Young adult profile: Robert Pascale

BRIDGEPORT—Robert Pascale’s journey to the Catholic faith is one which started in the Diocese of Bridgeport as a college student. And now he’s back again as the diocese’s newly hired director of campus and young adult ministry.

The lifelong walk of faith began for Pascale as an undergraduate at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. It was there where he became involved with the Newman Center, befriended the FOCUS missionaries working there and ultimately converted to Catholicism in 2018, being Confirmed by Bishop Frank Caggiano.

Pascale himself spent time as a FOCUS missionary, before his walk of faith led him to the Diocese of Portland, Maine. Now, the faith has brought him full-circle back to the Diocese of Bridgeport, viewing it as essential in his new role in campus and young adult ministry.

“Without my faith in Jesus Christ, this mission of mine would be fruitless and barren like the cursed fig tree,” he said. “There is nothing more important than my relationship with Jesus Christ and obedience to his Church.”

Pascale finds himself drawn to many different forms of prayer and worship. He attends Daily Mass when he can, and loves Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and praying the Rosary. He tries to set aside an hour a day for prayer—whether all at once, or broken up throughout the day.

He also enjoys praying the Liturgy of the Hours, which he says grounds him into the life of the worldwide Church.

“The treasure trove of prayers it contains is immeasurable,” Pascale said. “The second reading from the Holy Saturday Office of Readings is hauntingly beautiful.”

In his previous work with the Church, Pascale has observed two crucial times when the Church loses members: in the transition from high school to college, and in the transition from college to the professional world. Therefore, his new role in campus and young adult ministry will seek to counteract those trends.

“Campus ministry is of importance in setting the faithful up for future success, and young adult ministry helps them not only while in college, but in the crucial and decisive years following,” he said. “Young adults are quite literally the future of the church in Bridgeport. They will be the next leaders inside and outside the parish: our future priests, religious, and husbands and wives … Young adult ministry is vital to a healthy Church!”

Aside from prayer, Pascale said, nothing sets the tone of the day for him like lifting weights … “That is, when I’m disciplined enough to stick to it!” He also enjoys reading and writing, and picked up hunting and fishing in his time in Maine. He hopes to also add a love for gardening and cooking to that repertoire.

Pascale also noted in addition to a new role as a campus and young adult minister, he will also be taking on another role soon: husband to Nina Cardillo.

“Her friendship, support, advice, love and prayers have been wonderful,” he said. “She, too, has dedicated her career to serving the Lord via FOCUS, and together we hope to serve Christ and his Bride for as long as we can.”

‘A piece of home’ in Greater Danbury

Young adult profile: Gabriela Pereira

BETHEL–2024 is already proving to be a big year for the Diocese of Bridgeport’s Brazilian Catholics. After many years of existing as a cultural apostolate and a “quasi-parish,” the community finally reached full parish status in January, taking on the name “Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Aparecida Parish,” after the patroness of Brazil.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Aparecida is the first parish in the United States to be entrusted to Our Lady of Aparecida’s care, as well as the country’s first parish to serve a Brazilian Catholic community. It is also the first new parish in the Diocese of Bridgeport since 1985, when Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish was established in Danbury.

It’s an exciting time to be a Brazilian Catholic in the diocese, especially for Gabriela Pereira, one of the young adult ministry coordinators at Our Lady of Aparecida.

The parish’s young adult group is known as “Jovens Sem Fronteiras,” which is Portuguese for “Youth Without Borders.” Unlike many of the other young adult groups in the diocese, Jovens Sem Fronteiras is predominantly Portuguese-speaking. And according to Pereira, that helps ensure that the young adults feel like they belong, whether they were born in the United States or just arrived from Brazil yesterday.

“It’s very important for us to maintain that culture, where we speak Portuguese,” she said. “They’re away from their home country, so we want them to feel like they belong here as well, and that there’s somewhere for them to go where they feel like it’s a little piece of Brazil with them.”

With the growth of the Brazilian Catholic community in the diocese has come the growth of their various ministries. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Aparecida also became home to a youth group counterpart to Jovens Sem Fronteiras. And once the students age out of the youth group, many of them continue on as members of the parish’s young adult group.

As a member of the rapidly growing community, Pereira finds herself assisting at the parish in as many ways as she can. Not only is she one of the young adult ministry coordinators, she also sings in the parish choir, administrates its social media page and is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.

Recently, Pereira was also elected president of her parish’s council. There’s a lot for her to do for her community, but to her, everything is worthwhile because it is done for God.

“I do what I can, and what I can give to God regarding my time,” she said. “That’s the little bit I can do for him. I make sure I give it to my parish.”

