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2012 CROSS WALK THROUGH TIME SQUARE witness the JOYFUL youth missionaries in action! (4 min 31 sec)
2012 LIVING STATIONS OF THE CROSS- you don't want to miss this! (8 min)
 "Alleluia!
Christ is risen
Due to all the street evangelization here during Holy Week, we at the Old Cathedral will be experiencing the “buzz” for weeks. I cannot begin to tell you about the many stories I have already heard and will hear from local people about your outstanding presence in the neighborhood. It is truly unique but one we should do more often (hint, hint).
There were huge amounts of people in church on Easter Sunday, far more than we expected. In fact, next year the parish will give more thought as how to further evangelize people on Easter morning.
We will keep Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ in prayer throughout the Octave of Easter. I look forward to the next time we can all be on the “highways and byways” of SoHo to proclaim the Good News of the Lord.
Monsignor Donald Sakano
"Brothers and Sisters in Christ"
Holy Saturday, 2012
Today's theme was our friendship with each other, in Christ. We kicked this off with our Gospel reading from John 21 before we hit the streets, the story of how "the disciple that Jesus loved", who had stuck with him to the foot of the cross, helped his brother in Jesus, Peter, to see the resurrected Christ at dawn on the misty shores of Galilee. "(Peter) it's the Lord!" he proclaimed, and from there, Christ did the rest, giving Peter the chance to reconcile with him and go on to be the head of His Church. And this theme seemed to reverberate throughout the long day. We can start with our six LC priests, who were the friend, the conduit, for so many today to Christ through them, toiling uncessantly in the confessional booths for nearly seven hours straight. Our teens were true friends in Christ to the many down and out people they helped in the very early morning hours of the Midnight run, and as "angels for the day" up in Harlem this morning, they brought smiles of joy and laughter to many young, disadvantaged friends in the Lord. Our crew of young Mexican teens, 25 strong, who cheerfully arrived at Mission HQ to provide unexpected reinforcements, were friends to us and the neighborhood throughout the afternoon-- singing their joyful missionary songs to all of Prince Street in front of HQ, and later, out on the streets. Their very original "pick up line" ("Mamm or Sir, is there anything you would like us to pray for?") was a very difficult inquiry for passersby to ignore. Later in the afternoon, we spied one of their leaders, an LC brother, walking in a soul from down in Little Italy, engaged in a very animated discussion in Spanish. Speaking of Spanish, one of our missionaries who can only speak in broken Spanish, was so engaged and focused on a reluctant soul who he was entreating in Spanish to come to confession that both of them came within inches of being run over by a large truck attempting the turn on Prince and Mott, until another missionary swept them both to safety. Minutes later, the pair took the confession walk. In another Prince and Mott intersection incident, one of our missionaries across at the cup cake shop literally ran across the intersection and then to the Church at full gallop with a man in a hurry, who he'd talked into an "express confession". Another friend in Christ story was of a father with his six year old daughter, on their way to a play date. Two missionaries were trying to bring him in, but he said they were in a hurry. Finally, he agreed to let the little girl decide, thinking she would safely choose the playdate. Much to his surprise, she chose the confession booth for him, so off he went! Our team of teens and brothers out in the South Village made many friends in Christ, and the teens walked a pair of them in for their first  confession in 20 years, thus rounding out our list of such walks from the perimeter (we'd not had one from the North), and in the process setting a new "longest confession walk" record. We also picked up another new form of transport flagged down and sent to confession-- a pushcart driver closing down one of the stalls on Prince; she was so moved by the singing of the young Mexican missionaries, she was a relatively easy target. She emerged from the Church beaming 30 minutes later, and came back to thank her new found friends in Christ on the corner, beaming. Our youngest missionary, five year old Mary, developed our best pickup line, "Can I pet your dog?" (Who could say no to that!), giving her Mom at her side time for a longer discussion about the faith. Another friends in Christ story was of our tag team of brothers on both ends of an intersection in Little Italy. Ricardo had a long chat with one, but left saying he'd think about it. Still staggering from that, Ricardo ran into the second brother across the street, and finally agreed to take the long confession walk to the Church. Many arrived at the Church after meeting our sisters and brothers in Christ out on the perimeter, in one case an entire family from Spain who came to us on the corner after receiving reconciliation to thank us for the efforts of our friends on the edges of the parish, without whom they would not have come Of course, it was not always so easy. Especially early on in the day, many people seem far more focused on their shopping for the things of this world, than the coming Easter celebration. And we had the usual dose of self-proclaimed atheists, many who left us with a smile and thanking us for praying for them. Then we had the other side of our theme for the day-- the friend out of Christ: a young man from the Philippines, who seemed moved to come back to the faith, was literally pulled away from us by his girlfriend. This form of incident repeated itself on several occasions. Perhaps our theme of teamwork in Christ and with Mary was summarized best by a story late in the day, as thy sky began darkening and preparations for the great vigil Mass were already underway. A man we'd talked with at Prince and Mott and who had left with a Lady of Lourdes medal but no confession, returned to the Church 30 minutes later for reconciliation. "Jack, you're back!" we cried. "Yes," he said. "The brothers mugged me."
