It’s back-to-school time in the Diocese of Syracuse! Schools across the diocese welcomed students back to campuses this week. Here are some scenes from the first days at Trinity Catholic School in Oswego, Notre Dame Jr./Sr. High School in Utica, St. John the Evangelist School in Binghamton, and St. Patrick’s School in Oneida.
![Gabby & John are getting married: Meet the groom!](<p class="p1"><b>By Dc Tom Cuskey | </b>Editor</p> <p class="p3">Tick-tock, tick-tock.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p4">The time is winding down to January 2023 and the wedding of Gabrielle “Gabby” Gleason and John Pattwell, the Broome County couple we have been following this year as they prepare for their nuptials.</p> <p class="p4">The couple are “ahead of the pace,” says John, our sole guest in this installment of the “Gabby & John” series. With about five months to go until the bells ring, most of the details for the wedding are in place, “except for the limo service and florist … that’s about it.” John admits that much of the planning has been Gabby’s domain.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p4">“I pretty much let Gabby make the final decision on everything,” adding that he is “in charge of the finances.” As is the case with many couples, one half tends to make the party plans while the other tends to the payment plans. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p4">“I keep her on track in that way,” says John, “but she definitely is the one to say, ‘This is a special event, we need to have nice things there,’ and she’s right. She definitely brings the fun out in me.”</p> <p class="p4">That’s not all she has brought out in John recently.</p> <p class="p4">“I’ve never been a cat person in my entire life,” John tells us. Gabby, however, thought a little feline friend would be a great addition to their relationship and, as any good groom would do in this situation, John agreed to adding a cat to the family, a rescue found in a church parking lot. “That was definitely a test,” John confesses as the cat “needed a home.” Gabby drove from Binghamton to Sandy Creek (where her family has a camp) to pick up the stray. The drive home was “the ride from h***” according to John. Within a couple of weeks, John noticed that the feline was gaining weight. “Her stomach was getting a little bigger, and I figured she hadn’t been eating regularly,” but now she was. The increase in size, however, outpaced the intake of food. “Something’s going on here,” John realized, “kittens are on the way.”</p> <p>[caption id="attachment_175058" align="alignleft" width="225"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-175058" src="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG-4643flipped-color-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /> The newest members of the Pattwell-Gleason extended family.[/caption]</p> <p class="p5"><span class="s1"><b>Meow, meow.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></p> <p class="p4">Four kittens to be exact. Three of the little ones — George, Fran and Loretta — have been placed in comfy homes. The fourth, Dorothy, is now part of the Pattwell-Gleason marital merger, along with Mama Cat, of course. “For about six or seven weeks we had the four kittens to deal with. It was a great test of our relationship,” John says. “It’s one of those things that you take with a grain of salt, you learn from it. It’s never a dull moment.”</p> <p class="p4">Is raising kittens good preparation for raising kids? Were skills tested?</p> <p class="p4">“Definitely my patience level,” says John who confesses that he is not always a patient person by nature. “It’s got to go way up, you’re not the first person anymore when you have animals relying on you. They’re good to you. They give you love so you give them love back.”</p> <p class="p4">Still to come in planning includes putting the finishing touches on the wedding liturgy. Father John Donovan, who was pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows parish in Vestal, has moved to Sacred Heart Church in Cicero, a new assignment that took effect on July 1. However, he will still preside at Gabby and John’s nuptials in January.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p4">“My mom is doing the rehearsal dinner.” John says Mom was talking to Gabby about restaurants, but the bride-to-be keeps an office at the church where “they have a nice banquet area. It will be nice to have the rehearsal and then just walk right into the next room and enjoy a meal together.”</p> <p class="p4">John adds that “there is always something special about sharing a meal together,” pointing to the many passages in Scripture where hospitality and breaking bread brought people together.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p4">As mentioned in previous installments of this series, John has brothers, no sisters, and he is the first to be married. He shares that Gabby is the sister and daughter the Pattwell family has never had. They love her, of course, but we still asked John if his brothers tease him at all about being the first to make the walk to the altar.</p> <p class="p4">“No, not really. But they definitely kidded me a lot about the cat and the kittens.” <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p4">As the first son in the family to get married it has created a wonderful and new sense of excitement for his family.</p> <p class="p4">“We’ve never had a daughter or a sister,” John says. “It’ll be nice for my mom to have a girl as part of the family, to do the spontaneous stuff” she doesn’t have the opportunity to do with the sons. “That’s one of my favorite parts of this, that my mom will have the daughter she never had.”</p> <p class="p4">And John will have the special person he has never had either. He has great faith in his future wife. “I trust her,” he says, and he has great trust in God. “I feel the decision was made for me. I was always meant to be with Gabby and that’s how it ended up.”</p> <p class="p4"><i>Editor’s note: Gabby Gleason is the diocesan Communications/Social Media Specialist, responsible for social media and online communications.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></p> "Gabby & John are getting married: Meet the groom!")