Among her fellow young adults, Pereira encourages them to devote their time to the parish in whatever ways they can, no matter how big or small.

“I have a community which I love tremendously, and I give all my time that I possibly can to my church,” she said. “I always encourage the young adults group to volunteer, even if they can help with the little things in the church. I think that gives you meaning, that makes you feel important. Some folks can’t donate money, but if you can give your time, I think that’s what God wants.”

Having grown up in the Brazilian Catholic community, Pereira said she has a particular devotion to Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of her parish and the country of Brazil. She also said after her parish recites the St. Michael Prayer after Masses, they will also recite a prayer to Our Lady of Aparecida, noting the Brazilian community’s particular devotion to the Blessed Mother.

Being Brazilian and a young adult are fundamental parts of Pereira’s identity. Both communities have received particular support from Bishop Frank Caggiano, for which she is infinitely grateful as they continue to flourish among the faithful.

“The bishop has said many times that young adults are not the future of the Church; they are the Church,” Pereira said. “I’m really inspired by the initiatives that the bishop has taken to include the young adults in the diocese. So I think that’s really important, and especially for the young adults to see how much he cares about the young adults of the Church. He doesn’t exclude us. He wants us to be included in everything. And even if someone thinks that the Church doesn’t care about the young, I think that’s a lie. It’s nice for me to see how much he cares about his church, about the future of his church and about the young adults.”

Young adult profile: Colin Petramale

STRATFORD—A cornerstone of Ignatian spirituality is finding God at work in all things, great and small. And it’s also a cornerstone in the life and work of Colin Petramale.

Petramale recently began a new role at the Diocese of Bridgeport as the Director of Discipleship for the five Catholic parishes in Stratford. A role that’s part of the Seton Collaborative, it gives him the opportunity to collaborate with the parishes in their respective ministries. In doing so, he recalled the words of Rowan Williams, the once-Archbishop of Canterbury, who said in ministry “it really helps if you actually believe in God.”

“I feel that way about ministry,” Petramale said. “It really helps if you actually believe in God, if you actually believe that ‘I’m not the author of life, but I’m given this life to share with other people’ … to lean on the wisdom of God’s people in the universal sense, to really determine how I can best minister in this world and how I can best find the face of Christ in everyone I encounter.”

In both his professional and personal life, he finds himself trying to see God at work in all things, especially in places we might not ordinarily look.

“Something that means a lot to me is trying to find God in the poor, and to act accordingly: to believe not only in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, but also in the Real Presence of Christ in the poor, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 25,” he said.

Petramale’s concern for the poor also stems from one of his favorite Church icons: Servant of God Dorothy Day. He admires Day’s devotion not only to Christ, but her devotion to social justice and serving God’s people—especially when it came to a key question faced by her Catholic Worker movement: should they give to the poor indiscriminately?

“Do we distinguish between the ‘deserving poor,’ as they’re known, who are maybe trying to work but things just aren’t working out for them, and the ‘undeserving poor,’ those who maybe don’t work or aren’t able to work?” he recalled. “And she decided that we give indiscriminately, that Jesus on the cross ultimately took away our privilege of deciding who was worthy and unworthy.”

Petramale also finds himself inspired by the work of St. Ephrem of Syria, a Doctor of the Church. According to Petramale, St. Ephrem distinguished himself from the other early Doctors of the Church because he didn’t write doctrine or logical arguments for the existence of God—he wrote poetry.

“He was this poet in the middle of early Church history when so much of what we consider to be settled doctrine now in the Church was being fought out in these very logical ways,” he said. “And Ephrem was like … ‘Hey guys, I get all the logical arguments, but come check out this

poetry I wrote, because it’s very beautiful , and maybe poetry helps us unlock the mystery of God in a way that logical arguments can’t quite do all the time.’”

As a young adult working in the Church, Petramale occupies an interesting position. He observed that even in a time where he and his young adult peers are seemingly more connected than ever, many have also never felt lonelier.

“Young adults are really in a time of increased isolation, because these wonderful phones we have can bring us so much, yet separate us from one another,” he said. “The statistics are really clear that young adults are more depressed than ever, more anxious than ever and lonelier than ever.”

Admittedly, Petramale said, he doesn’t have all the answers to solve these problems that young adults face. But he does think the Church offers something unique that can maybe begin to combat those difficult feelings of isolation.

“What the Church offers young people in particular is the body of Christ,” he said. “As a community of faith, we can share the hopes, dreams, joys and struggles that we all face, and we can come to know that we’re not alone.”

