ST RITA CHURCH WARWICK RI FESTIVAL SOFTWARE

Rita and make any drastic changes to the way things have been done. Messina said he was excited to help foster but he also said that, on the whole, he’s not trying to come into St. Getting younger people involved through social functions between the two congregations was an area Fr. “There's great potential for symbiosis going forward, and good opportunity for more people to get involved.” Messina, is a greater opportunity for the two separate groups of parishioners to share in each other’s company and enjoy programming between the two churches. Messina explained, because the two churches continue to operate independently, however the congregations of the two churches become one “family.” Rita is the latest church in Rhode Island to undergo a process known as “yoking,” where two Catholic churches share one pastor between them.

Would it be closing its doors for good? What did that mean for the parishioners and the activities the church had long facilitated? Rita in Oakland Beach would be losing its pastor, Father Peter D’Ambrosia, rumors began to circulate about the fate of the historic church. “That is my calling.” Yoking a bigger family “For people who have specific questions or problems, I will do my best to help them because that is my job,” he said. He is now celebrating 10 years of priesthood, and has fully embraced his true calling. Messina would then go back to school and earned his second master’s degree, this time in divinity. “I applied to be a seminarian, and I asked God, ‘If you want me to go through with this, then let me be accepted,’” he said.Īnd accepted he was. He decided to put the future of his career up to fate – or into the hands of God, as he put it.

Peter Church, where he had a conversation with the church’s pastor, Father Roger Gagne. Messina attended a mass near the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and upon seeing one of the priests, he said something inside of him clicked, and he couldn’t get the thought of becoming a priest out of his mind.Īfter much internal deliberating and prayer, Fr.

His technological prowess led him to eventually become employed by CBS in New York City, working “way behind the scenes,” as he put it.

ST RITA CHURCH WARWICK RI FESTIVAL SOFTWARE

He became the latter, earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s in software engineering. Messina’s original career path intentions led him to being either a musician or an engineer. “Priesthood was not on the radar scope at all,” he said.Ī guitar player since the age of nine, Fr. Timothy – with his loyal companion, a friendly Boston Terrier named Max, comfortably sat atop his lap – that priesthood was not a calling he received in his life until much later than usual for people of the church. Messina said during a recent interview at St. Rita in Oakland Beach starting July 1, has a story as unique as the Eastern European band that had completely enamored him. Timothy’s pastor since 2013 and will assume pastoral duties at St. “Are they incredible or what?”Ĭatholic priests are becoming scarcer in Rhode Island, and across the country for that matter, but even among their diminishing numbers, Father Andrew Messina is a rare breed.įr. He had navigated to a YouTube video featuring his favorite Russian-Ukrainian cover band Leonid & Friends, which take well-known songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Chicago and transform them into something totally fresh. It was early in the afternoon on a Thursday, and Father Andrew Messina was cranking up his computer speakers.

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