Cardinal
Rigali appoints promoter
of Eucharistic adoration
By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
CHADDS FORD — When Msgr. Gregory J. Parlante was 7 years old, about
a month after he received his first holy Communion, he participated in
a Eucharistic procession for Forty Hours at his parish in South Philadelphia.
He remembers that cold January day at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church
as if it were yesterday. He was wearing the suit he’d worn for his
first Communion, and he and his second-grade classmates held calla lilies
as the Real Presence passed by.
“I want to carry the Blessed Sacrament someday,” young Gregory
thought.
Flash forward 44 years to January 2008.
Cardinal Justin Rigali has named Msgr. Parlante promoter of Eucharistic
adoration in the Archdiocese. Msgr. Parlante will remain pastor of St.
Cornelius Parish in Chadds Ford.
Msgr. Parlante will assist in fostering and coordinating the practice
of Eucharistic adoration in the Archdiocese by helping pastors and institutions
with planning Eucharistic adoration and providing catechesis on the Blessed
Sacrament, the Cardinal said.
“I am very grateful to Msgr. Parlante for his willingness to combine
this new work with his other pastoral duties,” Cardinal Rigali added.
Ordained a priest for the Philadelphia Archdiocese in 1982, Msgr. Parlante
has been pastor of St. Cornelius since 2004. The Chester County parish
will also be the headquarters for the promoter’s office.
Msgr. Parlante said he is honored by the trust the Cardinal has placed
in him, adding that he believes prayers before the Blessed Sacrament will
increase vocations to the priesthood and religious life, which is something
“we desperately need” as a Church.
Msgr. Parlante served in the archdiocesan Vocation Office for Diocesan
Priesthood from 1992 to 1997, first as assistant director and then as
director.
He is asking Catholics across the Archdiocese to renew their commitment
to Eucharistic adoration.
For those who are unaccustomed to praying before the Blessed Sacrament
and wonder how to practice the devotion, it is simply being present “before
your Beloved … the Lord,” Msgr. Parlante said. Adoration makes
way for the Lord to speak to you in the silence.
Even for him, being silent can be a challenge, he concedes. “Like
my name [which derives from the Italian verb meaning “to speak”]
I never shut up,” he joked.
His recommendation to those who are uncomfortable being silent before
the Blessed Sacrament is to surrender control to the Lord.
“Like anything, practice makes permanent,” he said.
In his letter to priests announcing Msgr. Parlante’s appointment,
the Cardinal referred to Pope Benedict XVI’s reflections on June
6, on the bond between the celebration of the Eucharist and adoration.
The Pope quoted a famous statement of St. Augustine, who said, “No
one eats this flesh unless he or she has first adored it.”
Pope Benedict went on to say, “Adoration outside of holy Mass prolongs
and intensifies what has taken place in the liturgical celebration and
renders possible a true and profound acceptance of Christ.”
In his letter, the Cardinal concluded: “What I am asking all of
us, my brother priests, and the whole Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is
that we avail ourselves of the great treasure of Eucharistic adoration
to attain the renewal that God asks of us in our Bicentennial year and
beyond.”
Those who have questions or suggestions regarding Eucharistic adoration
in the Archdiocese may contact Msgr. Parlante by e-mail at: stcorn1@comcast.net
or by standard mail to: Msgr. Gregory J. Parlante, St. Cornelius Church,
160 Ridge Road, Chadds Ford, PA 19317.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine can be reached at (215)
587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.