Pursuing ’emptiness’ in order to be filled

NORWALK—Being a person of faith between the ages of 18 and 29 isn’t exactly popular these days. In fact, according to the Associated Press, 43 percent of Americans in that age bracket identify as atheist, agnostic or with no religion in particular.

And yet, within that reality, there are beacons of hope for people of faith. And one of them was certainly present at the Annual Young Adult Mass and Social at St. Matthew Parish in Norwalk on September 30.

The annual event, organized by the Diocesan Young Adult Council, draws together young adult Catholics from all across the Diocese of Bridgeport for prayer, Mass and friendship. It also serves to encourage them to keep the faith close to their hearts in a time when many of their peers are not doing so.

“Young adults are not only the future of the Catholic Church, they’re also the present,” said Steven Velardo, chair of the Diocesan Young Adult Council. “Having a time when they can come together and pray and fellowship is truly invaluable to the Church and its future generations.”

One of the goals of the annual young adult Mass, of course, is to fill a church in the diocese with Catholics in their 20s and 30s to worship and fellowship together. But to Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, one of the goals of Christian life is quite the opposite: to empty.

That example, according to the bishop, was first set by Christ himself.

“The second person of the Blessed Trinity, when he entered creation, emptied himself of God: the glory and honor that is due to him by right since he is God himself,” the bishop said. “He willingly shed all so that he could take the frail, broken humanity you and I share not to crush it, but to caress it. Not to overwhelm it, but to accompany it in a perfect union in one person that is divine, so that he might, as St. Paul sings, live that humanity to exaltation.”

Similarly to Christ, the bishop said, Catholics are called to a certain type of emptiness in their lives. This is so they, like him, might be filled with the glory of God.

But how are they to do that, and of what are they meant to be emptied? First and foremost, Bishop Caggiano said, was that they should be emptied of their own sinfulness—including the sins that might be unknown to them. 

“That is why we gather together as sisters and brothers (in) friendship in Christ: so that those around us who love us can see what you and I cannot see in ourselves,” the bishop said. “We are to empty it out, to seek forgiveness of all that we have done so that we might be filled with grace.”

One of the other things the bishop said young adults should seek to empty out is the lie that we are the center of our lives.

“Discipleship in Christ is to recognize our rightful place, and to whom we owe the gratitude of our very existence and future,” Bishop Caggiano said. “And that’s an ‘empty,’ particularly in a world that wants us to be satiated until we choke.”

And how is that emptiness achieved? According to the bishop, the young adults gathering together in community and prayer was already part of the answer to that question.

“How much you encourage me and give me great hope,” he said. “You have gathered together as

young men and young women because you need each other—as I need you, and you need me—to walk this journey … For we are always tempted to take the place of God in our lives, but also to pray on our knees, so we might recognize that we need to be emptied in order to be filled. And what Christ gives us to be filled is far greater than anything this world can give us.” 

Photos’ credited to Owen Bonaventura Copyright © 2023 Owen Bonaventura

Reimagining What Faith Can Do

BRIDGEPORT—For many years, St. Ambrose Parish was a beacon for the Italian Catholic community in Bridgeport. But after the parish unfortunately closed in the early 2010s, the campus was uncharacteristically quiet for many years following.

But only a few months ago, liveliness and hope returned to the parish grounds in the form of the Fairfield Bellarmine program. 

An academic program of Fairfield University, Bellarmine College provides a two-year, tuition-free Jesuit education to students from the Greater Bridgeport area, who will then either enter the workforce with an associate’s degree or pursue bachelor’s degrees at Fairfield or other area colleges. Students have the opportunity to choose academic tracks in the liberal arts, business, computer science or health studies.

As a consequence of the ever-evolving Catholic faith, sometimes old buildings need to be refitted for new purposes. This was the case for St. Ambrose’s main sanctuary, which had to be remodeled to house classrooms and other areas for its new students.

And in the former St. Ambrose Parish, old and new worlds truly collide. The classrooms have 21st-century technology and a sleek, contemporary feel. But in between classes, students make their way through the hallways, which still house the stained-glass windows and Stations of the Cross of the former parish.

Bellarmine’s inaugural Class of 2025 began classes in early September, and were there to celebrate the institution’s official ribbon-cutting event on Friday, September 15. 

Founded on Jesuit principles, the Bellarmine program is a first-of-its-kind program in Jesuit higher education. And Fairfield University hopes the program is the first of many across the United States.

