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Diocese still strong in spirit

BY ERIK GERMAN | erik.german@newsday.com

Six hundred Catholic worshipers crowded beneath the soaring ceiling vaults inside St. Agnes Cathedral yesterday in Rockville Centre. Sixty priests joined them, along with five auxiliary bishops, for a service conducted in half a dozen languages.

They gathered to celebrate another more momentous number -- 50.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre celebrated its five decades on Long Island yesterday with a Jubilee Mass led by Bishop William Murphy.

During his brief homily, Murphy traced the history of the diocese, from serving 500,000 newly minted suburbanites in the late 1950s to about triple that number today. One early resource offered by the diocese was a driving school, Murphy said, to teach the many transplanted city residents -- accustomed only to buses or trains -- how to get around safely.

The diocese that "began with its offices in the basement of St. Agnes High School" has since become endowed with all the riches of the Island to which it ministers, Murphy said.

"But change isn't the important thing," Murphy said in an interview after the Mass. "What's important is the spirit that we share together."

During his remarks, Murphy mentioned briefly, solemnly, challenges he said the diocese has faced, ranging from school closures and financial troubles to the priest sex-abuse scandals of the early 2000s.

"We've had to struggle with tragedy and we've had to face abuses," he told the congregation, adding that the diocese's challenge now is to "rebuild hope."

The mood lifted at the service's close when the bishop addressed the church extemporaneously. He thanked all who helped make the jubilee celebration possible and invited parishioners to a reception next door -- even those watching the live telecast of the Mass at home.

"Jump in your car and come over!" he told the cameras, as laughter and applause erupted inside the cathedral.

After Mass, church members reflected on the changes that have swept over their diocese during the passing decades. Many said the diocese has become much more diverse as its numbers have swelled, and that church leaders have done much to accommodate the newcomers.

"It's become much more multicultural," said Jacques Philippeaux, 54, of Baldwin, a teacher. Philippeaux said that since he emigrated from Haiti and joined the diocese 12 years ago, he's seen a proliferation of languages spoken during Mass.

"You have Spanish; you have Polish. Some of them I don't even know," he said.

"The cultural face of our church as changed," said Carol Bergeron, 63, of Mount Sinai, who sings second soprano in the cathedral's choir. "We've even been singing in other languages."

But others said one aspect of the Rockville Centre ministry has remained constant -- the role the church plays in stabilizing troubled lives. Thomas Gray, 50, was born in Rockville Centre, just around the corner from St. Agnes Cathedral.

"I'm celebrating 50, too," he said. Gray said he was baptized in the cathedral and confirmed there, and it was the place he came for help when he recently fell on hard times.

"These people helped pay my rent. They fed me," he said. "There's been lots of rough roads and they all lead back to St. Agnes."