![Historic Old St. John Church kicks off bicentennial celebration](<p>[caption id="attachment_26991" align="alignleft" width="400"]<a href="http://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/bicentennial.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-26991" src="http://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/bicentennial.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="533" data-wp-pid="26991" /></a> Father John A. Buehler, the pastor of Historic Old St. John Church in Utica, on May 2 announces upcoming events for the church’s bicentennial. PHOTO COURTESY ANNETTE GAPE[/caption]</p> <p>Historic Old St. John Church in Utica began the celebration of its 200<sup>th</sup> anniversary May 2 with the unveiling of the logo.</p> <p>Back in 2013, the church held a Restoration Celebration to mark completion of a $1 million redecoration and updating. This year, the church will hold a series of events culminating with a special Mass and Gala on Sunday, Nov. 4.</p> <p>Father John A. Buehler, the pastor, said the events will include a concert, a golf day, and tours.<br /> Here is the bicentennial schedule:</p> <p><strong>Monday, June 11</strong>: 6 p.m. Choir Concert featuring Historic Old St. John’s Choir under the direction of Organist Angela B. Nassar. The music will represent a 200-year span.</p> <p><strong>Thursday, June 21</strong>: 4 p.m. Golf Tournament and Dinner at Twin Ponds Golf and Country Club, New York Mills. Ends with picnic open to the whole parish.</p> <p><strong>Monday, July 9</strong>: 6 p.m. Tours of Historic Old St. John Church with a display of archival objects from the past (co-sponsored by the Landmarks Society of Greater Utica). Contact the Landmarks Society or St. John’s rectory for more information.<br /> <strong>Saturday, Sept. 8</strong>: noon-7 p.m.</p> <p><strong>and Sunday, Sept. 9</strong>: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Parish Bazaar on the church grounds featuring games, raffles, theme baskets, attic treasures, ethnic food, entertainment. This event attracts hundreds of people and helps raise money for the poor in the community.</p> <p><strong>Sunday, Nov. 4</strong>: 12:30 p.m. Celebratory Bicentennial Mass with Bishop Robert J. Cunningham presiding. Dinner and Bicentennial Gala at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro immediately following the Mass.<br /> <strong> </strong><br /> <strong>A short history of the church</strong></p> <p>Historic Old St. John Church was incorporated and celebrated its first Mass Jan. 21, 1819, in the Utica Courthouse, then located on John Street. Before incorporation, missionary priests from the Albany area served the community from 1814 to 1819. The first Mass during that period was believed to have been celebrated in the Devereux home in 1814.</p> <p>In 1821, the first St. John Church was built on Bleecker St. on the present site of the church. The land was donated to the church by Mr. and Mrs. Morris Miller, who were non-Catholics. The structure was a white wooden building about 60 by 45 feet with Gothic windows.</p> <p>In 1834, Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton (now a saint) sent three Daughters of Charity to St. John’s to establish a school for young women and an orphanage for girls. The school, adjacent to the church, later became the Utica Catholic Academy and provided a Catholic education until it closed in 1960.</p> <p>In 1836, the first church building was moved across the street on the northwest corner of John and Bleecker streets, and in its place, a second larger church was built in the Greek Revival style.</p> <p>In June 1868, the second church was demolished and exactly one year later the cornerstone of the third and present church was laid. During construction, the congregation worshiped in the John Street courthouse and at Utica Catholic Academy. The first Mass in the present church was celebrated on Christmas Day in 1869.</p> <p>Since then, St. John’s has undergone many expansions and renovations, the latest in 2013 when the interior of the church was renovated and repainted.</p> <p>The St. John’s History Committee has many more details on the church’s 200-year history. Please contact Anita Brown at <a href="mailto:anitabrown@adelphia.net">anitabrown@adelphia.net</a>.</p> "Historic Old St. John Church kicks off bicentennial celebration")
![Father flux](<p><strong>Franciscan Father John Ruffo is no stranger to change</strong></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">By Luke Eggleston<br /> SUN staff writer<br /> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Photo by Paul Finch</span></p> <p>Few clerics are as familiar with change as Assumption Church’s new rector, Father John Ruffo, OFM Conv.<img class="size-full wp-image-35190 alignright" src="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/FatherJohnRuffo.jpg" alt="" width="335" height="294" /><br /> After splitting his first 18 years of ministry as a Franciscan between Montreal and Toronto, Father John’s career in the Conventual order has taken him to various and diverse locales along the East Coast. A native of Johnson City whose home parish is St. James Church, Father John has been on the move almost constantly. From 1992 to 1993, he studied at the Jesuit School of Applied Theology in Berkley, Calif. He then moved from Binghamton to North Carolina to Florida to Philadelphia and, finally, back to the Syracuse Diocese. While in North Carolina, Father John ministered at three different parishes, as well as serving as the chaplain at Elon University.