COURIER-JOURNAL Wednesday, August 10,1983 A friend is a blessing. of unseen radio heroes such as Jack Armstrong. school, to Worcester for college, to Albany, Rochester and At least, that's wha' I think about at this moment as I Dad, as I called him, told me of his own boyhood in the Rome for seminary, to Colonie for parish assignment, to enjoy the peace of the Summer. days before radio and of the ways he and the other lads Rome for work in the seminary, back to Rochester as It's been a time of reunion with people whose friendship amused themselves. In this and many other ways, he took bishop. here and in other places has been important to me. interest in me and knit my generation to his own and me to Although 1 may have used different language than she I have met them in New York and Chicago at meetings I himself. uses and although my own way of* expressing it may have have attended and 1 have met them in Waterford where I To this day his memory reminds me that while it is a changed through the years, still I can say that I have grew up. Some others have been kind enough to come to blessing to have old friends, it is a special grace to have brought Mary's apprehension and question to all of the Rochester. A few, long unheard from, . have written friends who are old. major changes in my life: "I'm not sure people will like unexpected letters. -- Mary, at least as I know her, is a thoroughly delightful me." Their kindness - and yours ~ has been a Summer tonic young woman. She is bright, easy to be with, involved in a Is that doubt — or one like it — any part of your memory and leads me to note the following about friendship. varity of activities and would seem to have .not a care in the or present experience as you think of friends and going to -- The first old friend I remember outside my home is the world. But Mary .admits to being afraid when she thinks new places? grandfather whose name my father bore and I now carry. about going to college. When asked why, she replies with If it is, I hope you have someone like my grandfather Each day on the way home from school, I passed my am honesty which is quite endearing, "I'm not sure people whom you can remember. Friends, after all, are gifts in whom the Lord reminds us of how lovable we are and how grandparents' home and remember the joy of stopping to will like me." loving we are meant to be. see them. Those visits were special because they meant They will, of course, but at the moment neither you nor I Next week this writer goes to'-camp with the kids. Pray peanut butter sandwiches and my grandfather's long arms nor anyone else will be able to convince Mary of that. forme! around me as I sat in his lap and listened to the adventures Mary helps me remember the times in my life when I went to new places among new people -- to Troy for high Peace. An 'Uplifting' Experience At St. Mary's Downtown Most people come to Mass for a spiritual "lift" every weekend. Parishioners at Old St. Mary's Church in downtown Rochester now have another "lift" when 1 they arrive for weekend services. Installed in an addition to the northwest wall of the church, the lift can accom­ modate people in wheelchairs as well as those who have 1 %* K i!*^ 'pi*' - difficulty in climbing the stairs in the entranceways. The lift became operational on Sunday, July 31. Two years of discussion and planning went into the project, with the hope that coming to St. Mary's will now be easier for those for whom the steps had become a real obstacle. Our Pilgrimage Parishioners have donated $14,430 toward the total cost of the building of the addi­ tion and installation of the lift, amounting to $30,000. A small plaque will be placed in Churches the lift as a gesture of grati­ tude to those who donated. Ministers of hospitality in the parish have been pre­ Holy Year 1983-1984 pared to operate the lift and By Father Robert F. McNamara from the Italian church, St. Anthony of to assist people to become comfortable using it. Little St. Francis of Assisi Church at Padua. The diocese bought a bankrupt Worshippers who cannot climb the steps can use the neighborhood movie-house called the "Over the years many 77 Whitney St. in Rochester shares with new lift on the north side of the church. big Sacred Heart Cathedral the honor of Ideal Theater. It was then equipped for people have been unable to being a pilgrimage church in the Holy church use inside and remodeled outside worship at St. Mary's others who use the lift will be our people can join us." Year of the Redemption, 1983-84. to look a little more like a . church because of the inaccessibility able once more to be with the W.C.M. Builders of St. Francis is a principal center of our building. of the steps," remarked Fa­ community for Mass. It is the Rochester were responsible local Spanish-speaking community. The first fulltime pastor was young ther James Lawlor, pastor, final realization of a dream for the construction, and That is one reason why Bishop Matthew Father Joseph A. Cirrincione. He "so we are happy now that for us, and we hope the word Midstate Elevator Company of Syracuse installed the lift. H. Clark chose it as a Holy Year church. headed the parish from 1935 to 1977. As longtime parishioners and will spread so that more of Pilgrims who journey there will also be pastor, Father Joe (later a monsignor) expressing their solidarity with the did much for the religious and social 20,000-30,000 Hispanic Catholics of the welfare of his people, especially in the Hiroshima Anniversary Is Warning diocese. days of the Great Depression. But St. Francis of Assisi started, not After World War II, St. Francis Against War, Vatican Radio Says as an Hispanic but as an Italian parish. became even more widely known as the By Nancy Frazier that, thanks to an ever more sponsibility of those who In 1929, Bishop John F. O'Hern broadcasting center of the radio Family Vatican City (NC) — The exasperating technology make the choices between established it as a mission chapel to Rosary for Peace which began March 4, anniversary of the atomic addressed to destruction peace or war," Vatican serve Italians who lived at a distance 1950. Its daily broadcast (6:30 to 7 p.m.) bombing of Hiroshima, rather than to the good of Radio said. is carried by seven radio stations and Japan, contains a warning humanity, thanks to an un­ These responsibilities five cable outlets throughout Western for scientists and for world restrained arms race, the "involve a precise moral New York. Msgr. Cirrincione, through leaders who make the choices current atomic arsenals are choice: an option in favor of retired from his pastorate, still conducts between war and peace, Vati­ capable of destroying not the progress of man and his the program. can Radio said. only just one city with all its happiness, or else of his Monsignor is a great devotee of Our inhabitants, but the entire The Jesuit-run station destruction," the commen­ Lady of Fatima, whose shrine in earthly globe and all of hu­ tary added. broadcast a lengthy com­ Portugal he has visited many times. manity many times over," mentary Aug. 6 to mark the Vatican Radio said it con­ Pilgrims to St. Francis Church this year Vatican Radio said. 38th anniversary of the sidered it "not only op­ will want to say a prayer before the portune, but indispensable" atomic attack on Hiroshima The commentary said that * statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to recall Pope John Paul IPs which killed 120,000 people the anniversary presented (1950) and the Immaculate Heart of message at Hiroshima on immediately and left two "principal warnings" Mary (1949). Also before the shrine of Feb. 25, 1981. Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima thousands of others affected which "humanity can no by radiation. longer pretend to ignore." "To remember Hiroshima (1948) in the lovely garden outside the is to abhor nunclear war," church. Father Cirrincione had the "Since then, 38 years have "The first regards the re­ the pope said in 1981 at the Portuguese sculptor Jose Thedim carve passed, and while the world sponsibility of modern Hiroshima Peace Memorial all those statues; and all three were commemorates the innocent science and of the technology in Japan. "To remember likewise personally blessed by Pope Pius victims of that day, one which is the fruit of such a Hiroshima is to commit one­ XII. cannot try to hide the fact science; the second, the re­ self to peace." .