November 20, 2009 |
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Mass on shores of Manatee River honors priests“We come to celebrate not just today, but a lot of history that has come before us, especially the priests who have served in Florida,” Bishop Dewane tells the faithful. 
BOB REDDY | FC Posted: 10.29.09 BRADENTON | Bishop Frank J. Dewane celebrated an outdoor Mass at the Holy Eucharistic Memorial on the shores of the Manatee River at Riverview Pointe Preserve and the DeSoto National Memorial on Oct. 22. The Mass was celebrated under a clear blue sky with boats gently rocking offshore and birds flying overhead as Bishop Dewane was joined by 10 concelebrating priests from parishes in Manatee and Sarasota counties, students from St. Joseph Catholic School in Bradenton and about 100 faithful. Bishop Dewane dedicated the Mass to all of the priests who have ever served to spread hope to the faithful in the Florida, including the 12 priests and friars who accompanied the 1539 Hernando de Soto expedition which started nearby. “We come to celebrate not just today, but a lot of history that has come before us, especially the priests who have served in Florida,” he said. “Those priests who landed here with the explorers to remind them who they were: men and women of faith. Those who came to this shore so long ago served as beacons of hope on a perilous journey. The priests served as an example for people to live like Christ and to provide hope for the future.” Randy and Jenny Coffey, members of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, attended the Mass at the spot where they walk their two dogs each morning. Their daughter, Sarah, who is an eighth-grader at St. Joseph School, read the first reading. “This was a special day,” Jenny Coffey said. “We learned about how those priests brought their faith and hope to these shores and how we must carry that on.” Sarah said the Mass “was very wonderful and very powerful.” The Mass was part of the ongoing “Year of Celebration” commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Diocese of Venice, and took on an added significance when the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated a “Year for Priests,” that extends from June 19, 2009, to June 19, 2010. Bishop Dewane has asked Catholics to pray for and to support the priests of the Diocese during this special year. “Pray for them, and pray for people to rediscover and appreciate the extraordinary and indispensable Gift of Grace which the ordained priesthood represents for the faithful.” The Holy Eucharistic Memorial was commissioned in 1960 by the Diocese of St. Augustine, which was one of only two Catholic Dioceses in Florida at the time. The memorial was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, Spain, and was at the 1965 World’s Fair in New York. It was later placed at its current location on the shores of the Manatee River. The memorial includes two carved reliefs depicting a Mass and a Baptism, and a 20-foot obelisk that is figured with carved symbols of the Holy Trinity. A statue of Hernando de Soto was removed and now stands outside the South Florida Museum in Bradenton. Replicas of the statue also stand at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota and the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. A nearby 60-foot Memorial Cross was placed on the property in 1995 in memory of the priests who accompanied de Soto and the American Indians who inhabited the area. It was dedicated by Bishop Emeritus John J. Nevins in November 1996. The “Year of Celebration” concludes Dec. 5 with a closing Mass at Epiphany Cathedral.
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