Story by Shelley Wolf

In 1973, Sister Dolores Liptak, a Sister of Mercy, completed her studies for a doctoral degree in American history at the University of Connecticut. But she still needed to write her dissertation. A professor suggested she research Catholic immigrants in Connecticut, beginning in the 1880s.

Her research led her to the Catholic Transcript and then to the Archdiocese of Hartford’s archives in the Chancery.

The Archives supports three categories of users: the archbishop; Catholic parishes, schools, clergy and archdiocesan administrative offices; and qualified researchers doing approved scholarly research.

It is private and not open to the general public. However, over the years, the diligent collection and maintenance of records by a series of archivists (ranging from religious sisters to professional archivists) has quietly captured the history of bishops, clergy and Connecticut’s Catholic people.

Today, Archivist Bridgette Woodall and Assistant Archivist Lindsey Restelli are carrying on the work of cataloguing archdiocesan records and preserving history. They also process 200-plus research requests from clergy and archdiocesan employees annually. Note: For sacramental records, contact your local parish.

Story by Joe Pisani

Daniel Elliott cherishes his boyhood memories of celebrating the feast of St. Mary Magdalene on Wooster Street in New Haven, when his parents would dress him in a snappy white suit to watch the procession of bands, Italian religious societies, food vendors and the statue of Santa Maria Maddalena being carried on a platform by parishioners of St. Michael’s Church.

“Wooster Street would be festooned with red, white and green garland, and our entire family would stand outside my grandmother’s apartment watching,” Elliott recalls. “As a kid, I went to Mass at St. Michael’s, and all the religious processions were so cool to me.”

A parishioner and former trustee of the church, Elliott’s love of his Italian heritage and his interest in genealogy inspired him to undertake a nearly three-year project, writing his first book, The History of St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, about the first Italian-American parish in Connecticut, founded in 1889 to serve the influx of immigrants.

Religious societies associated with Italian towns were formed to support immigrants, including the Santa Maria Maddalena Society, St. Trofimena Society, St. Andrew the Apostle Society, St. Catello Society and the Santa Maria delle Vergini Society, along with a society honoring St. Ann.

His book also describes the work of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart, who arrived in 1906 to help the Italian community and run St. Michael’s School. The sisters even began day care so immigrant families could work in the factories and have a better life.

The generation of immigrants that arrived between 1880 to 1920 is gone, but the church is trying to preserve traditions for younger Italian-Americans.

“We’re fortunate to have people who are strongly devoted to this culture and want to preserve these traditions for our kids and grandkids,” Elliott says. “And the way that happens is for us to continue with the processions and the feasts, and I hope in some small way my book contributes to that.”

Story by Shelley Wolf

This year’s Archbishop’s Annual Appeal Beer Tasting & Cocktail Reception offered frosty weather and brews in an atmosphere of warm Catholic fellowship.

Archbishop Coyne cited agencies on the front lines of providing food and shelter – House of Bread in Hartford, St. Vincent DePaul Mission of Waterbury and St. Vincent De Paul Mission of Bristol – which receive Appeal funds.

“We fill in the gaps. We never ask for credentials,” the archbishop said. “We just say, ‘How can we help you?’”

Father Anthony Federico, director of Vocations and director of Seminarians for the Archdiocese of Hartford, asked, “Do you know what gets me fired up? Now it’s being a part of the Archdiocese of Hartford, as the Lord does an historic resurgence of the Catholic faith in our state.

“Since we started praying the Prayer for Priestly Vocations together three years ago,” Father Federico said, “the Lord has been on an absolute heater.”

Story by Joe Pisani

My friends recently surprised me with tickets to a concert by Darlene Love, the legendary R&B singer whose trademark song is “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home),” which she performed for years on the David Letterman Christmas show.

Back in the 1960s, she recorded “He’s a Rebel,” written by Hartford native Gene Pitney, known as the Rockville Rocket, and other classics, including “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” which she didn’t get credit for because they were released as recordings for the Crystals, a popular girl group back then.

As a backup singer, she worked with everyone from Frank Sinatra to John Lennon and Elvis, who would sing hymns with her that they learned as children.

What else would you expect from the daughter of a minister who sang Gospel in the church choir? An Oscar and Grammy winner, Love still keeps a busy schedule at 84. And who does she thank for her career, her talent and her success? God.

One Gospel song she performs at every concert is “Marvelous,” written by Walter Hawkins, as an expression of her gratitude and faith.

The lyrics proclaim:

I will sing your praise
For you’ve done such a Marvelous thing
For someone so wretched
Yet my soul you have redeemed.

No one else could do it,
No one could care half as much
Yet you thought my soul was worth it
So you gave your only Son.