</p> <p>Father John said that throughout his ministry he has made an effort to adapt to and welcome each situation as it transpires. First and foremost, he said, he is simply responding to God’s call.</p> <p>“I’m always very flexible and I always believe that I am where I am because that’s where God wants me to be,” Father John said. “Why I don’t always know, but I feel there is some purpose for me being in this particular place at this particular time.”</p> <p>Father John entered the minor seminary in 1961 while in high school.</p> <p>“I always tell people I’m a true product of the system because I started so young,” he said.</p> <p>A lifelong parishioner at St. James, he initially encountered the friars during a career day event at St. James School. While other students reacted to the attorneys, doctors and police officers who offered presentations, the young Father John was impressed by the life offered by the Franciscan priesthood. He held onto the materials the friar provided to the class and, one year later, made initial inquiries into joining the order.<br /> Throughout his young life, Father John had been an altar boy and he also sang in St. James Church’s choir. He said that he “was in awe of the priests at St. James.” Outside of the parish, Father John was a member of a Vocation Club led by a Franciscan friar from Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church in Binghamton.</p> <p>Although he had grown up in a diocesan parish, Father John said he was attracted to the Franciscan order because of the example provided by its founder St. Francis. In addition, he found the idea of living in community with other friars appealing.</p> <p>“I hope [I am here with the friars] in response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I’ve just always felt that this is where God wants me to be. I’ve always felt that way and my superiors felt that I was on the right track and that’s all you can do,” he said. “I’m sure there are times when you think about leaving and doing something else but it was never strong enough for me to leave and do something else because I always felt that this is where God wanted me to be. And I still feel that today.”</p> <p>Although he has served in a variety of capacities ranging from formation for ministry to campus ministry wherever the order has asked him to be, Father John noted that the Franciscan communities have provided a constant.</p> <p>“You’re getting support from other men in the same boat so to speak. Other men dealing with their own vocation – they’re men dealing with the problems of life as you are,” Father John said. “When you’re living in community, you’re always coming home to at least two or three friars who are also in ministry and you can laugh and chat, commiserate, whatever. And you’ve got that support. You’re praying together every day, you’re eating together, you may or may not be doing ministry together, you’re finishing your day together in recreation possibly. So it’s nice to have that community support instead of being a lone ranger by yourself.”</p> <p>The community around Assumption Church has taken on a leadership role on Syracuse’s troubled north side. Once one of the safer areas of the Salt City, the north side now struggles with the highest rate of violent crime in the community.</p> <p>“Likewise, Assumption Church is experiencing its own hardships, like all of Syracuse’s north side parishes,” Father John said.</p> <p>In the near future, Father John hopes that more Catholics in Central New York will take advantage of what Assumption Church has to offer including what he considers a beautiful environment for Mass and prayer and its upcoming concert series.</p> <p>“Certainly we wish more people would come to Assumption, it’s the most beautiful church in the city of Syracuse and I’m surprised at the number of Catholics that I meet who’ve never been inside of this magnificent church. It really is a jewel of the diocese,” he said.</p> "Father flux")
![Table talk: Author shares stories from his meals with St. John Paul II](<p>[caption id="attachment_24473" align="alignleft" width="197"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-24473" src="http://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20171213T0906-13151-CNS-WEIGEL-JOHN-PAUL-TABLE-197x300.jpg" alt="" width="197" height="300" data-wp-pid="24473" /> In his book Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II, George Weigel recounts the story of and anecdotes from his mealtime conversations with St. John Paul II. -CNS photo courtesy of George Weigel[/caption]</p> <p><strong>By Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service</strong></p> <p><strong>ROME (CNS) —</strong> For some 25 years as pope, St. John Paul II would invite people to his table each day — sharing breakfast, lunch, dinner and conversation with a wide variety of cardinals, bishops, theologians, writers and friends.</p> <p>George Weigel, the author and scholar, was one of those guests on dozens of occasions and it was over a meal that he asked Pope John Paul the questions that form the core of “Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II,” published in 1999. The meals and conversations continued, providing information for the sequel, “The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II — The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy,” published in 2010.