that even amid the challenges of a pandemic, there are still reasons to rejoice.

“While the imperfect condition of the pandemic may cause us to neglect the many reasons that we have for rejoicing, it must not rob us of the obligation to praise God for all that we do have,” he said.

Washington’s archbishop, speaking one day before COVID-19 vaccines began being administered to health workers across the country, said, “The vaccines that are even now being shipped across the nation and throughout our world should inspire some hope in our hearts, and thanksgiving for the skill and determination of the scientific community that has discovered these effective vaccines.”

Cardinal Gregory then acknowledged the workers who have been on the front lines during the pandemic.

“We should also thank those who are first responders, the people who have kept us fed, who work in medical facilities, who helped us design and implement new ways for teaching our children, and who carry out ordinary but essential tasks that we too often take for granted,” he said. “We can and should say, ‘Rejoice!’ We should praise God for them. Even in the face of the trials that this year has brought, we still have incentives to give thanks, if for no other reason, to look ahead with hope for a better 2021.”

In May 2019, Cardinal Gregory was installed as the new archbishop of Washington, and on Nov. 28, 2020, Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals, making him the first African American cardinal in the nation’s history.

Cardinal Gregory noted that in his service as archbishop of Washington, he has witnessed a great deal “for which I am deeply grateful and for which I do gladly cry out, ‘Rejoice!’”

“Witnessing your resilient faith and your fathomless care for the poor, the neglected whose needs during this unexpected pandemic moment have only intensified -- these offer ample reasons for me to invite us all to rejoice in the Lord, on this the third Sunday of Advent,” he said.

During the pandemic, the archdiocese did a survey and found that 67 of its 139 parishes were operating food pantries, and since the onset of the pandemic and the resulting economic downturn, the number of people those parishes are serving has doubled to 15,000 people weekly. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington has served more than one million meals since the pandemic began and has been holding large-scale food distributions throughout the area.

Reflecting on the seasons of Advent and Christmas that harken to the coming of Christ, the cardinal said, “This Sunday, the Church invites us all to rejoice, perhaps because one-half of Advent has passed, and we are closer to the feast of Christmas. But more important than that, we are closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus in glory. We are closer to the fulfillment of our destiny in Christ. We want to rejoice for who we are, by God’s grace, His chosen ones, His beloved people.”

Scalabrini Father Ezio Marchetto, the pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Washington, welcomed Cardinal Gregory to the church as the Mass began on Dec. 13, 2020, and the parish presented the new cardinal with gifts after Communion. (Photos by Marco Recchia)

As he welcomed Cardinal Gregory to Holy Rosary Church – which serves Italian Catholics in the Washington metropolitan area ­– the pastor, Father Ezio Marchetto, a Scalabrini Father, noted that Dec. 13 was also a joyful day for that parish community as the feast day of St. Lucy, a beloved saint of Italy who was born in Syracuse on the Italian island of Sicily and was martyred in 304 A.D.

Father Marchetto also noted that the next day, Dec. 14, marked the 107th anniversary of Holy Rosary Parish, which had its first Mass when it was established on that date in 1913 and has served generations of Italian-American Catholics in the Washington area since then.

The pastor also noted that the date of the Mass coincided with the anniversary of the episcopal ordination of Cardinal Gregory, who was ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Chicago on Dec. 13, 1983 by then-Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

Cardinal Gregory also noted that anniversary as he closed his homily, saying, “One of the reasons that I shall rejoice today is that 37 years ago today, on the feast of Santa Lucia,” he was ordained as a bishop by Cardinal Bernardin, whose parents immigrated from Italy. He added, “And I am deeply grateful for the times that I learned from him and served with him and got to know and love him. I suspect his Italian ancestry purposely chose Santa Lucia for the feast of the ordination, and I have always considered myself a Lucy bishop.”

The cardinal and the parish’s pastor wore the pink vestments that are used on Gaudete Sunday, and the third Advent candle, which is colored pink, was lit as the Mass began.

After the Dec. 13 Mass at Holy Rosary Church, Cardinal Gregory, shown standing near a statue of Christopher Columbus, blessed a new building at the parish that houses its rectory and the Casa Italiana center. (Photo by Marco Recchia)

Before the Mass ended, Washington’s new cardinal was presented with gifts – a copy of a pictorial history of Holy Rosary Parish, and a CD with religious songs produced by the parish’s choir last year. After the Mass, Holy Rosary parishioners had another reason to rejoice, as Cardinal Gregory blessed the new building there that houses the rectory and the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center.



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