You gave that I might live,
You gave that I might be set free,
Exchanged your life for mine,
What a Marvelous thing you’ve done…

Those are powerful words to hear at a pop concert from an 84-year-old performer, who does a wonderful job sharing the Good News. As she praised God, my first thought was: With Jesus, there’s no retirement. No matter how old you are, no matter if you have millions of fans, no matter if you’re a relative unknown, God has a plan.

God told the prophet Isaiah: “Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you. I will sustain you and deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:4)

God has a long history of taking seniors and giving them BIG jobs. It’s not like the corporate world. He doesn’t mind if you have gray hair and wrinkles.

When Joshua, the leader of the Israelite tribes, was looking forward to a little relaxation, the Lord said to him: “Though now you are old and advanced in years, a very large part of the land still remains to be possessed.” Translation: Forget the vegetable garden and playing checkers at the senior center. Get to work.

Abraham was 75 and worshiping idols when the Lord came knocking and told him to set out from Haran to a new land, where God would lead him.

Let’s not forget Moses. God called him at 80 and told him to confront Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt.

None of them thought they could do what the Lord wanted. It was too overwhelming. They were too old. But God held them up and did the heavy lifting. They just had to say yes.

Last year, I met a woman in her 80s who runs the parish food pantry and another woman in her 80s who oversees a ministry that gives baby clothes to single moms and families in need.

My friend Maria has a prayer shawl ministry that she began in her 70s. This year she’s going to be 85 and she told me: “I wish I was 20 years younger. I retired from work when I was 75. Something is telling me I need to do something to help even more. I just want to do what God and the Blessed Mother want me to do.”

When you say yes to God’s plan, he finds a way to make it work, no matter how old you are. As Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

You see, Jesus isn’t the kind of guy who forces his senior employees to take a buyout package. He wants everybody — junior, senior and in-between to keep working. He’s always hiring, and in case you didn’t know, he has a great long-term benefits package.

So regardless of your age, never think God is done with you because he will call you out of “retirement.”

As Psalm 92 says: “In old age, they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain.” Darlene Love is proof.

Fellowship and Faith at Sacred Heart’s Mardi Gras Celebration

Story by Jim Tierney

As winter lingers and Lent approaches, Sacred Heart Parish in Suffield is once again inviting parishioners to gather for a joyful celebration that brings the community together before the reflective season begins.

“I work with a gal who goes to a church in Hartford and one Lent the priest had a Mass on Mardi Gras night and asked people to bring what they were giving up for Lent,” Jeanne Forschino, who heads the Sacred Heart Social Committee, explains. “I thought that was a great idea and just think of how this would impact children at the Mass, to visibly see their parents presenting something and themselves bringing something as well.”

Story by Shelley Wolf

This year Sister Suzanne Gross, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in Meriden, will have attended the national March for Life in Washington, D.C., for a total of 26 years. Since she began marching, she has only missed a few years due to a snowstorm and the pandemic.

To top it off, Sister Suzanne has reached another milestone: her 80th birthday. And yet she accompanies young people and adults on this annual pilgrimage in the cold and thinks nothing of it.

The Washington trip also gives her the opportunity to meet young people from throughout the archdiocese. “This march is something people like to do. More than 150,000 people come together for a peaceful march,” she points out. “We’re helping to build a culture of life. We’re helping young people have their chance. And we have students coming from different Catholic schools,” such as from St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol.

The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist will be present at the state march, too – at the Connecticut March for Life on March 18 at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. For more information, visit marchforlife.org/Connecticut.

Story by Joe Pisani

Thirty years ago, when Deacon Nick Genovese and his friends approached the now-deceased Father Francis X. Callahan about starting a men’s group at St. Agnes Church, he asked half-jokingly, “What do you guys want to do? Play cards?”

The group meets the first Monday of the month from September to June, 5:30 p.m., in Father Callahan Hall at St. Agnes Church.

The men begin with a prayer and then a Scriptural reading, followed by a reflection by Deacon Genovese. Then, they have dinner and a business meeting to discuss upcoming activities and the distribution of funds to groups they help. A parish priest, including Father Aidan Donahue, the pastor, usually attends the meetings.

“We’ve been very successful over the years, thanks to all the support we got,” Deacon Genovese says. “It’s a great bunch of guys, and now we have some from St. Mary’s since we combined with them to form Precious Blood Parish.” Dues are still $5 a year.

He credits the other founding members — the late Bill McMullen, Lou Elmo and Richard Carnaval — for their vision in starting the society.

“Jack Jansen has been our treasurer for 30 years, since the organization started, and he recently turned 90 and still plays golf,” Deacon Genovese said. “We had a party for him and honored him with a plaque.

