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Written by Angela Kessler
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Saturday, 24 April 2010 00:00 |
This has been a week of celebrations in my world. The week started with the 50th anniversary celebration of my home parish, then the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Toledo. Add to that Pope Benedict XVI’s 83rd birthday and his fifth anniversary as pope.
While not an anniversary or birthday, our family also had the pleasure of celebrating over a number of days a visit from our family from New York. What made this visit extra special was that I was able to see and hold my niece (who was born in January) for the first time.
 I think everyone understands the celebration of a new life, but opinions begin to become quite diverse when it comes to celebrating subsequent birthdays and anniversaries.
There are some people I know who would rather ignore milestones in their lives, like birthdays and wedding anniversaries. If it was a year of particularly difficult challenges they say they’d rather forget it even happened. I’ve heard some people bemoan the fact they are aging and see it as a countdown rather than a happy occasion. Others simply don’t like to be the center of attention and would prefer to treat the day like any other: in the same uneventful routine.
Others take celebrations to the opposite extreme. I’ve witnessed some people turn their birthday into a week-long “palooza” event, with special meals, outings and parties to really make the occasion stand apart from the norm.
Beyond the birthdays and anniversaries, some people find other events in life worth celebrating. Young couples may acknowledge their “month-a-versaries” with a special outing. Cancer survivors are often eager and excited to flip the calendar to another year of being disease-free, with the five-year mark a positive milestone.
With regard to Diocese of Toledo’s foundation Mass, it was a great time to reflect on how our faith has spread across northwest Ohio in the past 100 years. Just sitting in Rosary Cathedral took my breath away thinking of the men who labored for years to construct the majestic building where we worship.
But even more awesome than that, is thinking of the number of people throughout the diocese who labored in their own communities to establish a faith community and labor to make sure that community would flourish and grow.
As we mark the occasion of the 100th anniversary of our diocese, I salute those who helped establish the church in the diocese, those who have helped sustain the church over the past 100 years and those who continue to labor in promoting church teaching throughout northwest Ohio.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 24 April 2010 00:00 |
