May 2016 to July 2016

Allison McClafferty, Kathryn O'Connor, Julie LePore, Director of the St. Ann's Religious Education Program, Nico Reggiardo, and Kevin Lynch at the 2016 Baccalaureate Mass.

July 11 -- Several parishioners who graduated from area high schools recently were honored at a baccalaureate mass at St. Ann's church on July 10. In the Prayer of the Faithful the congregation prayed that our graduates would "go out into the world as ambassadors of the Gospel." At the conclusion of the mass they received a special blessing from Fr. Raj and a gift from the parish, a "graduation cross."

May you be blessed with remembrance of one another and our time together here. 
For there is forever a thread woven through your spirit connecting you with us. 
May you be blessed in knowing that you are loved,
and that we who love you are full of joy
as we celebrate your life in our midst
and your dreams to come. 
 

For more photos,  see the Photo Album section below, or click here.

July 11 -- Jack Gannon, a member of the Boy Scouts of America, Nyack Troop 2, received the Ad Altare Dei medal from Bishop John O'Hara of the Archdiocese of New York at a special ceremony at St. Patrick's Cathedral on April 17. The bishop himself is a former Scout.

Jack was the only Scout from St. Paul-St. Ann parish to receive this award, which is given in recognition of the successful completion of the Ad Altare Dei (To the Altar of God) program. Its goal is to help Catholic scouts develop a fully Christian way of life in the community through a focus on the seven sacraments. 

Jack is an altar server here at St. Ann's. His brother, Joe, assists their dad, Ed, who is an usher. The rest of the family includes mom, Michelle, and Emily and Patrick.

July 5 -- Thirteen couples from our parish who are celebrating their 50th and 25th wedding anniversaries this year were honored at a special mass at St. Paul's on June 26.

Pastor Vladimir Chripko spoke of the many years of love and commitment these couples shared,  and he thanked them for the encouragement their lives together have given us. He presented each couple with an anniversary scroll as Casey Cunningham sang the beautiful "May the Road Rise to Meet You." Casey is the granddaughter of Victor and Frances Cunningham, who were celebrating their 50th anniversary.

A reception followed in the Parish Center with desserts and an anniversary cake.  On the same weekend, many of the 50th anniversary couples attended the Golden Jubilee 50th Anniversary Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, celebrated by Cardinal Dolan, which is held each year at the end of June. 

The 2016 anniversary couples from St. Paul's-St. Ann's are:

50th -- Joseph & Linda Artuso, Louis & Marion Boccanfuso, Victor & Frances Cunningham, Ben & Norma Fuentes, Frank & Diane Gemeinhardt, Kathy & Walter Hartl, Henry & Elizabeth Oberheim, Roberto & Lilia Salgado, George & Carol Teasdale, and Frank & Patricia Zaccaro

25th -- Danny & Minnie Favorito, Erick & Ariadne Garces, and Edward & Catherine Skiba

For more photos click here. Click on a photo to enlarge it, and then scroll through the slide show.

Mariana Dalsass welcomes guests to the St. Ann & St. Paul Parish Picnic at Marydell.

June 28 -- The people of St. Ann’s and St. Paul’s came together as one family on Saturday, June 18, for the annual parish picnic. As one parish we celebrated mass and enjoyed each other’s company in the beautiful setting of the Marydell Faith and Life Center in Upper Nyack. Over 180 people attended. Three of our priests – pastor Fr. Vladimir and Frs. Roman and Raj -- concelebrated the outdoor Mass with the assistance of Deacon Dominic Buonocore, our Children's Choir led by Janet Fenton, and altar servers Gianna Tangredi and Jack Gannon.  
 
The festivities continued through the afternoon and evening with Bryan Guzman of Amazing Grace Circus teaching our young people how to juggle and walk the tight wire!  There were games for everyone, and we even had a pie-eating contest organized by Joni Tangredi. Joe Gannon came in first place!  
 
Our delicious menu – hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecued chicken and all the fixin’s -- was prepared and served by Jack Bozeat, Marie Lorenzini, and their team.  Old-time music filled the air compliments of Peter and Mary Ann Partridge and their gang of players!  The day could not end without the many desserts crafted by Jay Conklin, and our bonfire blazed thanks to Tom Sullivan.
 
The perfect June weather crowned a day filled with fun, laughter, and new friends from our joined churches.  Thanks to all who attended and made the day possible!!

For more photos, click here. Click on a photo to enlarge it, and then scroll through the resulting slide show.

Photos by Joni and Ed Tangredi and Fr. Vladimir.
 

June 23 -- The Saint Ann's Rosary Altar Society held their annual dinner at Rick's Club American in Congers on June 9. Deacon Luke Conroy joined the Rosarians, who gathered to enjoy each other's company and celebrate the closing of their year.

We've created a special 'Rosary Altar Society' page to feature this group, whose prayers and good works have brought so many blessings to St. Ann's over the years. Please click here to check it out. Or you can find it under the "Ministries" tab. There are more photos of the dinner event there.

 

June 23 -- The first harvest of the vegetables from the St. Ann's Garden of Faith at Marydell took place on June 10, and each weekend brings a bounty of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, beets, and herbs for our neighbors who visit our Food Cupboard on Saturdays. 

Coming soon will be green peppers, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, and corn.

Volunteers are always needed to help pick the ripened vegetables on Fridays from around 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Please join us at the garden at the Marydell Faith and Life Center in Upper Nyack, off Larchdale Avenue.  People are also needed Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. to help distribute the vegetables at the Food Cupboard. Use the back entrance of St. Ann's school to the cafeteria. 

For photos of the season's progress, click here.

June 14 – At the 11:30 mass on June 12, St. Ann’s parish honored two longtime altar servers, who are graduating from high school this June: Kevin Lynch and Kathryn O’Connor.
 
