Story by Karen A. Avitabile

The late Father Philip Cascia of the Archdiocese of Hartford was described as a “man of action” for his extensive humanitarian and peace efforts which extended nationally and internationally.

“Father Cascia was a saint in his own, unique way,” said George Hughes, who chokes up when he discusses the priest and his friend. “I’m not the only one affected by this man.”

Hughes of Prospect delivered a presentation on the legacy of Father Cascia at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, an event that drew some 70 attendees.

“He knew he wanted to be a priest at a young age,” Hughes added.

The priest also served as chaplain and wrestling coach at Sacred Heart High School in Waterbury. While coaching, he arranged for wrestling teams to travel to the Soviet Union.

Father Cascia was appointed by the late President Ronald Reagan to establish Intersports USA, an international program designed to foster cultural exchanges between American sports teams and those from other nations.

In 1998, the priest was instrumental in organizing a trip for Pope St. John Paul II to Cuba and led a Connecticut delegation. In 2000, Father Cascia was invited by the Vatican to celebrate the pope’s 80th birthday. That same year, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work through Intersports USA.

Father Cascia was founder of St. Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury, an organization that aims to combat the root causes of homelessness in the Greater Waterbury area. The mission has grown to provide a wide range of services including a soup kitchen, emergency homeless shelter, thrift store and mental health facilities. It also offers programs for individuals and families with disabilities.

Hughes met Father Cascia in 1979 when he moved to Prospect and joined St. Anthony Church in the town. He said he held the priest in high regard and was grateful for his numerous contributions.

Today, Hughes remains active as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, a Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, a Bible study teacher and a choir member. He has served on the parish council at St. Anthony Church and was a faith formation teacher.

During his presentation, Hughes scrolled through photos of Father Cascia on a large screen. “Look at the smile on his face,” said Hughes, pointing to one of the photos.

Story by Joe Pisani

When “Megs,” as she was known to her family and friends, died last year at 102, she left behind a legacy that will last into eternity, a legacy that included seven children, 12 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, good works, and decades of prayers for others.

In the 1940s, long before it was fashionable for women to have careers, she went to nursing school and college and worked at several Catholic hospitals. She eventually left to raise her family and later returned to train young nurses.

She went to daily Mass, she taught Bible study, she was active in her parish, she was committed to several ministries and humanitarian causes.

“She lived her faith daily for over a hundred years and established that legacy in her own children to carry on,” her obituary said. All of us should be so well remembered.

She was also known for her love of owls and had a large collection of them as knick-knacks. But more important, she loved religious statues and sacramentals, and when she passed, her children spent days going through what she had collected, taking what they wanted and sharing the rest with family and friends. There were Madonnas, crucifixes, statues of saints, prayer books, rosaries, scapulars, medals, holy cards and more. Boxes of religious items.

Her daughter gave us some of these treasures, and for me it was a sacred honor to receive rosaries and prayer books this saintly woman had used.

Sacramentals are a fundamental part of our spiritual life. Blessed objects, such as crucifixes, rosaries and medals can ward off evil, inspire devotion and help us appreciate God at work in our daily lives.

It took me time to sort through the prayer cards, some of which dated back more than 50 years. Of course, I wasn’t new to this sort of adventure. Throughout my life, I’ve wandered through antique shops and second-hand stores, looking for rosaries, vintage prayer books, Madonnas and whatever else I could find that lay hidden in dusty corners. It was always a delight to save a blessed item from obscurity.

Many of the books and Bibles had been inscribed by family members on the occasion of a First Communion, Confirmation or marriage, so I brought them home because something so precious and spiritually meaningful deserved a renewed life and shouldn’t be cast aside.

More than once, I found a prayer book over a century old, in a corner of a used bookstore, most likely because a son or daughter or descendent didn’t appreciate its spiritual and family significance.

I found sets of rosary beads, which I’m sure had been used thousands of times by a parent or grandparent during times of trial and crisis or thanksgiving.

Realizing that seemed to establish a special relationship between me and whoever prayed with them before.

My hope is that someday I can pass my sacramentals onto family members and friends who value them, rather than have them discarded.

When my mother passed, it took me a while to go through her belongings. Her rosary beads held special significance because every night as she lay in bed, she prayed to Our Lady  — for her family, her sick friends, people who were dying, and for intentions known only to her and the Blessed Mother, who I’m sure, answered them.

The box Megs’ daughter gave us contained hundreds of sacramentals. I said a silent prayer as I went through them: “Lord, help us to find a home for these religious items, someone who will cherish them, pray with them and continue the legacy of the woman who owned them … and may they continue to give you glory.”

That prayer was answered quickly enough. My wife gathered everything together and put them in a large box for the Missionaries of Charity, who always put religious items to good use.

St. Teresa of Calcutta’s sisters will share them with the people they serve, whether they’re children in catechism classes or families who can’t afford to buy statues and prayer books.

Meg’s love for Jesus and the Blessed Mother will bear fruit long after she’s gone. Someone will be using her rosaries, someone will be saying the prayers on her holy cards, and someone will put a statue of Our Lady and the Baby Jesus in a place of honor.

Story by Joe Pisani

Inspired by her experience, the Arrandales are organizing a pilgrimage, where others can deepen their faith and pray for priests, seminarians and new vocations. A member of the Archdiocesan Vocations Ministry, she approached Father Anthony Federico, director of Vocations & Seminarians, with her idea and for his participation.

To learn more about the pilgrimage and apparitions in Medjugorje, individuals are invited to participate in a Zoom meeting on Nov. 10, 7 p.m. To receive a meeting link and for more information, call 203.318.8590 or email jarrandale@comcast.net. Registration for the trip should be done by Dec. 1.

