Checking Out the Church on LI!

Last week, I wrote about the parish visitations that are beginning this semester. Each weekend, seminarians are journeying to parishes throughout the island to talk about life in the seminary and to encourage and support vocations in the life of the Church.

There is another benefit to this process. We have some weekends off! For example, I have not been assigned to speak in a parish these first two weeks. This means we can come back to the Seminary a little later on Sundays and it gives us a chance to explore a little bit on our own. When Msgr. Swiader introduced this program, he encouraged those not assigned to speak on a certain weekend to return to their home parish, to join with a priest in the Seminary as he goes to a local parish to celebrate Mass or attend liturgy independently somewhere else. Over the past two weeks, I’ve chosen the latter. It has been a good opportunity to visit communities different from my own, recognizing both similarities and differences showing both unity and diversity of the Catholic Church on Long Island.

Last weekend, I journeyed to St. Aidan’s R.C. Church in Williston Park. Msgr. McDonald, the previous Rector of the Seminary, is the Pastor here. St. Aidan’s is in Nassau County and the Church (and the parish) is huge! There are three full-time priests, other priests who assist throughout the week and on weekends, a large staff, two school buildings, numerous parish buildings, tons of people and numerous programs and opportunities. The weekend I visited, the First Sunday of Lent, St. Aidan’s was preparing for it Lenten Mission, something all were encouraged to attend in the days that followed. You can tell by the spirit of the parish, there is much going here – not too mention the location. St. Aidan’s is located on Willis Avenue, a busy street in Nassau. The parish is right in the heart of it all!

This past weekend, I joined the parish community of Our Lady of the Snow in Blue Point, NY. This parish is in Eastern Suffolk and contrasts with St. Aidan’s (and my home parish) in a number of ways. The 7:30 A.M. Mass is celebrated in the “Mother Church” which is a small, comfortable gathering space that would probably be a ¼ or 1/8 of the size of St. Aidan’s Church., Our Lady of the Snow is smaller in size - in physical size and number of families – as compared to St. Aidan’s. Yet here, too, there are a slew of activities and events built for this local community – including a Lenten Soup Supper, preparations for the Ministry of Reader, important Religious Education events and a lot of information about the prayer life of the parish. You could tell that the people of Our Lady of the Snow know each other well as their families spent time before and after Mass catching up with each other. Are there as many “events” or “things” or even “people” at Our Lady of the Snow as compared to St. Aidan’s? Probably not. Is the same spirit of outreach, community building and energy present? Absolutely!

So the past two weekends have been good formation experiences for me. I haven’t had the opportunity to speak in a parish yet, but visiting and praying with these two communities is a good reminder of the diversity of styles and parish communities that are present throughout Long Island. Each use the gifts, talents and means it has to learn about its people and to discover the best ways to serve them. Though different, they work together to serve the one Church of Long Island!