The kick-off Mass last Sunday for what will be 11 months of celebration during St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church’s 75th anniversary year, took the “smells and bells” of Catholicism to a new level.
A procession of 30 Dominican priests and lay acolytes preceded Francis Cardinal George in full liturgical regalia. An ensemble comprised of piano, sax, trumpet, percussion and guitar provided the music. The chancel was tastefully decorated, The nave packed. Cardinal George deliverd his homily with authority, and the liturgical leaders performed seamlessly.
The third verse of one of the communion hymns””Brightest and Best””described the experience well:
Shall we not yield him, in costly devotion,
Fragrance of Edom and offerings divine,
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest or gold from the mine?
The members of St. Vincent Ferrer could be justifiably proud of their leadership and programming.
Only one thing disrupted the “pomp and pageantry” (the bulletin’s words). Throughout the Mass the cries of one unhappy infant or another from the back of the church seemed to challenge the performance going on in the front. And that might be a metaphor for what this year of celebration may mean for this 75-year-old parish, located at the corner of Lathrop and North avenues in River Forest.
Fr. Tom Noesen, the pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer, has on his office wall a map of the world at night. Thousands of points of light shine in North America and Europe, while most of Africa is dark. He keeps it there to remind himself, and all who enter his study, how unevenly wealth is distributed over the face of the earth.
“The biggest thing happening right now in this parish is that we are going through a great transition,” he said. “We are getting huge amounts of first generation Polish and Filipino people and some Latinos”especially the lower grades in our school look like the United Nations. For some people this transition is a challenge. It takes a lot more than tolerance; it takes hospitality in the best sense of the Gospel to let these people come and be part of our community.”
“Our goal during this year of celebration,” he continued, “is to try to make sure that our world here is not insulated. The challenge of preaching is to communicate that we are part of a bigger world than just ourselves.”
A procession of ethnic groups
In many ways, the history of St. Vincent parish makes it well prepared to meet the challenge. In 1931, with around 35 families in the congregation, a Dominican priest named William McIntyre was appointed pastor of this collection of mainly Italians and Irish”two ethnic groups that had many painful experiences with the prejudice of white Anglo Saxon Protestants.
After 75 years, however, it is no longer taboo or even a scandal for an Italian Catholic to marry a Presbyterian with a surname like Blair or Chamberlain. These ethnic groups who fought so hard to become part of the establishment have succeeded, and the irony is that now they are the ones being asked to accept others who are new to the scene.
Although the crowd at the 11 a.m. Mass on Jan. 8 looked homogeneous, St. Vincent Ferrer is attempting to be a welcoming parish. “We’re really people trying to be part of a bigger world than ourselves,” Fr. Noesen declared. For example, in a shrine on the east wall of the nave devoted to St. Vincent stands a life-size, colorful statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego, which was created in Mexico and given to the parish by St. Pius V, a Hispanic church in the Pilsen neighborhood. Busloads of parishioners from St. Pius will come to River Forest on March 25 and a similar number of St. Vincent members will travel to the Pilsen neighborhood to celebrate Mass and fellowship together on Oct. 7.
In the same shrine is another statue from the Philippines. Since St. Vincent Ferrer is the patron of Catholics in that island nation, it felt natural for many Filipinos to become part of this worshiping community. Many Filipinos believe that it was St. Vincent Ferrer and their devotion to him that saved them from the Japanese army in World War II.
Cardinal George alluded to the challenge facing the River Forest congregation in his homily. The Gospel text for the day was the story of the Magi following the star to Jesus, worshiping him and presenting him with gifts. George said that the story’s meaning for today is that, just as Gentiles, or foreigners, became part of God’s family in the story of the Magi, so today’s church needs to welcome people who are different. “Jesus came to save all people,” George said, “not just his own. We have the obligation to do the same.”
According to Fr. Noesen, the year-long celebration will include a liturgical event, a social gathering and an educational experience every month through November when Bishop McCarthy will preside at the closing Mass. The calendar of events includes a production of “Put the Nuns in Charge” on Jan. 21, a lecture by Juan Onesimo Sandoval, Ph.D., on Feb. 6, and a St. Joseph Table by the Italian Catholic Federation on March 19.