A missionary
 "Letting Ourselves Be Loved on 'Good Friday'"
Good Friday, 2012
Today's theme was Love. The love Christ evidenced for us in his passion and death, and our willingness, or unwillingness, to let ourselves be loved by him. This was the theme for sure of our three bands of teens as they walked the three giant crosses they'd fashioned to Saint Pat's Old Cathedral in the morning, from points south (Battery Park), northwest (Times Square) and northeast (Central Park), with passersby nailing their intentions to the cross as they progressed. Our Times Square team carried a distressed woman's intention for her gravely ill father's health in this world and the next, who in her words had "given up", and the young woman ended up joining the crew, carrying the cross to us from up town. Love was the theme as our teens, joined by a young member of the parish in the role of the captain of the Roman guards, beautifully and reverently reenacted the Way of the Cross through Little Italy and So Ho-- once again, they shut the place down and converted many hearts with their loving witness. And back on the streets, the missionaries locked on to this theme as they reached out to souls. We used Fr Jonathan's sermon for Holy Thursday, on Judas' (and potentially our) greatest sin-- not letting ourselves be loved by God. And to add some urgency to the hesitators on topic one, we used Msgr. Sakano's sermon from Good Friday, that what makes it "Good" Friday and not "Bad" Friday or "Missed Opportunity" Friday is our generous response to God's love and offer of salvation. Our six priests hearing confessions were busy nearly all day, as the Holy Spirit moved so many to take an extra step towards Christ. The 3:00 liturgy was standing room only, and the crowd reverently following the way of the cross snaked for 100 yards at least, 20 people across, through the streets. Various new records were set in terms of types of vehicles flagged down for a talk on the Faith-- the Fed Ex carrier pushing a stack of boxes through the intersection on a cart, the woman in the back of a pedicab who took a rosary, the pizza delivery bike (was it the same guy as last year?), the police office flagged from his patrol car who promised after a long talk to return after work for confession. It seemed like so many Catholics and ex-Catholics were feeling the tug of the Lord's love this day, and all we seemed to be doing was giving them that extra nudge! And little miracles abounded everywhere. During the Way of the Cross, when the front of the Church was once again temporarily un-manned, the very same family of angels from midtown (the Bruschi women with their Brother Mario) unexpectedly arrived as if on cue, and took over. Within minutes, Sonali had a woman newly emerged from her first confession in many years, beaming and crying for joy and kissing and hugging her for being there. Another woman literally came skipping out of Church for joy, and so many others came back to us on the corner joyfully with thanks in their hearts. Skipping for joy seemed to be a sub-plot of the day; another pair of young women performed this same "confession dance", saying that they'd gone in feeling that "something in me needed to change", and were rejoicing, because "now it had". One of our youngest missionaries, Meghan, set a record by getting a man to the Church and the way of the Cross who's years since his last visit to a Church were longer than her age! Running out of rosaries by mid day, we fell back on our Lady of Lourdes medals, which we began calling "confession medals", giving them to people as they streamed back from the confessionals to thank us. One woman who was invited with two friends into confession was so tearfully moved when she emerged, she called her husband on her cell and asked him to come to also receive the sacrament; he did, and they left the Church hand in hand, and seemingly at peace. We had stories of those who would not accept Christ's love too: the atheist in Central Park who asked us to "keep our superstitions private" and admonished us for the cross walk (ads of half-naked men and women all over the city, however, are apparently fine); the shopkeeper who asked our missionaries to move down the street (a rarity by the way-- most welcomed us and some went to the Church during breaks); the young couple with children who, tearfully, said they couldn't receive reconciliation because they were living out of wedlock-- they promised us, holding our hands, that they would marry. These sadder tales were dwarfed by the tales of love and redemption that kept coming, wave upon wave. Another sign of the Holy Spirit's activity occurred through a walk-in, Thomas, invited to confession by our missionary in the back of the Church. He emerged joyfully later, and returned to kiss and hug her. Then he asked for one of her plastic rosaries. When she gave him one, he pulled from his neck his rosary blessed at Lourdes and Fatima, and presented it to her for healing. The missionary is suffering from "incurable but treatable" blood cancer. Another man, John, who we'd met last year but could not get to confession, returned, now with stage 3 cancer that he realized was a blessing, and made his first confession in many years, receiving the love of Christ. Near the end of the day, an old man, a Hindu who had stood observing us for some time, approached one of the missionaries and summarized simply, "although I'm a Hindu, I support what you are doing. I can see the genuine love and joy you have for the strangers you meet, and they can to. You are making the world a better place."