Kevin, who has served for over six years, is one of the most active and reliable altar servers, assisting at weddings and funerals as well. He is the only high school student who is also a scheduled lector for our parish. Kevin is a member of the Nyack High School Drama Club, the Helen Hayes Youth Theatre, and the Nyack Fire Department. After graduation, he plans to attend Rockland Community College in Suffern.
 
Kathryn O'Connor has been an altar server for nine years, having started in the third grade. For the past two years she has also accompanied the children's choir on the keyboard and organ.  She is a student of St. Ann’s former music director and organist George Bryant and volunteers her musical talent on holy days.  Kathryn is a percussionist with the orchestra of her high school, Holy Angels Academy in Demarest, N.J., and is a member of the national music honor society, Tri-M. She graduated last Sunday and will be attending Nazareth College in Rochester, NY.

New Server Inducted
 
On this day it was fitting that as we celebrated two young adults who had “grown up” before our eyes, a new server was just beginning her ministry. After the homily, Kaithleen Lusaria, came before Fr. Arogya Raju and promised to faithfully carry out the responsibilities entrusted to her as an altar server. As the congregation looked on, Kaithleen’s parents helped vest her in her alb and cincture, and she took her place in the sanctuary with Kevin Lynch and Jack Gannon to serve at mass for the first time.
 

Kaithleen is a fourth grader at St. Anthony’s School in Nanuet.
 
Congratulations, Kaithleen, on your induction. We thank God for calling you – and Kathryn and Kevin and all the other servers -- to this ministry.  As Pope Benedict XVI said of your role at mass, may each of you “rediscover every day that what is happening is something great, that God is coming in the midst of us, and that you are able to be close and assist, that His mystery can be celebrated and might touch the people.”

For more photos, click on the "Photo Albums" link in the right column above. Double-click on a photo to enlarge it and then scroll through the slide show.

June 8 -- A church has many things to tell us. It speaks in wood and stone, glass and light. And, of course, in words too.
 
Look up at the painted wooden panels on the upper side walls of the church above the nave, the main part of the church where we sit. It’s hard to make out, but there are four inscriptions up there, two on each side. The words are Latin, but even still the message is obscure. Have the panels faded with time?
 
This is what they say:

-- “Terribilis est locus iste”
--  "Hic domus dei est”
--  "et porta coeli”
--  “et vocabitur aula dei”

What do they mean, these lines, which someone thought powerful enough to inscribe on the very walls of the church itself?

-- “Awesome is this place.”
-- “This is the House of God “
-- “and the Gate of Heaven,”
-- “and it shall be called the Court of God.”

These words -- drawn from a chant composed for the consecration of a pagan temple in Rome as a Christian church in 609 -- actually go back to the Book of Genesis.
 
In Genesis, Chapter 28, Jacob, traveling far from home, comes upon a shrine at sundown. It’s late, and he decides to make camp there. He takes a stone to use as a pillow, thinking nothing of it.
 
But that night he has a dream of a great “stairway that rested on the ground with its top reaching to the heavens, and God’s messengers were going up and down on it . . .”.  And God appears, standing next to him, saying, “In you and your descendants all families of the earth will find blessing. Know that I am with you and will protect you wherever you go . . .”
 
When he awakens, Jacob exclaims, “Truly, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it!” And in solemn wonder he cries out the words we see painted on the walls of our church.

These words speak to us today, recalling the mystery of where we really are when we come here to pray – a place far beyond the simple, earthly brick and mortar of St. Ann’s Church in Nyack.

We're in God's house, at His gate, within His court -- or before His stairway, if you will, where Earth and Heaven meet. 

"Remember who you are -- an awesome Child of God. Live like a Child of God."
-- Bishop Dominick J. Lagonegro

May 31 -- Twenty young parishioners of St. Ann's were sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation, conferred by Bishop Dominick J. Lagonegro, of the Archdiocese of New York. They received the sacrament at the 9 AM mass on May 15, which was celebrated by the Bishop, with concelebrants Pastor Vladimir Chripko and Asst. Pastor Roman Palecko, assisted by Deacons Luke Conroy and Gerald Fenton.

The 2016 class of candidates was presented to the bishop by Deacon Luke. In the rite that followed, they renewed their Baptismal promises while holding their burning Confirmation candles. Then Bishop Lagonegro and the priests extended their hands over the group, a gesture known as the Laying on of Hands, as the Bishop prayed to God to send the Holy Spirit upon them. Finally each confirmand approached the bishop with their sponsor to be confirmed through the Anointing with Chrism.

The parishioners who prepared the students for this sacrament, nurturing an awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and awakening their understanding of their role as witnesses of Christ, were Julie Lepore, head of the St. Ann's Religious Education Program, Mary Ann Partridge, Lu Ann Kelly, and Connie Knoebel, who helped at the retreat.

 For more photos of the ceremony, the students, their sponsors and families, click here. Then double-click on a photo to enlarge it and then scroll through the slide show.

May 15 -- On Saturday, May 7, the children of the St. Ann's School of Religion received their First Holy Communion. The mass was celebrated by our pastor, Fr. Vladimir Chripko, assisted by Deacons Charles DeGroat and Luke Conroy. On the following day, the celebration continued as several of our First Communicants were part of the annual May Crowning of Our Lady at the 11:30 AM mass.

Please see the 'Photo Albums' section below for pictures of our beautiful children and their families on these joyful occasions click here and here. If you have a photo you would like added to one of the albums, please text it to 201-739-4413. For the story of the unique tradition of First Communion silhouette-portraits at St. Ann's, click here.

Our photographers are Marie Olivier (First Communion) and Nancy Conroy (May Crowning).