Story by Karen A. Avitabile

During the summer and fall seasons, Gary Vincent uses his gardening skills for the benefit of parishioners at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Plainville.

“I’m helping the church but the parishioners mainly,” he says. “I like to do things that put a smile on somebody’s face.”

On an acre of church grounds, Vincent keeps the “lost art” of gardening alive by (in no particular order) composting, planting, fertilizing, installing weed control fabric, trellising the tomatoes and harvesting a variety of vegetables for parishioners to enjoy.

Now that the season has come to an end, Vincent is rototilling the church garden with his tractor and harvesting the seeds. He will begin growing plants next March, utilizing his own portable greenhouse on his Plainville property.

“I look at a little seed, and I like to watch it grow,” Vincent says. “I’ve been gardening all my life. My father taught me how to plant when I was 12, and I haven’t missed a season yet.”

Vincent, who has received an Archdiocese of Hartford St. Joseph Medal of Appreciation with his wife, Laurie, is a lifelong parishioner of Our Lady of Mercy Parish. He pours his heart, soul and resources into the garden.

“I like to plant what people want the most when they go to the grocery store, tomatoes,” says Vincent, who is also well known for growing prize-winning pumpkins for competitions.

At the church garden last spring, he planted some 450 tomato plants consisting of a wide variety of types. Complementing the tomatoes were eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, Nardello sweet frying peppers, shishito peppers and radishes, in addition to a patch of zinnia flowers.

“We plant everything about 28 to 36 inches apart for good air circulation,” Vincent says. “There’s a lot of tricks to the trade.”

Father M. David Dawson, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish, credits the parish volunteers for their commitment to the garden. “The parish garden is operated by a very small but dedicated crew of volunteers, to whom the parish is greatly indebted to for their service,” he says.

“In a time where the bare necessities have gotten so very expensive, the parish is blessed to have these green thumbs helping so very many people. They produce thousands of dollars’ worth of vegetables. Hopefully, we will have an influx of volunteers to continue to make it possible next spring.”

Plainville resident and parishioner Leona Bisson is one of those volunteers, who started helping Vincent more five years ago. “I started talking to Gary and I wanted to help,” she says. “He’s a master gardener. He knows everything about growing.”

Bisson even recruited her 19-year-old grandson, Ryan Whitehead, to help her pick vegetables, pack them in boxes and carry them into the church.

The boxes with vegetables are displayed on tables at the church’s two entrances for the parishioners to help themselves after weekend Masses.  

Bisson makes sure the boxes are refilled after every Mass. An extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, she brings fresh vegetables with her when she visits homebound parishioners. Some vegetables are also donated to the local food pantry.

“We get so excited over these vegetables, to watch them grow and to think of how many people will enjoy them,” Bisson says. She adds that volunteers harvested about 10,000 tomatoes during the 2024 growing season. “People appreciate it so much.”

Vincent says he finds joy in gardening. “I feel I am accomplishing something,” he says.

To help with the garden next spring, call the parish office, 860.747.6825.

Story by Shelley Wolf

On Oct. 2, the feast of the guardian angels, students at East Catholic High School in Manchester recognized their guardian angels here on earth by dedicating a new Marian grotto to the religious sisters who have served them as trusted mentors and guides.

Students and faculty at East Catholic honored the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur with a Mass and the dedication of a new Marian grotto at the high school: the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Grotto.

“Seventy-one Sisters worked here over the years,” Sean Brennan, chief administrator of East Catholic High School, told the crowd at the dedication ceremony. The Sisters, he said, served over the years as administrators, teachers and counselors.

With the motto “God is good all the time,” the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are still bringing their special charism to East Catholic High School, where they have been educating and shaping generations of students since the school’s founding in 1961.

Sister Peggy Evans, who has been with the school 58 years and still works part time, came up with the idea for the grotto. “Sister Peggy wanted to honor her fellow Sisters,” Brennan explained.

Brennan introduced Sister Peggy as “the soul of the school.” Over the years, she worked as a religion teacher, Spanish teacher, vice principal and guidance counselor. Today, she assists with alumni relations.

“They always said ‘East was best.’ East was best because of the student body here,” Sister Peggy told the students. “You rejuvenate me every day. The Sisters will tell you, I’m happy to wake up and come to work here every day.”

The event opened with a Mass in the auditorium, celebrated by Father Daniel Hackenjos, the dean of religious life for Archdiocesan Catholic High Schools. Later, students processed to the grotto for the dedication ceremony.

As the Sisters, the entire student body, and archdiocesan officials looked on, Father Hackenjos blessed the new grotto along with the student choir members who performed at the event.

The focal point of the new grotto is a bronze statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus. Now mounted on the side wall of the school, the statue was rescued from the old Notre Dame convent, which existed on the school property until it was razed in 2021. Bricks taken from that same convent now form the lower walls of the grotto.

Completing the grotto are a concrete sidewalk, prayer benches, hot pink rose bushes, evergreen plantings, and a bronze plaque dedicating it to all the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

The dedication ceremony was followed by a lunch honoring the 14 Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who were present for the special tribute.

The previous day, members of East Catholic’s boys basketball team, dressed in white shirts and black bowties, also served dinner at the Sisters’ Jubilee celebration at St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Windsor Locks.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are an international congregation, founded in 1804 by St. Julie Billiart (1751-1816) in Amiens, France. Today, their Motherhouse is located in Namur, Belgium. Their Connecticut office is located in Windsor.