A missionary
 "The Lord Has a Sense of Humor"
Holy Thursday, 2012
The theme of tonight's mission was joy and laughter. Mission HQ, held against the tide by a small band of us all week, was overflowing with joy and tears as our small army of young people stormed the hill, like the calvary riding to the rescue! We meditated on 2 Timothy 4:1-8 -- "Be possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry" -- then, we marched out into the streets, north, south, east, west. The teens seemed to envelope the entire neighborhood in Christ's joy, and we at the center were having a much easier time touching souls. Our Blessed Mother was doing much of the heavy lifting, as it seeemed everyone wanted a rosary today (including the woman I got driving her convertible down Prince Street, Bob!), and most promised to pray for the success of the mission. Our team in front of the Church was very active, and had many lively discussions about the faith-- a man who'd attended every World Youth Day since 1995; two former RC "missionairos" from Mexico, a woman from St Louis who prayed in the Church in Thanksgiving for seeing so many joyful witnesses to Christ out on the streets. A pair of men who passed the Church later thought twice, and came back for rosaries and planned to do a confession. There were several of the now usual stories of people who initially were "not Catholic", who after taking a rosary, suddenly were Catholic, and some even ended up in the confessionals. Another young woman passing the Church seemed surprised to hear that a Catholic Church in NY was holding open confessions without an appointment, and dropped everything and went in for the sacrament. A reporter arrived to cover the buzz, was mistaken by our fearless leader for a missionary, and then immediately put to work getting us more flyers (we'd nearly run through the first 5000); he did so joyfully and then nearly ended up being assigned to a street corner for evangelization before we realized who he was. Some teens from our soup kitchen crew got stuck on a NYC elevator for the first time in their lives, and couldn't stop giggling happily about how much fun this was while doing the Lord's work. We had some pretty deep moments too: a husband and wife tearfully reconciling in Church after an unexpected visit to confession; a man on the street who intially declared "God cannot possibly love me" and left feeling very much loved. And finally, there was the story of Mike. One of our missionaries received a cell call from his son Mike, just back from college. While on the phone, he was approached for a rosary by a middle-aged man, and he gave him one, then asked his son to hold on for a minute. A discussion ensued, and the missionary ended up walking the man to the Church for confession. The man's name was Mike. Msgr. Sakano, out with us on the corner, simply noted, "Well, the Lord has a sense of humor."
A missionary
"Christ Must Be So Happy Tonight."
