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St. Eugene’s Feast Celebrated in Buffalo, New York
On May 21st, 2002, as part of our sesquicentennial jubilee year, 7 of the 8 Oblates in the Buffalo, New York District (George Kirwin was on retreat) joined parishioners from Holy Angles and St. Rose of Lima parishes in a solemn evening celebration of the Feast of St. Eugene de Mazenod.
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back (l-r): Fr. Louis Lougen, Fr. Harry Winter, Fr. Steve Vasek front (l-r) : Fr. Marty McMahon, Fr. Gene Tremblay, Fr. Tony Rigoli, Fr. Dan O’Leary |
Joint choirs combined to fill the historic Gothic church of Holy Angels as many hundreds of the faithful from both Oblate-staffed parishes in the city came to honor St. Eugene.
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Earlier in the day, Bishop Mansell celebrated his daily televised Mass as a memorial of the Oblate Founder and preached at length about St. Eugene’s life and work in the Church.
Henceforward in the diocese of Buffalo, New York, the Feast of St. Eugene de Mazenod will be celebrated as an Optional Memorial by decree of the Bishop in recognition of the presence and work of the Oblates here over these past 150 years.
A drive is underway in each of the 6 Areas of the Province to have the Founder’s Feast Day celebrated as an Optional Memorial in dioceses having an Oblate presence (and so inscribed in multiple and various diocesan ordos across the country). If this can be accomplished in the coming months, in the not too distant future we could see the Founder’s Feast Day celebrated in every diocese in the U.S.A. since it would lead to the addition of St. Eugene de Mazenod to the Liturgical Calendar of the United States.
Fr. Harry Winter leads us in a prayer of homage to St. Eugene de Mazenod at the conclusion of Mass on May 21st.
Our celebration ended with a social hosted in the Blue Lounge of nearby D’Youville College.
