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July 19, 2023Undoubtedly, all our Redemptorist communities and missions celebrate the annual feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in an extraordinary way. The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, New York, was no exception.
The month of June began the celebrations of the patronal feast at midnight monthly Mass for the Guatemalan migrant community with a detailed description of the icon to the over 300 participants, most of whom are young men under the age of 30 years old.
Since the feast this year, June 27th, 2023, fell on Tuesday, the community decided to dedicate the previous Sunday Masses for the celebration, besides the Masses on Tuesday, the actual day of the feast. A triduum anticipated the festivities.
On Sunday, June 25, besides the regular Mass schedule to accommodate the parishioners who could not participate in the principal Masses, the Basilica celebrated two main Masses. The first one at 10 a.m. was celebrated by the diocesan bishop, Roberto Brennan, D.D., who dedicated the liturgy and homily to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. After this Mass, a procession down 5th Avenue, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, was organized to anticipate and honor the upcoming national festive day of Independence on July 4th.
The principal Mass of the Solemnity of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, June 27th, was celebrated with our Pastor, Father James Gilmour, C.Ss.R., as the presider, with six concelebrants, and other community members, including Brother Augustus J. Riviere, C.Ss.R. The Mass was tri-lingual, with three short homilies given by Fr. Manuel Rodriguez Delgado, C.Ss.R., in Spanish, Fr. Song You, C.Ss.R., in Chinese, and Fr. Francis Skelly, C.Ss.R., in English. Following the Mass there was a procession down the main avenue and connecting streets around the Basilica, with food and refreshments afterward for all the participants.
On the Feast Day itself, Tuesday at 7 p.m., the Basilica hosted a special Mass for the Haitian population in the upper Church, again with the Bishop of the Brooklyn diocese, Robert Brennan, as the principal celebrant. Our Haitian brothers and sisters from the area participated in this special Eucharist, completely filling the upper Church. Our Mother of Perpetual Help is the patronal feast of Haiti.
Also, at the same time as the Mass in the upper Church, another Mass was celebrated in the lower Church in Spanish, and in which a homily on Our Mother of Perpetual Help was given by Father Cristian Bueno, C.Ss.R., the executive secretary of the Redemptorist General Secretariat for Evangelization in Rome.
It is difficult to estimate the number of participants in all the activities and celebrations of our Redemptorist patroness. Nevertheless, over 3,000 faithfuls demonstrated their devotion and love for Our Mother of Perpetual Help on her feast and in her Brooklyn Basilica this year, 2023.