Fundamental to the group’s success all these years is their patron, St. Joseph the Worker.

“Think about it. St. Joseph was the protector of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was a model father and a model worker. We all look up to him and respect him as a saint,” Deacon Genovese says.

He also tells a story about the annual golf tournament and St. Joseph: “When you play golf, you want good weather, and in the 25 years of the tournament, it has never been rained out,” which is a blessing he attributes to their patron.

For more information about the St. Joseph Men’s Society of Precious Blood Parish, contact Deacon Nick Genovese at nicholasgenovese@sbcglobal.net.

Story by Shelley Wolf

As the demand for Catholic education continues to grow, a new Catholic high school is planning to open its doors this fall in New Britain to serve families in central Connecticut.

Chesterton Academy of St. Francis of Assisi, a new high school, will be welcoming students to the existing school building on the St. Francis property at 30 Pendleton Road, New Britain. The school will open with students in grades nine and 10, adding grades 11 and 12 over the next two years.

What sets this Catholic high school apart from others in the archdiocese, he says, is a broad classical liberal arts education that is integrated and historically based. It will transport students back to the ancient world of Greece and Rome, through the Medieval period, through the High Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to the Modern World.

Following the Chesterton Academy model, this classical education will teach grammar, logic and rhetoric, as well as music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy.

In the humanities, students will be challenged to read primary sources from Western civilization, such as the works of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Shakespeare and Chaucer. “There’s a heavy reliance on the great works of Western civilization. We want our students to have exposure to the great masters,” Blaski says, and “an ability to penetrate dense and difficult ideas.”

They’ll also learn through the Socratic seminar style of teaching, which emphasizes discussion and conversation, preparing students for college-level learning.

Math and science courses will employ modern textbooks but also focus on sparking wonder and an understanding of the created world, Blaski notes. The visual arts, art history, music, drama and choir will complement their education.

The Catholic faith, central to the school’s mission, will be celebrated through the daily Mass and a focus on the sacramental life and the human virtues. Students will read the Catechism, the New Testament, and learn Latin and Spanish.

Tuition will be $9,000 a year, affordable for a Catholic school, according to Blaski, and financial assistance may be available.

The school is planning to hold a series of public information sessions so interested parents can learn more about its offerings and how to enroll. A virtual information session will be held on Tues., Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., followed by an in-person information session at the school building on Sun., Feb. 1 at 1 p.m.

Chesterton Academy is currently accepting applications. To apply or learn more, interested families should visit chestertonsfa.org or call Andrew Blaski at 860.348.3455.

Story by Joe Pisani

When Margaret Siena was in third grade, one of her favorite books was an illustrated Little Book of Saints for children, with stories about young women like St. Agnes and St. Cecilia.

“I could read it again and again and again,” she recalls. “It was entertaining and informative and spiritual.”

Now, as president of the Women’s Guild of Holy Infant Parish in Orange and coordinator of its recently formed Catholic book club, she uses those same criteria in her search for reading material that will inspire the group spiritually, entertain them and inform them.

DiMassa began a recent meeting with a prayer she wrote that invokes the Holy Spirit: “Holy Spirit, we pray that through this newly formed Women’s Guild book club, we come to know and understand you better and that we learn better how to serve you in our day-to-day lives. When we are reading the selections, help us to see the work through your divine lens so that we glean the lessons that you want to teach us. Lastly, when we are discussing the selections, let us learn at least one thing that will help us love you better and bring us ever closer to you.”

Siena, who has been president of the Guild for more than a year, is committed to sponsoring activities that engage members in small groups. A lifelong reader, she searches for books that will be compelling to the women. Her research entails perusing reviews, looking at lists of popular books and talking to avid readers.

“I find myself spending a lot of time searching for the right book,” she says. “Not just the right book, but the right book from a Catholic perspective that will appeal to women.”

She also believes that historical fiction based on Bible stories will offer an entertaining introduction that can entice readers to further biblical study.

The discussions have been enjoyable for the women, who can relate to the experiences of characters like Ruth and St. Martha of Bethany.

Siena has always enjoyed historical fiction, especially stories about the role of women during World War II, and works of history that are accessible to a general reading public and not entirely academic.

“I have a curiosity about a lot of things, and I like to read because I can get into the characters,” she says.

Father Norman Brockett, pastor, praises the initiative. “It provides a great opportunity for women to develop spiritually, while engaging in discussions about issues that are timeless and also relevant to them,” he says.

Most of all, Siena wants the club to be enjoyable and not have the members feel as if they are reading for a class assignment.

“We’re not theologians,” she adds. “I just want the women to appreciate the beauty of the Catholic faith.”