ROTTERDAM Parishioners prepare festa feast Piles of meatballs, vats of soup among homemade treats BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Tantalizing aromas wafted through the Our Lady of the Assumption kitchen Thursday as a group of cooks plugged away on recipes older than the parish itself. Steam rising from the simmering minestra combined with the smell of fresh-baked bread cooling on a set of racks nearby. Frank Marotta ladled red sauce over a tray of oversized meatballs as his mother, Silvana Marotta, drained a large can of cannellini beans for the soup recipe she brought from her native Italy. Starting this evening, droves of people will line up beneath the outdoor tents set up in the church parking lot off Princetown Road for a taste of old-world cooking. This year’s festa coincides with the diamond jubilee for Our Lady of the Assumption, which was established in 1934. And the parishioners plan to start the celebration off with a bang. Organizers have arranged for a fireworks display this evening to commemorate the church and its festival, which has grown to become part of the town’s heritage. “It’s a great event not only for the parish but the community as a whole,” the Rev. Joseph Cebula said Thursday. This year’s event will also be nostalgic for many of the parishioners, as it will represent the last one hosted by Our Lady of the Assumption. By next summer, the parish is slated to merge with Immaculate Conception Church off Broadway in Schenectady. The Albany Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church is going through a reoganization, closing nearly 20 percent of its churches by 2011. Details of the merger aren’t clear yet, but Cebula said it will assuredly involve a name change. But one thing is clear: The festa will continue. “[The parish] will have a differ-...........>>>>...............>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....1&Continuation=1
When did they stop calling it a "feast" and start calling it a "festa?" Does anyone remember when? When I grew up it was the "Feast of St. Anthony's" or the "Feast of the Assumption." Was it a pseudo-attempt to sound more ethnic or something around the late eighties or early nineties?
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
"Feast" was too religious. The liberal leaders of the Catholic Church are desperate to attract new blood, so they change customs. As a Roman Catholic, we're fighting for new leadership to bring us back to our roots
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Sad to say but some religions are changing with the social climate. And I heard that the festa brought in about $89G's.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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