April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.

Priest to focus on Mary at Festa


By KATE BLAIN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Rev. David Knight first visited Schenectady in 1965, when he conducted a retreat at the Dominican Spiritual Life Center.

"There's something about Schenectady," he says today. "I wanted to go back."

That's the attitude that parishioners of Our Lady of the Assumption and Immaculate Conception parishes hope others will have when Father Knight visits again. This time, he will attend the cluster's Festa on the Feast of the Assumption.

From August 14-16, the two parishes will work together to present a Festa filled with rides, games and Italian food, as well as Masses and a procession through the streets of town with a statue of Our Lady. Father Knight will celebrate special Masses with reflections on Mary and prayer services.

Mary's way

The pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and director of His Way House, a spiritual growth center there, Father Knight is also the author of "His Way," a popular book on spirituality of the laity. However, he told The Evangelist, "His Way" is also "her way."

"Mary is an example of more than just virtue and piety and purity," Father Knight stated. "We have to discover her as a woman shining in our Church, calling us to full-time apostolate, courage, social action."

In his talks, he plans to take Church doctrines about the Blessed Mother and explain what they call laypersons to do.

Model for all

Through her acceptance of becoming the Mother of God with the words, "Let it be done to me as you say," he explained, "Mary is the symbol of human cooperation, not only in her consent, but in the fact that God took flesh from her."

Since she was only a teenager when she accepted such an awesome responsibility, she can be a model for youth of following the Holy Spirit, the priest said.

On a larger scale, he added, Mary should also be a model for all the laity as they are urged to take on greater roles in the Church.

Cluster event

Father Knight's presence at the upcoming Festa will be part of an effort to bring that cluster event back to its original meaning, according to Rev. Richard Carlino, pastor of Assumption parish.

"We want to focus on the community-building aspect, not the money aspect," he said. He added that to promote cluster unity, the Festa is being chaired by parishioners from both churches.

(The Immaculate Conception/Our Lady of the Assumption Festa will be held August 14-16 on the grounds of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Rotterdam. Events include: August 14, 7 p.m. Mass with Father Knight as celebrant/homilist; and August 15, 10 a.m. Mass, 11:15-12:15 reflection on Mary, 12:30 p.m. prayer service, 1 p.m. lunch, and 4 p.m. vigil Mass with Father Knight as homilist. For more information, call Father Carlino at 346-4926, Rev. Louis Deimeke or Danielle DePaula at 382-0451, or Irina Clark at 273-2913.)

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