</p> <p>His last dinner with St. John Paul was Dec. 15, 2004.</p> <p>Now, Weigel is sharing the mood, anecdotes and reflections on the table talk in the more personal “Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II.”</p> <p>“What people really wanted was not more heavily footnoted, annotated scholarly biography,” Weigel said. “What people wanted were stories, stories that would make him come alive again.”</p> <p>Interviewed in Rome Dec. 12, Weigel said he decided “to tell the story of our conversations,” which took place over a dozen years. But for that to make sense, he said, he also had to write about events and experiences in his life that prepared him to understand the history, philosophy and theology discussed around the table.</p> <p>Of course, he said, the conversations also included both lighter moments and personal ones, such as when Pope John Paul asked how Weigel’s mother was doing after his father died.</p> <p>Sharing a meal and a table was important to Pope John Paul, Weigel said, because he “understood that a pope who relies only on the official channels of information — nuncios, Curia, bishops’ conferences — is not going to get all the information he needs because that information is being filtered bureaucratically.”</p> <p>“The table rather than the desk was his favorite point of encounter,” the author said.</p> <p>The conversations gave the pope different points of view on the situation of the church, on issues of theology and on political and social realities around the world, Weigel said.</p> <p>Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once told Weigel that “major documents and audience themes would be hashed out over lunches in the papal apartments.”</p> <p>But, he said, at the same time, friendships were very important to him and he made sure to nourish them at the dinner table.</p> <p>Pope John Paul would ask his guests their opinions about books, films, world leaders and political situations. “He was the most insatiably curious man I have ever met,” Weigel said. “He always wanted to know what was happening.”</p> <p>The pope’s curiosity, he said, was less a “tic” than a sign that “he really did believe in the providential guidance of history,” which meant he needed to stay informed “in order to find the providential footprints.”</p> "Table talk: Author shares stories from his meals with St. John Paul II")
Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Washington said he found it “baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles” by allowing the visit.
Each year, the Diocese of Syracuse honors its clergy who are celebrating milestone anniversaries. Here, the Sun offers a look at this year’s jubilarians and their years of dedicated priestly service.
The 2020 class of deacon candidates credits its instructors for selflessness, commitment, dedication, and excellence.
![St. John the Evangelist students celebrate month of the rosary](<p><strong>Submitted by St. John the Evangelist School</strong></p> <p>On Monday, October 30<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">,</span> the children at <a href="http://www.sjebing.org/where-we-dream-believe-and-achieve/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">St. John the Evangelist School in Binghamton</a> celebrated the month of <a href="http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/rosaries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the rosary</a> by participating in the Living Rosary. Older students had a younger prayer buddy and together they recited the particular prayer for their bead. The sixth graders introduced each mystery and began each decade with the Our Father. As part of the celebration of the school’s month of the rosary, each day started with a rosary trivia question and each classroom said a decade of the rosary every day.</p> <p> </p> <p>[caption id="attachment_23586" align="aligncenter" width="658"]<a href="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Screen-Shot-2017-10-31-at-9.59.05-AM-2.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-23586" src="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Screen-Shot-2017-10-31-at-9.59.05-AM-2.png" alt="" width="658" height="436" /></a> Students at St. John the Evangelist School in Binghamton participate in the Living Rosary. (Photo courtesy St. John the Evangelist School)[/caption]</p> <p>[caption id="attachment_23587" align="aligncenter" width="334"]<a href="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Screen-Shot-2017-10-31-at-9.59.13-AM-2.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-23587" src="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Screen-Shot-2017-10-31-at-9.59.13-AM-2.png" alt="" width="334" height="500" /></a> Students at St. John the Evangelist School in Binghamton participate in the Living Rosary. (Photo courtesy St. John the Evangelist School)[/caption]</p> <p>[caption id="attachment_23588" align="aligncenter" width="562"]<a href="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Screen-Shot-2017-10-31-at-9.59.23-AM-2.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-23588" src="https://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Screen-Shot-2017-10-31-at-9.59.23-AM-2.png" alt="" width="562" height="376" /></a> Students at St. John the Evangelist School in Binghamton participate in the Living Rosary. (Photo courtesy St. John the Evangelist School)[/caption]</p> "St. John the Evangelist students celebrate month of the rosary")