Holy Wednesday, 2012
Our little band of missionaries expanded into a larger voice in SoHo last night-- three priests, with more than two dozen consecrated women, brothers, and lay missionaries manning the streets. Measured by the number of conversions/confessions, success was sporadic. Measured by the number of stories of lives touched that the missionaries were overwhelming me with at the end of the evening, we had an enormous impact on this last day before the sacred Triduum. We met several young adults, newly moved into the neighborhood, and anxious to get connected to the parish or, in one case, to attend Easter Mass and consider becoming Catholic. There was the story of Robert, who approached one of our brothers out on a street corner, crying. He'd talked with our Br. Laslow during the Ash Wednesday mission, and was touched by the Spirit, though he didn't go to the sacrament of reconciliation then-- now he wanted to take that next step and needed them to bring him. Our brothers in Little Italy held their ground with a French atheist who, after an extensive discussion, seemed shaken and then retreated, declaring a "draw". A brother in SoHo walked someone into confession from Lafayette St.-- I promised him I'd get out my measuring tape to determine if he'd broken last night's record "confession walk" from Little Italy. Our consecrated women in front of the Church snagged a visitor there with a friend, found out it was her birthday, and convinced her to give Christ her confession as a birthday gift. We had several "returnees" from earlier in the week; some who'd gone to confession and were beaming when they met us on the street, others who'd promised to come back for confession and did. At Mass tonight, I greeted the young woman who'd, after another pep talk, determined to go back to confession for a second round, and in her face, which was anxious and tormented last night, I saw joy and peace. Our missionaries in front of the Church had a similar person tonight, arriving with a pamphlet from the brothers out on the periphery, getting a pep talk in front of the Church, going in and praying, coming back out for another pep talk, and eventually leaving un-confessed with the promise to return tomorrow. So many seeds planted by the Spirit tonight; we hope to reap the harvest as the Triduum begins and our young people arrive in force. One brother shouted to me as I hurried off to Mass, "This was the best day of my life! So many wonderful conversations with people about their faith.". And another simply, joyfully declared, "Christ must be so happy tonight."
A missionary
 "You Guys May Have Flipped One."
Holy Tuesday, 2012
Our small band of three missionaries and three LC priests were reinforced today by Msgr. Sakano, and a group of 11 joyful, indomitable young brothers. The streets were unusually quiet tonight, giving the feeling of a calm before the storm. The Lord painted a beautiful picture for us in the twilight sky, and once again, brought us souls when we least expected them. One of our brothers, undaunted by a group of young people's proclamation that "we're not Catholic", offered them four of our Lady of Lourdes medals, and they suddenly confessed their faith. A long conversation later, the entire cohort went into the Church for reconciliation, humbly reminding us again, following on yesterday's rosary story, of the power of our Lady's intervention in people's call to grace. Monsignor Sakano seemed to draw people out of the enveloping darkness like a beacon, and eventually, a semi-permament small parish gathering was happily going on at the street corner where he stood his ground. A brother all the way down in Little Italy set a record for "longest escorted walk to a confessional booth" (someone call Guinness please!), bringing in a young couple who, after a chat, asked for the sacrament, though the young man did inquire once or twice along the way, "how many blocks did you say this was going to be?". Up in the south end of Greenwich Village, I couldn't peel away the two of our brothers stationed there; they were deeply engaged in so many conversations about the faith they wouldn't break for a relief party. One extensive one, with a Jewish man who exchanged phone numbers with our brother and was clearly moved and maybe on his way to a conversion, ended with a congratulatory note: "You guys may have flipped one." And of course, one of our missionaries who many of you would know, feeling challenged by the presence of so many energetic brothers, managed to hail down a passing car and spent at least five minutes in deep conversation with the driver as he double parked at the intersection of Prince and Mott. (However, the man could not find parking so I refused to give the missionary credit for a successful hit... Just kidding Bob-- I do love you!). Tomorrow, we expect reinforcements from the Green Berets of the mission (the consecrated women) and look forward to their welcoming presence outside the proudly standing gates of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral....
A missionary
"Thank you for being on that corner tonight."
Holy Monday, 2012
A cold, blustery night in NYC. Three missionaries, one priest. Later, joined by a fourth, and a second. Can we possibly have an impact here? Our hit ratio seems lower than usual, especially early on. Passersby seem rushing to get out of the cold. Few in number, we man three stations solo, at times feeling in a very tiny way the lonliness of Christ on Calvary. Then, gradually, the Lord begins delivering souls. Catholics, ex-Catholics, new Catholics. Dozens-- many heading to the Church with little nudging. Probably 50 confessions, and others, promises to return during the week. A young woman, 'Cindy', arrives, thanking us for the "how to pray the rosary" instructions we gave her last year, and has prayed daily since-- now, she asks for our confession pamphlet. A family from Italy seems confused that we won't take their five dollars for the rosaries they are so grateful to have received from us. 'Maria' comes back from the Church, all smiles and shiny after her first confession in "years"; ' Yvonne' is troubled that she's held something back from God, and returns to the corner for another pep talk; she resolves to return tomorrow. 'Josie', hearing confessions are being heard, breaks off from her friends scurrying towards dinner, and heads to the Church instead. In all, our little band has served well, finding many souls brought to us by the Spirit. Later that night, as we are leaving the Mass that would end the evening, we see 'Josie'. Holding our hand and speaking to us with tears in her eyes, she says, "thank you for being on that street corner tonight. Thank you."
