Our Council’s Parish, Church of Infant Saviour, hosted the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima from Saturday, November 9, 2019 through Sunday, November 10, 2019. The Archdiocese of New York received the number six Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the Sanctuary in Fatima, Portugal. This particular statue was one of the earlier ones made. The Statue is a hand carved work of art that was crafted according to the descriptions of Sister Lucia, one of the Fatima visionaries. The Statue was carved several decades ago and has traveled the world many times over being venerated by untold numbers of faithful Catholics.
The Statue ended up in our Parish in Pine Bush, NY through a small miracle of scheduling that let our Parish be visited though we were not on the original schedule for it. We were able to host the Statue in our Parish for one weekend where it was not scheduled to be somewhere in the Archdiocese. Again that was a small miracle and a wonderful one at that! The weekend was filled with Masses, adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and the Statue of the Blessed Mother, recitation of the Rosary, and time for private prayer and veneration before the Statue. Scapulars were handed out to all who came to see Our Lady. The weekend ended with the 11:15 am Mass where a Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was made by the congregation during Mass as we were lead in prayer by Church Pastor, Fr. Niranjan Rodrigo, to keep Jesus Christ as the center of lives as we trust fully in Him.
Several of our Brother Knights in the Council were asked to help during the Sunday 11:15 am Mass to carry the Statue through the Church as part of the adoration during the Mass. Our Brothers Knights along with other volunteers from the Portuguese community, as well as, other members of our Parish helped to parade the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima through the Church as the rest of the Parish adored her– it was a truly beautiful and moving procession.
Thank you so much to Fr. James Miara, the Pastor of Holy Innocents Church, Manhattan, NY for helping us to have the Blessed Mother in our Parish. A special thank you to Nancy Finnegan, the Coordinator of the Adult Faith Formation team, for coordinating the scheduling with Archdiocese and for reaching out to them about the Statue. Also thank you to the Pastoral Staff at the Chruch and our Parish’s Portuguese Community who worked so hard in bringing and organizing the decorations, as well as, the reception that followed the 11:15 am Mass. Father Rodrigo also thanked others who helped out such as Marcia Acevedo, Mr. and Mrs. Arsenio Rodriguez, Sue Spinato, Brother Knight Jerry Domingue, and Rebecca Howell who all worked so hard to make the event happen. It truly takes a community to make a Church and we are so blessed to have such a great community!
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