![Book says nuns found John Paul I dead, could help on path to sainthood](<p>[caption id="attachment_23793" align="alignleft" width="210"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-23793" src="http://thecatholicsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/20171106T0852-12432-CNS-JOHN-PAUL-I-CAUSE-210x300.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="300" /> This is the cover of the book, “Pope Luciani: Chronicle of a Death,” which was set for release in Italian Nov. 7. The book by Stefania Falasca looks at the circumstances surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I, whose pontificate lasted only 33 days in 1978. -CNS photo | courtesy of Stefania Falasca[/caption]</p> <p><strong>By Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service</strong></p> <p><strong>VATICAN CITY (CNS) —</strong> Two women may hold the key to clearing up questions still surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I and to overcoming the first hurdle on his path to canonization.</p> <p>Stefania Falasca, a journalist for Avvenire, the Italian Catholic daily newspaper, is the vice postulator of the sainthood cause of the pope, whose pontificate lasted only 33 days in 1978. Although it no longer is unusual for a woman to serve as official promoter of a cause, she is the first to be vice postulator of a pope’s sainthood cause.</p> <p>The exceedingly short term of a pope who was very popular and much less formal than his predecessors was enough to set rumors flying when he died Sept. 28, 1978. But Falasca believes the rumors were helped to become a full-blown conspiracy by a lack of transparency from the first hours of the pope’s death.</p> <p>“Remember, it was 40 years ago,” Falasca told Catholic News Service Nov. 6. The pope’s priest-secretaries thought it would appear unseemly that women entered his bedroom and found him dead, so instead of acknowledging that the women religious working in the household found him, it was reported that the priests did.</p> <p>“That was one of the elements that helped unleash the ‘noir,'” or the series of conspiracy theories and books that read like murder mysteries, she said.</p> <p>Falasca has countered with her own book, “Pope Luciani: Chronicle of a Death,” which was set for a Nov. 7 release in Italian. Pope John Paul’s given name was Albino Luciani.</p> <p>Also Nov. 7, the cardinals and bishops who are members of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes were scheduled to vote on whether to recommend Pope Francis formally recognize Pope John Paul lived a life of heroic Christian virtue and declare him venerable.</p> <p>The recognition of “heroic virtues” is the first big step in the process. Before beatification, the pope would have to recognize as a miracle attributed to his intercession one of the “presumed extraordinary healings” the postulation forwards to the Vatican. A second miracle is needed for canonization.</p> <p>According to Falasca’s book, which is based on archival research and interviews, Pope John Paul and his secretary, then-Father John Magee, were reciting night prayer together at about 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28, 1978, when the pope experienced chest pains. He refused to allow a doctor to be called, and the pain went away.</p> <p>At 5:15 the next morning, as every morning, Sister Vincenza Taffarel, now deceased, put the pope’s cup of coffee outside his door. He would drink it on the way to his private chapel for early morning prayers.</p> <p>Falasca’s book includes an interview with Sister Margherita Marin, now 76, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary, who worked alongside Sister Taffarel.</p> <p>“That morning the coffee was still there,” Sister Marin said. “After 10 minutes, Sister Taffarel said, ‘He still hasn’t come out? What’s going on?’ I was in the hallway. I saw her knock once and knock again. There was no response.”</p> <p>Sister Taffarel went into the room, she said. “I heard her say, ‘Your Holiness, you shouldn’t joke like that with me.'”</p> <p>Sister Marin entered the pope’s bedroom. “The Holy Father was in bed, the reading lamp on the headboard was on.”</p> <p>She said the pope had his arms above the sheet, holding some typewritten pages. He was wearing his glasses, but his eyes were half-closed. “It really seemed like he was asleep,” she said. But his body was cold.</p> <p>Nothing had fallen to the floor, she said. And there were no signs of thrashing, extreme pain or any disturbance.</p> <p>The sisters immediately called the pope’s priest secretaries and, after saying a prayer with the sisters, the priests called the Vatican doctor. He determined that Pope John Paul had died of a heart attack late the evening before.</p> <p>“Father Magee told us not to say it was we sisters, me and Sister Vincenza, who found him dead in his room, because they had decided to say it was his secretaries who found him,” Sister Marin told Falasca.</p> <p>Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, who, like Pope John Paul, is from Italy’s northern Veneto region, wrote the preface to Falasca’s book.</p> <p>“After so much conjecture, so many reconstructions based on rumors without confirmation, we can now know what happened in the last hours of this pope’s life,” he said.</p> "Book says nuns found John Paul I dead, could help on path to sainthood")