A missionary
"Happy Palm Sunday"
April 1, 2012
A small group of missionaries gathered at the Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral for the Palm Sunday Service, where Msgr. Sakano formally kicked off the mission and commissioned the missionaries to carry Christ's spirit out to the byways of the neighborhood in the week ahead. The theme of the day was the very warm welcome and love with which the missionaries were welcomed back to the parish. The Church itself was alive with energy and spirit. Parishioners were greeting us joyfully as we gathered outside the Basilica. Msgr. Sakano devoted his sermon to the mission, the Legionaries, and Regnum Christi, and their role in the new evangelization. A reporter who was passing through the neighborhood sensed a buzz in the air, and became so excited, determined to do an article on the mission for his paper. A father strolling the street with his family jumped forward from the crowd to help us lug the large boxes of missionary store goods down the block to the parish office. Perhaps the afternoon is summed up best with the welcome of the street stand operators outside the Cathedral walls, who four years ago had politely asked us to move our evangelization station across the street and out of the way. This year, they greeted us with smiles and joy, with one of them exclaiming as we approached, "Happy Palm Sunday!". Happy indeed! We all look forward with eager anticipation to the little miracles the Lord has in store for us in the days ahead.
A missionary
Ash Wednesday 2012
The Lord Lives!
There are times when many of us see the cultural mailaise around us, and wonder: can we win this battle? Is our Lord still with us or is He preparing the next great flood/ "do over"? Last night in So Ho, we got an answer. The Lord lives! In all our years of mission work, last night surely rivaled even the busiest of Good Fridays. Catholics seemed to be everywhere, and many others seemed to be asking, "why not me?". With at times seven wonderful and dedicated priests (thank you, thank you, thank you Fathers!) manning the confessionals, we still had lines six and seven deep. Many who came in for ashes were moved by the Holy Spirit to then seek the sacrament of reconcilation, others coming from the Church with the mark of their faith on their foreheads only needed to be gently invited to the sacrament of confession to turn around, and walk back to the Church to receive it. Our platoon of 17 joyful Brothers manned the periphery for us, the toughest duty of the night, and did so joyfully and enthusiastically. The seeds they planted in people's minds were so strong that by the time souls reached the center, they were ready to talk; our nets were bursting. Our RC family manning the Church seemed at times barely able to stay afloat amidst the tsunami of souls that the Lord brought us. By 7:00, our entire box of rosaries (hundreds) were gone, and we were down to our last supplies of Guadalupe Virgin medals. So many individual stories to tell, here are a few, (with names changed).
Maria, hurrying from the Church, is invited to return for confession. She doesn't need to, she says, because she confesses privately to the Lord each night. She hasn't needed to for 20 years. After further discussion, she returns for the Sacrament and emerges later with tears of (we hope) joy....
Angelica and her fashionably dressed friends bound for a dinner date in SoHo, who stop to chat and next end up with a date with the Lord in the Cathedral. They emerge later, beaming and thanking us...
Little Mary and her Dad who head into the Church for ashes, and taking a rosary, promised us to pray a decade on it with her father that night for the success of the mission. (There were dozens of these type accounts.)....
A father pulling his car up into a less than legal parking spot in front of the Church, handing his keys to a missionary for safekeeping, taking his entire family in for confession and ashes, and emerging later, beaming as the family pulls away into the city….
Joseph and his girlfriend coming from the Church with ashes, get into a chat with the missionaries, and reveal they are not Catholics but realize they should be, to be able to receive the sacraments and participate fully in the sacred rituals. They determine to return during the day to the parish office for RCIA training.
The many joyful parishioners and faces of others we've met in years past, heading into Church and inspiring us with their welcomes and their joy with us on what is happening in this little parish in New York, tucked away strategically among SoHo, Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Little Italy...
We move on to our Lenten journey, invigorated and awestruck by the power and glory of God, and of his loving concern for every hair on every head of his children...
A missionary
February 23, 2012
2011 Advent mission testimonies
2011 Holy Week mission testimonies
"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
matthew 25:40
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