“This is a momentous day for first generation, minority learners, and for working class academics on so many levels. It is momentous, it is revelatory and it is a day of manifestation,” said Dr. Pamela Tolbert-Bynum Rivers, Fairfield’s associate dean for academic affairs. “From this place of authentic care, on this holy hill that was consecrated more than 100 years ago by the people of St. Ambrose and the indigenous people before them, we bear witness to what our students bring to us. And to our students, know this: we see and we esteem the God-given gift of who you are and who you are becoming at Fairfield Bellarmine.”

Ana Aguirre, a student in Fairfield Bellarmine’s first cohort, addressed her fellow students and those gathered for Fairfield Bellarmine’s ribbon cutting ceremony. She expressed her gratitude for the program, noting how it could change the lives of many young people who call the greater Bridgeport area home.

“This campus is dear to me because it represents progress, education and opportunity,” Aguirre said. “It shows how education can change lives. I extend a heartfelt thanks to Fairfield University, the Diocese of Bridgeport and to our partners who turned this vision into a reality.”

Diocese delegation visits World Youth Day in Lisbon

BRIDGEPORT—It may have taken place a year later than anticipated, but now it’s in the books: the Diocese of Bridgeport sent a group of 61 people from 24 parishes in 13 towns across Fairfield County to attend World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Originally created by Pope St. John Paul II as an opportunity for young people “to search for an encounter with God, who entered the history of mankind through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ,” this year’s World Youth Day was  the 16th such celebration. The first World Youth Day took place in Rome in 1986.

Subsequent World Youth Days have taken place every two to three years, in cities across the world, in 13 different countries across five continents. Italy, Spain and Poland have each hosted two World Youth Days, while Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Panama, the Philippines and the United States—and now Portugal—have hosted one each.

At the conclusion of this year’s World Youth Day celebration, Pope Francis mentioned two upcoming celebrations for young people in the Church. First was the upcoming Jubilee Year, which will take place in Rome in 2025. The second was the next World Youth Day, which will take place in Seoul, South Korea in 2027.

The Diocese of Bridgeport has a history of sending a delegation to World Youth Day, including to more recent celebrations in Panama City and Krakow, Poland. The latter delegation, sent to World Youth Day in 2016, consisted of more than 300 pilgrims—the largest in the diocese’s history.

This year’s delegation to Lisbon was smaller—11 teenagers, 24 young adults, 10 seminarians, five priests, one religious sister and 10 adults—but that doesn’t mean they’re inexperienced. According to Dr. Patrick Donovan, director of the Institute for Catholic Formation and the diocesan pilgrimage director, the delegation’s leaders have nearly 30 years of ministry experience and World Youth Day attendances under their belts, from the 1993 gathering in Denver to the most recent one in Panama City in 2019.

One of the delegation’s leaders is Susan Baldwin, who has many years of youth and young adult ministry to her name. She’s been to World Youth Day celebrations in Panama City and Krakow, and just made her third World Youth Day Trip to Lisbon.

One thing that particularly strikes Baldwin each time she attends World Youth Day is seeing the unity among the young people—drawn together by their faith in the universal Church.

“It is amazing to see youth from around the world praying together, singing together (and) sharing their wares that they deliberately bring to trade,” she said. “They share their cultures, take photos together and eat together. They go to catechesis, they visit churches and, yes, they do have fun.”

While Baldwin is a World Youth Day veteran, there is one moment from the 2016 celebration that has stayed with her throughout the years.

“The most profound moment I will never forget is seeing thousands of youth on their knees in Blonia Park, Poland receiving the Eucharist at the celebration of Mass offered by Pope Francis,” she said. “The silence and reverence was palpable, and nothing else mattered in the world while everyone silently approached the presence of our Lord and Savior to receive him and stayed on their knees to pray.”

Father Christopher Ford, the diocese’s director of vocations and seminarians, was another delegation leader. Like Baldwin, this will be his third World Youth Day, having attended previously in Panama City and Krakow.

Father Ford first experienced World Youth Day in Krakow as a seminarian. One memory that sticks out to him is the day he had the opportunity to visit both the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, where Christ appeared to St. Faustina Kowalska.

“To put those two experiences together, the power of mercy triumphing over the power of evil, set a tone for the rest of the journey that would not be soon forgotten,” he said.

His second trip to World Youth Day in Panama City occurred on the precipice of his priestly ordination. And seeing people from all over the world really reinforced his desire to be a part of the Church as a Catholic priest.

“As I stepped into the final phases of my preparation for priesthood, I did so with a new energy that came from knowing that all around me and all around the world, people’s hearts are yearning for Jesus – something that I experienced firsthand surrounded by thousands of young adults from all around the world united in prayer and adoration,” Father Ford said. 

Young Adults Come Together in Faith and Fellowship at Annual Retreat