Although a downpour soaked visitors and volunteers as festivities got underway for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Fatima Family Center and the second of four ballpark Masses on July 28, it didn’t dampen their enthusiasm.
Once the rain passed, the street party resumed with food, live music, games and family-friendly activities. The celebration recognized the contributions Fatima Family Center, a ministry of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Cleveland, has made to Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood for the past half century. LaJean Ray, the center director, was featured in a local television interview prior to the Fatima celebration.
The ballpark Mass, one of the diocesan Eucharistic Revival events, was scheduled to take place outdoors at historic League Park, across the street from Fatima Family Center and St. Agnes/Our Lady of Fatima Church. However, after reviewing the weather forecast, the diocesan Parish Life and Special Ministries Office decided to move the Mass to the church as a precaution. Father James Watson, OFM Cap, SAOLF pastor, welcomed the faithful to the church.
The liturgy began with a short performance by the Diocesan Gospel Choir. The group, consisting of singers and musicians from several parishes in the diocese, also provided music at the Mass. Bishop Edward Malesic, the celebrant, was spotted before Mass enjoying the prelude.
Concelebrants were Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost, Father Damian Ference, vicar for evangelization; Father Watson; Father Andy Turner, president/rector of Borromeo and Saint Mary seminaries; Father Chris Trenta, seminary professor; Father David Domanski, OFM Cap, administrator of Holy Spirit Parish in Garfield Heights and Cuyahoga County Jail chaplain; Father Gary Chmura, pastor of St. Adalbert-Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of Peace parishes in Cleveland; Father Faustine Furaha from the Diocese of Moshi, Tanzania who was visiting; and Father Oscar Pratt of the Archdiocese of Boston, who also was the homilist.
Father Pratt began his homily by chanting “This is my body, given up for you. This is my blood, given up for you.” He then gave the congregation a traditional Zulu greeting, Sawubona, which means I see you.
Father Pratt explained that while it’s not our custom to greet people that way, “It’s time to start a new custom.” He encouraged people to turn to the person next to them and use the greeting.
Using the word Sawubona throughout his homily, he reminded those gathered that God loves us “and his promise is to be with us until the end of time. Sawubona,” he repeated.
“We need the Zulu people to help teach us how to understand, respect and see humanity in our brothers and sisters,” he said. “No Christian can claim to hate someone or to take away the rights of another person because is not every human being made in the image and likeness of the one true God?” Father Pratt asked.
“Sawubona. You must see one another. Look at this room. It takes all of us to be the body of Christ,” he added. “We have no right, no business picking and choosing the ones we can like or love,” he said.
Father Pratt also referred to a recent Pew research study that shows only about one-third of those who profess to be Catholic believe in the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. He questioned how we can help people to find in their hearts the Lord will not abandon us.
“I am an African American Black man and a Roman Catholic priest. If you tell me you don’t see color, you don’t see me. Sawubona. Here is the manifestation of God’s great glory, the beauty of his grace. Sawubona. God has truly given us the bread of life. He rose from the dead and continues to be with us. Church, we’ve got to share this,” Father Pratt said.
He encouraged the faithful to be aware of God’s many blessings and to truly see things. “How we see determines how we share and how we care,” he added.
As he concluded his homily, Father Pratt repeated his opening chant and asked the congregation if they would accept the Lord’s body and bread – broken and poured out for them.
“If we can approach the Eucharist, God will never leave us. We learn by what we see. God told us he was leaving his son with us – in the Eucharist. God is here, present in the Eucharist for all and the intention is that this common meal will draw us all together,” he added.
Our lives are entwined and that makes the Church come alive in profound, beautiful ways through encounters with our brothers and sisters, Father Pratt told the congregation. “If we can see one another as God sees us, we’re in business. We are told to go out and spread the love, spread the wealth. Even if you don’t remember the word – Sawubona – remember the meaning: I see you – and with his grace and love, we will renew the face of the earth.”
After Mass, there was a short Eucharistic procession to the Fatima Family Center where the monstrance was placed on a table while the Litany of the Saints and Black Catholic Ancestors was prayed. The procession returned to the church for benediction and some brief comments from Bishop Malesic.
He thanked Father Pratt for his inspiring homily and reminded the congregation that his message clarified the reason they attended the liturgy, noting Jesus’ body is bread broken for us and his blood is wine poured out for us.
“It’s always about Jesus. We worship him, we bow before him, we give ourselves to him and he gives himself to us. He must be in all we do, including celebrating 50 years of Fatima Family Center, an anchor of this neighborhood, Jesus must be the heart of all we do, including seeking peace and justice, ending the scourge of racism, protecting the born and unborn and ending violence. We do it for Jesus,” the bishop said.
“We’re Christians, the beloved of God. We just received him and now we must take him out to the world. You are beautiful because he is in you. We are all one Church and that’s beautiful. Don’t waste the power of Jesus that you received tonight. It’s a gift,” the bishop said. He echoed what Father Pratt said, noting that the Lord promised to be with us forever.
The next ballpark Mass – a vigil Mass in celebration of the feast of the Assumption -- begins with a living rosary at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 14 at Mercy Health Stadium in Avon, followed by Mass at 7 and then adoration with praise and worship music. Click here to register and for more information.