December 18, 2024 at 10:08 a.m.
Keeping Sunday special
The Smith family has always been an inspiration to Father Richard Carlino and they give a fresh new meaning to the old phrase, “The family that prays together stays together.”
You see every Sunday at St. John the Evangelist Church in Schenectady, the Smith family — numbering eight Smiths and two Woods (more on that later) — have sat together in the same pew for Sunday Mass for nearly two decades.
“What has always moved me deeply about the Smith family — and for almost 20 years at that,” said Father Carlino, pastor at St. John the Evangelist and St. Anthony’s, both in Schenectady, “is that during the recitation of the ‘Our Father,’ the entire family holds hands. It really has touched my heart. They are a precious gift to one another, to St. John’s parish community, and to me.”
The Smith family consists of parents, Ryan and Suzanne, along with their children, Timothy, 24, Grace, 23, Sam, 18, Henry, 13, James, 11, and Charlie, 9. And they are always joined by Eileen and Robert Wood, Suzanne’s parents, who get to St. John’s early on Sunday to reserve a pew.
“We come every Sunday,” said Suzanne. “We try to make Sunday a family day.” Usually after Mass, Suzanne said the whole crew will go out to an early dinner together as well. The day is one simple way for the Smiths to keep Christ at the center of their lives.
- Religion must serve God, not man, says Patriarch Bartholomew
- OSV Editors: How to change our society in crisis
- Holiness is forged in revolution
- Funeral Mass for British duchess dubbed historic with presence of king, top royals
- Relentless effort, quick action are not always the answer, pope says
- Palestinians are living in ‘unacceptable’ conditions, pope says
- All people must work together for peace, pope tells interfaith forum
- Full text: Pope Leo XIV’s Sept. 17, 2025 general audience
- Over 60 people killed in Ntoyo, Congo, by Islamic State group supporters
- New Maciel documentary a ‘cathartic’ experience, Legionaries head says
Comments:
You must login to comment.